I have yet to see the movie "October Sky" which was filmed about 10 miles from my home. But I did observe the premier showing in Knoxville. The boy starring in the movie was like a young Tom Cruise entering the theater, with all the young girls waiting behind the ropes for him to sign their autograph books. He kissed one of the girls. I just imagined how I would have felt if I had been a teenager, getting to experience the fame of a local boy. Who knows! Maybe he will be our next Tom Cruise. After reading Robert Crabtree's emotional story of the mine explosion in Amonate, WVA, it seemed appropriate that I tell this story. Some of you may remember a movie starring James Earl Jones called "Matewan", 1987. It was a story about the coal mines in WVA during the 1920s. Shortly after the movie came out, my son Greg was going through a small town in WVA. Driving past an antique shop, he looked in his rearview mirror and spotted a tall vertical sign on the porch of the shop. It caught his eye because the name on the sign said "Estep Hotel" (my maiden name). He backed up his car and entered the shop to inquire about the sign which appeared to be very old and weather worn. The shop owner said the sign was not old. It had been made by a New York artist especially for the movie "Matewan." My son paid $50 for the sign, and it has since been a focal point in his home in Indiana. Obviously, there was an Estep Hotel in the town during the 1920s, but he never learned anything about it. Does anyone recall the Estep Hotel, who owned it, or recall anything about Matewan (what does the name mean)? Pat O'Neal