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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 6 page summation of Gerald Stern's book on the Buffalo Creek Disaster, the worst mad-made disaster in the nation's history. The writer describes the causes behind the disaster, and some of the strategy used by Stern and his legal team, which represented the survivors. It is a moving story that affirms the ability of our country's legal system to respond to situations and create legal precedent that serves to protect the ordinary citizen. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KE9_99bufdis.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
system to respond, "to create new precedent," and to offer some legal protection from irresponsible behavior on the part of corporations (x). In February of 1972, a massive dam
that was constructed by a coal company to filter waste water from its coal-mining operation collapsed, sending a 20 to 30 foot tidal wave of cascading black water down a
seventeen-mile valley in West Virginia, a valley that was filled with small mining towns (3). Over 125 people, mostly women and children, died and thousands more were left homeless
(3). There were approximately 4000 survivors, with roughly 1000 homes destroyed (ix). The disaster occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, an area were coal-mining disasters had occurred many
times before. However, this time it wasnt the miners that were killed, but their families. They died in their beds early on a Saturday morning. Just two weeks after
the disaster?even before all of the missing and dead had been found and identified?a group of angry survivors met at the Buffalo Creek Grade School to organize their strategy in
dealing with the coal company. As Gerald Stern writes in his account of what happened at Buffalo Creek, "They wanted revenge" (6). The Buffalo Creek survivors were well aware
that politics in West Virginia, including the court system, were influenced?or outright controlled?by coal company interests. Stern describes how in the last county election, there had been blatant fraud that
caused some of the people connected with it to be convicted in federal court (7). Consequently, the group was determined to find legal help outside of West Virginia. They
elected Charlie Cowan, the black owner of the local gas station, as their chairman, and Cowan expressed his belief that they should find a "strong, independent law firm" that the
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