Pro-coal group changes wording for rally

A pro-coal industry group has removed its "call to arms" slogan for a Thursday West Virginia rally after complaints that it played on the violent rhetoric preceeding the Tucson, Ariz., shootings. A column from liberal-writer Jeff Biggers on CommonDreams.org and inquiries from Ken Ward of The Charleston Gazette on Wednesday brought attention to the slogan. Industry group Friends of Coal displayed the slogan on a banner advertising West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's "rally for coal" planned at the state capitol. When asked if the group was encouraging supporters to bring firearms to the rally, Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, told Ward the phrase was "a figure of speech" and "everyone should be on their best behavior." (Screen capture by Ward of Friends of Coal banner)

Still, the group had changed the banner to read "Alert! Alert! Alert!" by Wednesday evening. Jacqueline Proctor, spokeswoman for Tomblin, said the "'call to arms' was 'an unfortunate use of words' but that the Friends of Coal site wasn’t the governor’s to control or comment about," Ward writes on his Coal Tattoo blog. "Proctor said she did not know if the governor planned to speak to coal industry groups about the use of such rhetoric." In the wake of the Tuscon shootings, Ward published a blog post last week calling for those involved in the coal debate to tone down violent rhetoric, pointing to a campaign ad in which Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin used a rifle to shoot a copy of the "cap and trade bill." (Read more)