Today, Tyler passed away after being shot multiple times by law enforcement. I know many of you have been enamored with the story for so long; but, as a lifelong friend of the family, I'd like to please ask that you all leave the family to their grief and their privacy for the time being.

I don't have much information. No one really does at the moment. Here's what I've heard, only for the purpose of keeping internet sleuths from trying to get close enough to find out and disturbing a family going through a horrific time. Note that every word of the following is completely hearsay; and could be 100% incorrect. I have it from a few sources - but I can't confirm accuracy at the moment.

Police responded to a domestic report at Tyler's. As I understand it, there's no good reason to believe violence occurred as an impetus for the call. Tyler told police that he had no problem, and should speak with the caller (who I won't name here, as potentially one of the grieving).

I believe he was not choosing to surrender, per say; and so the police drew guns on him. As I've heard it, he pulled out his phone to make a Facebook post (which says, quote, "Police bout to shoot me down in my own yard," they mistook the phone for a gun, and shot him multiple times.

There are a few unimportant details in regard to the places he was shot, where he was located, etc. I don't intend to share every minute piece of information I receive. Again, the only reason I'm sharing this so early on is to hopefully belay any potential bother his family might suffer from people attempting to fact find this early on.

Again, please do not approach his family at this time - whether physically or via digital or other means. This is a great tragedy; and they deserve their peace.

Having grown up with him since he was in diapers, Tyler was an incredible soul and a generally kind-hearted human being. He may not have had a sterling opinion of law enforcement; but he was no villain; and did not deserve a violent end.

1954

• Brown v Board of Education

1966

• Alabama Indendent School Association formed by a group of eight Segregation Academies

1967

• Lee v. Macon

1970

• Cahawba Christian Academy was incorporated in 1970 as a private Christian school in Bibb County, Alabama.

• The school was a member of the Alabama Private School Association.

• The first year of classes were held in Eoline, Alabama for grades 1st thru 12th.

• The pre-school was held at the old pastor’s manse of The Brent Presbyterian Church.

• The first headmaster was Rev. Aubrey Elam.

1972

• September: The school moved into the present location at the start of the 1972 school year.

• School is currently located off of Alabama State Highway 25 approximately 2.5 miles from the city of Centreville, Alabama in Bibb County.

• Land the school sits on now was donated by Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Belcher, Jr.

May 16, 1973

• "Instant Academies" Spring Up in the State

1979

• March 15: John’s 13th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 58 or 59

• June: John finishes middle school

• September: John starts first year of high school at Cahawba Christian Academy. He is 13 years old.

• Mary Grace worked as a librarian at Cahawba Christian Academy. Does anyone know if Mary Grace was the librarian at the school when John attended? How long was she the librarian at the high school?

• Yearbook Photograph of Cahawba Christian Academy

• November: Mary Grace's 53rd birthday

1980

• March 15: John’s 14th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 59 or 60

• June: John finishes first year of High School

• School picture, exact year unknown.

• September: John starts his 2nd year of high school

• November: Mary Grace's 54th birthday

1981

• March 15: John’s 15th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 60 or 61

• June: John finishes 2nd year of High School

• September: John starts his 3rd year of high school

• John in High School, exact year unknown.

• November: Mary Grace's 55th birthday

1982

• March 15: John’s 16th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 61 or 62

• June: John finishes 3rd year of High School

• September: John starts his senior year of high school

• November: Mary Grace's 56th birthday

1983

• March 15: John’s 17th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 62 or 63

• June: John graduates from Cahawba Christian Academy

• John's Senior Picture

• John was voted "Most Unpredictable."

• November: Mary Grace's 57th birthday

1986

• After declining enrollment the school closed grades 1-12 in 1986 and kept the pre-school open.

• The pre-school was operated by Mrs. Mary Lynn Davis.

• The building was rented to the Bibb County School System as an elementary school fir two years while the Brent Elementary School building was being renovated.

1988

• The money received from renting the school was used to reopen pre-school thru 6th grade at the old Southern Methodist Church building with Ms. Becky Davis as principal.

