A cemetery desecrated by mining: West Virginians go through life knowing what mountain or hillside we'll be buried on.

• Position: Brief article

Members of the Jarrell family are suing Alpha Natural Resources in Boone County, West Virginia, as a last-ditch effort to protect their family cemetery from further desecration. The company's massive mountaintop-removal mining operation surrounds the graveyard.

By law, mining is not to be done within 100 feet of the cemetery's boundaries. "In my opinion, 100 feet isn't far enough to ensure damage is prevented," says family member Danny Cook. "We've spent years begging the companies to not destroy this place that is so important to our family history."

The family members have worked with the mining companies and the West Virginia Department of...