Morgantown Atheists » Community

Our Rail Trail! August 15: First Cleaning

Neece — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:07:20 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: DATE CHANGE TO THE 15th!

Everything is moving forward with our Adopt a Trail program! After our regular meeting August 15, we’ll go to Hazel Ruby Park together and clean up the trail for the first time. If you can’t make the regular meeting but want to help out, I suggest calling one of us ahead of time to figure out when we’re heading over. (Rough guess? Around 7pm-ish)

We have adopted the first half mile of the Decker’s Creek Rail Trail.

Please comment below if you plan on coming along to help out. The trail is relatively clean so it won’t be hard. It would be great if you could wear your Good Without God shirts, too. We’ll get a group picture.

Don’t forget to bring gloves!

Any questions, just email me.

If the weather is poor, we’ll reschedule. Stay tuned to this post for any change of plans, email me, or call me (Neece)

at 304-449-4664 for last minute information. This is my home number. If someone can volunteer their cell for people to call at the meeting, please let me know! Butch and I don’t really have a cell phone. (I know, we’re Luddites)

We’d love your support and help!

Our Adopt a Trail

Neece — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:29:44 +0000

Here is the Rail Trail we’re going to adopt. If you have any suggestions or ideas feel free to call, email me, or leave a comment below. I’d love it if you’d let me know that we can count on you to help us when we go out to clean the trail.

Once our application is approved (it’s been sent in), we’ll schedule our first cleanup for right after a meeting. I’ll keep you posted as to when that will be.

Here’s a Map:

View Larger Map

This is Hazel Ruby Park, basically behind Wings Ole’ and under the Westover Bridge. This is close to where the trail head is.

Decker’s Creek Trail head. This is where we’ll start. We are adopting 1/2 mile

Along the trail. It’s quite level and relatively clean.

There’s a dog park along the way.

Another view.

The guys at the end of our One Mile.

It was hot out!

Adopt a Spot or Adopt a Trail

Neece — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:21:28 +0000

Hey everyone!

~UPDATE: See full post for an update on the trail that is available in the city, on Decker Creek trail.
~Update 2: Let’s go check out the trail on Sunday. If you want to bike the trail with Butch and I, that would be great. It will be a leisurely bike ride (or maybe a walk if everyone wants to do that instead), around 11 am. Here is a Facebook Event for it. We need a meeting place (someone in Motown needs to decide the best place to meet). Email me for details or join the FB event.

Yesterday we went to Gerald’s 4 spots on Rte 7 (Earl Core Rd) and verified that the stretch of road the spots are in are already adopted. So Butch and I went a bit further (past Greer) and found 2 other spots, one which we prefer (because it’s a bit bigger and looks nicer, ie: better view and safer looking with more room for us to be on the side).

Here are 4 pictures of the one we liked, along with a map and Google Map street view. As you can see in one of the pictures, there’s trash there, so it needs a bit of attention. The image of the grass just shows, from the spot, the creek within easy walking distance:

Here’s the Google Map:

View My Saved Places in a larger map

Now, as I mentioned at our meeting last night, Butch noticed a sign on the Rail Trail down at Prickett’s Fort that there is an Adopt a Trail program! I am in contact with someone from Mon River Trails Conservancy and will hopefully have more details to add here soon. It’s the same basic program as Adopting a Road or Spot, but we’d be doing a trail instead.

~Update: There is a 2.5 mile stretch available in city limits, which would be ideal. We don’t have to take the whole thing. We can take just a mile if we want. The stretch available is on the Decker Creek Trail from Hazel Ruby Park to Marilla Park. Here is the updated map:

View Larger Map

Pros of the Adopt a Trail program: (feel free to contribute to the pros and cons list of either the Spot or the Trail)

It’s longer than a Spot so we’d probably get 2 signs, one at each end.
The signs are quite noticeable to people on the trail because they are on bikes or on foot, hence not going extremely fast like on the road.
Probably less litter than a state road.
Our audience would be more into fitness and nature, both things I think a lot of us care about (especially nature)
The rail trails get a lot of foot and bike traffic, even in Marion County. I imagine they get even more in Mon County.

