Thursday, August 31st, 2006

Builder Levy is an accomplished photographer of the West Virginia coal fields, and has generously allowed his writing and photographs to be reprinted here. http://www.builderlevy.com

Pauline was born in 1930 in Stanaford #4 camp near Beckley. At age 10, her family moved to Keith, a coal camp outside of Whitesville. At eleven, to be able to buy things for herself, she had a route in Whitesville, selling the Charleston Daily Mail. During high school she worked as a clerk at the Whitesville Dollar General Store where she remained upon her graduation, eventually becoming the store’s manager. Her husband, whom she married in 1948, was a coal miner and decorated WW II veteran. He had fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was captured and spent five months in a German prisoner of war camp, and survived a fifteen day forced march to Berlin. He died of Black Lung disease in 1991. Pauline and her friend and neighbor, Mary Miller and other residents of Sylvester have been fighting to get Massey Energy to control and limit the amount of coal dust that is constantly coating their homes from its recently expanded Elk Run stoker plant, and uncovered conveyors. Although the Sylvester residents have won some legal battles in court, and forced the coal company to put a protective plastic dome over the coal stockpiles, Elk Run (a Massey subsidiary) continues to operate and expand. Massey has been buying out and buying up every available home near their operation so that they could expand with impunity. Ms. Canterberry said of Massey Energy, “It seems like they want to expand us all out of the “holler” and make it into one big stockpile of coal.”

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