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Armed citizen saves next door neighbor's life (TN)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Franklin youth seeking dream survives a brush with violence ''I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.''- excerpt from ''Dune,'' by Frank Herbert, 1965.
Young Jeff Smith left his Franklin home a member of the first graduating class of Centennial High School in 1997. For his dedication to the oboe, the young musician earned almost a full scholarship to the University of Miami, Fla., receiving a bachelor's degree in music performance in May 2001.
Life in the big city seemed to agree with the small-town son. He was working as a waiter at a nearby cafe and preparing for graduate school at his alma mater in the fall. His sights focused on the prize he had strived for since childhood - to be the ''first chair'' oboist for a major symphony.
Then, less than two months later, in the wee hours of a midsummer morning, violence in-vaded Smith's downtown Miami apartment and, after a vicious encounter, robbed Smith of his youth. If not for an alert neighbor with a registered handgun, his assailant would certainly have escaped with much more.
Jeffrey Randall Smith was born at Vanderbilt Hospital on May 6, 1979. His parents, Laurel and Randy, had moved to Middle Tennessee from Memphis with his slightly older sister Andrea in tow the year before. Growing up, Jeff was as much an athlete as he was an aspiring musician. Attending Franklin High School through his junior year, he became a top-ranked tennis player while playing saxophone for the marching band.
The oboe was Jeff's first choice when he decided to study music in sixth grade. But, he was told he was too young for the demanding in-strument and was assigned a saxophone, which he learned to play very well. During eighth grade he promised his dad that if he bought him an oboe, he would use it to pay for college.
The oboe is a wooden instrument in which a fine, poignant sound is created by a double reed. It emerged in France during the middle years of the 17th century and, by 1750, was adopted by most orchestras.
Attending summer workshops at the University of the South under John Dee, then oboe professor at the University of Miami, Jeff began to consider life in South Florida. The allure of the active metropolis was only enhanced by the world-class beaches. It was also far enough from Franklin that he could earn his independence.
When Jeff fell asleep on his couch the evening of July 11, 2001, he did so having achieved much of the personal autonomy he coveted. Half awake, he opened the door at 2:30 a.m. only because he recognized the face in his newly in-stalled peephole. The terror of the moment came after the shock that someone he often befriended was now attacking him with a knife in his own home. Stabbed in the face and slashed across one hand, the former athlete managed to throw the monster aside long enough to make it to the door and call for help.
It was unusual for area bartender Brent Williams to be awake at that hour, but his cat jumped on his chest and woke him only a minute or two before he heard the struggle down the hall. He opened his door just in time to see a crazed white male he, too, recognized dragging the bloodied Tennessean back into his apartment. Realizing Smith was in danger, Williams retrieved his pistol and entered the crime scene just in time to save his neighbor's life.
The wounds to Smith's face were very deep and dangerously close to his right eye, slicing through several nerves. The cut to his hand was gaping, and while awaiting the paramedics, Smith thought he might bleed to death. Never unconscious, he waited seven hours for an overworked surgeon to get enough sleep to perform the delicate operation. After more than one surgery and various complications during the next two weeks, his thankful parents brought their fortunate son back to Tennessee for reflection and renewal.
Unsure if he would ever play the oboe again, Smith returned to Miami in January and by semester's end had regained his scholarship form, as well as his first chair distinction. Nevertheless, his passion has been tempered by the experience.
Currently home for the summer, Smith knows that he is lucky to be alive. However, while his physical wounds are almost healed, he is still learning to embrace the notion that luck counts.
Henry Piarrot is a Hillsboro Village merchant who documents the extraordinary tales of ordinary Tennesseans. Please send all story recommendations to hpiarrot@yahoo.com.
http://www.tennessean.com/local/columnists/piarrot/archives/02/06/18831583.shtml?Element_ID=18831583
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Young Jeff Smith left his Franklin home a member of the first graduating class of Centennial High School in 1997. For his dedication to the oboe, the young musician earned almost a full scholarship to the University of Miami, Fla., receiving a bachelor's degree in music performance in May 2001.
Life in the big city seemed to agree with the small-town son. He was working as a waiter at a nearby cafe and preparing for graduate school at his alma mater in the fall. His sights focused on the prize he had strived for since childhood - to be the ''first chair'' oboist for a major symphony.
Then, less than two months later, in the wee hours of a midsummer morning, violence in-vaded Smith's downtown Miami apartment and, after a vicious encounter, robbed Smith of his youth. If not for an alert neighbor with a registered handgun, his assailant would certainly have escaped with much more.
Jeffrey Randall Smith was born at Vanderbilt Hospital on May 6, 1979. His parents, Laurel and Randy, had moved to Middle Tennessee from Memphis with his slightly older sister Andrea in tow the year before. Growing up, Jeff was as much an athlete as he was an aspiring musician. Attending Franklin High School through his junior year, he became a top-ranked tennis player while playing saxophone for the marching band.
The oboe was Jeff's first choice when he decided to study music in sixth grade. But, he was told he was too young for the demanding in-strument and was assigned a saxophone, which he learned to play very well. During eighth grade he promised his dad that if he bought him an oboe, he would use it to pay for college.
The oboe is a wooden instrument in which a fine, poignant sound is created by a double reed. It emerged in France during the middle years of the 17th century and, by 1750, was adopted by most orchestras.
Attending summer workshops at the University of the South under John Dee, then oboe professor at the University of Miami, Jeff began to consider life in South Florida. The allure of the active metropolis was only enhanced by the world-class beaches. It was also far enough from Franklin that he could earn his independence.
When Jeff fell asleep on his couch the evening of July 11, 2001, he did so having achieved much of the personal autonomy he coveted. Half awake, he opened the door at 2:30 a.m. only because he recognized the face in his newly in-stalled peephole. The terror of the moment came after the shock that someone he often befriended was now attacking him with a knife in his own home. Stabbed in the face and slashed across one hand, the former athlete managed to throw the monster aside long enough to make it to the door and call for help.
It was unusual for area bartender Brent Williams to be awake at that hour, but his cat jumped on his chest and woke him only a minute or two before he heard the struggle down the hall. He opened his door just in time to see a crazed white male he, too, recognized dragging the bloodied Tennessean back into his apartment. Realizing Smith was in danger, Williams retrieved his pistol and entered the crime scene just in time to save his neighbor's life.
The wounds to Smith's face were very deep and dangerously close to his right eye, slicing through several nerves. The cut to his hand was gaping, and while awaiting the paramedics, Smith thought he might bleed to death. Never unconscious, he waited seven hours for an overworked surgeon to get enough sleep to perform the delicate operation. After more than one surgery and various complications during the next two weeks, his thankful parents brought their fortunate son back to Tennessee for reflection and renewal.
Unsure if he would ever play the oboe again, Smith returned to Miami in January and by semester's end had regained his scholarship form, as well as his first chair distinction. Nevertheless, his passion has been tempered by the experience.
Currently home for the summer, Smith knows that he is lucky to be alive. However, while his physical wounds are almost healed, he is still learning to embrace the notion that luck counts.
Henry Piarrot is a Hillsboro Village merchant who documents the extraordinary tales of ordinary Tennesseans. Please send all story recommendations to hpiarrot@yahoo.com.
http://www.tennessean.com/local/columnists/piarrot/archives/02/06/18831583.shtml?Element_ID=18831583
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878