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The 2008 Friends of Coal Auto Fair is set for July 18 – 20 at the YMCA/Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex in Beckley, WV.  The event will provide a variety of entertainment, including a car show, carnival rides, food vendors, a flea market, an arts & crafts area, special appearances by the Golden Knights Army Parachute Team, former WVU Head Football Coach Don Nehlen, current UVA Assistance Health Coach and Beckley native Bob Pruett, Jeremy Starks of the BassMaster Elite Series, a fireworks display, and a Saturday night concert featuring performances by RANDY TRAVIS and West Virginia’s own TAYLOR MADE.

For additional information please visit www.friendsofcoalautofair.com or contact the Beckley-Raleigh County YMCA at 304-252-0715

The Kanawha-Charleston Soccer Foundation needs your help!  Thanks to members of the West Virginia Coal Association, The Friends of the Coal and the local community, the Friends of Coal Fields at Trace Fork Soccer Complex is near completion!  In an effort to raise funds to finish the job, the Kanawha-Charleston Soccer Foundation is hosting a Raffle and Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 19.
 
Raffle tickets are $100 apiece and offer the chance to win great prizes.  Raffle items include:
2008 Pontiac G5
$10,000 Cash
$5,000 Cash
10 - $100 Gift Certificates
Disney Vacation - valued at $4,000
Coaching Clinic - valued at $500
Trip to the Greenbrier - valued at $1,000
White Water Rafting Trip - valued at $500
$500 Visa Gift Card
3 - $1,000 Cash Prizes
$3,000 Cash
$2,000 Cash
Bring your family and friends to Friends of Coal Fields at Trace Fork on Saturday, July 19 and enjoy a day of games, music, food and PRIZES!  Consider purchasing raffle tickets for your employees, clients or business!  The proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets will be used to complete the Complex.
 
You can purchase tickets online www.soccerfields.org or by calling Angela at (304) 342-6972.

If you have been waiting to make sure The Greenbrier will be operating, then wait no more as we have been assured that The Greenbrier is awaiting our arrival with open arms. [This DOES NOT mean contracts have been signed only that we in the Association are remaining very optimist that the staff will continue to work without contracts.] Room blocks will expire on the 15th of June, so please make your room reservations immediately. Registration, sponsorship and prize donations forms were again e-mailed yesterday to everyone receiving Coal Bits.
HOMER HICKAM will be joining us at Saturday's Chairman's Brunch and his new book "Red Helmet" will be autographed and available for each family attending. PURE GOLD out of Pittsburgh will be entertaining on Saturday evening -- they have been featured a great deal on Public TV and are very entertaining. Bill, Chris and Jason are working on technical sessions and those sessions will be announced within the next couple of weeks. Good times are to be had by all, so we hope to receive your registration in the near future.

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According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), for the month of March '08, U.S. "steam" coal exports were up 124.5% and metallurgical exports were up 35.2% compared to March of last year.  Imports for the same months showed a 19.6% decrease.  Comparing 2008 to 2007 the year-to-date (through March) metallurgical exports were up by 35.5% and steam exports increased by 53.6%, while imports decreased 13%.

West Virginia's year-to-date production for the week ending 5/17/08 was up 1.8% compared to 2007.  Northern WV production increased by 10.2% while southern production decreased by 1.5%.  For the 52 weeks ending 5/17/08, production increased by 1.6% to 153.7 million tons as compared to 151.4 million tons in 2007.

Friends of Coal spokesman and professional bass fisherman Jeremy Starks had a good tournament in South Carolina last weekend.  Jeremy placed 30th at the Lake Murray tournament and that will raise his overall standing as he heads for next weekend’s tournament at Wheeler in Alabama.  This weekend Jeremy, with the Friends of Coal boat and truck, will be at Sport Mart in Charleston and in Huntington for a bass tournament at Harris Riverfront Park on Sunday.  Jeremy will also use the Friends of Coal boat and truck in some television commercials promoting children’s fishing for other local sponsors.

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Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are talking more about "clean coal" and less about global warming as they woo voters in West Virginia and Kentucky -- two states that sit at the heart of the nation's coal economy.

In a bid to draw voters ahead of Democratic primaries in West Virginia on Tuesday and Kentucky on May 20, both candidates are playing up the ascendant role of commercially untested and so far economically nonviable ways of converting America's plentiful coal supplies into electricity without spewing massive quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

On Thursday, Friends of Coal spokesman and former Mountaineer Football Coach Don Nehlen produced a statewide radio commercial that accentuated the positive strengths of Chief Justice "Spike" Maynard.  The Coach equated the Justice's long judicial experience to the tremendous value that returning veterans have to a winning team.  The spots will run through the next four days on West Virginia Radio stations under the banner of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

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