1989

• In 1989, the school moved back to the present location and began rebuilding enrollment.

1990

• The school continued to renovate the building and joined the Alabama Christian Education Association.

• The Rev. Elam returned as headmaster until Ms. Diane Thompson was named Principal.

• The school has added a daycare facility by the generous donation of Mr. S.E. Belcher, Jr. and his family.

• With this expansion the school provided daycare thru 12th grade.

2006

• In 2006 the Board of Directors voted to join the Alabama Independent School Association

2007

• Board of Directors voted to hire Dr. Steve Morgan as Principal.

2010

• Board of Directors voted to hire Ms. Shelley Jones as Principal.

2013

• Board of Directors voted to hire Rev. Tim Bonds as Principal.

2015

• Board of Directors voted to hire Ms. Gail Sammons in as Principal.

The school has had several headmasters including Col. Charles Swienny, Rev. Lenard T. VanHorn, Dr. Milton Cucthens, Rev. Mike Lynn, and Ms. Judith Puhr.

<<Timeline III

Friday, July 10, 2015

• Reta and Charlie have put a gate across John's property with "No Trespassing" signs.

• Tyler is taking care of two of John's dogs (Pipsqueak and Madeline) in the trailer he lives in with his girlfriend, and two of Tyler's daughters.

• Tyler has to scrounge to get money to take the dogs to the vet.

• 10AM: Probate Hearing to request permanent guardianship over John's mother.

• Tyler wants to go to to the hearing to petition the probate judge to intervene.

• Tyler has a bunch of things at Johns ($25,000.00 worth) at John's house. (Tools, spray paint, tea pot, the swing set, lawnmower, welder, masonry stuff.)

• Tyler has had a falling out with his partner at the Tattoo parlor, and needs his tools.

• Tyler shows Brian a bill of sale for 2 x school buses and an 18 wheeler trailer. Tyler says these belong to him.

• Probate Court: Tyler is sitting off to the side. Brian wants to introduce himself to Reta and Charlie.

• Reta and Charlie Lawrence are at Probate Court.

• Brian introduces himself, and asks if he can talk to Reta afterwards.

• Reta says Tyler's been causing nothing but trouble, and Reta and Charlie are leaving the next day.

• Reta, Charlie, Tyler, Boozer Downs, and Judge Jerry Powell meet in Chambers. (Note: Judge Powell is one of the judges who defied the Supreme Court decision to give marriage licenses to same sex couples.)

• Tyler asks the Judge for his own things. Judge Powell explains that the hearing isn't about Tyler's stuff. It's about guardianship. Judge Powell says Tyler can take it up with Reta to get his things back.

• Reta says she can't talk to Brian now, but asks if John told Brian where his money is hid.

• Brian meets with John's attorney, Boozer Downs:

• Boozer says John told him what he wanted to do with his assets. But Boozer can't say what that is.

• Boozer says John discussed suicide.

• Boozer had suggested John get a nonprofit or historic trust to take care of the property, maze and the dogs. John replied that he spent too much money, and the person who took over would just sell it.

• Boozer won't say what John's assets are. He gets cryptic. Boozer doesn't know if John took care of his assets. John had told Boozer "The form" of what he was going to do with his assets. Boozer won't explain "the form." John had talked to Boozer about being un-banked.

• Boozer suggests that the hunt for John's assets is literally a "treasure hunt."

• Boozer suggests Brian talk to Faye Gamble, and invites Faye over to speak to Brian.

• Faye and Brian go back to her office at Town Hall

• Faye says she met John when she became town clerk ten years ago.

• Faye tells Brian about the night John killed himself and her nightmares.

• Faye will not show Brian the list of people John wanted contacted.

• Faye is vague with Brian about instructions John gave, and "certain things" John wanted her to find.

• John told Faye were to find "certain things," but Faye won't say what those "certain things" are.

• Faye says that John had previously told her about wanting to leave assets to Tyler and his brother. But that John didn't say anything about that the night he killed himself.

• Later, Faye lies to Reta and Charlie and tells them she has not talked to Brian.

