Forward by Bob Barney: It'll be interesting if we ever learn what happened. There is not a
week that goes by that I don't see people being handcuffed on the
highways. Two Friday's ago, I saw 4 people being handcuffed at 4
different times on 64, 264 and 664 – all black men ranging from teens to
50's.
Every week, I report in The Plain Truth of police shootings, and people
being arrested for just taking pictures with their cameras. I guess that
has now becoming against the law too. I reported this week that NY
State is passing a law that it will be a FELONY to "annoy a cop"-
whatever that means.
Maybe this case is black and white,I don't know any of the facts…..
Then again, maybe he was a part of a group of people that our government
no longer will tolerate.
I wonder if anyone is starting to wonder just who controls our lives anymore?
Folks interviewed in the neighborhood that was the scene of a gunbattle
Thursday morning that left one man dead said they knew little about the
man or his wife, who they said kept to themselves.
But John Settlemyre, 67, who died in the shootout with Caldwell County
sheriff's deputies, was a former race car driver with some notable
regional achievements to his name.
Settlemyre was a five-time winner of Late Model Sportsman races at
Hickory Motor Speedway, from 1977-81. In 1982, that race series became
NASCAR's Nationwide Series, and Settlemyre won the Winston 200 at
Hickory; he ran just six Nationwide races that year (five at Hickory)
but had four top-10 finishes.
One neighbor said Settlemyre more recently had been a long-haul trucker but had since retired.
As much as an enigma as Settlemyre may have been to his neighbors
before, he will remain in their memories now. The sounds of the
gunbattle that erupted Thursday morning in that neighborhood off Grace
Chapel Road has left those who were within earshot wondering how the
quiet residential area turned into the scene of a firefight.
Jack Baird, manager of the nearby Lake Valley
Convenience Store and an avid hunter, was outside when he heard two
rounds from what he guessed was a high-caliber pistol go off, followed
by a barrage of gunfire.
“The rounds kept popping off,” Baird said. “There was a lot of yelling and screaming going on down there.”
Deputies had come to John and Linda Settlemyre's
house at 5490 Northwood Drive in response to a report of some kind of
trouble. They spoke to Linda Settlemyre. Her husband was barricaded in
the basement. At some point as deputies approached the rear of the house
they heard loud noises from the basement. Deputies tried to make
contact, but John Settlemyre came out with guns, and there was a
shootout between him and the deputies. He then ran and collapsed in the
backyard, where he died.
