The 7th Annual Friends of Coal Auto Fair is set for July 16 – 18 at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex in Beckley, WV.  Friday, July 16 will begin the Fair with the Cruise-In to uptown Beckley for the Renaissance Car Show and live entertainment by former American Idol contestant and Beckley native, Robbie Carrico. 

Saturday will have the Live in Concert by The Charlie Daniels Band and Taylor Made, with special appearances by The Gold Knights Army Parachute Team and FOC spokesmen Coach Nehlen, Coach Pruett and Bass Master Jeremy Starks.  Tickets ($15.00 advance & $20.00 day of show) for the Concert will go on sale May 1st at select WV & VA Marquee Cinemas and the Beckley-Raleigh County YMCA.  

Time is of the essence as the reserved rooms and air travel arrangements must be committed in the next couple of weeks.  Please go to: www.nationaltravel.com for complete information.

A memorial service this morning at the State Capitol gave the State and Nation’s final farewell to United States Senator Robert C. Byrd.  Senator Byrd died early this week in a northern Virginia hospital and was the longest serving Senator in the history of the country.  President Obama and Vice President Biden attended and participated in the service.  Senator Byrd laid in repose in the United States Senate Chamber on Thursday before being flown to Charleston on a West Virginia Air National Guard C-130.  Upon arrival in Charleston, his body was transported from the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse in downtown Charleston by a horse-drawn caisson to the State Capitol where the public paid their respects throughout the night. Senator Byrd will be buried in a northern Virginia cemetery, beside his wife, Erma.  

The new episode of The Coal Seam television show was taped June 29 at our studios in Charleston, with Lt. Governor and Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin as our guest. The show was featured a great conversation between host Chris Hamilton and Senator Tomblin, ranging from the current threats to eastern coal to the importance of our community colleges in providing training targeted to current job needs. Check with your local cable provider for air times on the state library channel and on local public access channels across the state.

The West Virginia Coal Association and the Friends of Coal websites continued to tally large numbers of visitors this past month.  According to our latest report, the Friends of Coal website (www.friendsofcoal.org.) saw 1,583 visits and 5,668 page views for the month, with new visitors accounting for 81 percent of these visits.  Each of the visitors looked at an average of 3.58 pages per visit. Visitors to the site came from 27 different countries.

The West Virginia Coal Association website (www.wvcoal.com) saw 4,290 visits and recorded 10,218 page views during the month of June. Visitors averaged 2.42 pages viewed during each visit and 70 percent of the visitors were new to the site. Visitors to the site came from 62 different countries.