• Faye will not give John's contact list or instructions list to Reta and Charlie who find this suspicious.

Mid July, 2015

• Approximate: Olin Long has not spoken to John for a year. When he calls the house phone number (that the McLemore's have had since the 1960s) is disconnected). Olin googles "John McLemore obituary" and learns of John's death via a condolence web site, six months ago.

• Tyler steals John's truck from John's property. Tyler takes John's laptop, and every piece of paperwork he can find down to birth certificates and deeds, and John's Grandfather's railroad stock papers, John's two vehicles.

• In John's house, Tyler found John's "people to contact" list. Fifteen names and numbers on the list. Reta's name, Woodstock Town Hall, Vet, and Lawyer. Tyler's name is not on the list. There's a group of names at the top. Each of those names is a mystery to Brian. Of the first seven names at the top of the list, not one of them showed up at John's funeral.

• Tyler posts John's truck on Facebook, and sells it. Someone signed John's name on the title in July, and sold the truck for $3,300.00 to someone who lives near the Mississippi state line. Tyler told the buyer that his step-dad was John B. McLemore

• Tyler posts John's Mercedes on Facebook and sells it for $900.00

Less than a week after Reta Takes Ownership of the Property

• Tyler notes that Reta has sold all his tools, John's clocks, and cleaned the place out.

• Tyler has been looking for the hidden treasure, looking underneath John's house, etc. According to Tyler, John showed Tyler gold bars and was buying gold at 30k per clip. "We got to find it, Brian..."

End of July, 2015

• Tyler has been using a metal detector to search the property. Tyler says it looks like the movie "Holes" on John's property.

• Reta's neice checks on the property and sees there has been a break-in at the shop.

• Reta's neice calls Officer Jerry Lightsey who says that he's not going to come over or file a report, and Mary Grace should be calling, not Reta's neice... The next day:

• Tyler removes the 18-wheeler and two school buses from the McLemore property.

• Tyler says he showed the police his bills of sale and asked them if he could take the buses and trailer and the police said yes, he could take them.

• Tyler calls Brian while he's doing this. The buses and trailers are towed out. They are filled with lumber, a clawfoot tub and wood stove. Tyler wants to build a house on his grandmother's property.

• A friend of Reta's calls her to tell her Tyler took the buses. The next day:

• Reta and Charlie drive to Woodstock and case Miss Hick's house, taking pictures of the buses and trailers in Miss Hicks's yard.

• July 22: Reta's Photo of Property Destruction

• July 22: Buses and Trailer on Tyler's Grandmother's property

• That same day, warrant is issued for Tyler's arrest for trespassing.

• Later, Tyler leaves a message on Reta's answering machine saying, "If you don't quit driving by my house, and harassing me, I am going to fill your ass with buckshot."

• Reta visits The Woodstock Police in person.

• Jerry Lightsey says, "You have got to stop driving by Miss Hicks's house! You have got to stop harassing him, or I will arrest you!"

• Reta says, "So, Tyler can steal Mary Grace's shit, but I can't drive up and down a public road?!"

• Jerry Lightsey says, "Lady, you gotta back off!"

• Reta has pressed charges for trespassing, for theft of the trailer and buses.

• Tyler emails a photo of the "people to contact" list to Brian. Fifteen names and numbers on the list. Reta's name, Woodstock Town Hall, Vet, and Lawyer. Tyler's name is not on the list. There's a group of names at the top. Each of those names is a mystery to Brian. Of the first seven names at the top of the list, not one of them showed up at John's funeral.

• Tyler and Allen Bearden talk the day before Brian meets Allen. Allen buys off on how fishy stuff has played out.

• Brian meets with #4 on the list: Allen Bearden in Pell City, AL

• Allen says that Horologists experienced a heyday in the nineties.

• Allen says that John was out of the business in 2012, when they met. But John helped Allen fix an Elliott Grandfather clock.

• Allen says John was a master, and explains about the Elliott Grandfather clock. John had an reputation for working on high-end, world-class clocks. John was the best.

