ASHLAND —
Everyone who works in coal mines is dependent on the ability of mine inspectors — whether they work for the federal government or the state of Kentucky — to do their jobs thoroughly and fairly, showing not even a hint of favoritism. After all, the lives of all miners are in jeopardy if mines are allowed to ignore safety regulations without being cited, fined and forced to quickly correct the violations or have the mine shut down.
A new report said state mine inspectors found few problems during an inspection of a Harlan County mine in March. However, two months later, federal inspectors found enough safety violations at K and D Mining’s Mine No. 17 in Hindsplint that they shut it down for nine days.
However, after the federal blitz, the state did a surprise inspection and found 37 violations. According to records obtained by the Louisville Courier-Journal through the Kentucky Open Records Act, officials found more violations during that one inspection than they did during five earlier inspections in 2012 and about 24 inspections in 2010 and 2011.
A reprimand letter issued to a state mine inspector says “appropriate action” wasn’t taken during a March inspection at the Harlan mine which found no safety violations. The letter to inspector Michael Johnson says his “actions constitute poor work performance” that reflects poorly on the state Department of Natural Resources.
The letter says Johnson gave verbal instructions to mine officials about correcting violations, but did not write any citations.
Office of Mine Safety and Licensing Director Freddie Lewis admits previous inspections should have been more vigorous, and the agency will be more vigilant. Vigilance, integrity, fairness and consistency should be expected of all those charged with enforcing safety standards in the mines. Having inspectors ignoring safety violations in the mines is as dangerous as having police officers ignoring drunken driving and excessive speed on our highways.
Opinion
Lax enforcement
State inspectors found little wrong in mine feds closed
- Opinion
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Funding Rupp
The use of $2.5 million in coal severance tax revenue to help pay for renovations at Rupp Arena in Lexington has drawn the ire of some county leaders in the eastern Kentucky coalfields.
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Modest increase
Full-time students at Ashland Community and Technical College will be paying an average of $60 more in tuition this fall under a modest 2.86 percent increase approved Friday by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System Board of Regents.
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In Your View
Letters to the editor
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In Your View
Letters to the editor
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The next step
The people — or at least those who took the time to vote in Tuesday’s special election — have spoken. The issue of alcohol sales in Grayson has ben settled for at least the next three years.
In an outcome that surprised many, Grayson voters rather convincingly for the legal sale of alcohol in the city for the first time since 1937. With 511 voters answering in the affirmative to the question, “Are you in favor of alcoholic beverages in Grayson, Ky.?” as opposed to 393 voting “no,” the results were not even close. The measure passed in all seven of the city’s precincts. -
Words of thanks
Thank you letter
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Top Father
In the Spade family, the vote was unanimous. Both 12-year-old Emma Spade, who will be a seventh-grader at Verity Middle School this fall, and Emma’s 11-year-old brother Will, who attends Hagar Elementary, both thought so highly of their dad — Ponderosa Elementary School principal Matt Spade — that they both wrote essays nominating him for the Ashland Breakfast Kiwanis Club’s annual Father of the Year award, presented annually on the Tuesday before Father’s Day.
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An unselfish act
Even before the start of the recent Boyd County Health Department’s Bicycle Rodeo, Gavin Eckard said that if he won one of the two bicycle given away at the event, he would give his new bike to someone who needed it more than he did.
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Crop still banned
When their colleagues in the U.S. Senate rejected their efforts to legalize industrial hemp production as part of the Senate farm bill, Kentucky’s two Republican senators — Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and freshman Rand Paul — reacted to the Senate refusal to include their hemp proposal in the bill by saying they would oppose the comprehensive farm bill.
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It's not the breed
Lorie Akers wants the Ashland City Commissioner to adopt an ordinance banning pit bulls in the city. Since she claimed her Chihuahua Paco was attacked and killed by a neighbor’s pit bull while the little dog was chained in the back yard, it is understandable that Akers is worried that her children and other pets could be endangered by pit bulls.
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