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OPINION
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 Page 4A
heard for many years, one that stuck in my mind. Although I had never seen the woman, I once spoke to her on the phone. And when I envisioned this certain character in the book, no other name but hers would fit. The character just had to have the name Lillian Pearl. But after using this particular name, it was easy to go on from there; each time a new character emerged, I simply named him or her after someone I knew; a relative, a friend, a close acquaintance, just people whom I have have known throughout my life and, for the most part, people whom Im quite fond of. But the rule was that I had to be connected to them in some direct way. Of course in a work of fiction, there has to be heroes and villains, but I tried to be non-judgemental about who would be who in the book. It was just that the name had to fit and in no way directly reflect the character of the real person nor his or her situation in life. I was simply using that name for an imaginar y character totally unrelated to the actual person. I did Google some of the names and found that some of them have as many as 50 matches throughout the world and my own name, John Preston, is a dime a dozen, especially in Eastern Kentucky. In the end, I chose to do this for the simple ease and fun of it, in good faith with no malintent, hoping that the people named would be pleased to be in a book and, of course, it would help sell the book, at least area-wide thinking: When was the last time these people have sat down to read (according to nearly all early responses) a good entertaining and informative novel? Though all in all, if anyone is offended, shouldnwt it perhaps be the ones I left out of the book? But in hope that my book may reach a wider readership, beyond the Big Sandy Valley (which it is beginning to do) all this will make no difference at all. See John H. Preston author Facebook page for more details. John H. Preston, Louisa

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Penningtons family expresses thanks to community

The family of Mayfield Pennington wishes to express their heartfelt thanks to all the hundreds of friends of Mayfield who came to his wake on Friday, Feb. 15, and to his funeral on Saturday, Feb. 16 to to show him their last respects and love. We are deeply grateful to the many people who made generous contributions to the costs of the funeral, and thereby contributed to make this a solemn and dignified farewell to our beloved father and brother. Also our sincere thanks to the Appalachian News Express, which has provided excellent coverage of Mayfields Boxing Gym over the years, and which we hope will continue to do so when it is continued in Mayfields spirit by his close friends. Elizabeth (DeeDee) Christensen

Roger Ford

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Are we sustainable?
The crossroads at which Appalachia finds itself also presents challenges that beg the question: Are we sustainable? The definition of sustainability may depend on the individual; however, in the purest sense of the idea of being sustainable one finds it simply defined as the ability to maintain. That which is sustained (or maintained) can be many things: Our culture; our identity; our industry; our way of life. All are things worth sustaining obviously. However, in many ways, environmental extremists have hijacked this term and used it as a political weapon to attack anything or anyone they perceive as detrimental to their agenda. These radicals prefer to simply advocate for an extreme agenda, without any realistic plan, that moves us forward in a positive and productive fashion in short, an agenda or plan that sustains us as a community or a region. Their agenda is a retrograde agenda that would see us using box fans and wet sheets for airconditioning and whcih would close every coal mine and cap every natural gas well that produces resources for energy production. They use it as a weapon against the perceived injustices from coal companies, natural gas producers, or any industry that gets in the way of their pre-determined notion of social justice or perceived social ills. Frankly, I like my air conditioning and respect every person that goes to work to mine coal and that helps drill more natural gas wells. And, what I resent are those who seek to co-opt a word or phrase in the name of sustainability or being sustainable without any forethought that what they actually arent doing is sustaining or maintaining, let alone improving, anything in our region. Therefore, radical groups that proffer themselves as the purveyors of the sustainability agenda arent really for sustainability but for regression. My hope is that we can emulate the efforts under way in Williamson, W.Va., where a true sustainable agenda is taking place. Those launching this effort under the banner Sustainable Williamson appreciate and support coal and natural gas and our culture, because they are people just like you and me, who have grown up in Appalachia and appreciate our way of life and they want to sustain that for future generations. However, they also recognize that we must work together and develop a strategy that moves us beyond the single-industry economy and lays the groundwork for a new paradigm that strengthens coal and natural gas, but also incorporates new energy development, while also building a stronger community in general terms from healthcare to education. All of Appalachia must rethink our vision to create good paying jobs and demonstrate ways to retain wealth within the local economy. I would encourage giving Sustainable Williamson a close examination, because I am proud to say I have and its the future of how we need to think in Appalachia working together to build an stronger, sustainable community that moves us forward from healthcare to energy to education.

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Author explains his actions

Some concern has been raised over my use of actual area names in my recentlypublished novel Ever ything Important Happens on a Hillside. Please allow me to explain. Although the names of the characters in the book are those of actual people from the towns of Pikeville, Prestonsburg and Paintsville, Ky., the three towns Ive lived in for most of my life, they are neither disguised satirical portraits of the actual people nor modeled after them. Characters in a book are sometims hard to name because most names already have associated qualities that define the character at the onset. For instance, a fictional name like Jack Bingham has to belong to an architect or an insurance agent; in no way can he be a countr y music star or a politician. And names like Jill Randolph sound phony, but lots of writers cant do any better. In other words, the right name, especially in a novel, is a hard choice. During the first draft of my novel, I used a womans first name that I had

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