An investigation is under way to see what happened in the Sago mine and how the family got the bad information that created the morning’s painful debacle. I hate to tell you this, but the investigators are looking in all the wrong places.

They should be asking Delegate Caputo who knows exactly who is to blame. How does he know? He doesn’t say, but he does place 100% of the responsibility on the company for not communicating. Ah yes, that has to be it. Never mind Governor Manchin told the families the rumor was true, or that the company had a strict policy that workers were not allowed to leak information, or that Caputo is a representative of the anti-business United Mine Worker’s Association (UMWA) and has a considerable conflict of interest.

Speaking of the UMWA, the investigators should interview them as well. Spokesmen for the union say the fact that the Sago mine was non-union is the reason. Of course they fail to mention that over 75% of mines in this country are non-union and that coal mining fatalities are at an all-time low. And there is the pesky statistic that nationally, there were 3,382 injuries of coal miners in 2004, a significant drop from 1980, when more than 16,000 injuries were reported and there were more union coal mines.

If the investigators would rather not talk face-to-face, they just need to pick up the morning newspaper, the Charleston Gazette. The editors are certain who the culprit is: President Bush. After all, he put his cronies into the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). They forget to mention that in 1995 (who was President then?), there were 49 coal mining fatalities but in 2005, there were only 22. 1 death is too many, but if Bush’s political appointees are responsible for a reduction of over 50%, let’s move them to Social Security and see if they can remedy that too.

The truth is, no one yet knows what happened. That is why the posturing and politicizing should stop and the investigators should be allowed to do their job. Which is to fairly and accurately discern the cause of the explosion and make sure it never happens again.

Just as the family’s premature rejoicing brought hurt, jumping to conclusions before knowing the whole matter never helps. Let us wait and see the facts. Remember to mourn the dead before you blame the living.

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