Sorry, my mother and granny came over so I got distracted. Here is what my friend's mother wrote about the events and other information:
This is sketchy and may not be 100% accurate but here is what I remember. There was a local guy (I think his name was Gibson) behind the bar, another local guy (Clark) who was seriously wounded and left for dead, two or three guys from out of town who were staying in Cleveland while working construction and a local guy (Elrod) passed out in a back room. The guys from out of town fled the scene in a vehicle and hit a barrier-if I remember correctly, it was a huge outdoor concrete planter. I also remember that they were going the wrong way on Broad Street. The police arrived on the wreck scene and the guy who was behind the bar saw the lights and came wandering over from Ocoee Street seeking help. He had a head injury and was trying to get to the hospital. He was unaware that your dad and Clark were still at the place, so he later said which is possible. One of the guys in the wrecked car was injured. I think were all taken to the hospital. I'm not sure if the paper reported that the guys from out of town were going to the hospital for treatment when they wrecked, but what they were actually doing was trying to get out of town. The guy who was passed out in the back room came to around 2:00 in the morning. He is the one who ran up the street beating on doors to get help - I didn't learn this until much later or if I did, I didn't remember it. The inside of the place was completely demolished-chairs in splinters, broken glasses and bottles (the AmVets was a private club and served liquor) light switches had been knocked off the walls and the telephone had been yanked out. When the police got there, they found your dad and the other guy. By the time I was notified the next morning around 6:00 am, the out of town guys were being held at the jail and Gibson was wandering around in the jail lobby. I was told by Sheriff Lawson that if someone didn't talk and tell them what happened, they would all be charged with second degree murder. As you know, this didn't happen. The out of town guys were released and left for parts unknown. Clark eventually recovered and I talked with him. He could not remember very much about what happened. I also talked with Gibson who said he was knocked out behind the bar and didn't really know what happened. Much later, I saw Elrod's wife at a store and she is the one who told me about her husband going for help. She said he would be glad to talk with me, but he didn't know what happened so I didn't bother. There were so many rumors - drugs, mafia, etc. - about what happened, it was hard to separate fact from fiction. I received calls telling me where your dad had been seen that day. Someone even called me claiming to be a private detective and offered to assist me in finding out what happened. Your dad was a well liked guy and I received numerous phone calls, some with offers to help, some with rumors and some just plain nosey. One wanted to know about how cremation worked-I told her to call a funeral home and hung up. Another call I later received was from the Dalton police department. They had arrested someone for murder who claimed to have information. It turned out he was trying to plea bargain. Eventually, it was too much and I stopped answering the phone and refused to talk about it with anyone other than family.
I'm not sure when I got the police reports but if I look at them, I may remember more. I also got the autopsy report. I'm not sure if it was the pathologist or who told me, but I was told that even if someone had called for help immediately, it would not have arrived in time to save your dad. He only lived a few minutes before bleeding out. This I'm not sure about, but I think I was told that someone had him in a choke hold and there was a blow to the side of his head behind the ear that was probably from someone who was familiar with military tactics.
The AmVets was a key club requiring a card to get in and should have closed at 12:00. Rather than closing when he should, the regular bar tender went home and left Gibson (if that was his name) behind the bar. The out of town guys and Clark were at the bar. They were playing "matching" or something similar. Your dad was not a member, but knocked on the door and someone let him in. An argument started, I think between Gibson and the out of town guys, and Gibson told the out of town guys to leave. It escalated from there and one of the out of town guys threw a bottle and broke the big mirror behind the bar, then went behind the bar and started breaking things and hitting Gibson. Your dad came to Gibson's defense. I think Clark told me he remembered one of them grabbing your dad and then Clark was attacked and evidently knocked out because he doesn't remember anything else. Clark also said he had been drinking all day and was quite drunk.
One of the things that has always puzzled me was why your dad went there in the first place. We were getting ready to build onto the house and had worked all that day so the calls about where he had been seen were a bunch of bologna. We came in and were watching TV. He was sober. I laid down on the couch and the last thing I remember was Hill Street Blues coming on at 10:00. Your dad was still here when I went to sleep. He used to say I was like a sleepy eyed doll - lay me on my back and I went to sleep. I woke up standing in the middle of the floor shaking all over and your dad was gone. He had covered me up and I was clutching the quilt. I knew something had happened and did not go back to sleep. I didn't know what to do so just sat and waited with a terrible feeling. Contrary to what is shown on TV, police do not always show up on your door step to tell you someone has been killed. I received a call requesting that I come to the Bradley County Sheriff's department. They would not tell me what had happened. I somehow knew your dad was dead but was thinking of a car accident. They did ask if someone should come get me. I told them no that I had a daughter and needed to take her to my mother's. It just so happened that Linda was home-she lived out of town then-and she drove me to the sheriff's office. I don't remember driving to town or going to the sheriff's office. The sheriff and DA were there and told me that he had been killed. I do remember they were kind and compassionate. They asked my permission to do an autopsy. I agreed but later found out that it wasn't necessary to ask my permission. In cases of violent death one is always performed according to law. My main concern was how I was going to tell you.
