50 Years of Night in Eastern Kentucky

[CATCHEMALL]

As some of you that know me know that I live in eastern Ky, Hazard to be exact. I have live in places from Texas to Rhode Island and several places in between. I can say from first hand experiences that there is poor people every where. I don't feel that there is more here at home then there are anywhere else. I do feel that there is more and more people in eastern Ky that rely on help but not because they really need it but because they can get it. People are not taught anymore that if you want something you need to work for it. It is not owed to you for any reason. I have been on the bottom end and if it wasn't for government help there would have been days that I might not have had anything to eat. My family never gave up and we worked as hard as we could to get off any form of help. Everything that we have we worked for and I am now financially stable. Until people wake up and quit giving handouts to people who are just to sorry to get a job this is going to keep being a problem. Also if you look at a lot of these people under the "poverty" level they drive new cars with there IPhone's and plenty of other toys. A lot of people that are claiming to be poor aren't as poor as they might want you to think.

[kyfanatic]

It's worse now because of Obama's War on Coal and using the EPA to regulate people out of jobs

[waterdog101]

It's worse now because of Obama's War on Coal and using the EPA to regulate people out of jobs

do you really believe Obama is the cause of the bad coal market, or could it be the greedy coal Operators pricing them self, out of business. with 110.00 plus per ton coal. the power plants are no different than any other company, get the bottom line down no matter who gets hurt. the natural gas market is booming and it is cheaper than coal. thats why the power plants switched over. Obama does want what coal that is burned to be burned cleaner, and to me that is a good move to try and clean up the air everyone breaths.

[SLP]

I was raised in an era where out of personal pride people most often didn't want to take any kind of hand out and were embarrassed if they found themselves in a situation where they must do so. I am not arguing that is the absolute ideal way of thinking, but it certainly resulted in less people living on the government dole, and if they did find themselves doing so they worked to get off of it. For myself the one time I could have legitimately and easily filed for unemployment benefits I chose not to because I didn't need it to live on, and I now currently have such severe back and neck problems I have been told different times I likely would qualify for disability but to date I have not chosen to pursue it. Would the extra money be nice, well sure it would but at this point in time at least I can make it without taking a government handout so I will continue to try and do so. IMO if more people tried there best to avoid handouts and viewed them as a last resort our country would be in much better shape. Not only because of the financial benefits, but more people would have a little more skin in the game when it came to voting in our leaders.

Obviously some people can't help it and need assistance so it should be there for them. However there is probably some benefit in a little old fashioned shame that goes along with it. Shame is something that we seem to have lost in this country and IMO is has resulted in negative consequences in many areas. Girls aren't ashamed of getting pregnant while single, people aren't ashamed by using poor and offensive langue in front of people even children. People aren't ashamed if caught lying or cheating. Young people aren't ashamed if they have poor knowledge on important subjects. People aren't ashamed if half their rear ends are falling out of their pants. People aren't ashamed at being publicly drunk and acting foolish, but instead celebrate it and post pictures of themselves online doing so. People aren't ashamed if they are lazy and don't work hard, or if something to do or make is of poor quality. People aren't ashamed if they don't faithfully attend church or believe in God, and as a result our society has tried to drive God from every fabric out America. I know I have kind of digressed but in my opinion it is all kind of related, all interwoven into many of our current problems and issues we currently face in this country and it is hard to look at only one problem and separate much of it's root cause. Good old fashioned shame was not such a horrible thing.

[MrSplitshot]

do you really believe Obama is the cause of the bad coal market, or could it be the greedy coal Operators pricing them self, out of business. with 110.00 plus per ton coal. the power plants are no different than any other company, get the bottom line down no matter who gets hurt. the natural gas market is booming and it is cheaper than coal. thats why the power plants switched over. Obama does want what coal that is burned to be burned cleaner, and to me that is a good move to try and clean up the air everyone breaths.

Why do you think they have to price so high? The cost of Government Regulation is a bottom line killer. You really think they would just price themselves out of the market? No sir. They are smarter than that. They have to make money like any other for-profit company.

