Published: March 13, 2008 08:19 pm         

I SAY: Sadness

The tragedy that has broken our hearts and shaken the very soul of our community defies all logic and understanding. Grief has hung over us like the heavy fog that shrouded the smoke from Tuesday's fire.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jay and Diane Brown this week, and their two granddaughters, as we join them in mourning the loss of their daughter and mother, Carol, and her husband, Darrell Darling.

Even as this is written it appears the investigation is traveling toward the unspeakable conclusion that this was no accident. It only makes understanding it all that much harder.

Investigators in the local fire service and in law enforcement from the beginning felt something just wasn't right about the circumstances of Tuesday's fire. As a result, the professionals went to work to find out what took place in the days, hours and moments before the fire was discovered.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department was quickly joined in the probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Arson and Bomb Squad and as the investigation progressed, it started eliminating suspected causes and had narrowed the focus. Release of the contents of a letter by The Knoxville News-Sentinel yesterday pretty much confirmed what investigators were concluding.

Even with two unsigned letters surfacing, investigators are still reluctant to close the probe. They want to eliminate all other possibilities before classifying the tragedy.

Some would say the sheriff's department and state investigators were simply doing their job, the one they are paid to do, and that is true. But they also went the extra step to keep the family informed of the progress, and to share at the appropriate time where they felt the investigation was leading. There is nothing worse for a family caught in circumstances like this than to be left wondering about what happened

On behalf of a grieving community we take time to simply say thanks to all those charged with investigating the loss of these two lives. It has been handled in a very professional manner.