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A Miner Who Put Others First · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It was a heartbreaking update out of Nicholas County. Thursday morning,
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  Speaker 1: mine rescue teams found the body of forty two year
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: old foreman Steve Lipscomb inside the flooded Rolling thunder mine
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  Speaker 1: near Swiss. He'd been missing since Saturday, when a sudden
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: rush of water caused by a broken seal leading into
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  Speaker 1: old mine works swept into the section where he and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: his crew were working. Seventeen miners made it out, Lipscomb
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  Speaker 1: reportedly stayed behind to help them get to safety. After
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: days of draining and monitoring, the mind, crews were finally
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: able to re enter early Thursday, A two man team
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  Speaker 1: located him around seven point thirty seven am. I don't
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  Speaker 1: pretend to know the mining life. I can't imagine what
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: those men faced. Water surging into a tight space, fear
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  Speaker 1: pressing in instincts, firing, and the desperate hope that the
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  Speaker 1: way out was still open. What his family and his
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  Speaker 1: fellow miners are feeling is beyond measure, and there will
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: be questions. There always are, and there should be. How
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  Speaker 1: did this happen? What was known about the old works
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  Speaker 1: was the seal inspected? Could this have somehow been prevented?
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  Speaker 1: These answers matter for accountability, for safety, and for the
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  Speaker 1: closure every family deserves. But what stands out right now
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  Speaker 1: is the example lipskom leaves behind. John fifteen thirteen says
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  Speaker 1: greater love has no one than this, to lay down
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  Speaker 1: one's life for one's friends. By all accounts, Steve made
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  Speaker 1: a deliberate choice in those final moments to stay behind
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  Speaker 1: so others could get out. That is a profound act
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  Speaker 1: of selfless love. That kind of sacrifice, wanting better for
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  Speaker 1: someone else while you pay the price, is rare, final
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  Speaker 1: in a way most of us will never be asked
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  Speaker 1: to match. And yet it appear he made that choice
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  Speaker 1: willingly and without hesitation. The men who survived will carry
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  Speaker 1: that with them for the rest of their lives. What
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  Speaker 1: they do with the life his decision secured matters. The
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: ripples of his courage will say more than any words
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  Speaker 1: we could speak today. I'm betting those men will do
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  Speaker 1: great things moving forward as a testament to his sacrifice.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Steve, for a race well run. Your selflessness
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  Speaker 1: reminds us what it truly means to love, to serve,
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  Speaker 1: and to put others first.