{"id":1592,"date":"2011-01-04T09:24:56","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T16:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=1592"},"modified":"2011-01-04T09:24:56","modified_gmt":"2011-01-04T16:24:56","slug":"thousands-pay-tribute-to-judy-bonds-she-has-been-to-the-mountaintop-and-we-must-fight-harder-to-save-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=1592","title":{"rendered":"Thousands Pay Tribute to Judy Bonds: She Has Been to the Mountaintop–and We Must Fight Harder to Save It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Janmuary 4, 2011-by Jeff Biggers in the Huffington Post<\/a>–<\/strong><\/p>\n

She was a tireless, funny, and\u00a0inspiring orator<\/a>, and a savvy and brilliant\u00a0community organizer<\/a>. She was fearless in the face of\u00a0threats<\/a>. As the godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement, she gave birth to a new generation of clean energy and human rights activists across the nation. In a year of mining disasters and climate change set backs, she\u00a0challenged<\/a>activists to redouble their efforts.<\/p>\n

As one of the great visionaries to emerge out of the coalfields, Julia “Judy” Bonds<\/a> reminded the nation that her beloved Appalachians had been to the mountaintop–and in her passing last night, thousands of anti-mountaintop removal mining and New Power activists from around the country are reminding the Obama administration and the country’s environmental justice movement of Bonds’ powerful legacy and parting words to “don’t let up, fight harder and finish off” the outlaw ranks of Big Coal and end the egregious crime of\u00a0mountaintop removal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Judy Bonds was a tireless fighter for her geographic heritage and her regional ecosystem. Photo\u00a9 2011 John Blair<\/p><\/div>\n

In a special email message last night,\u00a0Coal River Mountain Watc<\/a>h director Vernon Haltom announced the passing of Bonds, the\u00a0Goldman Prize winner<\/a> and Executive Director of Coal River Mountain Watch. Bonds, 58, had battled advanced stage cancer over the past several months. “One of Judy’s last acts was to go on a speaking trip, even though she was not feeling well, shortly before her diagnosis,” Haltom wrote. “I believe, as others do, that Judy’s years in Marfork holler, where she remained in her ancestral home as long as she could, subjected her to Massey Energy’s airborne toxic dust and led to the cancer that wasted no time in taking its toll. Judy will be missed by all in this movement, as an icon, a leader, an inspiration, and a friend.” READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Janmuary 4, 2011-by Jeff Biggers in the Huffington Post– She was a tireless, funny, and\u00a0inspiring orator, and a savvy and brilliant\u00a0community organizer. She was fearless in the face of\u00a0threats. As the godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement, she gave birth … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1595,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/1595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}