Post-Herald And Register (Newspaper) - December 12, 1971, Beckley, West Virginia Black Lung Struggle Has Become Immersed In Is No Cure By JANET STAIHAR CRAB ORCHARD AP Buck yond in this the trim hollows be- little chian town Pappa Coleman's wife boiled jars of bean culls in tin canner The old the smoke drifting over automobile hulks rusting in a neighbor's backyard He worked in a deep mine for 33 Mrs Coleman tired voice And got disabled they a battered man eyed said in a when he him down like he's an ol dawg Lewis Pappa Coleman ded glumly Years of cursing coal companies unions poverty and sickness wore down on the We just he said If we didn't try to raise a garden and can what stuff we could by the medical world is incurable Like other miners Coleman contracted it by breathing coal dust day er day What seemed like salvation to why with the price of coal aged miner when a black the cost of overhead we just couldn't eat Hard-pressed though he is some miners also too old or too ill to dig coal think Coleman is lucky He's got black lung days tiding when him the tight bills come due Black lung called rot by the oldtimers and lung compensation program was approved as part of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 has become a sensitive issue belief in by many that the White House is trying to sabotage it by requiring un- realistic physical examinations Coleman 55 is among beneficiaries this year of the controversial Social Security program When he went for his chest X-ray Coleman stood in a row of other miners at Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital Hands thrust deep in their pants pockets and staring vacantly at the floor miners discussed their symptoms with one another outside the X-ray laboratory Their shirts pulled down to the waist bared chests thinned by rugged labor and bellies too fat with starches The men bored and dejected stopped in front of the X-ray machine four pictures clicked for each shuffled on chest to the then they treadmill to wail several must stay over- for blood and breathing tests Most have hours Others night in Beckley returning the next day only to stand in less lines again most of the deep miners have time to burn They're out of work because of the booming strip mining industry or they're too old to go under- ground or they hurt too much to swing a pick An unemployed miner past his prime might hope that tors find he has black lung just bad enough to qualify for al aid Why one miner asked Better black lung than something else which don't pay benefits say black lung kills the air sacs The re- shortage of oxygen ally affects the arteries ing heart trouble Victims can die of other complications as well however Payments to black lung tims range from month for a single miner toj for one with three de- pendents President Nixon staunchly op- posed the program because he felt it was inflationary The White House also felt the lem should be handled through state workmen's compensation networks But Democrats argued that most states had demonstrated they would not pay benefits cording to the miners needs and that black lung costs had been grossly overestimated The Democrats led by Sen Harrison A Williams Jr of New Jersey figured black lung benefits would cost the federal government a maximum of million Republicans insisted it Paratroops Near Dacca By United Press International t Thousands of Indian paratroopers launched an airborne assault on the outskirts of the East Pakistani of Dacca Saturday night A Pakistani man said the Indians had made massive troop ings and the situation On the western front however official Pakistani reports said their troops had overrun Indian positions in the strategic sector leading to the major Kashmir town of Jammu An Indian army spokesman Indicated that forward elements of ground troops now weri within 15 miles of Dacca anc the Indian army commande broadcast an appeal to Pakis tanis to surrender and avoid unnecessary deaths of many o your soldiers Radio Pakistan confirmed i brigade of Indian were dropped north of Dacca in the war's first big airborne assault but the broadcast said the Indians had been either eliminated or badly mauled An official Pakistani spokes man said there were reports that the Indian brigade of abou men had landed 60 miles north of Dacca The also reported massive landings of troops in battle areas He said most of these Strip Mine Report Due On Tuesday The Stanford Research Institute report on strip mining commissioned by the Wesi Virginia Legislature will be presented at 1 p.m Tuesday in a public hearing to bt in the Senate Chamber House of Delegates Speaker Lewis N McManus of Saturday No advance information on the report is available McManus said adding that anyone interested is welcome to attend the meeting Questions will be restricted to members of the Legislature's Joint Com- on Government and Finance Following strenuous con- in the 1971 regular session of the Legislature over the question of strip mine abolition and new regulations for the industry the Joint Committee in May engaged the Stanford Research Institute Menlo Park Calif to make a thorough study of all aspects of the complex surface mining industry and its impact on the state At that time the Institute said it would have a pre- liminary draft of its report ready in November Many of the state's legislators including McManus have said they would await the report before coming to a final position on strip to favor abolition of enforced extensive regulation See story on page 21 for further committee activity Jury Deadlocks OAKLAND Calif CHARLESTON AP Dr Jay Hilay Kelley dean of the West Virginia Uni- School of Mines said coal prices should be doubled to combat pollution Kelley spoke here at the an- meeting of the West jury hearing the third ginia Surface Mining and slaughter trial of Black Panther leader Huey P Newton an- troops had been wiped out but the general situation remains grim The enemy continues to pour in more and more forces into the action and make extensive use of its air the spokesman said adding the Indians were taking advantage of Pakistan's lack of air cover in