Cons of the Adopt a Trail program:

We’ll have to adopt about a mile of trail

Pros of the Adopt a Spot program:

It’s small so shouldn’t take long to clean

Cons of the Adopt a Spot program:

It’s small and we have no idea how many people will even notice the sign off the road at the spot, or how many people in a year actually ever stop there

Help Pick Our Adopt-A-Spot

Neece — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:44:02 +0000

Gerald has found four “spots” along Earl Core Rd. that look promising for us to choose from. While it would be nice to adopt a road, we have been unsuccessful in finding a two mile stretch that isn’t dangerous and therefore unsuitable. Our next best option is to Adopt a Spot which is a right-of-way on a state road, 1/4 mile long or less.

Here are Gerald’s directions: Pioneer Rocks is along Earl Core Rd. Earl Core Rd. is the road that goes through Sabraton, but this is going along it in the other direction. Instead of going through Sabraton, go towards where the Comcast office is (along Earl Core Rd and Summer School Rd, which is the one going up the hill next to the Comcast office). Continue along Earl Core Rd., through Dellslow, for about a mile. After about a mile, you will cross a two lane bridge that goes over Decker’s Creek. The first left after you cross the bride is Tyrone Rd, where the Botanical Gardens are located. Stay on Earl Core Rd. and continue going up the hill to the first spot. They are all on your right.

Gerald tried to pick wide places, since people speed on that road. All these spots along Decker’s Creek are between the entrance to Tyrone Rd. and Greer Limestone.

SPOT 1: The first spot is the fourth pull over spot. I like it because there is a path down to the creek:

SPOT 2: The second spot is at the top of the hill. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but there is a large rock on the hillside that you can see when coming up the hill. You can’t really see much of it in the picture or when you are standing at the spot, but it does have a nice view looking down the hill at the creek:

SPOT 3: The third spot is near address 4371 Earl Core Rd. There is a bit of a washed out path leading down to the creek and there are some nice large boulders to look at from there:

SPOT 4: The fourth spot is on very close to the creek. It is across from a gravel road with a cattle gate on it. There are a couple more spots similar to this one:

Hopefully this helps us to determine if we want to chose one of these. One good thing about them is that Gerald saw no litter, so they are pretty clean. Also, being along the creek and the hillside, it is cool in some of the spots.

Here’s a link to a map that shows Earl Core Rd from Tyrone to the third spot, just to give you a rough idea of where things are.

The next step is to get GPS locations for the spots and to choose which one we like. Please vote in the sidebar and leave comments here with any thoughts or ideas about the spots. Also, if you have other spots that you think are better or worth looking at, comment or email Neece with pictures, GPS locations, directions, etc.

May 6: National Day of Reason

Neece — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:35:17 +0000

The first Thursday in May, which is May 6 this year, is the National Day of Prayer. To counter that egregious violation of the separation of church and state, freethinkers of all sorts celebrate the National Day of Reason.

~Update: We had a great time! We had so many people come that we had to go find more chairs. The talk was quite interesting and the discussion was lively.

Morgantown Day of Reason 2010
Madeleines Restaurant, back room
Social 6-7
Dinner and Reason Lecture 7-8:30
Meals with drinks $15 (4 choices)
Beer,wine on your own

Lecture by Philosophy Professor Andy Pintus on Reason, Reasoning and the History of Reason. Discussion will follow.

A short presentation on Unreason will be given by a surprise speaker before the lecture.

There’s also an official site where you can endorse reason by adding your name to the list, post an event, read about why we want a National Day of Reason, and more.

Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.

FFRF celebrates National Day of Prayer Victory:

It’s not every day that the president of the United States gets enjoined — prohibited by judicial order from a certain action — but it happened on April 15, 2010.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb decided in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in a ruling that the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer and requiring a National Day of Prayer proclamation by the president violates the establishment clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment.

