Remembering Buffalo Creek February 26, 1972Stewart PleinSpecial Collections LibrarianWest Virginia University College of Law

The FloodPart 1

February 26, 1972Saturday morning, 8:00 a.m. Families were home. Mothers were cooking breakfast. Fathers were sleeping. Children were beginning to rise. Most were still in their pajamas, unaware of the approaching water. The only warning came from neighbors as they ran up the mountainside to escape. Most never knew what was coming. Many were swept away still inside their homes.

125 killed, 4,000 left homeless,

1,100 injured 502 houses and 44

mobile homes demolished

943 houses and mobile homes

damaged 1,000 cars and trucks

destroyedProperty damage estimated at $50

million

After the flood . . .

Property destruction

estimated at $50 million.

Entire houses were swept downstream

Bridge at Lundale

Logan County, WV

The Symposium: WVU College of Law, February 25-26, 2014Part 2

Willard Lorenson, Dean, College of Law

The Realization

Dennis Prince et al v. The Pittston Company

Justice v. The Pittston Company

The Mountain State v. The Pittston Company

The Symposium

Symposium Goals• Educate our students• To present the positions of both the plaintiff and defense

attorneys with a balanced approach• Provide a first hand opportunity for our students to learn from

the attorneys on both sides of a landmark case• Examine the legacies of Buffalo Creek• Gather together the key personnel to preserve their actions

and memories• To create an historical document for the future

Beyond our BordersMultidisciplinary Outreach:

• Appalachian Studies Community• History

• Social Sciences• Medical Community• Law Community

The ProgramTuesday, February 25

• 7:00 p.m. Lugar Courtroom• Film Screening by Mimi

Pickering, Appalshop documentary filmmaker • Two films:• Buffalo Creek Flood: Act of

Man• Buffalo Creek Revisited

Wednesday, February 26

1. Dennis Prince et al v. The Pittston Company

Gerald Stern• Lead plaintiff attorney

• Author• Keynote Speaker

Wednesday, February 26

2. Justice v. The Pittston Company

Judge Philip Gaujot• Guardian Ad Litum for the

Court• Precedence of Children’s

Rights

Wednesday, February 26

3. The Mountain State v. The Pittston Company

Jack SpaderoMine Health and Safety

Expert

Environmental Legacy

Wednesday, February 26Closing Comments

Dr. Kai EriksonSociologist

Author:Everything in its Path

Loss of Community

Librarians as Co-Creators

• Genesis of idea• Gather support from faculty and administration• Plan program• Invite Speakers• Arrange accommodations• Fundraising• Publicity and marketing

Selected Resources• Film: Appalshop: http://appalshop.org/ for live streaming of Mimi Pickering's Buffalo

Creek films.

• Web: West Virginia Division of Culture and History: http://

www.wvculture.org/history/buffcreek/bctitle.html Voices of Buffalo Creek The Charleston Gazette:

http://www.wvgazette.com/static/series/buffalocreek/ Buffalo Creek Disaster Marshall University:

http://www.marshall.edu/library/speccoll/virtual_museum/buffalo_creek/html/

• Books: Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald M. Stern Everything in its Path by Dr. Kai Erikson Buffalo Creek: Valley of Death by Dennis Deitz & Carlene Mowery.

Remembering Buffalo CreekPowerPoint

Slide NarrativeBibliography

Stewart Pleinhttp://www.academia.edu/