• Allen had tried to get John help, and invited him over to get out on the river. John never came. Could not get away from his mother for that long.

• Allen says it is fishy and suspicious that he was not notified and he isn't sure why Faye would want to micro-manage and control the situation. Allen suggests Brian call the other people on the list. Allen says those people are on the list for a reason.

Later in the Summer, 2015

• Approximate: Kendall Burt buys all of the McLemore property from Mary Grace.

• Brian talks to #6 on the list: Bill Maier.

• Utah Bill is a friend and clock customer of John's for decades. Bill lives in Utah in a house that is more like a museum than a house. Bill thinks it is so sad to hear that John finally did it. So incredibly sad.

• Brian talks to a Pacific Northwest friend who says that he only heard about John's death from Faye, after the funeral.

• Brian talks to Duncan Greig, a respected clock restorer from Tunbridge, England. John and Duncan had never met, but developed a friendship over the phone, and via letters.

• Brian talks to Tom Moore - John's Chemistry Professor in College, and a lifelong friend. Faye called Tom after the funeral.

• Tom Moore show Brian the ingenuous Sun Dial that John made him for his birthday, 20 years late. Tom Moore starts to cry.

• Another Photo of the Sun Dial

• We don't know if Brian talked to the Birmingham, Alabama mechanic on the list.

• From all these conversations, Brian learns that: John helped one of his friends rebuild a clock from WWII/Greiling Germany; John worked on a clock once to the point of tears; John worked on a clock for seven years; John could recite Poe from memory; John told some of them he was running down his savings; John told some of them he had converted his money to gold and hid his money; John talked to some of them about a will.

• All John's friends feel like someone is taking advantage of the situation. They speculate about the Reta & Charlie, Faye, and the Goodsons. Brian thinks that if the Goodsons had the gold they would tell him. John's friends feel like someone is getting away with something.

• Brian visits another friend of John's named Bill (Alabama Bill) who lives in a suburban house near Bibb County.

• Brian interviewing Alabama Bill

• Alabama Bill is a different person, not Utah Bill. Alabama Bill is a longtime customer of John's

• John restored multiple clocks in Alabama Bill's house. They are works of art: Turtle Clock, Mystery Clock. Many clocks. Bill begins to cry.

• Houdin clock from Alabama Bill's

• Clock that looks like a chair from Alabama Bill's

• Turtle clock from Alabama Bill's

• Woman hiding the time with a sheet - Clock from Alabama Bill's

• Clock on table from Alabama Bill's

• Array of clocks at Alabama Bill's

• Inset of clocks at Alabama Bill's

• A close-up of a clock from Alabama Bill's

• Boat clock that John worked on for Alabama Bill

• Just after the trespassing charge, but before the felony charges, Brian visits Tyler.

• Brian tells Tyler that if he ever finds any gold, not to tell him, because it would be public.

• August, 2015: Cheryl and Jeff's 12th Anniversary.

End of August, 2015

• At Green Pond Cemetary, dJohn's grave had been without a tomb stone for "a couple of months"

• Tyler made one out of part of a concrete bench from his mother's yard.

• Tombstone Inlay || Grave Picture || Grave Picture || Grave Picture

September/October 2015

• Brian is at the Best Western and runs into Reta.

• Brian slips a note under her door. Reta, and Charlie and two other cousins of John's all meet with Brian in the Hotel Common Area

• Charlie thinks it is a terrible idea to talk to Brian who is just trying to pit them against Tyler.

• Reta and Charlie call Tyler a con man and note that the buses and 18-wheeler were on John's property before Tyler's bill of sale.

• Brian asks about the text message from John. Reta thinks it was sent by Tyler, from John's computer.

• Faye Gamble has not shown Reta and Charlie the list of instructions from John.

• Boozer Downs was supposed to take a written statement from Faye about what John said the night he committed suicide, but he still hasn't done it. Reta and Charlie are suspicious of Boozer.

• Reta and Charlie think that Boozer is in cahoots with Tyler.

• Brian asks where Mary Grace is and Reta won't say.

