Families grieve for 11 men who died in oil spill, victims nearly forgotten amid catastrophe

[sabrina 1]

Families grieve for 11 men who died in oil spill, victims nearly forgotten amid catastrophe

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — This was supposed to be one of the best months of Michelle Jones' life: giving birth to her second son, her husband Gordon at her side.

Instead, she must prepare for the birth without her baby's father.

Gordon Jones, 28, was among the 11 who died when an oil rig exploded April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly two weeks after the tragedy, relatives of the dead have held memorial services, sued rig operator BP-PLC and grappled with waves of grief as the catastrophe plays out on a worldwide stage — with barely a mention of their loved ones' names.

"It seems like people have forgotten," said Michelle Jones, who, at nine months pregnant, will give birth any day.

She and other victims' family members aren't casting blame; they understand the environmental impact is the reason why the spill has gotten so much attention and their loved ones, so little.

These are their names. The article tells a little about who they were and the loved ones left behind:

Stephen Curtis was 40, married and had two teenagers.

Blair Manuel was a 56-year-old engineer from Gonzalez, father of three daughters.

Adam Weise, 24, lived in Yorktown, Texas,

Jason Anderson, a father of two from Texas.

Karl Kleppinger Jr., 38, of Natchez. He was a Gulf War vet and a father of one.

Dewey Revette, 48, of State Line.

Shane Roshto, 22, of Liberty.

Burkeen, 37, of Philadelphia.

Donald Clark 49, of Newellton.

Gordon Jones 29, of Baton Rouge.

Roy Wyatt Kemp 27, of Jonesville.

Their deaths, as the article says, have hardly been mentioned but for their loved ones, their loss is incalculable:

Newly widowed on the brink of new motherhood, Michelle Jones is relying on those who love her.

"I've got a lot of good family and support," she said, taking a deep breath. "It'll be okay someday."

The day her husband left to work for a two week shift, she said she gave him lots of extra hugs and kisses. He got up early and she followed him around the house and to the garage, hugging him. She thought she was just being emotional because she's pregnant.

"I watched him drive away, from the window," she said.

She thinks it was God's way of allowing her to say goodbye.

R.I.P. :cry:

[jody]

1. Individuals always are ignored in catastrophes when people focus on the Big Picture.

Families who bear the full cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan 24/7 all their lives are never acknowledged as We the People go about our normal daily lives and complain about this or that trivial inconvenience.

[sabrina 1]

2. It works too, focusing on the big picture and ignoring the human

cost. I think it has worked so well that people actually are immune to the horrors that are occurring as a result of the actions of the U.S. government.

There is so little outrage over torture, and the ongoing slaughter in Afghanistan, not to mention the over one million dead Iraqis. And people defend it, so it's not as if they don't know. For the government to get away with these atrocities, there has to be a significant amount of support from the public.

Like right now, many progressives are scrambling to excuse the slaughter in Afghanistan, the lack of accountability for torture etc. because now it's their team doing it so it must not hurt as much.

We do have to make a huge effort to remember the actualy people who suffer while we are all being so 'pragmatic'.

[jody]

7. Many wise people have said before, society has lost its moral compass. When that happens evil reigns

[malaise]

3. Very sad

:cry:

[Canuckistanian]

4. Yes, there was a human cost to this tragedy

It's been all but forgotten in all this fuss that people DIED in this "oil spill"

Thanks for the post.

[amborin]

5. K&R

the evidence sadly suggests their tragedy was preventable, and that makes it all the more heartbreaking

[sabrina 1]

9. Like so many others, in Iraq, in Afghanistan

in the Coal mines, people are dying while others profit. There is so little value for life, human or otherwise. The least we can do is keep reminding them of what they'd like to forget, that people matter. Even if they don't think so.

[felinetta]

6. Not everyone has forgotten them. I want to know if there will be a memorial for them like

the one for the coal miners.  It's like they don't want more
attention to this horrific nightmare. Still, they deserve a
memorial as far as I'm concerned.

[sabrina 1]

8. The article says theyre have been private memorials

but nothing about a public one like the one for the Coal Miners. I think that would probably help the families, especially since there's been so little mentioned about them.

It also says that unlike the Coal Miners, who were all from the same area, these men were from several different states.

I'm sure there must be organizations that they belong to though. Hopefully it will happen and it will remind people of the cost of our addiction to oil also.

[RamboLiberal]

10. Thanks for posting this - I have thought about this several times

in fact googling to try to find more info on those who died. It is a shame that the spill has overshadowed their tragic deaths. They should have a memorial. I watched a good part of the memorial to the miners, found it very moving and was actually crying at the end when they lit the lamps on the miner helmets.

[sabrina 1]

11. Yes, there has been little mention of them in the media. This

was the first article I found that gave any information on them, other than '11 workers died'.

I found this at Huffington Post regarding how many workers die each year in the U.S. as a result of sub-standard safety measures in this country for workers. We so badly need a Labor Movement:

Gulf Oil Rig Disaster And Mine Explosion Highlight Weak Safety Regulations

I have here before me a pile of news clips collected over the last couple of weeks describing workers, men and women, young and old who have been crushed, electrocuted, burned, or who have died in falls, trench collapses and forklift accidents. These are the invisible relentless daily tragedies of the American workplace." -- OSHA Administrator David Michaels, April 27

Coal miners and oil drillers may not have been on T.S. Eliot's mind when he penned "The Wasteland," but April was surely the cruelest month for those who work in two of the most dangerous jobs in America. Last month saw the two biggest disasters in those industries in decades, with 29 miners dying in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion on April 5 and 11 workers killed in the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.

I was shocked to see that 5,218 workers died at work in 2008. Regulations haven't been updated in many cases since 1971. The article is shocking and illustrates how Big Business views ordinary people and how the government has allowed them to get away with not providing safe work places for Americans. I used to think they got away with it overseas, but when you buy the government you want, I guess you get away with literally, criminally negligent homicide at the very least.