 The protest by coal miners against Quest Energy in Pike County is in its third day and miners are still blocking a coal train from leaving the company's mine at Kemper while they await their paychecks. On Tuesday, Quest's parent company American Resources issued a statement saying that all of the miners had been paid. But the company ignited a war of words in that statement accusing the miners of spreading false information and saying they are demanding a quote ransom from the company. I visited the protest site again today and arrived just after a tense situation was broken up by police. Quest Energy coal miners and their spouses are still on the tracks in Pike County, blocking a coal train from leaving the mine. The miners say they received some money from the company, but many were left partially unpaid. They also allege that they've been threatened and intimidated into leaving, including being confronted by dozens of their co-workers Wednesday morning who attempted to convince them to leave the area. Kentucky State Police was called to break up the verbal confrontation. Last night they, honest to God, harassed us all night. They said slanderous and harassing things. I had went home, I've been here for three days, so I had went home to gather some things and take care of my animals and stuff. We ended up having to come straight back and we got here, we was here five or ten minutes and here they come walking down the road. Of course, you had a couple that was irate wanting to fight and argue and we just told them, you know, we're not in this to hurt anybody. The only thing that we want is to start pay. We had one of the boys that walked over with them stand right there five minutes ago, ten minutes ago, however long ago it was, and tell us that they had him call us last night. Tell us that we had 30 minutes to get off the track. If we got off the track within 30 minutes that these boys could keep their jobs. If not, they were going to have to close the doors. Okay, you know as well as I do, what would we have done? You know? They weren't going to keep these boys. They might have done it to prevent laying them off, but that would have been for their gain, not the boys' gain, because obviously they're not for their men. The protesters say they will not leave until they are paid in full. These men ain't working for free. You know, it's not slavery. They're saying that, you know, they were paid. They weren't paid until yesterday evening and it was for two weeks. It was paid up until January the 5th. Well you still have the 6th through the 12th, but these men's worked. And if we left and let them take this train, these men, the men that we stepped up here, these men didn't have a job, you know. But if we would have let them have this train, what would we have done for our pay? Because, you know, if the men's coming to the mines and can't get paid, they ain't going to sit at home and get paid. A bookkeeper for Quest Energy came back to the protest site after Wednesday's confrontation and told the miners their full payments were in process. The miners say pay stubs are not good enough and they will not leave until they have their money in hand. When our money's in our hand, then we're gone. And we'll be at peace. And you know, we're not up here to have trouble with anybody or to fight with anybody or anything. You know, they want their train, we want their money. Their train's worth a lot more than what they owe us. So just give us what little bit you owe us so we can eat and pay our bills and you can have your dang train, you know. Elected officials are weighing in on the Quest Energy protest. Governor Andy Beshear has pledged to use the full resources of Kentucky State Government to see the Quest miners are paid in full. Senator Mitch McConnell has also pledged his support for the miners and a field representative of his visited the protest site today. In Pike County, the fiscal court will host a meeting between the state labor cabinet and the Quest miners on Friday at 11 a.m. in order to allow the miners to easily file complaints against Quest over the non-payment issues that sparked the protest.