Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993 TAG: 9310080062
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Greg Edwards
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia Coal Council is holding its annual meeting at the Roanoke Airport Marriott.
But council ramrod Barbara Altizer of Richlands knows that all work and no play makes for a dull coal executive.
So Tuesday, before the council gets down to serious business, meeting participants will play in an afternoon golf tournament at Hunting Hills Country Club.
And later in the evening they'll go "underground" for an unusual party intended to bring some of the flavor of the coalfields to the ballroom at the Marriott.
According to Altizer, a mock mine entrance will be built around the doorway and party-goers, equipped with hard hats, will be sent inside to enjoy food, music and casino-style gambling with Coal Council play money.
Roughly 100 participants have preregistered for this year's annual meeting, a few less than usual.
Altizer speculated that one reason for the attendance drop is the ongoing strike by the United Mine Workers against the Bituminous Coal Operators Association. She said she was hoping the two sides would reach an agreement to end the 5-month-old strike before the meeting gets under way.
In Virginia, only three large mines in Buchanan County owned by Consol Inc. are involved in the strike. The two other big unionized coal companies in the state, Westmoreland in Wise County and Pittston in Russell and Dickenson counties, are not members of the BCOA.
Altizer has one special reason for hoping for an end to the strike. If it continues, she could be looking for another keynote speaker for Wednesday night's banquet.
She had hoped to have Bobby Brown, chairman of Pittsburgh-based Consol, to speak. But Brown is the chief negotiator for the coal operators.
Don McCamey, vice president of the UMW's District 28 in Castlewood, said it would be interesting to hear what Brown has to say, although he rarely agrees with him.
McCamey's big concern is that the public has a misunderstanding of the union's position during the strike and negotiations.
"All we're asking, really, is for jobs," McCamey said. The union isn't asking the coal operators to create jobs or "featherbed" but to give union members a shot at new jobs the companies create with profits earned by the sweat of union members, McCamey said.
As for Monday night's coal-mine party, McCamey laughed. "They'll have to cut a wide place, if they have a big band," he said, referring to the way coal- mining machines carve out rooms underground.
If Brown can't make it, Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., may be asked to address the council, Altizer said. Robb will be in Roanoke anyway and is scheduled to address the council Thursday morning.
He is one of the meeting's co-sponsors along with Sen. John Warner, R-Va.; Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.; Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va.; and Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, D-W.Va.
Wednesday's program could provide some interesting information about a variety of topics, maybe even the status of controversial proposals by Appalachian Power Co. and Virginia Power Co. to build new high-voltage power lines from West Virginia to Virginia.
Apco President Joseph Vipperman and Virginia Power President and CEO James Rhodes are on a Wednesday afternoon panel, titled "Utility Roundtable."
David Putman, who supervises coal buyers for the Southern Co., a big Atlanta-based utility, also is to appear on the panel. The Southern Co. and American Electric Power Co., Apco's parent, are the nation's top two coal consumers. Wednesday morning, Norfolk Southern Corp.'s vice president
for coal marketing, Bill Bales, will join a panel discussing the international coal trade. Bales is just back from a sales trip to Europe. Also on the panel will be Daniel Roling, a coal industry analyst with Merril Lynch Capital Markets.
\ Greg Edwards covers coal, agriculture, transportation and utilities for the Roanoke Times & World-News.
by CNB