Communities, Welcome to Fork Ridge, Virginia
“Our children don’t have a choice when they have to breathe coal dust at their schools.” – Carl “Pete” Ramey, veteran and retired coal miner
Friday, October 19th, 2007
My name is Carl “Pete” Ramey. I am 75 years old. I have worked in the coal industry for 37 years from 1949 until retirement in 1985. All of my financial and health benefits have been provided by the coal industry. I have no desire to damage the coal industry. However, I do not want to be damaged by the coal industry.
Due to my fear for the safety and lives of my family, I was forced to move from my home in Roda, Virginia, where I resided for 30 years. Not everyone can move away from the strip mining operations.
Citizens of the coal camps have lived in fear of the blasting that has bombarded our homes with fly rock, flooding, dust and noise. Open silos and thousands of tons of stockpile coal are dumped in different places in our communities, causing a big problem with coal dust. There is an open silo and haul road within about 1000 feet of Appalachia Elementary School. In the past, I have passed the playground at the school and you could barely see the children for all of the dust. I have black lung disease from the years that I worked in a mine, but working there was my choice. Our children don’t have a choice when they have to breathe coal dust at their schools.
Then came August 20, 2004, when Jeremy Davidson, a three-year old boy asleep in his bed, was killed when a boulder was pushed from a strip mine above his home. This tragedy was based upon the cumulative failure of the state of Virginia to take any action upon at least 48 complaints that came from not only the residents of the Inman community, but from other communities such as Roda. A huge gamble was being taken that no one would suffer injury and the Davidson family was the loser in a gamble they had no control over. Other citizens of these communities have not suffered the death of a loved one, but daily they are tormented by the dust, noise and blasting of the mining operation.
I am a patriotic American and I don’t believe it is wrong to say publicly that we shouldn’t sacrifice our homes, health, safety and right to free speech for the coal industry, the economy, or anything else.
Click here to learn more about Fork Ridge, VA and the communities that live nearby.
Story provided by Pete Ramey, a retired coal miner, veteran, and a recipient of the World War II victory medal. This article was originally printed in the Appalachian Voice, December 2004. Photo by Taylor Barnhill provided courtesy of Southwings.
