The Change on the Clinch rally was held last Thursday in Cleveland on behalf of Congressional candidate Joy Powers.
The event, which included music by the Clinch River Pickers, featured speakers Dr. Amy Branson and former Cleveland mayor Jennifer Chumbley.
Branson, a pharmacist, spoke primarily about health care in Southwest Virginia.
“Southwest Virginia has been forgotten and we deserve better,” Branson said. Referring to Ballad Health’s control of all the area hospitals, she added, “Our merged health care system is not doing what it is supposed to do.”
Branson said most area hospitals are stand alone emergency rooms. “That’s not health care.”
She said she looked through the bills introduced by current Ninth District Congressman Morgan Griffith in order to determine if he ever brought up the matter before Congress. “I didn’t find (crap),” she said.
Making an appeal to conservatives, Branson added, “I’m not asking you to vote Democrat or Republican. I’m not asking you to vote red or blue. Just try somebody new.”
Chumbley, who served two terms as Cleveland’s mayor, spoke on a variety of issues, including tourism, support for local businesses, economic development, and the proposed data center at the former Moss 3 coal site.
“We have to create reasons for people to come to our community,” she said regarding tourism.
At the heart of rural communities are small businesses. Chumbley said while most of the focus is on attracting big businesses to the area, mom-and-pop businesses still matter.
“Businesses that hire three to five people – they matter,” Chumbley said. She added that government needs to find a way to support the businesses already in Russell County and help them grow.
She said this was especially important as larger industries have a proven record of coming to Russell County and then leaving empty shell buildings behind in a few years.
Chumbley, who was among the leaders in the fight against a proposed mega-landfill, said of the proposed data center, “We are facing a challenge again.”
She said the people deserve to know more about the landfill than what has been released thus far. She said she wants to know what impact the data center will have on the environment as well as how many local jobs will be created.
