Friends: Hanging victim devoted his life to kids (Bill Sparkman)

[Mrs. Overall]

LONDON, Ky. (AP) - Even while fighting cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, Bill Sparkman would show up for work wearing his customary smile and a toboggan cap to cover his balding head. The substitute teacher and part-time census worker cherished the values he learned in his youth as he worked toward becoming an Eagle Scout. Above all, he was punctual and dependable. So when he didn't show up for his job at Johnson Elementary School two weeks ago, colleagues knew something had to be wrong.

Three days later, a man's body was found hanging from a tree at a rural cemetery in nearby Clay County. A rope was around his neck, the word "fed" scrawled on him with what appeared to the coroner to be a felt marker.

Friends remembered Sparkman as a quiet and kind man who had devoted his life to children as a Scout leader and educator who, despite a battle with lymphoma, went back to college to get his teaching certification. His perseverance won him special honors at his commencement ceremony last year at Western Governors University in Salt Lake City. The bespectacled scholar, wearing a black cap and gown, delivered an uplifting speech to fellow graduates, telling them that they, too, can overcome "brick walls" in life.

"My home, my life is here in Laurel County, and this is where I want to stay," Sparkman told The Times-Tribune of Corbin in a profile last year. Sparkman, who described himself as a single father in his commencement speech, was a member of First United Methodist Church in London and a vocal Christian. Mary Hibbard, a teacher in Manchester, recalled Sparkman visiting her home over the summer on behalf of the Census Bureau. She quizzed him about his faith and found out quickly that he had a strong belief in God.

http://www.komonews.com/news/national/61854962.html

[hlthe2b]

1. From all accounts, a very decent and good man...

It is wrenching to think what happened to him, his last moments on earth. Please be at peace, Mr. Sparkman. Clearly, you will be missed in your commuity.

[Mrs. Overall]

2. Another aspect of this tragedy is explaining it to the children he taught--

I'm sure they will have counselors available. How horrific for kids to grasp and understand what happened to their much loved teacher.

[scarletwoman]

3. This is so heartwrenching. We can ill afford to lose goodhearted human beings such as this man.

I fervently hope they find his killer(s).

:cry:
sw

[Raine]

4. and the people who killed him

I would bet have never done a thing for anyone else in their rotten livees, they're nothing but a waste of space on this planet. :-(

[Turbineguy]

5. Now he will have

to be demonized on Hate Radio to offset and justify his lynching.

A suggestion to the wingnuts and the Census Bureau. Put a sign out in front of your house. The Census will pass you by and you will be marked down as "Unknown number of inbred mutants" on the tally.

[KayLaw]

6. He sounds like a very decent man.

Yet the Freepers are okay with this. I post on a travel board and a lot of unemployed or underemployed moms are census workers just doing it for money to take their kids on a vacation. I guess it's okay with the Freepers if they are murdered as well. Pure evil.

[senseandsensibility]

7. The freepers are okay with this?

Of course I never darken their board, but did they really say that? Disgusting.