East Pakistan On the front the spokesman said Pakistani troops continued to advance into Kashmir cial reports said heavy ties were inflicted on Indian forces holding the eastern flank of Indian ments were reported being rushed to the strategic area which could open the way to Jammu BECKLEY 4 Sections SUNDAY 70 Pages VOL 147 BECKLEY WEST VIRGINIA 25801 SUNDA Y MORNING DECEMBER 12 1971 SINGLE COPY Seven In Critical Condition 17 Die In Tunnel Blast By PAUL VARIAN PORT HURON Mich UPI least 17 construction workers died under avalanches of twisted sheet metal and broken concrete Saturday when a natural gas explosion ripped a tunnel being built 250 feet below Lake Huron Seven men were carried from the five-mile long water tunnel in critical condition The remaining 14 of the 38 men who were in the tunnel when the explosion blew at p.m EST managed to walk out under their own power Undersheriff Norman Ludy of the St Clair County sheriff's department who announced the death count said the bodies of the victims would not be brought up from under the lake until the gas was cleared by large exhaust fans from the devastated section of the wide tunnel The families of the dead newsmen I'll be reinforcing sides of t and one-half Oak Hill fire Causes Damage Smouldering rubble is all that remains after fire broke out early Saturday morning on Central Ave in Oak Hill The blaze completely destroyed buildings housing R J Machinery Co and Johnson Construction Co Damages in- machinery were estimated at According to Robert Via of the Oak Hill Volunteer Fire De- the call was answered at Eighteen hours The origin of the blaze is not yet known Aline School Dean Addresses Strippers Kelley Says Double Coal Price So Industry Can Fight Pollution late Saturday it could not reach a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial jury split on whether Newton was guilty of voluntary manslaughter It was the second mistrial in the prosecution against the Panther party who was accused of killing Oakland Police Officer Association He said that by increasing prices The coal industry in the United States could ably do more in reducing air pollution water pollution and solid waste pollution than body else Kelley also said a price in- crease would encourage the re- covery of coal which is now economically unfeasible to mine John on Oct 28 1967 The price of energy in the United States has been under- priced too long and can be viewed as one of the major causes of and therefore environmental he said Kelley termed the mining movement a new cult of environmental and said the push for action by the environmentalists is not where the problem is Other speakers at the day session discussed soil con- servation reclamation niques and federal safety lations At the banquet Saturday night Tra S Jr tor of the West Virginia ment of Natural Resources presented awards to the ing companies for excellent reclamation operations: Coal Inc Bell ing Co Dash Construction Co Douglas Coal Co Cappellari Inc Sewell Coal Co M 0 Construction Co Coals Inc and Princess Susan Coal Co Inc Meanwhile the Citizens to Abolish Strip Mining took the occasion of the Association's annual meeting to present its own awards The mining group named 1971 Stripper of the citing his minded efforts on behalf of the without which strip mining for coal could not con- to double and redouble in West Virginia over the protests of the citizens Reclamation Division Chief Benjamin awarded a Celluloid Pi his the art of in a tunnel is being built his way through to the e elevator shaft water from an intake to and dying construction Some were plant in refusing to talk five miles north of looked like a bomb went and then through an in he said here all night pipeline to Detroit and saw a lot of dead people ig it takes to get southeast Michigan a lot of people seriously erry Nipper 22 It was unbelievable My e men inside of the workmen couldn't believe it were 25 who escaped left it did to the steel concrete into and youngest in that tunnel was e tunnel about beneath the let alone what it alf miles we was standing to the bodies v the next thing I knew I tunnel was part of a 10 he designed to meet the metal you name needs of southeast flying It lasted into the next century for 10 minutes Bob Meese a was completed just three HI OH til S from the village from cavern was among of the rescue workers Explosion Page 2 i vii y man In the Defense Depart a e nt s civilian executive weight has been fel to reform costly many key matters These in buying practices reform of military buy after nearly policies reorganization ol as deputy secretary Pentagon's ponderous ad- and Nixon machinery resolution of the resignation debated Lockheed Corp with deepest dispute reshaping of wrote Nixon a controversial Navy speaking of the plane program to name of your re-election to few not just of the of Defense Melvin but to the entire told Packard in a Dear letter who likes to have led the laze for about himself as being neither to better management known tia of Beckley and he buildings nor a bureaucrat by has clashed on occasion with Secretary of procurement better planning and to equal opportunity accomplishments that I Co and Rogers Sharon John B Connally and administration budget the way for every other American institution there was no A 1 is leaving because of any policy or other differences The Packard personal reasons County women heads letter to workshop Page 13 House press Watch Page 25 L Ziegler said no Health Clinic services has been made on a Page 26 wins tournament is some shall Beckley College easy C Greene the post may go to Page 29 Special Citation Moot the Defense row Whisman faces death Service comptroller and a without legal aid ding contribution expert As Page 38 fictional Of Federal fin 1 1 on Committee AP The ing the funds of t h e against minorities nn Tho SHOPPING DAYS TO CHRISTMAS Vote On Three Resolutions Monday i Debate Ends NATIONS talking Malik said 1967 war and reactivation rejected it as unacceptable that included four of the assembly would reconvene at j the peace mission of Swedish The second of the draft 10 African heads of state who