Mining heritage saluted

By BILL ARCHER

POCAHONTAS, Va. — Don’t look now, but it appears as though a two-party political system is returning to Tazewell County, Va. — even in the Democratic Party’s stronghold of Pocahontas.

For the past 18 years, Pocahontas has hosted a Coal Miners’ Reunion on Labor Day, complete with a breakfast, parade and old fashioned political stump speeches. While event organizers have never stopped anyone — Democrat of Republican — from participating in the stump speeches, Republican Party candidates have been almost nonexistent in the mix. That all changed this year.

The candidates in a trio of contested campaigns — the Northern and Southern districts of the county board of supervisors, and the Third District, House of Delegates — and all six individual candidates made compelling arguments in front of a largely bipartisan crowd of 100 or more people —not counting the members of the Bluegrass Ramblers band that came in what appeared to be support for the Republican candidate for the House of Delegates.

Republican candidate Jim Campbell Jr., and Democrat David Woodard Jr., running for the Northern District seat on the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors each pitched their platform from the very real stump in front of the caboose at Laurel Meadows Park. Both candidates pledged to serve the people of the district to the best of their ability.

“We need to start looking past party lines,” Campbell said before asking the people gathered to vote for him. “I would like to recognize any veteran we have here today. I appreciate you and thank you for your service.”

Woodard said that as a member of the Tazewell County School Board “I tried to represent every child in Pocahontas and in all of Tazewell County,” he said. “If you vote for me, I’ll stand and fight for what’s right,”

Dallas Sparks, Republican Party candidate, and the Democratic Party’s incumbent Supervisor Mike Hymes of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors each pointed to the things that make their candidacy strong.

Sparks vowed to support the coal industry, for the second amendment constitutional rights to bear arms and said people need to work hard to regain control of the country. “We need to get to work, get off our behinds, get to work and make America, America again,” he said.

Hymes said that people in Tazewell earned their “strong willed” nature because of the hardships they endured in the coalfields. “I am proud to be from ‘carbon country,’ an area that keeps the lights on across this nation and keeps the steel mills of the world humming,” he said.

Thomas B. Childress, the host, moderator and co-founder of the event announced up front that each of the competing candidates would have 4 minutes plus a 15-second grace period to make their cases. It did seem as though the timer was running a little fast on the presentations for the Third District House of Delegates race featuring Republican Party challenger Will Morefield and Democratic Party incumbent Delegate Dan Bowling, D-Tazewell. Morefield petitioned Childress for his allotted time, and Childress gave him an additional 80 seconds to finish his thoughts. Bowling did not request additional time.

During his first swing, Morefield introduced himself, and said: “We live in the Saudi Arabia of the Western Hemisphere,” and said the area ought to support its coal industry. During his bonus round, Morefield spoke out against repeated utility rate increases, and lobbied for elected judges. “I’m a straight shooter,” he said.

Bowling explained that the late Donnie Lowe, a Tazewell County coal miner who was active in the United Mine Workers of America, encouraged him (Bowling) to run for the House of Delegates, but didn’t make a campaign speech. “Today is about working men and women,” he said. “Thank you, and I’m asking for your vote once again.”

The stump speeches were only part of the day’s activities. The annual Coal Miners’ Breakfast from 8-10 a.m., Coal Miners’ Registration from 9-11:25 a.m., and Coal Miners’ March up and down Centre Street preceded the speeches. A Coal Miners’ Dinner followed. Several retired coal miners participated in all of the activities.

McConley “Buck” Byrd, 87, of Boissevain, Va., was in high school when he started working in the mines, and after military service during World War II, he worked 20 years as a mine foreman. “I never had a mine fatality in 20 years,” he said. When Byrd was working at Bishop, he and a seven-miner crew set a record for loading out 1,250 tons of coal in about 1970.

Robert Farley, 85, of the Paradise Section of Pocahontas, shared several stories of Pocahontas during its boom years. “The sidewalks were so crowded until 12 midnight on Friday and Saturday nights that you had to walk out in the streets,” Farley said.

Curtis Gillespie of the American Legion Post in Pocahontas led the parade, followed by the seven-member Honor Guard from Pocahontas State Correctional Center, commanded by Sgt. Phillip Ramsey, and including Officers K.D. Zeigler, T. Obey, D. Hargrave, L. Kephart, R. Ruble and R. Woods.

The Reverend Carlos Hess gave the invocation, The Reverend Reginald Blakewood sang the National Anthem, Pocahontas Mayor Adam Cannoy provided welcoming remarks. Tazewell County Sheriff H.S. Caudill spoke on behalf of all Tazewell County constitutional officers and State Senator Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell, gave an emotional introduction of the keynote speaker, U.S. Rep. Frederick C. “Rick” Boucher, D-Va., who provided insights about the climate change legislation that passed in the House in July, as well as the up-coming health care reform legislation. Tazewell County Supervisor Thomas Brewster of the Northern District also presented a stump speech in support of Democratic candidates.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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