• Tyler suggests that Boozer is in cahoots with Reta and Charlie to suppress the will and steal the gold.

• Boozer Downs emails Brian asking to retract his interview:

• It got ugly in the hearing. I'm concerned that I should not have spoken to you on the recording

• Boozer says he did not hide the will, because there was no will to hide.

• One of John's friends emails Brian and says, "Maybe I knew too much."

• Allen Bearden feels like someone has taken John's gold, and somebody got it, and there is a cover-up happening. Allen thinks someone has the gold.

• Brian visits Faye Gamble a second time:

• Faye insists she called everyone before the funeral, right there from City Hall.

• Brian gives Faye an out and tells her maybe she was too traumatized. Faye insists that that wasn't it, and she called everyone on the list, before the funeral.

• Faye says she has finally given the list to Reta and Charlie.

• Faye says Reta is lying, and she never told them she didn't speak to Brian.

• During this second interview, Reta reveals that John told her that his gold was wrapped in a towel in the freezer.

• Fay says she told the police that John said there was gold in a towel in the freezer.

• Faye said she didn't look in the freezer, suspects Tyler, and knows things she can't talk about.

• Brian visits K-3 Lumber and talks to Kabrahm:

• Records the story in Kabrahm's own words, for the podcast.

• Brian said he talked to Kabrahm about a year after his first visit to Alabama. (This places the Kabrahm interview in September/October of 2015.)

• Approximate: Brian interviews Cheryl Acker Dodson and Jeff Dodson.

October 10, 2015

• Brian gets married

• wedding photo || wedding photo

October 17, 2015

• Brian gets an email from Olin Long, who was not on the contact list. Olin Long would like to listen to the radio episode when it airs. The two arrange an interview.

October, 2015

• Approximate: Tyler gets a temporary job at a factory in Georgia.

• Approximate: Mary Grace goes on a River Boat trip, and a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. Mary Grace has gained 18 pounds.

Monday, November 9, 2015

• Approximate (Four months after John died): Woodstock Town Hall: Tyler's Court Hearing for misdemeanor trespassing for taking the buses and 18-wheel trailer.

• Reta and Charlie are present. A special prosecutor is called in from out of town. And Tyler's attorney is here from Bessemer.

• Tyler is not present because of the job in Georgia. Tyler is slapped with a Failure to Appear.

• Town Hall Parking Lot: Reta and Brian talk. Reta thinks Tyler has been taking advantage of 89-year-old Mary Grace.

• Reta has found one bank account with 98 dollars in it. Reta thinks that the 18-wheeler and buses could have helped pay for Mary Grace's care.

• Brian refers to Mary Grace as John's legal heir when court records show that everything was in Mary Grace's name and John was Mary Grace's heir.

• Reta thinks that John was forced by Tyler to drink cyanide... was cheered on. She told the police she thinks they dropped the ball.

• Reta speculates that John and Tyler had an argument. Reta thinks that Tyler is a thief who has ransacked the house.

• Reta has tried to track John's gold by calling the mint and the US Treasury.

• Reta has John's baby book that includes: Report Cards, Birth Certificate, Family Pictures, and Class Photos. She offers to make copies for Brian.

• Reta tells John about Mary Grace's weight gain and trips and how Mary Grace is doing better than she had under John's care. Reta says John had boarded up the windows in Mary Grace's room, and Mary Grace has lost ten years.

• Reta is mad at herself that she didn't put two and two together.

Mid November, 2015

• Approximate: Brian interviews Mr. Not-A-Good-Person. His wife looks over the shoulder. The man says that John wanted a partner.

• Brian asks if the relationship was sexual and the man says it wasn't sexual, but John might have wanted to.

• There is speculation that Mr. Not-A-Good-Person is Tyler's father, Rodney, due to shared mannerisms.

• A grand jury has indicted Tyler on a felony count for theft of the 18-wheeler, and the buses full of lumber and antiques. Exact date of the indictment unclear

• Approximate: Reta has asked the police to look into John's missing truck and Mercedes. The Woodstock police came back to Reta and told her that "Everything was fine. The vehicles belong to Tyler."

