My Hometown

Market Street in Clinton, Tennessee, in the 1940s. 

The Christmas Parade in my hometown,  this photo was made on Main
Street in Clinton, Tennessee.  I am in this group, closer to the front and
I remember it like it was yesterday.  My grandmother made
my beautiful blue velvet outfit.

My hometown of Clinton, Tennessee, has been in shock since yesterday.  One of our residents was shot and killed yesterday while working at a pawn shop.  My sister had called me and said something "major" was going on in the town.  She had gone to the grocery store and saw multiple emergency vehicles in different directions.

A 63 year old resident had gone into a local pawn shop and asked to be shown a shotgun.  This customer had brought in shells from home for the shotgun, loaded the shotgun and struggled with the employee, shooting him at close range.  Larry, the pawn shop employee,  was 58 years old and was in my brother's Clinton High School Class of 1971.  The other employee in the shop shot the man as he was fleeing the shop.

The injured man drove home, his wife seeing the gunshot wounds thought he had tried to commit suicide and she called 911 ten minutes after the shooting.  The police recovered the shotgun from the pawn shop and the man was airlifted to a Knoxville hospital. 

I am reporting from TV reports and newspaper accounts. It was reported the assailant was a "preacher" and worked for Habitat for Humanity. There are so many unanswered questions as to why this man shot Larry.  I keep thinking Clinton is an innocent town, things like this don't happen in Clinton.  This is Mayberry, well ... it used to be.  I truly do realize things like this happen, even in Mayberry and I am so shocked and saddened by it all.  So totally senseless.  Why?

Nerves

Yesterday Clint and I had just pulled into a carpet store parking lot when my cell phone rang.  It is not the usual time for my daughter to call me and this thought passed through my mind.  Lucinda told me my sister had been admitted to the hospital with chest pains and had been having tests.  She said the test results so far were okay.  Clint and I drove to the hospital from the carpet store which is not far from our house.

Patti seemed fine, there was a nice sitting area in her room and we three had a good talk and visit.  Once again all her tests were okay and "they" are not sure what is causing her symptoms. She thinks her problem is a panic attack, this is not the first time she has been admitted to the  hospital for this problem.  She said she feels something inside her begins to radiate out to her body and limbs and she feels she is going to lose consciousness. I had not known she had already spent a night in the hospital, I think now my family is afraid to tell me more bad news but I need to know what is happening.

This morning I have talked to her three times, she was waiting to be discharged

and anxious to get back home.

Last night my insomnia struck again.  After an hour and a half, I decided to get up and read the newspaper.  Instead of reading the newspaper, I then decided to watch Hoarders and had watched only a few seconds when I heard a shotgun being fired behind our house and the immediate screaming of a woman! There was total silence afterwards except for a distant barking of a dog.  This happened around 1:16 AM.  I run into our bedroom in a panic and asked Clint to go back into the living room and turn off the lights. I was afraid this"killer" could see inside the sidelights of our front door, the sidelights that are still uncovered.

I felt like I needed to report this to the police so I called 911 and told what I had heard. The  police called me back about 40 minutes later to tell me there were officers behind our house and wanted to alert us so we would know it was the police if were were to see or hear them.  I looked out and saw no one, they must have been on the other side of the hedges along the fence in back.  Still don't know anymore about the incident.

After this, I was trembling all over.  The idea it was so closeby and the screaming of the woman following the loud bang.  Our little lane looks so perfect, everyones' homes are new, neat and the yards so well attended.  In this area there are some wonderful neighborhoods near some not-so-wonderful neighborhood and homes.  Welcome to Tennessee! This morning I was speaking to a neighbor across the street when I went out to the mail box.  He didn't hear the shotgun.  He and I both thought of the same location as being the source of the gun being shot.

I can do without drama such as my sister ending up in the hospital, hearing shotguns being fired and a woman screaming!  I stopped by the library today on my way home from working out.  When I got to the car my sister had left me a message that she was safely home and nothing could be found wrong with her.  For that I am very thankful.