When did you begin working for OSM?
1978

What locations have you worked, and what did you do?
Zanesville, Ohio - Inspector
Columbus, Ohio - Inspector, Program Specialist
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Grants Specialist, Program Specialist

Looking back, what was your most memorable event(s) while with OSM?
OSM on a dark and stormy night, July, 1978. I was picked up in Columbus Ohio by Bob Mooney, who was driving a brand new tan Dodge 4X4 Ramcharger GOV (stick shift). The first thing I noticed about the GOV was that there was no rear seat. Mr. Mooney said that the optional "second seat" OSM ordered turned out to be the passenger front seat, not the rear. So, with three to a vehicle, and me being the last to enter, I had to sit on the luggage in the rear as we continued our journey.

Our mission from God was that we were to travel to Indianapolis, arriving before dawn, meet with the regional office staff and hook up with the other region III inspectors, then on to Illinois and southern Indiana to spread the word to the unsuspecting coal miners.

The region III "staff" consisted of, if I remember right, three people and a desk. Ed Imhoff was the regional director, accompanied by Wendell Vogt (finance guy), and a secretary. Ed Christened us inspectors and sent us off to Illinois.

Inspectors Baird Cook and Marv Utsinger, natives of the State, taught us many wondrous things about mining and reclamation in Illinois. Like the fact that the funny looking grass growing on some of the topsoil piles (erosion control?) was marijuana, which, Mr. Cook assured us, was strictly voluntary growth in that part of the country. I also learned that Mr. Cook often held lengthy conversations with himself. Mr. Utsinger's conversations, on the other hand, were mostly incomprehensible because he always had a pipe firmly clenched between his teeth. I don't recall what brand tobacco he used. While in Illinois we got to dine on home-grown Mississippi River catfish. They tasted like mud and I shortly became deathly ill. It was bad enough that I had to sit on the floor in the back of the GOV while in this condition, but I found that the worst was to come that evening.

To save money, Reichmaster Vogt required that we stay three to four to a room while on travel. Well, that night, while I lay waiting to have the last rites performed, my fellow inspectors (Bob Mooney, Baird Cook, John Kathman, and others I can only dimly recall) had a big party in our room (a Wake?), which lasted all night. I don't remember much after that, including the entire tour of Indiana. I do remember being thankful to get back home to Ohio.

Over the years, OSM has grown more refined, but the early days were definitely the most memorable.