Bush, miners to talk today (adds details and times of visit)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | August 05, 2002 | P-G Staff

[prisoner6]

Bush, miners to talk today

Monday, August 05, 2002

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Just one week ago, the Quecreek Nine, some of them still hospitalized, were recovering from a 78-hour ordeal after being trapped in the mine where they worked.

Today, the men will meet President Bush.

Bush, who is in town for a fund-raising luncheon for gubernatorial candidate Mike Fisher, will meet with the nine miners this morning at the Green Tree Volunteer Fire Company.

The men, employees of Black Wolf Coal Co., were working in the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County on July 24 when they drilled through a wall and into an abandoned mine, unleashing millions of gallons of water. After being trapped for 78 hours, all were rescued in a drama that unfolded on television screens around the world.

The president is scheduled to arrive in Pittsburgh just after 10 a.m. and will meet with the miners and rescue workers around 11 a.m. Gov. Mark Schweiker and U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao will join Bush in a ceremony honoring the group.

Afterward, Bush will travel to the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers, Downtown, for the luncheon in support of Fisher, the state attorney general. Then shortly after 1 p.m. he will sign a bill ensuring that infants born alive receive additional federal protection.

He will then leave the Hilton and return to the airport, for a scheduled 2:10 p.m. departure.

Because of Bush's visit, motorists are advised that some roads between the airport and Downtown may be closed throughout the morning and early afternoon. State police generally close ramps on the Parkway West for a presidential motorcade. Downtown traffic around the Hilton also is expected to be rerouted.

[prisoner6]

I posted this to a new thread because it adds details and times of W's visit to Da 'Burgh.

As I suspected I couldn't get a press pass - clearance really - on short notice over the weekend. But, I'm still planning on going. Probably won't have time to make a FReeper sign, but I'll see what I can do.

Then again the way things go at work, they may decide to send me out to cover it at the last minute. We're noted for making calls at the line of scrimage.

prisoner6

[Miss Marple]

Thanks for the information! I will be able to watch coverage on Fox and am looking forward to it. Good luck!

[MJY1288]

Thanks for posting this, The PA Governor was very appreciative of the support he got from GWB and the Miners expressed their gratitude also. This should be a "must see' for those of us who support President Bush.

[ThePythonicCow]

Pinging terilyn - you asked about this on the Dose.

[Mo1]

I can't what to see this ... thanks for letting me know about it

[terilyn]

Thank you so much! I'll be sure to time my trip to the grocery store after this.

[maica]

morning ping

[Glenn]

I'll just have to be satisfied with watching the motorcade and (maybe) AF1 landing from my perch high atop the mountain across from Robinson Towne Center. Too much going on to get away.

[Coop]

Bump

[Texaggie79]

Let me be the party pooper here. This crap has been politicized to death. I mean, it's great they were saved, but com'on, it was just some miners that got stuck in a cave. I laughed when the gov of Pen was talking at that press conference like it was the second coming of Christ. I think we are just so desperate for a happy ending story that we latch on to anything.

These miner's 15 minutes should have ended the day after their rescue.

[Pietro]

"...he will sign a bill ensuring that infants born alive receive additional federal protection"

hey pris, did you notice the p-g didn't mention that this was for infants that somehow survived an attempted abortion? Funny how they left that part out ain't it.

[Pietro]

"it was just some miners that got stuck in a cave"

Ever wonder why so many people hate Texans?

[Texaggie79]

Jealousy

[YaYa123]

On C-Span this morning, great reporter, DC Bureau Chief of the Pittsburg paper, Ann McFeatters, took several calls from anti-Bush, pro union callers in PA. She said there will be demonstrations against Bush at his appearances.

To her credit, McFeatters told callers that some of the miner safety regulations the administration wants to drop are obsolete because of modern technology.

She mentioned "mountain top" mining as ugly, but she didnt' tell viewers that those miners were probably back underground, less safe, than "mountain top" mining, because of the power welded by the whacko environmentalist lobby.

[Pietro]

strike one

[GretchenEE]

Photos from this meeting, courtesy of Yahoo.

Below: Bush talks with rescued Quecreek miner John Unger at the Greentree Volunteer Fire Hall in Green Tree, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, after delivering remarks August 5, 2002.

Below: President Bush mingles with rescued miners from the Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pa., at the Green Tree Volunteer Fire Company in Green Tree, Pa., Monday August 5, 2002. The miners are left to right; Blaine Mayhugh, Ronald Hileman, John Unger, John Phillippi, President Bush, Robert Pugh, Tom Foy. Bush held a 20-minute private huddle with the nine miners and their families.

[GretchenEE]

More ...

Bush (2nd R) meets with coal miners (L-R) John Unger, Blaine Mayhew, and Randy Fogle, who were recently trapped below ground for 77 hours, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Below: Bush speaks with coal miners and their families, during an event in Pittsburgh.

[GretchenEE]

Here at #16 - 17 are pictures of Bush with the miners.

[GretchenEE]

See posts 16 and 17 for pictures of W with the rescued miners. Can't imagine how grateful they are to be among those in the land of the living.

[Miss Marple]

Well, I hope you got to watch the speech, and maybe you will change your mind. The President used the rescue of the miners as an illustration of what is good about America...ingenuity, family, faith, courage, determination...and it was very nicely received.

By the way, if he hadn't gone to see the miners, the media would have started in on how he doesn't care about the working man.

Oh, and until you have been 300 feet underground, in a four-foot high mine, with water rising, no way of escape, air running out, in the dark, I really don't think you should be quite so disparaging of the miners.

My husband is a mining engineer and worked underground for many years. We both thought these guys were dead, and you have no idea how amazing it is that they were all rescued.