Centralia No. 5 Dapheny Wells Dr. Angelique Goliday Modern Public Administration April 20, 2012
Centralia No. 5 March 25, 1947 is the date that marks a very significant incident in the state of Illinois . It was a devastating day for Centralia . (Stillman, 2010) 111 Coal miners woke up to attend their job at the coal mine just as any usual day. (Stillman, 2010) They had no idea they would never return home to their families. March 25, 1947 is the day 111 coal miners were killed during their routine daily duties at the Centralia Coal Mine. (Stillman, 2010) A massive explosion changed the city of Centralia forever. The cause of the massive explosion is due to a build up of coal dust. (Stillman, 2010) The explosion was 100% preventable if necessary actions were taken into affect. The conditions of the coal mine was deadly. There were reports of miners coughing up clumps of coal dust. There were also reports that cakes of coal dust were plastered to the walls of the mines. (Stillman, 2010) Identify and Explain Four Logistical Alternatives Scanlan Could Have Addressed. Governor Dwight Green appointed both Robert Medill and Driscoll Scanlan in the same year. Scanlan was recommended to Green by his state representative. There were several reports from Scanlan that the Centralia Mine No. 5 as highly explosive. ( U.S. Mine Rescue Association, 2012) The reason the mine was highly explosive is because of the coal dust buildup. Two year before the occurrence of the explosion, Frank Perez who was a mine inspector from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, conducted a federal inspection of Centralia Mine. ( U.S. Mine Rescue Association, 2012) Perez and Scalan reports of the Centralia mine were very similar. ( U.S. Mine Rescue Association, 2012) That same year, Scanlan told Prudent which was the director of state mining board that he had to shut down the mine because the mine hand not been cleaned. ( U.S. Mine Rescue Association, 2012) He also suggested that the company use sprinkler on the roads to help keep the coal dust down. When Scalan first issued the threat, authorities clean the mine. (Martin, J.B, 2000) They had a rotation. (Martin, J.B, 2000)The miners work 4 days and clean for 3 days. Eventually, the rotation came to an end. After Scalan performed another inspection on the mine, he found the harsh conditions to come back to reality. (Martin, J.B, 2000) From the prior research gathered from Scanlan and other investigators, there were several different alternatives that Scanlan could have done to improve the conditions of the coal mine. (Martin, J.B, 2000) The coal mine should have been closed down until every safety hazard was properly handled. (Garvey, G., 1997) Scanlan was granted the power to have the coal mine closed down. He should have used his authority to make sure the coal mine was safe and secure for its workers. (Garvey, G., 1997) The various letters to the board and directors were greatly appreciated. The lives of the 111 coal miners would not have been taken if Scanlan would have taken the matters in his own hands and shut down the mine. Another alternative is to conduct the safety measures himself. (Garvey, G., 1997) He could have sprinkled the roads down with a sprinkler to reduce the amount of coal dust. Scanlan also could have encouraged the miners to construct a peaceful protest to improve their work conditions. (Garvey, G., 1997) If the workers would refuse to come to work because of the threat on their lives due to the harsh work conditions, authority would have no other choice but to fix the problems in order to get the miners to come back to work. Analyze and discuss Scanlan’s motivation toward the Constitution, Bureaucracy and Obligation. Scanlan was granted the authority to shut down the mines because of the working conditions. He followed proper procedure by properly inspecting and reporting his findings on the mine. Scanlan also took went so far as to inform the employees that their lives were in serious danger if their working conditions did not improve. There were fliers posted in the mine for every to read. All of Scanlan's reports were reported to the Department of Mining and Minerals. One simple mistake fail to save the live of 111 hard working miners. The failure to shut the mine down even thought there was such a demand for the coal caused a hard lesson learned. As public Administrator Scanlan could have gone to the media and local radio stations to inform the citizens of Centralia , IL of the dangers the miners were facing daily. ( Illinois Labor History Society, 2012) Scanlans obligation was to endure the safety of the miners and he failed. No matter how simple the mistake was. He failed to endure the safety of the miners. Closing the doors of the mine would have completely solved the problem.