In her ruling, Judge Crabb wrote: “The same law that prohibits the government from declaring a National Day of Prayer also prohibits it from declaring a National Day of Blasphemy.”

Unfortunately, Obama is still going to declare a proclamation for the National Day of Prayer this year, I think.

Good Without God

Neece — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:42:03 +0000

Stay Tuned for updates on our Good Without God campaign. We have changed gears after some good discussion. We’ve decided to

Adopt a Spot: please help pick the spot. Vote in the sidebar and see the spots and discuss here.
Collect soda pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House: start collecting tabs now! I have collection “houses” to give you so you can get your coworkers and housemates to participate as well.

This campaign is now a Morgantown Atheists program. At the request of some members, I have expanded the line of shirts (and other products like mugs and hats) available. Here are just a few. Go here to see all the Morgantown CoR stuff, here for Morgantown Atheists stuff.

Light Apparel	American Apparel Dark	Ladies Baby Doll
Light Apparel	Ladies Petite Dark	Edun Live Unisex

Here is the first post: Our Secular Service Endeavor

And here is the follow up with major changes: Good Without God, Take Two

And here is the post titled Help Pick Our “Adopt-A-Spot”

Our Secular Service Endeavor

Neece — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:20:36 +0000

Our Secular Service Endeavor is now called “Good Without God” and has it’s own page: Good Without God.

Update: We chose our worthy charity at our Spring Equinox Celebration (see the pictures of our Nature Walk on the farm)! The overwhelming vote was for the West Virginia Botanic Garden.

Here is their Mission Statement: The West Virginia Botanic Garden (WVBG), in harmony with nature, seeks to enhance the quality of life through public enjoyment and education involving inspirational landscapes and displays of a rich variety of ornamental plants appropriate to the region.

Morgantown Atheists is hosting this endeavor, but we will donate our Service in the name of Morgantown Coalition of Reason. So if you are a Morgantown Bright, a UU member, or a member of any of the other Morgantown CoR groups, please consider joining us for this worthwhile ongoing project.

Update: Sunday April 11 from 2-4 pm at the WVBG is Volunteer Orientation. If possible, please come and learn about how the Morgantown CoR can best help the Botanic Garden. (map and directions)

We designed a shirt for all of us to wear. I ordered one for everyone that told me their size. If you didn’t write your name down you can order a shirt here.

I talked to Erin the Volunteer Coordinator and she seems excited to meet us and have our help. Here is the newsletter I received from her:

Happy Spring everyone!

I’m writing to invite you to the Volunteer Orientation to be held at
the West Virginia Botanic Garden on April 11, 2010 from 2-4 pm. At this
orientation, you will:

- Learn about the history of the WVBG, as well as what’s currently in the works

- Hear about new updates to the volunteer program, including new opportunities
- Receive your copy of the new Volunteer Handbook
- Enjoy a tour of the Botanic Garden
- Enjoy light refreshments
- Meet other like-minded people interested in lending a hand at the WVBG

Please RSVP by April 6th if you plan to attend. Erin@wvbg.org or 304-594-0153

So that we get an accurate number of Morgantown CoR representatives, please RSVP with Neece or in the comments below and I will let Erin know on April 6th how many of us to expect.

See below for brief descriptions of some of the volunteer positions
available.

I thank you for your interest in the West Virginia Botanic Garden, and
I look forward to seeing you soon!

Erin

Erin Himmel
Volunteer Coordinator & Education Director
West Virginia Botanic Garden
Erin@wvbg.org
www.wvbg.org

Come Grow With Us!

~ Position Descriptions:

Site Projects

Gardening- on scheduled work days, assist with preparing, planting, or transplanting in new or existing gardens.

Site Maintenance- on scheduled work days or in other times of need, assist with trail clearing, invasive plant removal, and other hands-on projects.

