Understanding Apples Press

Snakes in the Grass by JS Moore and the Liar's Club (September 1, 2024) from the book Renting Pews (Read it as it is written...)

Rendezvous tradition, hubris in full display
of one man's own admission
almost extending an invitation.
Evil found as reprobates seated all in comfort within the room
Cleanse and disinfect these men whom ploy or plot our doom
Kinship formed by disarray, spreading seeds, if you may
as my heart bleeds but my soul is freed.
Oh, they scatter like roaches as the referee encroaches
Needless penalties with added luxuries
Imminence omnipotent yet assertive
No more superlatives like most dependable
Grass is high and a snake waits commendable...
culbertson.

I was fortunate to earn the friendship of a fine lawyer named Burkett McIntuff close to fifteen years ago. I find myself often seated at his desk. Like some placebo or even true blessing of the divine, I feel my best work is being captured and gifting me the words and moral fiber to face a multi-headed beast near Kingsport town here in Tennessee. Cthulhu perhaps but less Lovecraft and more hydra. Today a Mayor named Pat Shull is replaced by Paul Montgomery and the passing of the torch, if you will, burns down city hall even more quickly than some wild fire under Governor Newsome's or The Governator Ahnuld's purview. Yesterday morning, I decided to eavesdrop on a weekly meeting I've been aware of for some time between certain elected officials, attorneys, former police officers and just absolute cookie jar thieves serving their own self-interests and honor bound to one another or face the wrath of the self-appointed personalizaste in the Model City. Oh, and - almost the last to leave - Judge Jim Goodwin.

As for one of these other failed attorneys he is an older gentleman named Wayne whom took offense to my dear friend Lawyer McInturff not even giving him so much as a mention in his biography Picking Strawberries. Well, I must tell you my dear friend recognized people including peers or wanna-bees for exactly what they were and some of them were and are most definitely snakes in the grass. Wayne Culbertson, however, has always been one without teeth. Pro Bono, his own cat. would have testified to this.

He was first to exit this meeting room where Sunshine Laws in broad daylight have been broken now for years. He wouldn't even look in my direction. Of course not. Had I been there in early June then Jon Lundberg may have exited the room initially. I'd have to ask those witnesses to testify to that, but now I don't have to. I have exactly what I need. And if these individuals are ganging up on me, a father first and disabled veteran, but now to them some formidable threat of a bard telling of their conspiracies, then of course they aim to make me disappear - either in a jail cell or a shallow grave.

Suggested Listening: Today's the Day and Tin Man by America and Same Mountain Blues by Townes Van Zandt

Townes Van Zandt - Snake Mountain Blues (Official Audio) "Snake Mountain Blues" from Townes Van Zandt's album Our Mother the MountainListen & Purchase: https://townesvanzandt.ffm.to/ourmotherthemountain.OYDLyrics: ...

I'll be posting an exclusive story to Medium .com. Look for it soon.

Author JS Moore – Medium Read writing from Author JS Moore on Medium. Now forty one books published including Understanding Apples, Outside Kitty, Under the Sun: The Miyamoto Musashi Story, Haggard Harry and the Holy Grail, etc.

Part Two for Guy's story.... technically it's part 3 since mor stories about him are in Mending Walls which was published in 2012.

Variables
Coach Crawford asked my dad if I would take the 8th grade over where I would have more time to grow. I was going to until he died.
-Ernie Horner
Now Guy B, like I wrote earlier, was a winner in every aspect. He took his teams to state in basketball and baseball, winning the state championship at least twice if memory serves me correctly. He was 341-73 at DB. State baseball champs in 1952. That’s pretty damn successful. But let’s share the narrative of those in law enforcement in Hawkins County, shall we? The long and the short of their narrative is: Coach Crawford had been playing cards and drinking at Lakemont just north of Mooresburg on Cherokee Lake with several men including Mooney Boyd of Rogersville. With $400 in his pocket after the game, Crawford, according to Dan Anderson, Hawkins County Sheriff at the time, was returning to Highway 11-W and mistakenly turned onto old 11-W which led straight into Cherokee Lake. His car sunk and Crawford drowned. However, his car keys were found not in the ignition but in his pocket The early conclusion that Crawford drove into the lake was plausible as the road leading from Lakemont to Highway 11-W forks. Rather than turning left, Crawford turned right at the fork onto old 11-W which then, as now, leads directly to the lake and is used as a boat launch..
How about that? Hmm… Cold case much? There are many, but Guy’s story shouldn’t end here, should it? The autopsy instantly cast doubt that Crawford’s ability to drive would be hindered as he wasn’t a big drinker at all, but there were many rich and powerful men all over the region whom owed the successful coach more than the four hundred dollars found in his pocket. His death remains a mystery some 60 plus years later.
So Hawkins County is sort of a neutral place when it comes to Guy B. Crawford. One of the pillars of Morristown was a man named Sonny Lee and his kin are still pillars of Hamblen County. Sullivan and Carter County had rich and influential people as well whom didn’t care for Guy’s skill at winning at cards. They did not like it at all and they mistook Guy’s confidence for arrogance and he most definitely made more enemies than friends in all those counties… a few in Hawkins as well, and maybe we’ll get to that, too. Just maybe.
This is a highly controversial death no doubt one book could be written on Guy’s life and death and would make a wonderful murder mystery film.
Crawford did not die by drowning as there was no water found in his lungs. His former assistant coach at Dobyns-Bennett was called from Kingsport to identify the body (Mrs. Crawford wouldn’t do it), and said his forehead had a large dent. Blunt force trauma. Did his head hit the steering wheel of was he clubbed to death?
The participants at the poker table that specific evening were a Who’s Who of Morristown deep pockets, one I mentioned before. Now the coach was fairly new to Morristown and coaching the high school there as after another loss of the state title for Kingsport pretty much politics in the Model City forced his resignation. Think about this, he wasn’t just a coach at the high school, but also taught classes like Physical education and Health. So he also impacted regular students and not just athletes. He was very well liked and respected as a teacher and a coach, He was a positive light and energy to anyone he encountered, save perhaps the other gamblers at the poker table. I have often wondered what John Greene may have thought about him, and Ed Taylor or Don Anderson, even Grant Hardin out of Elizabethton or Chris Tipton in Erwin, Tennessee. These were professional card sharps, sharks, and players.

Suggested Listening: Main Street by Bob Seger