Take a Position on Two Possible Paths of Action for Scanlan and Defend Your Choices The major issue that caused so many reports to be ignored in Illinois was due to politics. ( Illinois Labor History Society, 2012) Because there were so many reports being ignored and so much political involvement, the best choice for Scanlan was to close shop on the coal mine. It is sad to know that government is willing to sacrifice lives of hard working individuals in order to remain "politically correct." There were so many indications of wrongfulness on many levels. There were several individuals that could have prevented the explosion on March 25, 1947. ( Illinois Labor History Society, 2012) Unfortunately it seems as if Scanlan dropped the ball because he was granted the power to close the mine. Another course of action requires Scanlan to take his reports to a higher level of officials. Because his reports were being ignored, Scanlan should have gone through desperate measures to inform the federal level what was going on in Centralia , IL .

Reference Stillman, R. J. (2010). Public administration concepts and cases. Mason , OH : Cengage Learning. U.S. Mine Rescue Association. Historical data on mine disasters in the United States . Retrieved April 23,
2012, from http://www.usmra.com/saxsewell/historical.htm. Martin, J.B. (2000). The blast in Centralia No. 5: A mine disaster no one stopped. In R.J. Stillman, Public administration concepts and cases (7th ed.), pp. 31-45. New York : Houghton Mifflin Garvey, G. (1997). Public administration: The profession and the practice—A case study approach. New
York: Bedford / St Martin ’s.

Illinois Labor History Society. Centralia Mine disaster. Retrieved April 18, 2012, from http://www.kentlaw.edu/ ilhs/centrali.htm.

Understanding Federalism. Based on the section, “ Picket-Fence Federalism,” in Denhardt, Chapter 3: Please respond to the following:
Give your own interpretation of picket-fence federalism.
List and explain at least three strategies states used to respond to welfare reform following the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. Relate your answer specifically to state discretionary rule-making and changes in the categorization of case studies.
My own interpretation of Picket-fence federalism is Picket-fence federalism is a great form of organization for the government. The divided branches local, state and federal levels work together for a common ground of policies. The reason I feel that Picket-fence federalism is a great form of organization for the government is because the federal level cannot handle all issues of the 50 states. The States government is also to large to handle every local city policy. That's where the local level comes into play. At the same time all levels have certain issues that needs to be addressed. Picket-fence federalism is where all three levels work together to make an agreement on the distribution of governmental assistance.

The three strategies states used to respond to welfare reform following the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity is the enforcement of paying child support, requiring receivers of various government program volunteer a certain amount of hours and WIC. Child support forces parents to provide for the children they brought into this world. Receivers of Welfare cannot not just sit and home and draw a check. They have to go out and provide some type of service in the community in order to continue to receive benefits. WIC provides nourishment for women and their infants for the first five years. All of these programs are products of the picket-fence federalism system.

Intervention. Please respond to the following:
Using all three e-Activities and with reference to Intervention Techniques For Integrating Ethics Into Agency Operations in Denhardt, Chapter 4, select the two most effective of the 13 Intervention Techniques for Integrating Ethics into Agency Operations and defend your choices.
Stillman’s Chapter 16 Case Study describes the ethical tensions that may accompany leadership in the public sector. Analyze the ways in which George Tenet was challenged ethically, and present and assess at least two resolution strategies he used to handle these challenges.
The two most effective intervention techniques for intergrating Ethics into Agency Operations is Getting every one involved. most often times when companies have meetings, lost of people are omitted. Everyone should be involved. It is so important to know that every one is not going to believe in the sames morals and values but it is good to know ow to get to a common ground on any particular issue. Employment Qualification Commitment. I agree that any hiring or other employment decisions I make will be based on the candidate's qualifications, competence, and experience is a really good one. Even thought It is hard to prove, it is very obvious that some employment is given to individuals that are not qualified. I have heard that saying it's all about who you know. This is not ethical at all. It caused the qualifying person to work twice as hard.Ethics are the morals and values that are instilled in humans since birth. Ethical leadership causes tension because people let their own beliefs cause them to make bias decisions. Tenent challenged his own morals and values by sticking by the President. Tenent knew the letter was bogus. He wanted to put the heat off of himself and tried to put the blame on others.