Everyone in the southern West Virginia region is affected by coal mining.

That's the message the Logan County Commission is stressing right now, as the coal industry struggles through a downturn in the coal market.

Logan County Administrator Rocky Adkins said Friday that the commission has put together a coal forum for business owners to be held Wednesday, June 10, at the Earl Ray Tomblin Convention Center in Chief Logan State Park.

Adkins said when miners are laid off, everyone suffers.

"We're trying to make this an informational forum to show the economic impacts of the potential layoffs and downturn in the coal industry," Adkins said. "We want people to know what that will mean to our kids' education, fire and ambulance. All those things are impacted. We think all the people who make money off the service industries and coal industry should see the impacts that may be coming to them and some of the things that they might want to get prepared for.

"The coal industry affects everybody and a lot of people don't think it does. I've heard people say 'There's not that many miners who spend money with me' but they don't understand that maybe the miner doesn't, but the person who is spending money with the business generally is supported by the miner." Economists and coal industry officials will speak at the forum in an effort to show what may be coming if things don't change with the coal industry.

"MetroNews is going to do their morning talk show live from there," Adkins said. "We're going to have people talking about the statewide impact of the coal industry."