EDITORIAL

 

Knoxville:  A City That Lost Its Moral Soul

Two incidents in the recent history of Knoxville raise doubts about whether the citizens of Knoxville have lost their moral compass.  In the first incident, a 14-year old boy died at a juvenile treatment facility, the Haslam Center, while in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.  The boy, Jo Hunley, died from a hanging under suspicious circumstances that suggest he was murdered rather than committed suicide:  sharp blow to the back of the head that would have rendered him unconscious, the fingers of one of his hands were still taped together thereby making it impossible for him to have grasped and tied shirts together to form a rope, black and blue bruises all over his body, etc. 

            For years, the citizens of Knoxville were informed of physical and mental abuse of patients by Haslam Center staff.  Knoxville News-Sentinel reporter Jaime Satterfield wrote more than a dozen articles over a two-year period detailing extensively the abuse allegations occurring at facilities, such as Haslam, managed by Child and Family Tennessee, Inc., on behalf of its primary customer, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS).

            At one facility, the Brookhaven Farm in Sevier County, a staff member became angry with a juvenile at the facility and ploughed into the boy with a van he was driving, thereby running over the boy with one wheel and breaking his pelvic bone.  The staff member was fired, and Child & Family eventually sold Brookhaven in 2002.  But no one in Knoxville protested, even though Knox County children were housed at Brookhaven. 

These stories of abuse of children in DCS custody made the front pages.  But even after a child died there, the people of Knoxville were indifferent.  With so little public outcry, it was easy for the Knox County sheriff to refuse to investigate the murder of Jo Hunley.  The district attorney refused to consider prosecuting anyone connected with Jo’s death.

            The second incident that raises questions about the morality of Knoxville concerns the strangulation death of 25-year old Joseph Camber.  Camber was celebrating his birthday when he went to the Carousel nightclub in Knoxville the night of his death. While at the Carousel, Camber was introduced to Chad Allen Conyers, who later admitted that he killed Camber.  Six hours after the pair left the Carousel together, Camber's body was found in a parking lot near Cumberland Avenue and 11th Street in downtown Knoxville.

Camber’s body showed that he had struggled prior to being strangled to death.  Camber had cuts and abrasions on his arms, hands, and back. Skin underneath Camber's fingernails was shown by DNA testing to belong to Conyers.  The Knox County district attorney chose not to prosecute Conyers at trial for any crime.   Though initially charged with murder, Conyers reached a plea agreement on manslaughter that eliminated his serving any time in prison.  After 15 years, his criminal record would be expunged.

The office of District Attorney Randy Nichols made asinine statements to the press that because Camber was gay, that office could not determine whether Camber’s death was premeditated, an act of rage, or just a part of normal gay sex that somehow went too far.  A man was murdered, his body lay in a parking lot, and the ignorant District Attorney and his staff could not find the wherewithal to prosecute the confessed murderer?

Obviously, the fact that Joseph Camber was gay played a significant role in the district attorney’s decision not to pursue criminal prosecution.   Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist Frank Cagle summed it up best when he wrote at the time, “Attention all homophobes. It appears that it is open season on gay men in Knoxville. . . . [W]here is the outrage? . . . . Considering the lack of an outcry over this case, one can only conclude that the district attorney general's office knows its community. But it is worrisome when prosecutions depend on the lifestyle of the victim, (and) the degree of public interest. . . . Any homophobes in Knoxville who plan to carry out an assault on a gay man should take note: If there is a chance he will die, have sex with him first.”

            The lack of public outcry is a sad commentary on the citizens of Knoxville.  Maybe someday a Hollywood studio will make a movie about the recent history of Knoxville.  The movie could be called “Knoxville:  The City Where No One Cares.”