RACINE - About 200 marchers continued their 50-mile trip to BlairMountain on Tuesday, and their biggest problem seemed to be findinga place along the way to spend the night.
The marchers hope to help save historic Blair Mountain frommountaintop removal operations that have already been discussed byMassey Energy, now part of Alpha Natural Resources, and Arch Coal.
They originally planned to spend Monday night at John Slack Parkin Racine, but Boone County Sheriff Rodney Miller told the marchersMonday evening they had to leave the site.
'Apparently, they don't permit camping there at any time,' Millersaid Tuesday afternoon. 'We were the intermediaries between thecounty officials and the marchers.
'We facilitated working things out for them to leave withoutbeing arrested. We got everyone to a happy medium. We could pleasethe county officials and were able to facilitate the marchers beingable to leave.'
Joe Stanley, a retired miner from Mingo County participating inthe march, said the director of Slack Park apparently 'exceeded hisauthority' in originally agreeing to let the marchers stay there.
'We stayed around till they could become mobile by the time thepark closed at 10 p.m.,' the sheriff said. 'Just because people havedifferent beliefs doesn't mean you have to take a hard line.'
Stanley said a group wearing miners' clothing showed up at about8:30, walked around the park, then left. After the police arrivedand told the marchers to leave, they were shuttled back to Marmet,where their march began on Monday, he said. They were brought backto Racine on Tuesday morning.
The marchers ended up walking about 15 miles Tuesday, from Racineto a small park near the intersection of W.Va. 3 and Corridor G,just north of Danville.
They stopped briefly at about 2 p.m. outside the grounds of theBoone Career and Technical Center, part of Southern West VirginiaCommunity and Technical College, near the town of Foster.
They originally planned to spend Tuesday night on the school'sgrounds, but were told by college officials they could not do that.
Rodney Smith, an administrator at the college, said on Tuesday hedid not know why the marchers were told they could not stay.
'But we don't have much grass. Big Earl's Campground [about fivemiles north, near Julian] volunteered to let them stay there,' Smithsaid.
But Stanley said the marchers were told they could not stay thereeither, and they would have to take shuttles back to Marmet to spendanother night there Tuesday.
The marchers are retracing the route more than 10,000 miners tookduring their historic March on Blair Mountain in late August andearly September 1921.
The miners, who wanted to help organize union mines in Logan andMingo counties, got involved in the largest armed confrontation inAmerican labor history. They were confronted by hundreds of LoganCounty deputies and coal company armed guards along Blair Mountain.
'We are not here to hurt anyone. We are here to save BlairMountain,' Stanley said. 'Every ton of coal from a mountaintop-removal mine eliminates underground jobs.
'There were a couple of very insulting coal truck drivers whopassed us,' he said. 'But everyone else has been very nice.'
Bill Price, from the Sierra Club's Charleston offices, said,'This march has been good. The temperature is hot. But think aboutwhat the original miners went through. This is easy.
'A few people have been yelling things at us. But we havereceived more actual support from people coming out of their houses,waving at us, taking our pictures.'
A few signs criticizing the marchers were seen along the route,including a hand-painted sign that said, 'Mountaintop Removal FeedsMy Kids.'
Noah Morris, an EMT from New Orleans walking with the marchers,said he was also a first responder during Hurricane Katrina.
'A big variety of medics are working with the marchers thisweek,' Morris said Tuesday. 'We have pulled up jewel weed todecontaminate people from exposure to poison ivy. Local coalfieldresidents taught me about that plant five years ago.'
Morris, who began working with Coal River Mountain Watch a fewyears ago, said he hopes the march helps 'preserve the lushness ofthese mountains in West Virginia.'
Another marcher, Virginia engineer Vincent Pewlowski, said, 'Wehave to save Blair Mountain and labor rights.
'We need energy. But we have a lot of choices. The real costs ofcoal are health costs - health costs to miners and local residents.'
Referring to the April 2010 explosion at Massey Energy's UpperBig Branch mine, Pewlowski said, 'I have never seen a solar panelthat killed 29 people.'
The marchers plan to resume their march today, heading souththrough Danville and Madison.
lawrence pierce | Gazette photo The marchers stopped for lunchalong Corridor G in Boone County on Tuesday during their weeklongmarch toward Blair Mountain.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjnyden@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
