Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990 TAG: 9003300253
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
Global Exchange's scheduled June 17-25 trip has Appalachian tourism directors angry.
"I suggest that those folks could save a lot of money and get a great dose of Third World reality simply by walking through the barrio in Los Angeles," West Virginia Commerce Commissioner John Brown said Wednesday.
Global Exchange, which has been in business for 1 1/2 years, specializes in "awareness" tours to such countries as Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.
Appalachia will be the agency's first domestic destination.
"What brings a place alive and what makes it so interesting are the people who live there and the problems they're confronting," tour coordinator Laurie Adams said Wednesday. "People would want to see how they are dealing with unemployment and environmental problems."
Adams said Global Exchange participants are usually students, community volunteers or government officials interested in meeting grass-roots activists trying to solve social and environmental problems.
"One of the reasons we focused on Appalachia is there are people working hard to solve their problems," Adams said.
The tentative itinerary includes a visit to a coal mining symposium in Knoxville, Tenn., talks with members of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia in Tennessee and a final stop at the Highlander Education and Research Center in New Market, Tenn.
Adams said she also was considering visiting Camp Solidarity, the former headquarters for union coal miners in West Virginia during the strike against Pittston Coal Group.
Don Wick, director of information for the Tennessee Department of Tourism Development, said he's afraid the tour will reinforce stereotypes. He said the "real South" includes the "sophisticated and prosperous" cities of Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.
"If you're looking for poverty and environmental problems, yes, you can find them in our three states," said Cindy Ford, spokeswoman for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. "But I don't think we have any more problems than any other state."
And Brown said: "If they want to visit West Virginia, they can come for the whitewater rafting or to visit one of our state parks. It might be a chance for them to breathe clean air."
by CNB