
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 30, 1994                   TAG: 9403300072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRMONT, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

NEW MINING SAFETY CHIEF IS SWORN IN

J. Davitt McAteer was sworn in Tuesday as the nation's top mine safety official in a courtroom used for an inquest into this community's mining tragedies.

Labor Secretary Robert Reich administered the oath to McAteer, a Fairmont native and self-described workers' advocate.

"We come here with a sense of appropriateness," Reich said, "a sense that we are coming together in the appropriate place, at an appropriate time and with an appropriate person" to be assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

McAteer, 50, will be the top enforcer of safety statutes of all the nation's mining industries, from coal to silver, uranium, sand and gravel.

McAteer said he wants "to make a commitment to change the nature of mining."

by CNB