Doomed miners wrote letters

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/380192p-322840c.html

Gasping for air and running out of hope, the doomed West Virginia coal miners wrote farewell notes from the dark abyss to their loved ones.

The revelation yesterday was small solace for relatives who were suddenly plunged into mourning after a "tragic miscommunication" that 12 of the 13 miners had been rescued sparked a short-lived celebration.

<snip>

Hatfield said the miners' notes were discovered when rescue crews, drawn by McCloy's moans, found them more than 3,000 feet from the Sago Mine entrance. "They'll go to the families," he said, when asked about their contents.

On edit - further info from MSNBC.

Some of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion left notes behind assuring family members that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said Thursday.

“The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,” said Peggy Cohen, who had been called to a makeshift morgue at a school to identify the body of her father, 59-year-old mining machine operator Fred Ware Jr.

Cohen said a note was not left with Ware’s body, but that she planned to retrieve his personal belongings later Thursday to see if he left one in his lunch box.

But she said the medical examiner told her notes left with several of the bodies all carried a similar message: “Your dad didn’t suffer.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10723450/

[Ezlivin]

1. Probably homo-erotic letters to each other

That's what Pastor Fred Phelps probably believes.

See the discussion here on DU at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=58039&mesg_id=58039

[sweetm2475]

4. Holy JEEBUS!!!! What a sick f*ck!!!!

At first your post threw me off, until I followed the link. Holy CRAP!!!!:puke:

[mom cat]

20. I was about to hit the alert button till I followed the link. Phelps is

as sick as they come.

[Richard D]

5. Somebody should send this asshole . . .

. . . a copy of those studies that shows that homophobes are aroused by gay porn. Yeech. Wish I hadn't opened that site up.

[KamaAina]

14. Just a tad too late for that.

There have been reports for years of Phelps sightings in such gay-friendly areas as SF's lower Polk Street. Like the man said, "Methinks he doth protest too much"...

[wryter2000]

6. What a fucking abomination he is!

Jesus on a trailer hitch! When is God going to smite that asshole?

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. One of these days he will be smoted, smited, smitten, whatever.

And it will be by a god-fearing red-state conservative who is burying his dead soldier son when Phelps shows up.

Any bets?

[xxqqqzme]

11. that just may happen if he shows up for the

miners funerals as he says he will. If he starts in on the miner's survivors, after what they have been through, he just may learn about wrath of god.

[yorkiemommie1]

19. i sure hope so!

phelps, pat robertson are NOT men of God.

[Windy]

13. If he shows up in West Virginia at these funerals he will get his due

No question. These are salt of the earth people and they won't tolerate Phelps and his demented minions.

[katinmn]

16. One would hope, but

Phelps has picketed at Iraq soldiers' funerals, and he survived that. :grr:

[wryter2000]

18. Oh, wow

Wouldn't that be something to see? I'd pay to watch that. :bounce:

[Plaid Adder]

21. Y'all gotta get over Phelps.

It's the same drill every time: any time anything bad happens, Phelps puts out a press release thanking God for it and frothing about how America had it coming because of its gay-loving ways. Every time. Do not bother looking for logic, it has nothing to do with what he does. He just hates humanity and enjoys the pain of others, and this is his way of expressing that. Remember, the guy also pickets the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq, for no reason that makes sense to anyone:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2022802&mesg_id=2022802

Phelps is a lunatic who has latched on to homophobia as a socially acceptable outlet for his all-consuming hatred and as an excuse to inflict pain on grieving people, which seems to be what he most loves to do. In the context of his career, this latest piece of idiotic sadism is meaningless; it's just one more reiteration of the same knee jerk.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Marie26]

22. Oh.my.God

That is the scariest thing I have ever read. I almost hit alert too (for the first time), but it's true - so, yeah, I'm stunned. How dare this group try to co-opt such a tragedy to further their own little hate-filled cause!

