Community Reeling But Not Beaten
James L. Davis
Perhaps Mayor Hilary Gordon said it best. Reacting to the devastating news that three mine rescuers had lost their lives on Aug. 16 trying to save the six lost miners in Crandall Canyon Mine, she paused for a moment and collected her thoughts.
“We’re reeling,” she said the next morning. “The closest thing I can think of is when you watch a fight on TV and you see a boxer that’s been given a super hard punch and he’s reeling on his feet. We’re reeling, but we’ll get right back up and fight,” she said.
And by the end of that day the community of Emery and Carbon had done just that in the only way that it could. It extended its embrace to include the grieving families of the heroes who gave their lives trying to rescue their lost brothers.
There may be those who did not get the chance to personally know Dale Ray Black, Gary Jensen or Brandon Kimber, but for those who call this area home, they know of the kind of men they were to risk everything to save a fellow coal miner.
While the community was still reeling, mourning and beaten, it tried to find a way to help those hurting. With such a sense of helplessness the community rallied to donate time, money and resources into helping the families with a series of fundraisers.
Some started before the death of the three miners with a fundraiser in Huntington Park where person after person gave in an auction of blankets and quilts, with the proceeds going to the miners’ families.
On Friday, a little more than 24 hours after the death of the three miners, another fundraiser, this one organized by the Huntington Lions Club, took place in the park and at the opening game of the Emery High Spartans football game the community again showed their love and the was lifted up itself by the compassion of the Duchesne community as the Duchesne football team presented a check collected by their community to the miners’ families.
On Sunday another fundraiser at the Price Peace Gardens united everyone toward helping in the only way they could, by giving to those in pain.
The community tried to give something back to those suffering with a thousand little acts of kindness, some seen, some unseen.
And as word from the mountain grew dark, with words of perhaps never being able to find the lost six dampening the hopes of the families, the community still refused to give up.
In Huntington the girls of the Emery High Spartans Volleyball team gathered on Sunday night to give their own little works of kindness to the families. With banners stretched across the patio they painted words of encouragement to display at their opening game on Aug. 21 at Emery High and with their mothers working by their side they created pins and window ribbons to be hung from car rear view mirrors. The ribbons are of purple and yellow, yellow for hope for the six, purple for the fallen heroes. On the pins there are three beads for the fallen rescuers and six beads for the lost miners. They will be sold during their volleyball games and the proceeds given to the miners’ families.
At Tuesday night’s game the team plans on making a special presentation to family members of one of the fallen miners. It is one more example of how the community copes, how it tries to help when there are others suffering. It is one of the defining characteristics of what makes the community what it is.
After more than two weeks the community that has always put aside its differences to help when help is needed continues to do so.
With three having made the ultimate sacrifice and six still lost within a mountain, we are reeling, but we aren’t done fighting.
Accounts Established for Donations to Families
Utah Power Credit Union announced last week that it will be working with the Huntington City Mayor’s office to help coordinate fundraising efforts for the families of the trapped miners and rescue crews in the Crandall Canyon mine.
Utah Power Credit Union will be donating $5,000 to begin fundraising efforts. “These miners are not only our members, they are our friends. They are our community and we will do everything we can to help to support them,” says Kaylene Pearson, Utah Power Credit Union Huntington Branch Manager. You may make donations by calling 800-833-8897.
“We live in a great community. The power plants and the coal companies, that’s what we’re all about,” said Ruth Ann Ekker, assistant branch manager for Utah Power Credit Union in Huntington. “We’re doing this because we want to help.”
The announcement by the credit union is in addition to a fund set up at Zions Bank for the families of the miners. A donation to the Zions Bank Crandall Canyon Family Support Donation can be made by calling 1-800-974-8800 or the Huntington branch at 435-687-2425. Donations can be mailed to the fund at P.O. Box 60, Huntington, UT. 84528.
