Press Conference and Memorial Service for Overweight Coal Truck Accident Victims

Sept. 5, 2002

News coverage by AP

Vigilance should mark coal truck deaths, supporters say

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- On the first anniversary of their deaths, two West Virginians killed in a coal truck crash should be honored with continued pressure against raising truck weight limits, survivors and supporters said Thursday.

Invoking the memory of Mary Ellen Justice and Jimmy Nelson, speakers at a Thursday news conference also called on Gov. Bob Wise to resume an abandoned crackdown on overloaded haulers.

"The governor proved that overweight coal trucks can be curbed with existing laws,'' said Julie Archer of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group. "He needs to put the health, safety and respect of taxpayers over the interests of coal.''

The Sept. 6, 2001 deaths of Justice, 78, and Nelson, 63, on state Route 94 near Hernshaw spurred debate over coal truck weight limits. Coal companies and haulers want larger legal loads, while opponents want current limits enforced. A recent special session on the issue ended in stalemate.

The pair's car was struck by a coal truck weighing 165,000 pounds on a road with a maximum weight limit of 73,500 pounds, then pushed into the path of an empty coal truck.

Kanawha County prosecutors had threatened criminal charges until a State Police report last month concluded weight was not a factor in the wreck. The victims' supporters belittled that conclusion Thursday.

"Surely, the truck could have stopped much more quickly if it had not been overloaded,'' said Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

The family has filed suit over the deaths and hired a forensic engineer to reconstruct the crash and challenge the State Police findings.

Survivors and supporters also marked the anniversary with a memorial service in Hernshaw.

AP-ES-09-05-02 1655EDT