Garden Keeper- a dedicated group of individuals that share the upkeep responsibility of one of the gardens or garden beds (training and time commitment required).

Educational Programs, Workshops, etc.

Educational Walk Leader- lead a walk in your area of expertise related to natural or cultural history at the WVBG. Scheduled for a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon during the warmer months.

Group Tour Leader- lead a tour at the WVBG for a special group. Topics covered and time (start time and duration) may be partially determined by the group (training required).

Workshop Leader- Share your knowledge and teach a skill in your area of expertise to workshop participants.

Education/Interpretation Docent- Learn the skills and techniques to develop an effective education or interpretation program, then design and deliver your program at the WVBG (training and time commitment required).

Event Planning

Event Volunteer- Help with event planning, lend a hand at the event, or do both.

Public Relations

Botanic Garden Host- Greet visitors to the site on weekends, provide them with information and orientation.

Public Relations Volunteer – Publicize what’s planned and happening at the WVBG utilizing many types of media.

Fund-raising and Grant writing

Fund raising volunteer- Help obtain donations of products, services and money for WVBG needs and assist with fund-raising events.

Grant writer – Research grant opportunities and assist in drafting grant applications.

Our Friends In Charleston Are Going To Dance For Diversity

Neece — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:02:55 +0000

See the video! It’s awesome!

As you have probably heard, Phelps and his crazy hatemongers are descending on Charleston April 8-10 to spread their hatefilled nonsense. Covenant House wants to take the opportunity to “celebrate the inclusiveness of our community,” said Amy Weintraub, the executive director. “There are a lot of people who really do celebrate the diversity of Charleston and are willing to do so publicly.” They are going to have a choreographed flash mob dance with signs to counter the Westboro Baptists’ hate.
The dance is meant to show the city’s acceptance of all races and religions in contradiction to Westboro’s message.
And the WV Atheists have offered to join them. Covenant House has accepted. Here is their Facebook Event.

UPDATE: See below for Charleston and Wheeling protest schedule.

UPDATE 2: They will picket the mine disaster! See below.

The controversial church, led by pastor Fred Phelps, is known for rallying against gays, Jews, Catholics and Mennonites. It plans to also protest outside the Temple Israel, the B’nai Jacob Synagogue and the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Charleston, the capital of West Virginia.

The group is also scheduled to picket outside Charleston Catholic High School, but Principal Debora Sullivan said it would be pointless because the students will be on their Easter break.

Westboro, which travels across North America holding these protests, is not affiliated with any other Baptist church.

To counter Westboro’s picket signs that read “God Hates Obama” or “God Hates the USA,” 22-year-old student Mona Mayes is planning a secondary protest with such satirical signs as “God Hates Twitter.” More than 100 people have joined her Facebook group.

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce is also making signs and distributing them freely to people who object to Westboro’s presence in Charleston. They are encouraged to display the signs in their front yard or window to show support for the local community.

So let’s support our Charleston compatriots! Have fun and be safe.

The Westboro Baptists’ schedule for Charleston and Wheeling:

April 8, Charleston, WV

10:00 am: Raleigh County worship of mining disaster, specific location not specified.
4:20 – 4:50 pm: West Virginia Capitol Complex 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E
5:00 – 5:30 pm: University of Charleston 2300 MacCorkle Ave. SE

April 9, Charleston, WV

7:15 – 7:45 am: Charleston Catholic High School 1033 Virginia St. East
8:45 – 9:15 am: West Virginia Department of Education 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East
April 10, Charleston, WV
8:30 – 9:00 am: Congregation B’nai Jacob 1599 Virginia St. E
10:00 – 10:30 am: Temple Israel 2312 Kanawha Blvd. E

April 9, Whitesville, WV

9:30 – 10:00 am: Performance Coal Company Coal River Road WBC to picket the Performance Coal Company, sight of the mine explosion

April 10, Wheeling, WV

4:00 – 4:30 pm: St. Michael’s Church 1225 National Rd.
5:00 – 5:30 pm: St. Alphonsus Church 2111 Market St.
5:40 – 6:00 pm: St. Joseph’s Cathedral 1300 E off St.
6:15 – 6:45 pm: Wheeling Jesuit University 316 Washington Ave.