End of November 2015

• Tyler goes to pick up his youngest daughter and the girl's mother won't give Tyler his daughter. Tyler breaks down the door, and the police are called. A gun is involved, and Tyler is arrested for "armed burglary."

• Approximate: Tyler lures an electrician to the house he's building from John's lumber and trailer.

• Tyler threatens to cut off his fingers for stealing his grandfather's guns.

• Tyler beat the guy up. And didn't cut his fingers off.

• Mary Grace's 89th Birthday

Mid December 2015

• Brian interviews Olin Long for five hours in a hotel in Birmingham, Alabama (and six hours the next day.) Total 11 hours.

December 15, 2015

• Trial underway for Ervin Heard

December 17, 2015

• Former Bibb County Deputy Ervin Heard found guilty on six of 12 counts. Heard was found guilty of sexual misconduct, sex abuse, human trafficking, intimidation, unlawful imprisonment and harassment.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

• Tyler's mother messages Brian on Facebook and says Tyler will be in jail on Monday. Brian calls and talks to Tyler's maternal grandmother, Miss Irene Hicks, since Tyler's mother isn't up to talking.

• Tyler has nine felony charges against him.

• Tyler has a fourth baby on the way with his current girlfriend, Cami.

• Tyler's mother, Maya, is supported by Tyler's grandmother.

• Tyler and his kids and Cami are living in a half-finished house in Miss Hicks's yard.

Monday, December 21, 2015

• Tyler has a court date for the armed burglary charge. Tyler pays his $1,000.00 bond and leaves.

• Tyler's forgery and theft case are scheduled to go to trial in early summer 2017.

January 2016

• Reta:

• Charlie's father has moved in with Reta and Charlie, after surgery.

• Reta calls Brian, and they talk for three house. Reta is trying to get some information.

• Reta isn't sure who she can trust and who she can't trust at the Woodstock Police.

• Reta has discovered that Tyler has sold John's Truck and Mercedes. The State has revoked the title to the truck. The man who bought the truck agrees to give the truck to Reta.

• Reta believes someone in the police department is feeding Tyler information. Reta has not told the police that she's uncovered the sales of these vehicles, because she thinks the police are feeing Tyler information.

• Brian tells Reta how Tyler sees her. Brian finds that in contrast with how Reta comes off to him.

• Brian calls the Woodstock police and eventually visits Woodstock:

• Officer Lightsey refuses to speak to Brian.

• Police Chief Len Price says that Tyler was told he couldn't take anything from the house until matters were settled in Probate Court.

• Police Chief Len Price says that the town of Woodstock had to pay to clean up the suicide scene.

• Police Chief Len Price says that the cops didn't find any money or gold in John's house.

• Brian learns that Jerry Lightsey is a family friend of Tyler's. Lightsey is especially good friends with Tyler's mother, Maya. And comes to Miss Hicks's house regularly.

• Tyler gave Officer Jerry Lightsey a tour of the house he is building using items he took from John's property.

• Jerry Lightsey was winking and implying that the trailer was a "different trailer" not John's trailer.

• Maya tells Brian that Jerry Lightsey is stressed over Tyler's legal situation, and that Jerry is eagerly waiting to retire in 2017. Jerry is tired of having to choose between his friends and his job.

February 2016

• Reta says it was "during this time" that she "spilled her guts" to Brian Reed.

• February 16: Reta and Charlie meet with the ADA in Centerville. The ADA wants Reta to return for the grand jury on February 24.

• February 24: At the grand jury, Tyler is charges with the theft of two vehicles, two buses, one trailer and the lumber stored in the trailer.

• During this trip, Reta makes the decision to sell the McLemore house and property that had been in Mary Grace's family for over 100 years. According to Reta: There was no way I could stop the trespassing and vandalizing of the house and property. Every time I went over there, it was another window broken, another broken lock, just pure meanness! We were taking one step forward and three steps backwards. I had dealt with the odor, the heat, the cold, the dampness, dead rats, and destruction long enough. I really felt that I would get a call any day telling me the house had been burned down. I just could not take it anymore. My mind was made up, I had no choice but to sell the place. Of course, the financial situation was another reason. It really broke my heart.

