Marty Bennett was a coal miner with 29 years of experience, including work at operations that practiced "retreat mining." He died at age 51 at the Sago mine in January 2006, along with 11 other coal miners. Today, his family organized a letter of support for the Crandall Canyon miners' families from victim-families of previous coal mining fatalities. Their letter was published in the Salt Lake City Tribune. (Full text below) Â
To the families,Â
Not many people can actually say what your hearts are feeling. We want you to know that this family can. We are the family of Sago miner Marty Bennett.Â
We want you to know that we are praying for all your miners and the entire State of West Virginia have you in their thoughts. Please know the Lord Jesus Christ died and paid for our sins and that he loves us more than we can ever imagine. Never give up hope. Put your trust in the Lord and know that his plan is always the perfect plan. We may not understand that plan and sometimes those plans take a route we do not like.  We have hope for your miners and will continue to have that hope until we are told differently.
Please accept these heartfelt comments and know that you are not alone in your grief and pain at this time. Pray without ceasing for your miners as we will do the same here.Â
I, Pamela Campbell, along with all the other Sago Families, Peggy Cohen (Fred Ware), Debbie Hamner (Jr. Hamner), the Terry Helms Family, Samatha Lewis (David Lewis), the Jim Bennett Family, the Jessie Jones Family, the Marshall Winans Family, the Jackie Weaver Family, the Tom Anderson Family, the Jerry Groves Family, the Martin Toler Family, along with Mr. Randall McCloy, and the Kentucky Darby Families and the Aracoma/Alma Families have fought long and hard trying to get laws passed to insure that the mines our loved ones enter are as safe as they can be. Â
We would like you to know that if we can help you or do anything for you at this time, please do not hesitate to contact us... Again, we pray for your miners and we are praying for you families.
With love and concern,
The Marty Bennett Family:Â Judy (wife), Russell (Son), Bobby Jo (daughter-in-law), and all Marty's family.
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Mining has to be one of the dangerous jobs there is.I want to Thank all miners for their work that they do to bring all America heat, electric and everything coal is used for.God Bless your miners and all that go undreground.THANKS TM6
Pray for the miner's
who's fate is unknown
pray for their loved one's
and their safe return home
Pray for the safety
of those in harms way
until the miners are found
we all need to pray.
~ Mary Vivenzi ~
This is wonderful!
I hate to be messenger but they may want to send out another?
3 miners killed in Indiana
http://weeklytoll.blogspot.com/2007/08/mine-saftey-watch-reports.html
I sent the following email to Good Morning America to express my discust in their fai;ure to continue to give the minor's the coverage they deserve.
Re: Utah Miners (my response) to GMA
I am writing to express my disappointment in the good morning America news team as it seems that my favorite source of important up to date news coverage has, forgotten what "news" is. I have watched you every morning for the better point of thirty years. Confident that you held a higher standard of news coverage than most. Yet if for over a month you felt it necessary on Paris Hilton before during and after her trip to jail yet you have failed to continue covering those 6 miners who still remain trapped within the rubble of the mine in Utah. And to that I can only say that I am more than disgusted. If Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Ritchie's jail sentences or the lack thereof are taking precedence over what really matters in the world. Then we are in serious trouble. Don't you understand the message that is being sent to those miners families? Their children? How can it be that their is no apparent concern for the emotional trauma being done to them as the stories of their loved ones disappear from public view. Your sending a heart wrenching message that we as a country don't care. That it doesn't matter when or if their found. They've had their 15 min's of fame and that's plenty. Had any of those miners been related to anyone famous, The coverage would be continuous. These are real people who are far more in worthy of the media spotlight than Paris, Lindsay & Nicole Ritchie are who's stories belong in the tabloids. Though I am only one person. I am certainly not alone in my disappointment. Which will prevent me from watching your broadcast in the future should the news that matters most continues to take a backseat to the stories that should not matter at all.
I will continue to pray for the well being of those who are unnecessarily being traumatized by the lack of continuous focus on their loved ones who remain trapped within a mine in Utah. The lack of coverage is slowly enabling the country to forget their pain and suffering. Please do NOT allow that to happen.
Respectfully,
Mary Vivenzi (707)-795-0783
United Support & Memorial
For Workplace Fatalities
web site ~ http://www.usmwf.org
Email ~ KilledOnTheJob@usmwf.org
"One with a voice that does not protest an injustice
is an accomplice to it."
Ignorance is more intelligent than undeveloped knowledge.
Mary,
THANK you for speaking your mind. You have the ultimate credibility as someone who's been in the same type of shoes as these miners' families. We need to stand together and make our voices heard!
In solidarity,
Celeste