You can't make this stuff up
Like something out of Kafka, the families of the trapped and likely dead miners in Utah are being denied the right to appoint the United Mine Workers as their representative in upcoming federal investigations. Not because this is a non-union mine, of course, but because the trapped and likely dead miners did not sign the forms themselves:
The federal agency tasked with investigating the Utah mine collapse denied a request by the families of six trapped miners that the United Mine Workers represent them in the probe of the matter, the union said Monday.
All six of the families had signed documents designating the union as their representative in the investigation, UMWA spokesman Phil Smith said. The Mine Safety and Health Administration told the union's attorneys on Monday that the agency would not heed the request.
"MSHA requires that miners sign these papers, but the miners in question were unable because the are trapped inside the mine," Smith said.
Of course, if the trapped miners could get out and sign the papers themselves, there wouldn't need to be an investigation.
posted by MNObserver at Wednesday, August 29, 2007 
5 comment(s):
I dont think the search should stop. They should drill a hole near the actual cave in spot, not yards from it. My husband has been in the military for almost 8 years, I would never give up looking for him if something happened. All these terrorist can live underground and find their way into these caves but we cant, why is that? The military should be brought in, they should not give up, look all all these kids and wives, and mothers, and fathers, left to wonder WHAT IF.....someone needs to speak up and stop being so lazy and keep looking, at least find their bodies, not let them die in vain. Thank You.
By
Kristy, at Saturday, September 01, 2007 10:25:00 PM
While I understand your feelings Kristy, it seems that it is simply too dangerous to keep digging at the site. Three additional people have already died during the search efforts and others have been injured. I do sympathize with the families of the trapped miners, yet miners know how dangerous their jobs are and the risks associated. It is extremely unlikely that they could survive more for a month trapped without food or water.
If something like this happened to me, I wouldn't want other people risking their lives to recover my body.
It's not laziness, they have tried multiple times and no-one wants to let them "die in vain" - but at some point you have to face the reality of the situation.
By
Autumn, at Sunday, September 02, 2007 2:44:00 AM
Kristy -
Do you honestly believe that 'the terrorists' live in bored out caves hundreds of feet below the surface? Is this the image that the media has effectively sent out to the public?
There is a vast difference between some extremeists living in desert area and miners actually buried in rock 1500 feet deep. An ENORMOUS difference.
By
Anonymous, at Sunday, September 02, 2007 5:40:00 AM
It's interesting how we use our resources, for what, and for whom. It's interesting what we elect to call important, and what we are willing to ignore and forget. The miners are not alive—oxygen sensors work, and scientific research is statistically reliable. Yet, as we superficially cling to impossibility, and in the name of “compassion” demand that more millions be spent drilling holes through mud, a ghastly number of human beings around the world certainly die each day of cheaply preventable things like hunger, thirst, preventable disease, genocide, war, AIDS—and children are enslaved, prostituted, tortured, beaten, left for dead, and so on. I wonder how many Americans care about any of this, what we are willing to do about, and what we actually do with our precious American dollars.
By
Anonymous, at Sunday, September 02, 2007 11:25:00 PM
is it useful to require that all miners have a communications device and there be a communications system to the surface for catastrophes like Crandall Canyon?
By
i humbly ask, at Monday, September 03, 2007 4:33:00 AM
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