Event Planned to Help Educate Families
on How to Deal with Common Issues
A broad group of local businesses and community service organizations are working together to bring a night dedicated to the families of the Emery County Community.
Called Families R First, the free family night scheduled for Sept. 12 is the first of what will become an annual event devoted to helping families with training and information on the issues impacting them.
Families R First was mirrored after a similar event in Carbon County, according to Dorothy Carter, a Families R First committee member.
The Sept. 12 family night will take place at Emery High School with a free dinner, catered by Food Ranch Catering, for families from 5:30-6:30 p.m., followed by a breakout session for parents and children beginning at 6:45 p.m. A second breakout session will begin at 7:45 p.m. and run until 8:30 p.m.
Some of the subjects that will be discussed include: What not to do when parenting teens; Taking stress out of discipline; Drug and alcohol identification; Internet safety; and Homework help for parents. There will be sessions for youth as well on subjects such as: Dating 101; Math fund and games; Substance prevention and How to get what you want: Manipulating parents.
According to Carter there will also be structured activities for children ages 2 to 12 and there will be booths and activities for family members to entertain and inform families when they are not in the breakout sessions.
Carter said in planning this event they were able to use many of the lessons learned by Carbon County as organizers there put on their first event. The sessions that will be offered during Families R First came about because of their popularity in Carbon County.
The Families R First committee hopes to have up to 350 family members attend the event.
Sponsors for the Families R First night include the United Way, XTO Energy, DBT, DCFS, the Department of Workforce Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, Active Re-Entry, Four Corners Mental Health, the Emery County School District, Emery County Housing, The Emery County Food Bank, Zions Bank, DV Coalition and Julie Jones.
Hearing Set for Comments on Lila Canyon Mines Plans
Emery County will hold a public hearing on Sept. 4 to hear community input on a plan for the development of the Lila Canyon Mine by UtahAmerican Energy, Inc.
The plans to develop the Lila Canyon mine have been long in the making and an identical public hearing process was presented in 1999 and approved, according to Emery County Commissioner Gary Kofford.
According to Kofford the plan was voted on and approved and a request was made of the county to improve county road 126 to the site, similar to what the county has done in the past for other mining operations.
In 2001 the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining permitted the project to go forward and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance appealed their decision.
The county has obtained the right of way for the road’s construction from the property owners, which include State Institutional Trust Lands, the Bureau of Land Management and a private landowner.
SUWA was able to effectively stall any action on the development of the Lila Canyon Mine until May of this year, when DOGM again issued a permit to proceed. With a new permit SUWA took issue with the permit because the mine would be operating within 100 feet of the road and if a mine operates within that close of a proximity to a road there must be a county hearing regarding the matter.
“SUWA managed to stall the process from 2001 until May of 2007 and now they’ve managed to stall it from May until now,” Kofford said.
According to Kofford SUWA has taken the position that the road should have been permitted along with the mine permit and not left to the county’s discretion to build. He countered that position by pointing out that the county has gone through the same process with other coal mines, most recently in the construction of Consol Mine road.
The Sept. 4 public hearing is being held jointly by the Emery County Commission and the Emery County Planning Commission at the Emery County Courthouse to hear public comments on the construction planned for the road.
Motorists Urged to be Extra Cautious as School Year Starts
With the bell set to ring on a new school year on Wednesday motorists are being cautioned to watch for children dashing here and there as they make their way to start classes.
Crossing guards will be in place to stop traffic at school crosswalks and motorists are reminded that there is a new crosswalk established across Spartan Avenue in Castle Dale for students attending Castle Dale Elementary.
Castle Dale City established the new crosswalk as the school year ended last year and a crossing guard will be at the intersection of 600 North and Center Street.
With school in session trucking companies are also being asked to be extra cautious at crosswalks on SR-10, particularly through Huntington and Ferron, where students must cross the highway.
According to Jed Jensen of the Emery County School District, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office is always there to help monitor traffic through the school zones.
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