Odds and ends: Coaches, corruption and some more

Here’s some of what I’ve seen lately:

This bit says a coach in Asheville is going to Atlanta:

Ben Williamson, a former Auburn walk-on who played on the Tigers’ undefeated team in 1993, has been named Walker High School’s new football coach Walker. Williamson takes over for coach Frank Cuda, who resigned in December following a 2-8 season. Cuda was 16-25 in four complete seasons at Walker.

Williamson, 32, has coached the last five seasons at Christ School in Asheville (N.C.), competing in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association. Williamson’s teams were state quarterfinalists in 2004 and a state semifinalist last season, finishing with a 6-6 record.

Newsresearch.blogspot.com has a few thoughts on corruption:

During my years in South Florida, it seemed that was the biggest hotbed of corruption around. Every year some government official was charged or suspected of wrongdoing.
But, now living in the relative peace of the southern Appalachian mountains, I find that there must be no place where corruption isn’t the story in local government. For years, when I lived here before, I heard tales of county sheriffs with unlimited power and hands in pockets.

But recently it seems to be becoming a theme: This weekend in Chattanooga, the recently-elected sheriff of Hamilton County has been charged with extorting business owners, helping drug dealers move money, and procuring a gun for a felon. Chattanooga Times Free Press: Sheriff Long arrested. Note the list of 11 east Tennessee sheriffs accused of corruption over the last few years.

In nearby Asheville, the former sheriff was indicted in late 2007 for taking protection money from video poker operators. Asheville Citizen-Times: Medford jailed until trial.

Big leaguer Todd Helton was honored recently at Tennessee, his alma mater. Helton played ball for the Asheville Tourists before going on to be a star in Major League Baseball. And here’s a neat trivia bit about Helton – he played baseball and football at Tennessee, where he was Heath Shuler’s back-up.

Last Wednesday night, Helton was on hand at the 16th Annual Tennessee Leadoff Banquet for the presentation of the retired jersey. Helton’s #3 jersey was the first one retired by the Volunteers. Helton played first base and pitched as a starter and as the closer during his time with Tennessee.

“It was truly my honor to put on the orange and play for Tennessee,” Helton said. “To be recognized like this tonight, I truly am honored and blessed.

“I was worried I wouldn’t be able to convey what it really means to me to have my number retired,” Helton told the crowd. “I truly am honored to be sitting here in front of you and have that jersey with the University of Tennessee on it.”

In case you didn’t know, Helton also played football for the Volunteers. In his first two seasons, he was Heath Shuler’s backup. In his junior year, he was the backup to Jerry Colquitt and if you can believe this, Peyton Manning was behind him. When Colquitt got injured, Helton started for Tennessee before he suffered and injury and was replaced by Manning. After seeing Peyton in practice and knowing he was destined for greatness, Helton gave up football to concentrate solely on baseball and was drafted after his junior year by the Rockies.

And this odd post describes a mock trial attended by at least one person from Asheville and apparently written by Bill Fishburne, owner of the Asheville Tribune.

BREVARD, Jan. 19, 2008 – Retired Army Green Beret James T. (Smokey) Taylor got his court martial this weekend and came away feeling pretty good about it.

Taylor, at age 79, is one of the oldest members of Chapter XXXIII (The Larry Thorne Chapter) of the Special Forces Association. He was placed on trial by fellow Chapter XXXIII members under the charge of “failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber” in the shooting of an intruder at his home in Knoxville, TN, in November.

The court martial, of course, was very much tongue in cheek. The event itself was deadly serious.

Taylor had been awakened in the early morning hours of November 5, 2007,when an intruder broke into his home. He investigated the noises with one of his many weapons in hand.

“It was just after Halloween, on Monday morning at 4:30,” Taylor said. I,heard this commotion at the door and grabbed my fishing gun, a little .22 revolver, to see what was going on. I got to the front door and this fellow had ripped my security door out of its frame. He said, ‘you’re going to have to kill me. I’m coming in.'”

When a warning to leave went unheeded, Taylor brought his .22 caliber pistol to bear and shot him right between the eyes.

“I was about four feet away from him when I shot,” Taylor said. “Looking back now, I’m glad he didn’t die, but that boy had the hardest head I’ve ever seen. The bullet bounced right off.”

The impact knocked the would-be thief down momentarily. He crawled out of the house then got up and ran down the street. Taylor dialed 911 and Knoxville police apprehended the wounded man about 200 yards away, hiding in a hedgerow.

Complicating the case, as well as the court martial, the offender was released on bail but failed to appear for his court date. Knoxville police said the man was homeless. They did not know his whereabouts or why he had been given bail.

The charges brought against Taylor by his fellow Green Berets were considered to be serious. He is a retired Special Forces Weapons Sergeant with extensive combat experience during the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

“Charges were brought against him under the premise that he should have saved the county and taxpayers the expense of a trial,” said Chapter XXXIII President Bill Long of Asheville, NC.

The trial was held at the Hampton Inn in Brevard, part of the group’s regularly scheduled quarterly meeting. Long appointed a judge, Bert Bates, a defense counsel, Jim Hash, and a prosecutor, Charlie Ponds. All are retired Special Forces non-commissioned officers with extensive combat and weapons experience.

Ponds outlined the case against Taylor, emphasizing that the citizens of Knox County were going to be burdened with significant costs to again apprehend, and then prosecute and defend the would-be burglar.

“Proper choice of a larger caliber gun would have spared the citizens this financial burden,” Ponds said, “while removing one bad guy from the streets for good. He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22 just wasn’t big enough toget the job done. Hash disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing in choosing to arm himself with a .22.

…

Following testimony from both sides, Judge Bates determined the charges should be dismissed. The decision was met with a round of applause. In fact, there was strong sentiment expressed that Taylor should receive an award for not only choosing wisely in picking up the .22, but for the accuracy of his aim under difficult and dangerous conditions.

After the trial Taylor said the ammunition was indeed old and added the new information that the perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out the door.

“I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if it had gone through his forehead,” Taylor said. “It was good for both of us that it didn’t.”

Meanwhile, back in Knox County, the word is out: Don’t go messing with Smokey Taylor. He just bought a whole bunch of fresh ammo.

Tribune Editor Bill Fishburne is a member of the Larry Thorne Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association