AUTOPSY REVEALS PAINKILLER IN MINER

FRANKFORT - An autopsy found a powerful painkiller in the body of a coal
miner killed in a mine explosion in Floyd County in June.

The narcotic, hydrocodone, was found in the urine -- but not the blood --
of 21-year-old Paul Blair of Paintsville, according to the autopsy
performed by Dr. Gregory Davis, associate chief medical examiner in Frankfort.

The drug's absence from the blood means Blair was not under its influence
when the explosion occurred on June 13 at Cody Mining Co. Inc. near
McDowell, Davis said in the autopsy report. The report also did not say how
much of the drug Blair had taken.

The Courier-Journal obtained a copy of the autopsy report and reported
yesterday that the Floyd County coroner's office confirmed its validity.

More than 50 citations have been issued by the Kentucky Department of Mines
and Minerals against Cody Mining. The citations charge unsafe blasting
practices, inadequate ventilation, poor attention to safety and even the
discovery of a small amount of marijuana at the mine.

The blast severely injured the superintendent, Robert Ratliff Jr., 28,
whose father owns the mine. It is now closed.

Billy Adams, who operated a roof-bolting machine at the mine, told state
investigators that he saw Ratliff and Blair snorting ground-up pills in the
mine for about two months before the accident. The two snorted the pills
through a copper tube normally used to splice cable, Adams said.

Adams said he tried to get the two to stop.

"I don't think the accident would have happened had it not been for the
drugs," the report quoted Adams as saying.

The report did not indicate what kind of pills the two men allegedly snorted.

No one connected to the mine has corroborated Adams' statement. Adams has
declined to comment on the report.

The Lexington attorney representing Blair's family, Justin Morgan, said
Blair was not abusing drugs.

He said Blair's wife and parents said Blair "had not been feeling well for
a few days before and had been using over-the-counter medications."

More than 200 prescription drugs have hydrocodone as an ingredient,
according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.