[Raine]

28. Repulsive 'human' being

if there is a hell that guy is going to burn in it for eternity. :grr:

[TheWraith]

30. You need to die, Fred.

Man, if there was ever a human being whose greatest contribution to the species would be as fertilizer, it's Fred Phelps. He's living proof of why I think that God doesn't interfere in the affairs of humans. If there really were miracles in the world, old Fred would have been struck by lightning four or five times by now.

[noamnety]

2. They WILL go to the families?

Why aren't they already in the families' hands?

Does the owner of the mine get to scrub them first to make sure there's nothing damaging to him?

[stop the bleeding]

10. Ministry of Truth n/t

[Coastie for Truth]

17. NO!

My Dad was a UMWA (United Mine Workers of America) lawyer - tampering with those letters is practically an open and shut admission of liability for gross negligence on the part of the operator. (The operator has an obligation to provide a "safe place to work.")

BTW - the reason WV flipped into the "Red State" column in 2004 was a concerted effort by the Big Coal operators to knock the Dems off of the WV Supreme Court.

[sweetm2475]

3. OMG that's so sad....

well at least they got the chance to give their families one last goodbye. of course, the best thing for everyone would be if they were in safe working conditions with the proper equipment in the first place and maybe they would still be alive. may they rest in peace.

[Bluerthanblue]

7. bittersweet-

I always envied those families who got to say good-bye to their loved ones on 9/11- somehow the notion that things left unsaid could be said- but I can only imagine what suffocating to death, must have felt like- and how words would seem so impotent, and at the same time invaluable.

How sad- to know they lived long enough to suffer- and how precious that they could say good-bye, and have at least a 'last few words'....

oh how sad...

[Marie26]

23. They were so brave

The miners were able to stay calm, use the breathing gear, and construct a barrier during what must have been overwhelming stress & fear. And they were able to tell their families good-bye. Those families can be very proud of them.

[Bluerthanblue]

26. I can only

imagine being on either end of this, and it breaks my heart-
Especially the raised hopes and devastating reality...-

[ernstbass]

8. My heart goes out to these families

[zann725]

12. This whole thing is tragic beyond words. Dickson-ian is an understatement

These poor familiies...and others after them, who stll go daily into mines UNsafe by recent safety deregulation...thanks to Shrubco! And NO unions. And no other significant work in area. Tragic, Tragic, truly tragic.

[cookiebird]

15. Sorry, and Prayers

I don't trust this story for a minute. WY native, granddaughter of a CM.

[Marie26]

25. Do you think they were just trying to comfort the families? nt

[Javaman]

24. Read about the Cherry Mine disaster of 1909...

Black damp is a horrible thing. It saps the body of oxygen, leaving the impression that you weigh hundreds of more pounds heavier than you actually are as your muscles are starved for oxygen.

One quickly looses consciousness because of the lack of breathable air is cut off to the brain.

Miners that have survived black damp say it's akin to exhaustion. One gets so tired and is unable to focus on the simplest of tasks.

The body loses energy and passes quietly out.

The Cherry Mine disaster of 1909 brought to the forefront of the American Conscious the need of regulations and compensation for the men hurt in the mines and the families that lost loved ones in that mine.

Our workmen's compensation laws came about because of the Cherry Mine tragedy.

Cherry Mine was considered the most modern and most safe at the time. Of course, this was well before unions.

Unions make sense, save lives and save families.

[Hermosa Beach Dem]

27. Well....

....this is so sad. Hopefully the notes will bring some small consolation to the grieving families.

I still can't believe how quickly Gov. Manchin scooted away once the news of the miners' demise was known. Typical for a repuke governor. Borderline criminal behavior if you ask me - he should be charged.

[spinbaby]

29. Joe Manchin is a Democrat

n/t

[Roaming]

31. Phelps is as representative of Christianity as he is of Democrats

He's an evil, quite possibly mentally ill, man. He is a "reverend" of what he calls a "church." (He ran as a Democrat numerous times and helped Al Gore in his run for the presidency.) Beyond a kook, he's an embarrassment to any group he associates himself with.