Your dad and I knew a guy who was an officer or something with the AmVets. A couple of years before he was killed, we had gone there as his guest and he talked your dad into joining. After that we were there a couple of times but neither of us liked the place so when your dad's membership expired, he did not renew it. Talking with other people who knew your dad, I learned that he had shown up at the Dinner House- a local bar- around 11:00 and had a couple of beers before the place closed and he left. When our van was released by the police, there were two beers in a paper bag in the van. This indicates that he had planned to come home. If I didn't want to go out and he did, I would tell him to go on. He would always bring home two beers - one for him and one for me. If I wasn't in bed when he came home, we would drink the beers and talk. If I was in bed, he would put them in the refrigerator. So the fact that he had the beers lead me to believe he was coming home and if asked, I would have said the AmVets was the last place he would have gone.
I now think that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But i do think that lawson was paid off to let the guys go. I had actually met them [the men who did it]. There was a little bar that we used to hang out at-they were there. They were nice enough-i think your dad talked to them about helping them get work. I think only one of tem was from texas-the others were from someplace else. I do know the glasses [finding his glasses in the house] freaked me out although I don't remember the details of where they were found. I know they were in the house and have no idea of how they got here. He must have [had them on when he died] he would not have been able to see without them. It is only the lenses and one of them is cracked. I did get his wallet. I kept asking for his clothes and they told me they were evidence. It never entered my mind that i really would not want them-they would have been covered with his blood. I do remember Steve Lawson-I did not like him-Now i am not sure if it was that i needed someone to be angry at or if he really was a *advertiser censored*. A tire or maybe two on our van had been slashed - i don't remember who did it, but i remember that someone at the sheriff's department said they had some tires in evidence and they would replace them for me and they did. One thing that i was upset with steve lawson about-they were holding the van, part of the crime scene. i asked that when they were finished with it, they not have it towed but let me know and i would bring it home. he assured me they would and then he had it towed. I didn't want to be stuck with the tow bill. I think they also slashed clark's tires. I sued the amvets and recoved the cost. I don't remember how much i got from the settlement, but that's what i used to build onto the house. I had a lawyer who talked me into settling-i should have taken it on to court, but was just emotionally not able to. Another thing that happened-richard fisher was the DA-he pad locked the amvets club and told me that s long as he was in office it would not reopen. He was true to his word-but the da's office is an elected office and someone else won. less than a month after the new DA took office, there was an amvets club in Cleveland. In hindsight, another thing that is puzzling about the lenses. if the place was in such a shambles, how would someone have found two lenses in all the mess. [They are in] the top drawer of the black chest. They are still wrapped in the paper that i found them in. i put them in his glasses case. I don't remember [where I found them] -seems like either on a nightstand or in the top drawer of a night stand. One of the lenses is cracked like i remembered it-there is also a small red smear on one of them-i remember that too, it looks like a crayon mark. Yes [I am sure they are his] -they are trifocals, not many people wear trifocals. Clark and your dad knew one another and i think he was completely honest with me when i talked with him. There were rumors that there were others there but he didn't remember anyone else-he didn't rule it out, but simply did not remember anyone else. I don't have a shread of evidence to base this one, but i always thought it was the guy from texas who killed him. Something else i just remembered, at least i think i remember - either clark or gibson told me that they left and went after a bottle of whiskey and brought it back-which is strange because i am sure the amvets served mixed drinks. Maybe it was because the bar was closed and gibson wasn't serving drinks. It was against the law to serve drings after midnight and i don't know why the regular bar tender didn't put everyone out before leaving. I used to know who the bar tender was but don't remember. Maybe he had it [the whiskey] in his van or at his house-i don't know-it is just one of those hazy things i remember. As far as the knife [found] in your dad's hand-it was a buck knife he used for cutting wire-he was probaly trying to defend himself-he was not a knife fighter-as a matter of fact he wasn't a fighter at all-he used to say he was a lover, not a fighter, and he had absolutely no use for a knife fighter-he said they were cowards.