April 11, Charleston, WV

8:30 – 9:00 am: Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart 1032 Virginia St. E
10:00 – 10:30 am: Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart 1032 Virginia St. E

Resources:

NowPublic Report
Covenant House Event
A fabulous flier idea to counter godhatesfags (shown above)
WBOY
WV Atheists Group

Talk To An Atheist on Atheist Hotline

Neece — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:02:08 +0000

For some time we’ve been working behind the scenes on a way for atheists and people questioning their faith to talk to someone who can give some friendly atheist advice. We have started a voice mail system, an email address and a website called Atheist Hotline!

Ways to Contact Us:

You can call, email or post a question on the site now. The phone number is to a voice mail system. We are volunteering this service so we will get back to you as soon as we can. Leave your email address if you call, too please. It will be easiest for us to get back to you by email.

Our Goals:

Let atheists know they are not alone
Clear up common misconceptions about atheists in general
Provide people with information resources when needed
Personal experiences from atheists to help you with your perspective
Carefully helping people who are questioning their faith – in need of reason, etc.
Carefully helping atheists who have troubles with their family
Offering moral support to atheists and people questioning their faith
Friendly advice from atheists

What we’re NOT:

Faith crisis hotline
Not giving out therapeutic advice
Not a debate hotline
Not a confessional
Not a dating service
We are NOT professionals!
- Anything you say is not under client professional privilege. If you say something criminal, we will alert the police.
- We are not legally qualified in any way to give therapy. We are not claiming to do so. We are here only to give friendly advice or information.
- Anything you do based on information you get through AH is 100% your responsibility.

Here are the Disclaimer and Terms of Service:

By contacting us through email, voice mail or AtheistHotline.com, you state you have read these Terms of Service and agree to them.
Atheist Hotline is provided for informational, educational, fun and amusement purposes only; is not intended to diagnose or treat any person; and is not intended to constitute professional therapeutic advice. While care has been taken in the preparation of the information contained on Atheist Hotline, all information is provided on an “as is” basis without any representation, warranty or condition, whether express or implied, statutory or otherwise, as to: quality; accuracy; completeness; legality; reliability; efficacy; or fitness for any particular purpose. Anyone using this information does so at his or her own risk, and by using such information agrees to indemnify Atheist Hotline and its content providers from any and all liability, loss, injury, damages, costs and expenses (including legal fees and expenses) arising from such person’s use of the information and resources on this website. Anyone who is in any type of crisis should call 911 now and receive help from trained mental heath professionals.

Ideas About Atheist Groups

Neece — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:52:11 +0000

As you may know, I’m the co-cat herder (co-director) of Morgantown Atheists. I’m also the coordinator for Morgantown Coalition of Reason, an umbrella organization that encompasses Morgantown Atheists and other local groups so that we can work together in the name of Reason.

The funny thing is, I’m not really a people person. Like a lot of atheists (supposedly), I’m quite an outsider, as much of a hermit as I can get away with, in fact. I have never liked going out in crowds or socializing with large groups of people.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I have realized something that I want to share with you. Even though I’m a curmudgeonly hermit-y atheist, I love going to the 3 atheist/freethinker meetings we have every month. That’s 3 Sundays a month where I happily leave the house and go socialize with a small group of people. And I look forward to it. The one or 2 Sundays where we don’t meet I miss it.

Even people like me benefit from social community and contact. The beauty of the atheist/freethinker community is that we are relatively like-minded. We have a foundation of common ground. But we are also quite different, of course, which is good because that makes things interesting. The added bonus of freethinkers, skeptics and atheists is that we seem relatively level-headed and we argue and discuss matters with interest and fairness. No drama llama is invited! So it’s actually fun and mentally stimulating.

