SOMERSET, PA. Ex-governor speaks at ceremony for rescue of 9 miners

People want to touch and get inside the yellow capsule used in the rescue.
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) -- Calling the site of last year's rescue of nine trapped miners "hallowed ground," former Gov. Mark Schweiker returned Saturday to a field where hundreds of people worked tirelessly for three days to retrieve the men, not knowing whether they were alive or dead.
Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the rescue, Schweiker said the site represents a new chapter in mine rescue history and noted that, in the past, mine accidents seldom had such a happy ending.
"We had the finest minds in the world here, with their ingenuity and their equipment, laboring to find [the miners] -- with no guarantees," said Schweiker, who spoke to a crowd gathered in the field where the rescue took place. Five of the nine miners who were rescued attended the event at Bill and Lori Arnold's farm north of Somerset.
Schweiker was little known outside Pennsylvania before becoming the public face of the 77-hour effort to rescue the miners, who were trapped in the Quecreek Mine last July 24 when they breached a flooded, adjacent mine believed to be hundreds of feet away.
Today marks the anniversary of the day rescuers finally punched a hole into the mine, enabling the miners to be pulled up in a capsule, one by one early the next morning.
David Lauriski, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, said Monday has been declared National Coal Mine Safety Awareness Day, signaling a new effort to talk to miners across the country about safety issues.
What's changed
Lauriski said the nation's attention focused on the miners and their rescue. He said even the yellow capsule which brought the miners up one at a time has become something of a celebrity -- a star whenever it is showed at events across the nation.
"Everyone wants to touch it. They want to get inside it," he said.
Since the rescue, much has changed in the lives of Schweiker, the miners and others involved.
Schweiker, who did not run in last year's gubernatorial race, has become president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Saying he met privately with the miners Friday night, he said one of them asked him how often he thinks about the rescue. He said he replied, "How many minutes are there in a day?"
"It changed your soul. It changed your outlook," the former governor said.
Saturday's ceremonies also included remarks from Pennsylvania's former secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, David Hess, and Joe Sbaffoni, director of the state Bureau of Deep Mine Safety, who helped coordinate the rescue.
Statue and trees
The Arnolds unveiled a bronze statue of a miner near the shaft where the miners were rescued. Also in the field are nine evergreens representing each of the men.
The state earlier this week issued a report putting blame for the accident on faulty mine maps, which prevented the miners from realizing they were drilling into the flooded, adjacent mine, but there was no discussion of that during Saturday's ceremony.
"Today, America celebrates one of our few truly happy endings," Lauriski said.
The intervening year, however, hasn't been without its challenges for the miners. Many say they are still dealing with anxiety and other problems. Two of the men have returned to work -- one of whom has returned to mining.
Six of the other seven have filed lawsuits against past and present owners and operators of the mining area, saying they knew or should have known of the danger the men were in.
Thomas Foy, one of the miners, said he has had to struggle with sleeplessness and bad nerves.
"We figured we would just come up, get a shower and go home," Foy said. "I never thought it was going to be like this."
He said he believes time will help his problems but realizes memories of the accident "will never go away."
"I believe there was someone who had a higher hand in this rescue, and I believe it was the good Lord above," said miner Blaine Mayhugh, the only one of the nine to speak at the ceremony.
John Unger, 52, of Hollsopple, said he's happy to honor those who rescued him, but said the anxiety and the public attention -- including a TV movie, numerous public appearances and almost-endless interest from the press -- have been more difficult than he anticipated.
"I'll never be able to go back to being just me," Unger said. "But I wish it would just die down."