20/20 Fri: 'A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains'

[RamboLiberal]

In the hills of Central Appalachia, up winding, mountain roads, is a place where children and families face unthinkable conditions, living without what most Americans take for granted.

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Shawn Grim, 18, an Appalachian high school football superstar, sleeps in his truck to avoid the thievery, alcoholism and despair of his family's life in the hollow in Flat Gap, Ky. During the course of Sawyer's report, Grim moves eight times. He is determined to be the first one in his family to graduate from high school and go to college. Will he be able to achieve his dream of a different life?

Courtney, 12, is one of those children whose face reminds us of the famous portraits of the Appalachian past. Her clothes are stuffed in a suitcase under her bed in the small home she shares with 11 relatives in Inez, Ky. Her mother, Angel, struggles to stay off drugs and hopes to give her four daughters a better life by getting her GED and becoming a teacher. With no car and no public transportation, Angel walks 16 miles roundtrip, four hours total, to her GED class.

Erica, 11, hopes to save her mother's life: "She's almost 50 and… if I don't get her out of this town soon, then she'll probably die any day." Erica and her mother, Mona, live in Cumberland, Ky., a once booming coal town. Mona battles addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, her life ravaged by her struggles and despair. The region has a prescription drug abuse rate twice that of major cities like New York or Miami.

When his girlfriend becomes pregnant, Jeremy, 18, trades his dream of a life as an engineer in the military for a life underground in the coal mines. Sawyer travels down 3½ miles to the dangerous working face of the mine to meet Jeremy and the other men who work nine to 12 hours a day, six days a week, with little sunshine in their daily lives. But despite the safety concerns, it is the best paying job in the region.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=6845770&page=1

[democrat in Tallahassee]

1. Breaking news--poor people in Appalachia. Are we supposed

to be surprised by this? Is the press so out of touch that they don't realize that this isn't exactly news? I grew up in Appalachia in the 60s and 70s and nothing has changed--maybe more people have bathrooms. JFK was our hero because he actually came through the area and talked to us--we got tvs in all our classrooms after that but a lot of kids still had to stay home and work on the farm, tv or no tv.

[EmilyAnne]

2. Breaking news--poor people in the United States.

Still, I think its important that these people are profiled, not because most of us are unaware that there are poor people in our country but rather that we be reminded of what poor actually is.
I think a lot of people don't realize what poverty in this country can look like.

[SharonAnn]

3. The drugs, the alcohol, and the religious claptrap create a codependency that's

pretty unbelievable.

I live in East Tennessee and see enough of it to leave me speechless.

Quotes like "We're independent. I don't want the government telling me what to do." "I didn't finish high school and it didn't hurt me none.".."When I get outta school I wanna draw like my old man. He draws three checks a month." "i can't do that. I'd have to leave here to (go to school), (get a good-paying job), etc.

It's horrible, but there's sometimes a demand for money and services without any responsibility to do what can be done to improve their lives. Sometimes, they just want us to let them live the way they want to live by giving them money and services.

It's really difficult to know what to do. Education and work are two major components of "getting better" and when people won't do either of them, I just don't know what to do.

And yes, I know that not everybody can do these things, but some can and they don't.

A friend of mine is vice-principal at a high school here and says her biggest problem is convincing parents to permit their children to stay in school after 16. Pretty unbelievable.

[Alcibiades]

4. Poor folk are invisible

My mother-in-law is downstairs watching "Real Housewives of Orange County" as I type. I am absolutely certain that a reality TV show based in Appalachia would be far more interesting, but TV types could not endure having to stay in the decrepit roadside motels that are the only public lodging in these sorts of areas.

[Doctor_J]

5. I can't wait to see Stossel's spin on this

"Why don't these people just get jobs and move out of here? I'll tell you why - because Big Government won't let them"

[underpants]

14. That is exactly what O'Reilly said to Dianne Sawyer last night

Of course he was "only generalizing" when he called the lot of them "drunks" and "ignorant"

I saw this last night.

What O'Reilly was saying was what we saw with Obama and Rev.Wright-white guys (I'm one) easily discard those who no longer serve a purpose to them. Wonder why our suicide rate is 3 times any other groups.

[Doctor_J]

6. I used to think unwed mothers were an urban phenomenon

I spent my first 50 years in the suburbs (upper working class), and associated unwed mothers with the inner cities. Noe I live in a rural/small town area, and it's epidemic here. It seems to be a cycle that's difficult to break.

[madmom]

7. I was born there, still have family there it's a very sad situation.

[Doctor_J]

8. Saddest because Appalachia contains a wealth of natural resources

and good people. But the robber barons, plunderers and users have done their best to keep it as a third-world clone. It's what they'd like to do to all of us (or at least the bottom 98%)

[madmom]

9. Exactly, that's why they want to keep them un/under educated!

[Azooz]

10. K & R

[southernyankeebelle]

11. Where is McConnell

Where is McConnell? He should be taking care of these peoples needs. Shame on KY shame.

[twoshadows]

12. I have lived in eastern Kentucky all of my life

There is a small population still in the hills of eastern Kentucky that work hard to make themselves unemployable. They drop out of school as soon as they turn 16, the law needs to be changed to 18, and they get a record of using and/or selling illegal drugs. They even go out of their way to get their children labeled as disabled, either physically or mentally, so that the child will not have to work. All they want is to draw a check, get food stamps, and a medical card. You can not help those that will not work, and the reason they will not work is because their dad, and grandfather would not work. This life is all the children know. You must break the cycle to eliminate the poverty.

[quidam56]

13. Appalachia is being bombed, blasted and bulldozed right into 3rd world America all for GREED.

We can't stand much more of the progress and prosperity of Hannity's America and his Patriotic American Presidebt. STOP THE BOMBING IN APPALACHIA ! http://www.wisecountyissues.com