It is not by coincidence I haven’t submitted an opinion piece in some time to the Chattanoogan.  The topics I cover are generally vitriolic in regards to local political decisions and their makers regarding public safety and I do not wish to associate my name with more noble subjects such as that of the heroic death and cowardly murder of Chattanooga Police Sergeant Tim Chapin, but I’m sitting here unable to sleep and I don’t think I will do so properly until I express my sorrow at the tragedy revisited by Monday's sentencing hearing in Federal Court by Judge Sandy Mattice.

I stood today in court before the family of Jesse Mathews, his accused killer, and behind the family of Tim Chapin.  His surviving family members sat silently in reserved seating, arms draped around one another for comfort for hours as they watched lock-jawed during the surreal testimony of experienced defense attorneys doing their best to defend near lunacy, and a Judge who exemplified professionalism as he crossed “i’s” and dotted “t’s” in an attempt to ensure this sentencing didn’t have to take place again.  Good work by all, both objectively and personally.

The first time this day I fought tears was the random chance that put me before Tim Chapin’s parents, Ralph and Linda, during a recess. I’d worked around Tim for the last 17 years and the physical resemblance to his parents is, of course, uncanny, and I had stood against a wall behind them watching as they sat stoically on the front-center row of court watching this horror unfold like that nightmare it has literally been for them.  I am the fortunate father of two amazing boys myself, and  could not help but put myself in their place as every other parent in that room (and others) did, and when I was close enough to shake his hand, I did, and we spoke briefly of how well this was going and I saw that man smile.  He smiled; such grace I have rarely seen before, and I will take that memory to my own grave…and use it for strength until that day. 

Prosecutors treated this as the case of their lives and at no point in my estimation did they take for granted the obvious soft-pitch that this case seemed to be by the volumes of evidence presented by the defendants themselves, making even their own pleas of guilt pale in comparison to the delusion at least two of the four (Kathleen and Rachel Mathews) displayed in their written and spoken words.  Again…good work by all.

Emotionally exhausted, after I left the court room and the Federal Court building itself I walked down the sidewalk beside another man named Lorin Johnston who was also nearly killed that day when he took a bullet in the center of his back by the accused Jesse Mathews, and miraculously survived.  (He’s a substantial part of the “attempted murder” aspect of Jesse Mathews charges, for those interested.)  Johnston’s beautiful wife Mitzi walked with him holding his hand, and as I reflected upon it, that simple sight choked me up as much as the unexpected smile had just an hour before.  I actually caught up to him just to get their hands out of my field of few so I could keep my composure.  That was the second time I nearly shed tears this day. We came so close to burying *two* friends that I cannot bear the thought of it, yet there he is, known as “Haystack” to his friends, staying quietly in the background and never letting go of his wife Mitzi’s hand.  And if that thought doesn’t bring an inkling of a tear to your eye, too, I don’t care to meet you.

I promise you that I am the cold-hearted jack-booted thug that everyone thinks we (“Cops”) are, but that sentencing took place just a few blocks from where I attended the funeral of another good man named Bob Moon a few weeks ago, and for all the closure these events bring we are still without two amazing public servants:  One by biology, and another by cold-blooded murder. These are trying times we live in, but another step towards justice was done Monday and it was good.  The family that lost so much watched the chapter close on the family that admitted guilt for their part in this tragedy, and while that’s little consolation to Tim Chapin’s family and the near death of another good man, it’s a definite start, and the spark of hope still glows in my heart and the hearts of a few hundred others in that room and beyond it this day.  And that is the spark that lights a torch in the darkness that draws us together for the warmth and safety that makes our society a *civilized* one…one based on rules, and order, and decency, and casts out the madness of people like the Mathews family, and yet does such with rules as well.

The gulf created by the loss of heroes and good men and women can be vast and wide…but it can also be filled with hope, and a light can be cast into that darkness by those who take up the torch dropped by those heroes and those that simply believe in the rule of law. Today I saw a father and mother still manage to smile amidst their loss, and a couple hold hands that were nearly separated on this Earth.  And after seeing that, I can still believe that we are a decent people enduring harsh times, instead of the opposite.

Take nothing or no one for granted…and do your part to keep that torch burning brighter.  You don’t need a uniform for that…just support of law, order, and one another.  I am proud of that Court today, and of this town.   Stay safe.

Craig Joel

* * *

I would like to respond to Craig Joel’s opinion with one word – WOW!

I couldn’t have said it better and thank you.

Cheryl Bennett