I found myself at the Knoxville airport this morning at 5:30, waiting for a 6 o’clock flight to wonderful, frosty Cincinnati. Two funny scenes that made it a little less painful …
1. While waiting in line to pay for my News Sentinel, a clearly flummoxed man, wife and infant were in front of me trying to pay for an assortment of goods they were purchasing. Based on their accent, I’m guessing they were from the West Indies. The guy was having a real tough time figuring out U.S. coins and how much he needed to give the clerk to complete the transaction. Finally, he held out a handful of coins: “Take what you want,” he said with a chagrined smile.
I started laughing and told him: “That’s generally the way it works anyway.”
I’ve tried to conduct similar transactions in foreign currencies, and it’s always trying. I could feel his pain.
2. After buying my paper, I found this nugget buried back in the local section. It generally annoys me when something bad happens and people say “That’s what god wanted.” But I’d like to think that in the case of this particular Klansman, it is what god wanted …
Man accidentally shot during KKK ceremony
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – A gunshot fired in the air during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony wounded a participant when the bullet came down and struck him in the head, authorities said.
Jeffery S. Murr, 24, of Erwin, was in critical condition Monday in intensive care at Johnson City Medical Center, hospital officials said.
Gregory Allen Freeman, 45, of Elizabethton, was charged with aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment in the Saturday night incident, Washington County Sheriff Fred Phillips said.
The ceremony occurred about 8 p.m. near Limestone. A 26-year-old Elizabethon man was blindfolded, taken to a wooded area and shot with paintball guns as Freeman fired a 9mm handgun in the air.
A bullet struck Murr on the top of the head and exited at the bottom of his skull, Chief Deputy Patrick Littleton said.