A Sad misunderstanding

For so many years it was the job of Kadizzle to escort federal mine inspectors through the coal mine where Kadizzle was in charge of safety.  The way the Mine Safety and Health Administration was set up our mine almost always had the same inspector.  We ran a good safe coal mine, but there was a lot of pressure on the inspectors to at least find something wrong.  Rudy was the inspector, and over the years we became friends of sorts.  It was like a policeman and a criminal becoming friends.  Kadizzle was the criminal in this case.

Federal inspectors made surprise inspections at mines.  The safety guys like Kadizzle developed a network so we could somewhat figure when the surprise would come.  Sometimes the inspector would show up for two or three days, other times it might be for a whole week.  The inspector could come whenever he wanted. He could show up in the middle of the night if he chose. That meant Kadizzle would have to get out of bed and run out to the mine.

The long and short of it was Kadizzle and Rudy spent many, many hours together driving around the mine.  Rudy was getting old and tired, and did not like the job of confrontation, and often controversial.  It was Kadizzle's job to avoid citations, and to fight them in court if need be.  Sometimes Rudy would come and go with no citations, but his bosses put heat on him to write up something.  A couple of favorites were frayed extension cords, or fire extinguishers.  It was kind of Rudy to pick on the small things.  It worked for both of us.  The fine was very small, and it suited the needs of both parties.  We got dinged, and Rudy got an atta boy.

Then one day something went wrong.  Rudy was not in a good mood, and Kadizzle sensed he was out to find some real problems.  At the big shop where the heavy equipment was repaired Rudy was snooping around.  Kadizzle did not notice Rudy had slipped into the machine shop.   Rudy did not like it, but sometimes Kadizzle carried a camera, and a recorder.  When things heated up it was a way to send a signal to Rudy we were going to fight back.  Rudy came out of the machine shop and told Kadizzle there was a problem in the machine shop.   Kadizzle went into the machine shop and Rudy showed Kadizzle where a cover was missing for the electrical components to a drill press.  Now, pay attention to this detail.  Between the time Rudy saw the missing cover, and the time Kadizzle saw it,  the machinist put the cover back on.  Rudy pointed to the cover and explained the problem.  As chance would have it the cover was kind of unique.  The cover was about three feet long, by two feet wide.  However, built into the large cover was a small cover.  Since the machinist had replaced the large cover Kadizzle had no idea that was the cover Rudy was talking about.  The small cover seemed like no big deal. Kadizzle too a photo thinking it was the small cover at issue.

As things evolved Kadizzle went in front of an administrative law judge to fight Rudy about the cover, and about some other citations.  Kadizzle took the picture to court, and won the case.

Now move the clock ahead many years.  Rudy finally retired, and the mine gave him some sort of gift.  Then the strange conversation occurred.  Rudy said to Kadizzle " I never forgave you for the time you lied in court".   Kadizzle was shocked.   Then Kadizzle figured out what had happened.  In court Kadizzle thought it was the small cover. Rudy know it was the big cover.  Rudy was probably correct.  If the big cover was off, then we were guilty.

In his own way Rudy was a shy man.  Rudy was somewhat of a country bumpkin and the whole court thing sort of overwhelmed him.  Rudy should have spoken up in court, and pointed out the inaccuracies of my case.  Indeed it would have been fine and a revelation to me if Rudy had straightened things out.  That just was not Rudy's nature.

Rudy had always been concerned about the health of his wife.  It worried him constantly.  It was not long before Kadizzle was shocked to hear Rudy had died within three weeks after retirement.  Rudy was a good man, and I hope he is somewhere reading this.  I only wish Rudy had spoke up.  It saddened Kadizzle greatly to think Rudy thought Kadizzle would have done such a thing to him.  Rudy was good to Kadizzle and made life easier for him.

Under Kadizzle's leadership, the Glenharold Mine was the first mine in North Dakota to win the prestigious Sentinels of Safety Award.  The award went to the mine that had the most accident free hours worked in the United States.