Published: May 12, 2008 09:36 pm         

Our Readers Speak - Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Attack on ‘real’ miners was mean, distasteful



Mr. Hudson must have been having a moondream the other day. I assume that he is a non-union strip miner riding to the rescue because those union “real miners” of yesterday cobbled up the land and the underlying coal so badly that now it must be strip mined by him and his buddies. At least, that’s how it sounded in his March 16 missive, “Coal Article is Refreshing.”

His attack on Julia Bonds’ father and grandfather as coal miners was mean-spirited and distasteful and it implied so much more. My father was one of those miners of yesterday — a “real” union coal miner for 53 years — when coal mining was an honorable profession.

It seems to me that this particular letter by Mr. Hudson was an attack on coal mine engineers of years ago, an attack on the company’s bosses of years ago, and an attack on union laborers (of years ago). And maybe, just maybe, he was implying that deep miners of today are butchering up the land just as the miners that came before them supposedly did.

Hudson also says (in addition to his statement about those miners of yesterday) that “most of the coal we strip can never be deep mined” (referring to the thinner coal seams). I reckon that the 11-foot five-block coal seam would qualify as a thin seam as would the 10-foot Dorothy seam and the six-foot Stockton seam (thickness measured by C. Krebs in his Geological Survey of Raleigh County).

The truth is that mountaintop strip mining is easier on the company’s pocketbook than is deep mining.

Telling the truth these days is a revolutionary act. Telling falsehoods is more acceptable to some people. And it’s easier!

Maybe one day he’ll take up thinking.



Richard A. Bradford

Edwight



History contains some great nonwhite leaders



This letter goes in response to the letter in Our Readers Speak on April 14, titled “Nonwhite leaders don’t help other countries” written by Jerry Matheny in Hinton.

You’re right, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and mine is that you are far wrong. As my mother read your letter out loud, I felt disgusted. Do you know how many great nonwhite leaders there are? You liked to especially point out Africa; well, guess what? We stole and destroyed African societies; guess why they can’t get in a good shape, us the white people. It’s our fault what happened to them, and you are going to blame them for it?

Look at the Egyptian society. Easily acknowledged as one of the greatest societies in human history. They were far from white. They had the largest population of their time, and kept it in one functioning society. The Mayans from Central America are definitely not white. They were some of the best people in their time. They invented a calendar very similar to the ones everyone uses today. They built great cities and expanded their culture vastly; they had great leaders.

Another great society was in South America, the Inca. They had a population and growing society that was magnificent. They controlled everything in west South America. Their leaders were so great that they had a working system of roads and routes. They could keep their entire society under one rule because they made these intelligent systems of routes and government stops. Not many societies at the time had such an intelligent system of a working society.

One ruler I like to look at comes from the Middle East. His name was Askia Toure, king of Songhaw (1493-1529). Askia Toure united the entire central region of the Western Sudan, and established a governmental machine that is still revered today for its detail and efficiency. He divided his country into provinces, each with a professional administrator as governor, and ruled each fairly and uniformly through a staff of distinguished legal experts and judges.

Sounds like a familiar government system. All I’m saying is that a leader can’t be judged if they are good or not based on religion, race, gender or ethnicity. They should be judged on what they do as a leader and what their opinions are on important issues. Think about it: A 15-year-old came up with this argument to challenge your racist statement. Racism should be a thing of the past; your opinions are old and should be frowned upon.



Savannah Halverson

Shady Spring