Kentucky has some of the cleanest coal fired power plants in the World...which, because of the EPA's regulational handcuffs, will be sitting dormant or converted to natural gas fired plants...which, guess what? They employ less Kentuckians and put countless others who make their living in coal mines or as service workers in other industries serving the mines and the mines' workers out of jobs. It's is a horrible scenario for Kentucky's economy and several other states. My company has done business in Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia in mining communities for years. When coal isn't running, it is not a pleasant place to be. No money, no growth, no consumer confidence of any kind. They go into full on survival mode. Coal is all they have in a lot of these places. Companies in other industries don't want to invest in these geographies because of it too.

Tough cycle to get out of.

[kyfanatic]

Why do you think they have to price so high? The cost of Government Regulation is a bottom line killer. You really think they would just price themselves out of the market? No sir. They are smarter than that. They have to make money like any other for-profit company.

Kentucky has some of the cleanest coal fired power plants in the World...which, because of the EPA's regulational handcuffs, will be sitting dormant or converted to natural gas fired plants...which, guess what? They employ less Kentuckians and put countless others who make their living in coal mines or as service workers in other industries serving the mines and the mines' workers out of jobs. It's is a horrible scenario for Kentucky's economy and several other states. My company has done business in Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia in mining communities for years. When coal isn't running, it is not a pleasant place to be. No money, no growth, no consumer confidence of any kind. They go into full on survival mode. Coal is all they have in a lot of these places. Companies in other industries don't want to invest in these geographies because of it too.

Tough cycle to get out of.

This is correct,I have tons of Family in Harlan,Letcher,Perry,and Leslie counties in Kentucky and Lee and wise counties in Virginia,I was raised near Dryden ,Va and grew up running around on Black Mountain on the states border.Nearly all my family members are either Coal Miners or related,none of them are sponges and all work for a living,but if you could see how Obama and his SS EPA have decimated towns there it's sickening,schools are closing forcing kids to travel long distances to Elementary schools because not enough people left in some areas,the town Namesake of my family = Pennington Gap,Va is a shell of it's former self.

You will neber Catch Obama or his Communist Democrat Minions campaigning in that part of the country,they don't have enough secret service men to protect his sorry $%^

[waterdog101]

This is correct,I have tons of Family in Harlan,Letcher,Perry,and Leslie counties in Kentucky and Lee and wise counties in Virginia,I was raised near Dryden ,Va and grew up running around on Black Mountain on the states border.Nearly all my family members are either Coal Miners or related,none of them are sponges and all work for a living,but if you could see how Obama and his SS EPA have decimated towns there it's sickening,schools are closing forcing kids to travel long distances to Elementary schools because not enough people left in some areas,the town Namesake of my family = Pennington Gap,Va is a shell of it's former self.

You will neber Catch Obama or his Communist Democrat Minions campaigning in that part of the country,they don't have enough secret service men to protect his sorry $%^

I've been in every county and place you named, I worked the first 23 years of my life in the coal fields of eastern KY, and most of my family have worked in coal as well. and most of my family still do. my wife's uncle was a coal operator, owned a loadout tipple and a couple mines. and I know first hand how coal company's operate. they don't play by the rules. this is the truth, a big coal company I worked for back in the early 80's would have safety meetings, and some of the guys would complain about the dust being so bad, and this was the company's spokesman's reply, { don't worry about the dust you can see, it won't hurt you. it's the fine particles you can't see that will get you.} wouldn't you think the more dust you can see, would mean there are that much more fine mixed in you can't see. and for years the company safety guy, would come around and pin a dust collecting sample device on everyones jacket, and they would wear it for 8 hours. guess what happen? the company got sued fore Falsifying dust samples. I still stand by my statement the coal company's are as much to do with the bad market as Obama and the EPA. greed for an extra 2 or three dollars a ton every time they negotiate a contract with a power plant. when you work for a company, the talk of how they squeezed the power plants for the extra money, leaks down to the ears of the workers. and without the EPA or a President that will force them to play by the rules, people may have more jobs in coal, but the water and Air that your kids and grandkids drink and breath will not be very healthy for them.

