The Tug Valley Mining Institute has scheduled the following guest speakers for meeting this Spring:

April 21, 2011 TVMI Dinner meeting (CEDAR meeting), Harless Community Center, Gilbert, WV. Guest Speaker Kurt Kost, Alpha Natural Resources President. Sponsor, Service Pump Sponsor

May 26, 2011 TVMI Dinner meeting (Scholarship meeting) – Mountaineer Hotel, Williamson, WV. Guest Speaker Stephen J. Kopp, Marshall University President.

The next regular meeting of The Pocahontas Coal Association will be held Thursday, March 24th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at the Princeton Elks Club.

As is tradition during our March meeting, the Pocahontas Coal Association and the Bluefield Daily Telegraph will be presenting the Boys & Girls High School Basketball Player of the Week awards, as well as the Player of the Year awards. As always, please do your best to attend and please bring a guest. Contact Jason Fannin or Rick Taylor at276-623-2914 or 276-698-5317 with questions.

Chris Hamilton will be the guest lecturer for the West Virginia University College of Engineering and Mineral Resources’ Distinguished Lecture Series. The event will be Monday, March 28 at 3 p.m. in the Engineering Sciences Building, Room G102.

CHARLESTON --- Mary Pat Steptoe, wife of Bob Steptoe of the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson, lost her courageous battle with cancer. She died peacefully at home with her entire family. Please remember Bob, their children and all of the Steptoe family members in your prayers.  Arrangement were incomplete at time of release.

AIKEN, SC --- Edward Barnes Leisenring Jr., one-time president of the family’s Westmoreland Coal Company, died March 2 at his winter home in Aiken, S.C. He was 85. Leisenring played a large role in West Virginia’s coal history. He was instrumental in growing Westmoreland Coal to a major West Virginia producer while he also served as Chairman of the National Coal Association. He is survived by his wife, Julia DuPont Bissell, and his children Erica, Edward W. and John Leisenring. (NMA Mining Week)