Tag: Sherry Keeney Depoy

Blankenship Sentencing Will Not Bring Closure to All Victims' Families

On Wednesday morning, a federal judge will decide whether former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship will serve prison time or face a monetary fine after being convicted of a misdemeanor. 

Blankenship was found guilty of conspiring to willfully violate federal mine safety laws in December, but one miner’s family says even the prison time will not bring complete closure.

“There is no victory in him going to prison because that’s not going to bring these men back,” said Shirley Whitt, the sister of 53-year-old UBB miner Howard “Boone” Payne. “But if the laws change and he is used as an example–this is just the beginning–that’s the victory.” 

Whitt and her sister, Sherry Keeney Depoy, will still ask District Judge Irene Berger to give Blankenship the maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $250,000 at his hearing Wednesday. 

The sentencing comes just a day after victims’ family members, including Whitt and Depoy, visited the Upper Big Branch Miners’ Memorial in Whitesville to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the mining accident.

The sisters shared their reflections on the anniversary and the more than two month trial of which they attended every day.

“It was hard,” Depoy said of the experience. “It seemed easy listening to the prosecutor, but when the defense got up, it was hard, but I’m glad we did it because we did it for those 29 men.”

UBB Sister: 'I Want to Remember My Brother, Not Just the Coal Miner'

On April 5, 2010, Howard “Boone” Payne went to work at the Upper Big Branch mine just as he had for years. He and 28 other men made their way miles underground to the mine’s long wall operation, spent hours mining coal, and prepared to wrap up their day when the unthinkable happened- an explosion that took all of their lives.

Six years later, Boone’s sisters Shirley Whitt and Sherry Keeney Depoy say there is still a void left in their family that cannot be filled. 

“The last time we talked he was talking about he was going to retire in two years,” Whitt said of her brother who was 53 at the time. “He said if I don’t get out of there, they’re going to kill me, and to this day it haunts me.”

The conversation came just weeks before the mine explosion that killed 29 mine near Montcoal, W.Va. Upper Big Branch was the worst mine disaster in the nation in 30 years. 

The explosion sparked a federal investigation that, in December, culminated in a guilty verdict for former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship– the company that oversaw Upper Big Branch at the time of the explosion.

Blankenship was found guilty of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws, a misdemeanor that carries an up to one year prison term and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Federal prosecutors told the jury a story of a micromanager who promoted a corporate environment of ignoring safety laws, leading to the disaster. Blankenship’s attorney’s pointed to a safety program on the books at Massey as proof he was concerned with safety. 

Whitt says she witnessed conversations between Boone and their father, a former coal miner himself, describing the conditions underground. 

“He would have a cold and he would sound so horrible and would say, when you wade in water up to your neck in that mines and you wear those clothes, that’s just a part of the job,” she said.

Whitt and her sister will attend a Tuesday morning memorial to commemorate the disaster that took their brother and 29 other men. 

Depoy described Boone as a hardworker who loved life, loved basketball, and was always just a phone call away. That’s how Whitt says she wants to remember him.

“I want to go over [to the memorial],” she said, “and just remember Boone as my brother and not just the coal miner.”

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