[kyfanatic]

I've been in every county and place you named, I worked the first 23 years of my life in the coal fields of eastern KY, and most of my family have worked in coal as well. and most of my family still do. my wife's uncle was a coal operator, owned a loadout tipple and a couple mines. and I know first hand how coal company's operate. they don't play by the rules. this is the truth, a big coal company I worked for back in the early 80's would have safety meetings, and some of the guys would complain about the dust being so bad, and this was the company's spokesman's reply, { don't worry about the dust you can see, it won't hurt you. it's the fine particles you can't see that will get you.} wouldn't you think the more dust you can see, would mean there are that much more fine mixed in you can't see. and for years the company safety guy, would come around and pin a dust collecting sample device on everyones jacket, and they would wear it for 8 hours. guess what happen? the company got sued fore Falsifying dust samples. I still stand by my statement the coal company's are as much to do with the bad market as Obama and the EPA. greed for an extra 2 or three dollars a ton every time they negotiate a contract with a power plant. when you work for a company, the talk of how they squeezed the power plants for the extra money, leaks down to the ears of the workers. and without the EPA or a President that will force them to play by the rules, people may have more jobs in coal, but the water and Air that your kids and grandkids drink and breath will not be very healthy for them.

And who are you ,Obama,or the EPA to tell someone how to make a living or what to do with their land? The US Government is not here to be a Nanny and tell us what to eat,how to live,and what to do in our individual lives. My family came here from Northern England and Scotland some 400+ years ago to get away from such tyranny.
Free Enterprise and a thriving economy will never happen and we will remain in a welfare state so long as Liberal Communist idiots keep thinking we all have to live and think just like them.

[waterdog101]

And who are you ,Obama,or the EPA to tell someone how to make a living or what to do with their land? .

it's none of mine or anyone else's business, what a person does with their land, or what they work at to make a living. unless what they do messes, with the lives of everyone in their community, state or Nation. then the EPA or Government has to put forth rules, that will protect everyone. can you imagine what company's all over this Nation, would do to our streams and lakes, that everyone gets good clean drinking water from, if there was no EPA to keep them in check. it would be like not having any form of Police protection, to keep the criminal minded people held back. without laws and Police officers to enforce them, the criminal minded folks, would rape, rob, kill, still and do as they pleased to hurt everyone. same with big company's, without the EPA to keep them in check, they would destroy our environment, in only a short time. just to make a large profit. it would be wonderful, if our nation didn't have to have, an Agency to Protect our Environment, but our history shows that company's can't be trusted to do whats right, so we have the EPA in place to guide them, and I'm glad we have the EPA and a President that can see the good they do.

[MrSplitshot]

I've been in every county and place you named, I worked the first 23 years of my life in the coal fields of eastern KY, and most of my family have worked in coal as well. and most of my family still do. my wife's uncle was a coal operator, owned a loadout tipple and a couple mines. and I know first hand how coal company's operate. they don't play by the rules. this is the truth, a big coal company I worked for back in the early 80's would have safety meetings, and some of the guys would complain about the dust being so bad, and this was the company's spokesman's reply, { don't worry about the dust you can see, it won't hurt you. it's the fine particles you can't see that will get you.} wouldn't you think the more dust you can see, would mean there are that much more fine mixed in you can't see. and for years the company safety guy, would come around and pin a dust collecting sample device on everyones jacket, and they would wear it for 8 hours. guess what happen? the company got sued fore Falsifying dust samples. I still stand by my statement the coal company's are as much to do with the bad market as Obama and the EPA. greed for an extra 2 or three dollars a ton every time they negotiate a contract with a power plant. when you work for a company, the talk of how they squeezed the power plants for the extra money, leaks down to the ears of the workers. and without the EPA or a President that will force them to play by the rules, people may have more jobs in coal, but the water and Air that your kids and grandkids drink and breath will not be very healthy for them.

I don't dispute at all that there are probably some unethical and crooked folks running coal companies...it's the same way with any industry. I think it's a shame that people operate that way, but I don't think it's a huge contributor to the decimation of the coal business.

I do believe there should be some common sense government regulation that protects the environment and the worker from unethical corporate influence. If I want to save money by dumping toxic waste into the river, there should be laws against that. I shouldn't be able to cut corners on safety that seriously endangers the lives of my employees. The problem is that, typical of the government, they have taken all of it waaaaaay too far.

[DJD]

I still stand by my statement the coal company's are as much to do with the bad market as Obama and the EPA. greed for an extra 2 or three dollars a ton every time they negotiate a contract with a power plant. when you work for a company, the talk of how they squeezed the power plants for the extra money, leaks down to the ears of the workers.

Sounds like your talking about Unions here! Squeezing more money out of businesses??

[Bonefish]

Speakin' of Issues in Eastern Kentucky

"Words change colors in different light"

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/12/21/2...-kentucky.html