[Hoot Gibson]

I guess my dad didn't make quite a bit of money with his coal trucks during the mid to late 70's? I'll answer that for you, he hauled all he could stand. Don't worry about my fingers, just ask TRT, the 70's, especially the late 70's were good times for union construction. It was all through the 80's, especially after 82, that construction went to hell, and that's fact.

I can't dispute your account of your father's business or lack thereof because I don't make claims without facts to back them up.

However, I worked all over eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia during the Carter and Reagan years, and while your father may have done well with his trucks, the Carter years and the first couple years of Reagan's presidency were not good ones for the coal industry as a whole. The UMWA was its own worst enemy in during that time and customers wisely signed an increasing number of contracts with companies that could deliver the coal that they promised. Not only that, union companies began switching to small contract mining companies to reduce their ties to the UMWA.

Because of the volatility of the coal market at that time, some small non-union operators that could operate on a shoe string budget and activate and idle small mines quickly made fortunes by being able to react quickly to the market - something that the big union mines could not do. When the UMWA interrupted the flow of coal, small contract mines increased their production to fill the void. Companies like Massey began opening larger and larger operations, such as the Marrowbone complex in Mingo County and Martin County Coal in Martin County. Massey prospered because companies employing union miners were unreliable suppliers.

You can keep blaming Reagan for the demise of the UMWA if you want but those of us who were working in the coal industry at that time know better. The UMWA, under the idiotic "leadership" of men like Sam Church, Cecil Roberts, and Richard Trumka paved their own road to decline.