Cord Byrd: “today, together with Senator Rockefeller and the West Virginia delegation in the House, I have submitted a resolution…”

“today, together with Senator Rockefeller and the West Virginia delegation in the House, I have submitted a resolution honoring the 16 coal miners who perished this year in the State of West Virginia. They are: Tom Anderson, Alva Bennett, Jim Bennett, Jerry Groves, George Hamner, Jr., Terry Helms, Jesse Jones, David Lewis, Martin Toler, Jr., Fred Ware, Jackie Weaver, and Marshall Winans who perished in the Sago Mine in Upshur County, WV. They are Don Bragg and Ellery Hatfield who perished in the Aracoma Alma Mine in Logan County, WV. They are Paul Moss and Edmund Vance who perished in separate mines in Boone County, WV. While the names of these coal miners have become known to many of us, we must not forget that there are many more coal miners whose tragic deaths are not chronicled in the national media. They die quietly in their homes of black lung disease. They die anonymously in mine accidents across the Nation. Their families mourn, their families grieve their loss without national attention. I pay tribute to all of those who have fallen in our Nation's mines and to their families who must bear their loss. A grateful Nation owes its eternal thanks.”