Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 16, 1993 TAG: 9308160052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: YOLYN, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
Striking United Mine Workers members and company security guards are taking aim at each other with cameras.
"This is worth more than a gun," said UMW member Richard Smoot, 42, of Accoville. Smoot, a picket at Arch of West Virginia's Ruffner mine in Logan County, said he carries a video camera with him at all times.
"The camera is the only defense we have. It's a much more peaceful place up here with these videos," Smoot said.
Pickets and company officials say the videotapes offer proof of what each side is doing or not doing during the strike against the members of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association.
"The video camera has changed the complexion of the strike," said Tony DiRico, president of Arch of West Virginia. "We have video cameras in the front office, in the vehicles. We've got video cameras everywhere."
Smoot said he keeps his videotapes in a stack at home.
But Arch of West Virginia hired a professional contractor to edit its tapes into a five-minute video explanation of the strike since it began May 10, DiRico said.
The videotape includes clips of newspaper articles about the strike and a narrator says it has not been as nonviolent as news reports have portrayed. The narrator also says "terrorist organizations" exist in West Virginia and refers to the shooting death last month of Eddie York of Lenore near the Ruffner mine.
"I don't agree with everything the narrator says on the tape," DiRico said.
State police say York, a nonunion contractor, was killed as he passed a line of pickets. All of the UMW miners on the picket line that evening are suspects, state police said. UMW members have alleged a company guard shot York.
No arrests have been made, dispatcher Opal Runyon in Logan said Sunday.
The company does not have any videotape of the shooting, because the video camera in a convoy of vehicles in which York was driving malfunctioned, DiRico said.
In Virginia, union officials said Sunday they hope three Southwest Virginia mines where miners are on strike don't resume producing coal. The shutdown probably has contributed to the area's peaceful picket lines.
"It's been relatively quiet and there have been no incidents," said Jackie Stump, a representative on the UMW's international board. "A lot of it may be because they're not trying to run the mines. They're not producing coal or anything."
About 850 miners are on strike at the Pocahontas No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 mines in Buchanan County. All are owned by CONSOL Inc., a member of the BCOA.
About 17,000 miners are on strike in West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia, UMW officials say. The union says the strike centers on job security.
Contract talks began last week in Washington, D.C. It was the first meeting since May 3, when talks broke off hours before a contract extension expired.
by CNB