Year of the protester? Give thanks for Blackjewel miners and others who made a difference.

This Thanksgiving, Kentucky, especially Eastern Kentucky, should be most thankful for the protesters. If Widow Combs were alive she would marvel at the level of protesting that sprouted up here in the mountains— and more importantly, how wildly successful the results have been. In 1964 Ollie Combs or “the Widow Combs” as she came to be known decided to lay down in front of one of coal baron Bill Sturgill’s bulldozers because she took exception to the strip mining of her family cemetery under the odious broad form deed laws . She ended up spending Thanksgiving in jail for her act of defiance. The photo of her being carried off by the state police produced the spark which eventually resulted in the voters overwhelming approving a constitutional amendment ridding us of the broad form deeds that effectively prevented coal companies from bulldozing your property without permission.

Fast forward to 2018 when— about a mile away from where Widow Combs made her stand— moving vans showed up to empty out and close the geographically isolated Cordia school. The school had a running dispute with the Knott County Board of Education and the state Board of Education that wanted the school closed, leaving more than 300 students in their isolated mountain community out in the cold.

The descendants of Widow Combs and other local protesters showed up to protest the closing of their beloved settlement school and blocked the vans. The state police appeared, but school director Alice Whitaker and the protesters stood their ground. Eventually the Cordia protesters won after a bruising legal battle in Franklin Circuit Court. The school is open and thriving. If you ask Alice Whitaker, she will be quick to tell you how the descendants of Widow Combs were the first on the scene to block the vans.

This year, 2019, will be remembered for how the Blackjewel miners blocked the tracks after being stiffed on their pay. The 75 coal cars sitting on the tracks could not move. The only movement was the swarming of the national and international media and political leaders of all stripes rallying to the side of the miners. At the time, I incorrectly predicted the courageous stand-off would not end well for the miners. The reality is they are in bankruptcy court, where wage earners quickly learn the bankruptcy laws are stacked against them. The miners ended up getting paid, which would not have happened but for the stand off. Other miners who get caught up in the infuriating series of recent bankruptcies and layoffs we have had are truly envious of the results the Blackjewel miners received.

Of course we have a new governor being sworn in. You don’t need to be a political scientist to figure out that the the combination of the mass teacher protests, which were especially prominent here in the mountains, and Governor Bevin’s stunningly arrogant response, proved to be the catalyst for why the grand marshals at Andy Beshear’s inauguration parade will be a bunch of protesting teachers.

This Thanksgiving we should be thankful for the First Amendment which empowered our protesters. They had a good year.

Ned Pillersdorf is an attorney in Prestonsburg.

This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 5:33 PM.