The Middle East debate ended Saturday night after nine days EST Monday when V exhaustive testimony and Egypt arc expected ring There has been no more 50 nations setting to use their right of reply to advance word on what the stage for a General speak prior to the vote Assembly vote Monday on three Israel has promised the Egyptians strong mind for their reply resolutions introduced by made the Middle East trip Rica and Uruguay The thrid resolution special support to delinquency and distributes the federal funds to denied charges leveled in various units of state county Washington last week that anti- and local government in the crime grants are subsidizing Mountain State to fight crime race and sex discrimination funds have generally been A brond front of civil used for new police equipment groups charged Thursday there to give additional training to had been discrimination in police officers and prosecutors selection of persons to and for drug education committees administering the j grams Law Enforcement Dr Harold Neely chairman Administration the state group said the and that many agencies charges leveled in Washington did not apply to the West ginia agency I said three Negroes four women were members of the governor's committee He identified the blacks as field Police Chief Andrew son John Lynch of the Human would be more like lion The GOP price has proven more accurate Benefit payments are ex- to total million this year and by government mate will provide million next year for some ers widows and dependents The haste with which the cial Security Administration set up the compensation program and the fact that Uncle Sam had no prior experience with black lung medical tests tied the program in knots from the start To receive benefits a miner must be physically unable to work in the coal fields due to complicated black lung early lung is not sufficient Perhaps the bitterest flap is over the requirement for ray's If black lung does not show up on the X-rays a er's claim is rejected It takes an expert radiologist with a trained eye to dis- the tiny nodules which denote black lung and critics claim doctors hired by the U.S Public Health Service to read the X-rays are not well versed in how to detect such in some severe cases The administration maintains that only a chest X-ray can between black lung and similar diseases such as chronic bronchitis or sema One arch foe of the X-ray re- is Dr Donald L Rasmusson director of the Lab at the Appalachian Regional Hospital At 43 his freckled face is en- cased in a porcupine flattop and a red beard streaked with gray Peering over a cup of coffee he grumbles X-rays are nonsense In fact all rules in the textbook on black lung are junk The trouble with X-rays is that even experts have a hard time reading the shadows His opinion of breathing tests also used by Social Security in determining black lung is equally Dumb All that proves is the erity of he said I've seen miners with com- plicated cases of black lung walk up and down a flight of steps then breath normally As Dr Rasmussen talked paunchy miner plodded away on a belt apparatus the treadmill Seven minutes saliva blood and ratings recorded on a the man sat down exhausted He was a good candidate for black lung benefits I don't believe in giving erybody with dust retention an said Dr Rasmussen But we bend over backwards to get medical evidence His lab tests ISO claimants a day Otto Triplett another miner whose future rides on the black lung tests began loading coal at 14 Worn out from the ride into town Triplett sat on his porch and rolled himself a cigarette His wife Rose peeled home-grown apples for supper From their hillside house they can watch the huge coal trucks barrel around the curve into Dry Branch Hollow Triplett hasn't loaded coal in a union mine since 1948 I worked years in a coal mine and when they paid into it to get my pension but they beat me out of he aid That girl in the office said I lad to work four more years til I got 20 years in a union mine But the doctors at the un- ion mines said I was too sick to coughin They said I had bronchitis then I got monia I'd work one week Tn be out sick for six The miner now sets roof supports at the non- union Ford Coal Co I work as much as I can If I wasn't workin I don't know what we'd be plumb sunk I couldn't pass those medical tests nowhere else Mrs Triplett a pale woman of 59 glanced at her husband committee too old mines But I think he's entitled to some benefits Social Security pays them a month in old age payments and when he's able Triplett pulls in another a day in the small mine Triplet's doctor I E Buff of Continued on Page 18 Weather Cloudy Colder BECKLEY AND VICINITY Increasing cloudiness and have in: the Jarring mission on both Israel and Egypt to re- renewal of by Barbados also calls for mild today with highs in the and calls reactivation of the Jarring low 50s Cloudy and sion and gives special tonight and Monday with a The temperature tmt to pleasant 73 decrees in Beckley Friday a record high for Dec iff Commission A spokesman at the National Weather Service lit the committee resolutions aimed at a lasting words Monday when The conciliation proposals mem to the African mission chance of snow flurries Motv Abba Ehan is which diplomatic sources say j submitted by a commission of proposals These nn day Low tonight Assembly President Adam to detail his should pass by a heads of African states interim agreement on in the upper Pro Malik of Indonesia adjourned reasons for rejecting an majority in the visited Cairo and Jerusalem j reopening of The Canal of precipitation nor the session shortly after the nation resolution calling for hotly circulated in last Month land the stationing of U N cent today and tonight nml from Cyprus the withdrawal of Israeli troops the Assembly Thursday night The First resolution between the Egyptian per cent rf day's nine speakers from Arab Territory seized in and the Israeli mission sponsored by an and Israeli Details on Page 2 t s McDowell Court Judge Leon Miller on included two of the division of child Archer w high tt 7 weather Crime Funds Page fulfil
