January 12

It was nice to wake up in my own bed this morning though I as I laid there I couldn't figure out if I was in Knoxville or Harriman. It was one of those moments when I was trying to decide to be happy about breathing the air or not. I actually got to sleep in a bit today and fully awoke by 10 AM.

This morning I spent more time taking care of my "Regular Life." A disaster is such a weird thing. I am surrounded by people whose lives are still going on. A new Harriman friend is getting married on Friday. A new Harriman friend has a new granddaughter.

I went and finalized the details for a teaching position which I am to fill one day a week at a local highschool as I also have an art education degree. I will be teaching Fire Performance. We will create a Fire Sculpture which we hope to enter into the Dogwood Arts Festival in April.

Through the power of gasoline we were majically transported back to TVA's coal ash disaster for a meeting of the Roane County Commissioners this evening. It was located in the Kingston City Courthouse. This was the most confusingly advertized meeting I have ever seen. In the same paragraph it was advertized as a "Public Hearing" and a "Public Meeting." I have been a to a bunch of public hearings and I have never seen one like this. I think that only thing that made this a public hearing was the fact they had a court recorder and audio taped the hour long question and answer session. Mr. Tom Kilgore graced us with his presence along with the Roane County Commissioners and other elected officials of Kingston. There was a shot taken at the media by the Kingston Mayor for portraying the coal ash disaster in a negative light. He didn't mention that TVA wants to pay for a PR firm to polish the image of Kingston and Roane County by down playing the dangers of coal fly ash.

I think that it is ridiculous that WE HAVE NOT HAD ANY REAL PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THIS DISASTER YET!!!!! If you are reading this please call the EPA and request a public hearing on this disaster. Please call TDEC and request a public hearing on this disaster. 

January 13

This was the second day of heavy metal screenings here in Harriman, TN. When we arrived at the American Legion Hall it was even colder than the first screening day the previous Thursday. United Mountain Defense set up a welcome table and helped get the expert staff of Internal Balance set up as well. The clinical screening was performed by a Brentwood, TN corporation called Internal Balance. Internal Balance assembled a skilled team of physician’s assistants who worked under the guidance of a licensed physician, Dr. Daniel Kalb, MD. The owner of Internal Balance, Tamara Mariea is a biochemical nutritionist and a detoxification specialist.

There was a total of 29 coal impacted residents tested at no cost to them with money that you donated to United Mountain Defense. Thank you so much. We are eternally grateful for your kindness. At the end of the day there was one scholarship left and after calling all of the residents on our list twice we gave it to United Mountain Defense volunteer Tom Swinford. Tom has been a dedicated volunteer here on the ground since day one. Tom is the father of Bonnie, UMD’s volunteer coordinator, and has recently moved to Knoxville, TN from Indianapolis, IN. He had a full spectrum of blood work done one year ago and has been breathing in the Harriman air just like many local residents for three weeks now. He is willing to speak with the media about the his testing experience and will be sharing his test results as soon as they come back. Thank you Tom and Bonnie for all your hard work.

January 14

Today was spent preparing a trip for two local coal impacted residents to Washington D.C. United Mountain Defense received an offer from a PR firm that is working to counter the "Cl*** Coal" campaign of 2008. The PR firm learned that $55 million was spent on the false ad campaign. United Mountain Defense volunteer attorney, Chris Irwin had a brilliant idea to use the term "Filthy Coal" and the PR firm had a bunch of black ball caps printed using the phrase. They are sure to be the fashion fad of the year.

United Mountain Defense volunteers had all kinds of details to work out including securing boarding for Sarah's dog. This evening United Mountain Defense volunteers set up a media messaging workshop for Tom Grizzard and Sarah McCoin so they could learn how to use sound bites to get their message across. After the hour long workshop both of these coal impacted residents felt more prepared for their whirlwind trip to Washington D.C. We learned that they would be meeting with a few of their elected officials including TN Senators and Congressmen. I do wish them the best of luck. It was really nice to hear their kind words about United Mountain Defense's work over the past three and half weeks. They stated that the community would have been lost and spinning its wheels without the help that United Mountain Defense and yall have given to them.

There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and biometric testing of impacted residents.

If you are a resident of the Swan Pond community please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org 

Ed note:  Matt Landon, a full time volunteer with United Mountain Defense, is reporting from the ground in Harriman, TN.  Because of his chaotic schedule, we've just received a batch of diary posts from the past week, which we'll be re-publishing in chronological order. Here are all of his posts.