Southwestern Kentucky — Appalachia — is incredibly beautiful country. Green, lush mountains inhabited by lovely, god-fearing, hardworking people who basically have no choice at all but to work in the mines.
On Saturday May 20th another five miners were killed in a blast at Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 in Holmes Mill, KY. Later that day I was asked to go there with reporter Sumi Das.
The closest airport was about two hours away in northeastern Tennessee. The nearest hotel was about 30 minutes away from the mine. There is no cell service in this part of the country. There is simply nothing but mountains.
You could feel a low hanging cloud of sadness in the air as we approached the hamlet of Holmes Mill despite the beautiful weather and scenery. Reporters and satellite trucks were lined up near the entrance to the mine.
We began by speaking to the pastor of the church were loved ones had gathered to hear the awful news. We eventually found our way to the homes of two of the victims. They lived across the street from each other on a mountainside. We interviewed Thomas Paris’ wife and her brother. She had known her husband since she was 16. The only man she had ever been with, he died on his grandson’s first birthday.
We went back to town to make calls at a general store that had hunting tropheys all over it. Then we headed back to the church. We set up the satellite truck in the parking lot to feed video back to Atlanta. There was no cell service and the satellite trucks satellite phones kept dropping out. I needed a Lan line so I went across the street to a house with two women sitting on the porch.
They were very gracious and let me use their phone. I didn’t have a calling card for work so had to dial collect each time I used the phone. I made calls for the rest of the afternoon probably calling the operator over 75 times. It was a bit of a nightmare but the women on the porch — who were sisters — didn’t mind. I spent the good part of the afternoon there with them and even had government officials calling me back at their house. By the time I left one of them was calling me her boyfriend. They were a little kooky and fun and like everyone I meet on these terrible tragedies, they have a heart of gold.
This makes three of these painful stories I’ve had to cover this year and it’s the same thing every time. The miners are getting screwed by the industry, there is little regard for their safety. To quote Paris Thomas’s brother-in-law, “If they [Congress] had to due the work that we do, you bet there’d be changes.”