I think we all need some type of community, which is one thing that religion has in its favor that being a lone atheist does not.

But this is easily remedied. I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to get involved with a secular group of like-minded people. If none exist in your area, you can start one up.

Tips For Finding A Local Atheist/Humanist/Freethinker/Skeptical Community

1. Do a local Google search on the type of group you’re interested in. They may have a Yahoo, Google or Facebook group, or other page set up, or a website devoted to their activities.

2. Go to your favorite organizations and see if they have local chapters, or a list of local groups associated with them. Examples would be CFI, American Atheists, AHA, UnitedCoR, SCA, etc.

3. Look in your local paper, either online or in print. We have our meetings listed in the Today section of the paper, as well as a general entry in the church section (which is really more for a laugh than anyone looking there for an atheist group, I think)

4. Visit the library or local coffee shops for possible fliers on the bulletin boards.

Once you’ve seen that no local groups exist, or you find that you aren’t interested in what’s available, it’s time to start your own.

Tips For Starting A Local Atheist/Humanist/Freethinker/Skeptical Community

1. Start a local yahoo group, Google group, and/0r Facebook group. If you are sure of the name you want your group to have, you can get a domain name and set up a blog or website for the group you are forming.

I recommend a WordPress blog that pings to many different listing sites. This gets you into Google and other search engines much faster than a plain old website, in the easiest way.

2. Go to your favorite organizations and see if they offer any tips on starting a local chapter. Examples would be CFI, American Atheists, AHA, UnitedCoR, SCA, Atheist Nexus, etc.

3. Set a date, time and place for the first meeting. Also have a topic or agenda to talk about. For the first meeting, your location can be the library or a comfortable coffee shop. Provide directions to the meeting clearly in whatever web presence you’ve chosen.

4. Set up a Gmail email so people can contact you with questions. Or set up an email address associated with your domain name.

5. Contact your local paper. Look for a contact for the Today section, or something similar. Be friendly and polite and see if they will list your local meeting.

6. Create fliers (they don’t have to be big or fancy) and put them in the local coffee shops, the library, and any other places you can think of. If you created a group somewhere online, make sure to share that on the flier so people can read more, as well as your new email address so they can ask questions.

Also post to any groups you’ve created on Facebook, Yahoo or Google groups. Spread the word!

7. Show up to the meeting about 10 or 15 minutes early. I carry a tote bag that identifies me as an atheist (one of my Sir Lee Tees designs, a positive atheism message) to help people I haven’t met yet find me in the location. You can do something else to identify yourself to make it easier and more comfortable to people who will need to approach you. Or if you meet at the library, put up a sign in the room you are in, etc.

Expect the first meetings to be small. Maybe get a friend to sit with you for a half hour to see if anyone shows up. For Morgantown Atheists, there were quite a few meetings that were just the original founders and no one else. But with lots of messages on Atheist Nexus and other areas, it has grown to quite a dynamic little group that meets 3 times a month and now will have an ongoing Secular Service project.

8. Have some flexible goals in mind for the direction you want your group to go in. My experience is that these small communities sort of take on a life of their own, but having some ideas to start off with can at least give you confidence, as well as help others to decide if they want to come to a meeting.

~ So that should get you started. If you are interested in finding our starting a group, or if you do start one and want some more ideas, let me know! We can brainstorm, as I’m always looking for new ideas for my groups.

Cross-posted by Neece from Heaving Dead Cats

Morgantown Atheists » Community

Our Rail Trail! August 15: First Cleaning

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Our Adopt a Trail

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Adopt a Spot or Adopt a Trail

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Help Pick Our Adopt-A-Spot

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May 6: National Day of Reason

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Good Without God

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Our Secular Service Endeavor

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Our Friends In Charleston Are Going To Dance For Diversity

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Talk To An Atheist on Atheist Hotline

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Ideas About Atheist Groups

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