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The second annual “Country Roads Tailgate Party,” is scheduled for Thursday, August 23, at the Charleston Civic Center.  The object of this event is to bring fans of Marshall and WVU together and get everybody in the proper frame of mind for the upcoming Friends of Coal Bowl.

Coaches Bob Pruett and Don Nehlen will be on hand, along with the mascots and other folks from the two universities.  Mark your calendars and come out for a good time.

There are a number of activities scheduled throughout the next three weeks, leading up to the second Friends of Coal Bowl on September 8, 2007 in Huntington.  Meetings will be held today (Friday) with the Marshall University Athletic Director and his staff to finalize a number of details.

The first real promotional event bringing focus to the Bowl and our sponsorship will be a concert at Appalachian Power Park on Saturday (August 18), featuring some leading country performers.  Friends of Coal and the Friends of Coal Bowl will be a featured part of the day's activities as well as the regional radio advertising promoting the event.  For ticket information contact the Association or WV Radio Corporation.

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At their annual meeting this past weekend the West Virginia Coal Association re-elected Andrew Jordon of Pritchard Mining Company to a second term as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Pritchard Mining is located at Hansford, WV and has operations in Boone and Kanawha Counties.  As indicated by their unanimous election, the members of the Association are thrilled to have Jordon represent them and the coal industry for another year.

Jordon says he is honored to have the opportunity to continue the work that he started during his previous term as Chairman.

“I’m excited to carry on the things that were started this past year in the midst of constant scrutiny and backlash from those who oppose the coal industry,” stated Jordon.

Over 200 area youth between the ages of six and 16 will be at Laidley Field this Saturday, May 26, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to participate in the 12th Annual “Giving Back to the Community” Free Football Camp. Mark Mason, founder of the program, and a 1991 Marshall University defensive player of the year and former all-star linebacker for the Charleston Rocketts, will be directing the charitable football camp.
 
Mason says the purpose of the camp is to provide an opportunity for young people within the community, who may not have the resources, to attend an athletic camp focused on teaching values and providing counseling services.

Did you know that 99% of West Virginia electricity and more than half of American electricity is generated by coal produced in West Virginia? Or that every coal mining job generates between five and six other jobs in the local economy?
 
Last year West Virginia mines produced 158.8 million tons of coal, 2nd only to Wyoming. Of that coal 91.9 million tons were produced in underground mining operations, more than any other state in the U.S.

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Sue Ellen Wooldridge, the 19th-ranking Interior Department official, arrived at her desk in Room 6140 a few months after Inauguration Day 2001. A phone message awaited her.

"This is Dick Cheney," said the man on her voice mail, Wooldridge recalled in an interview. "I understand you are the person handling this Klamath situation. Please call me at -- hmm, I guess I don't know my own number. I'm over at the White House."

Wooldridge wrote off the message as a prank. It was not. Cheney had reached far down the chain of command, on so unexpected a point of vice presidential concern, because he had spotted a political threat arriving on Wooldridge's desk.

In Oregon, a battleground state that the Bush-Cheney ticket had lost by less than half of 1 percent, drought-stricken farmers and ranchers were about to be cut off from the irrigation water that kept their cropland and pastures green. Federal biologists said the Endangered Species Act left the government no choice: The survival of two imperiled species of fish was at stake.

He said he was told by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that if he persisted with his plans on an energy measure, nothing he did in the future would clear the Senate Finance Committee, where Baucus is chairman.

Bunning, R-Ky., later added that this was communicated between the senators' staffs. And Bunning said he communicated to Baucus: "Stuff it."

Normally, the comments would have been available for anyone to hear at Bunning's Web site, where he posts recordings of his weekly press calls.

But the recording of Tuesday's call was edited, and the senator's comments about the threats were taken out.

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Deutsche Bank analyst Mark Lewis told ABC TV the coal industry still has a future, despite a global push towards other cleaner energy.

POUNDING MILL, Va. — Mark McCowan knew he had inhaled a lot of coal dust during 20 years of operating heavy equipment in underground mines in southwest Virginia.

But at 40 years old, he had no symptoms of disease, and a chest X-ray taken eight years earlier had shown nothing amiss.

Plus, a federal law enacted to eliminate coal workers' pneumoconiosis — black lung — had been in effect for more than 35 years.

Yet, after McCowan followed a friend's example and got a second chest X-ray in April 2005, he found he was another example that the nation's commitment to eliminating black lung has been imperfectly fulfilled.

With all the confusion surrounding activities and actions related to SCSR plans, installation and the receipt of ordered units from the manufacturers, we were concerned that members were feeling forced to purchase units that were different from the ones specified in their plans.  Many were concerned that diminished safety would result in having different brands of SCSR's within the same mine and would bring confusion, complicated training and reduced confidence.  Therefore, we suggest the following actions be taken:  Confirm your orders with your manufacturer/supplier and compile your documented communications with them relative to your plan and their estimates for delivery.  Include your history of contact with the supplier that demonstrates your pursuit of getting the units delivered by the dates specified in your plan (probably the dates were given to you by the supplier to begin with). 

Do not "run out" and purchase SCSR's that are different from your plan before calling the Association at 304-342-4153.  Considerable efforts are underway with discussions and conversations occurring among companies, agencies, manufacturers and suppliers in order to rectify the situation in ways that maximize safety and protection.  If you have any questions, please call the Association.

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