April 2016

• April 1: Reta makes a deal to sell the house to the Burt's.

• April 16: Reta is back in Alabama. Mary Grace had been referred to a surgeon concerning her lifelong condition on her leg, so, I wanted to be there to discuss her options with the doctor. She let him know quickly he was not cutting on her leg. And I [Reta] totally agreed.

• We moved more stuff from Mary Grace’s to storage, boarded up another window that had been broken out and then I called an Auctioneer to come and pick up anything that was left. At this point I felt I had done all I could do.

• April 26: Reta heads back to Florida.

August 2016

• August 11: The sale of the house closes.

Spring, 2016

• March 15: John’s 50th Birthday

• Tyler is 24 years old

• Michael Fuller is 45

• Rodney is 46

• April 8: TAL Episode "For Your Consideration" available for download.

• This is the first (aired) segment produced by Brian since John's death.

• April/Approx: Tyler's fourth daughter born.

• April 23: Photos of Tyler's children's clothes, still in John's laundry room

• May 23: Ervin Heard sentenced to six months in jail and 24 months probation

Summer, 2016

• June 7: Cheryl turns 44

• August: Cheryl and Jeff's 13th Anniversary.

• August 23: Jeff Dodson elected mayor of Woodstock.

Fall, 2016

• October 6: Cami and Tyler married

• November 7: Jeff Dodson installed as Mayor of Woodstock. Jeff has unseated a 13 year incumbent. And everyone is calling Cheryl "The first lady."

• November: Mary Grace's 90th Birthday

• December 24: John's friend posts a condolence

2017

• March 15: John’s 51st Birthday

• Tyler is 25 years old

• Michael Fuller is 46

• Rodney is 47

• Tuesday, March 28: S-town Podcast Released

• Tyler posts pictures of the maze dying, and overgrown

• April 4: New Complaint Against Tyler filed

• Wednesday, April 5: Tyler shoots Skyler's dog in front of her kids. He says Skyler's dog was trying to hurt John's dog, Pipsqueak

• "The Truth" about the incident

• April 10: Tyler's Current Tattoo/Piercing Establishment

• John's Tomb stone looks like this now. Grave looks like this.

• Tyler sells an interview to the Daily Mail and poses with John's dog, Pipsqueak.

• Photo of John's blue school bus on Tyler's property.

• May 21 (Approximate): At Green Pond Cemetery John gets a head stone

• Back of headstone. Another photo of the headstone.

• Front of headstone with Tyler's headstone in the foreground

• June 1: Cheryl posts photographs of items Kellye Burt allowed her to take from the house.

• June 7: Cheryl turns 45 years old.

• Picture of John and Mary Grace's fireplace taken by a visitor

• June 10: Criminal proceedings pushed to Fall; while prosecutors seek permission to use podcast recordings against Tyler.

Initially, Goodson was charged with five counts of first-degree theft of property, two counts of first-degree forgery, one count of third-degree trespassing and one count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument. However, a grand jury met in April and brought the number of charges up to 25, including 13 second-degree criminal trespass charges, two counts of burglary and two charges of forgery.

This month, a new indictment will be coming down that will replace the April indictment, taking off five of the criminal trespass charges, changing the forgery charges to possession of a forgery instrument and would include victims as being Mary Grace, McLemore and any of McLemore’s heirs. Jones said the additional charges came after he and his team listened to “S-Town” and heard Goodson talk about some of the things he took from the property.

• Wednesday, June 14: Tyler arrested for the early April 6 shooting of Jake and Skyler's pit bull. Apparently, Jake's pit bull had John's dog Pipsqueak, in his jaws, and was shaking him, trying to kill him. As the story goes, Jake was holding his pit bull by his collar, and Tyler shot the pit bull in the head. Tyler subsequently paid over $1,000 dollars to get Pipsqueak out of the vet. Jake did not press charges, but the police investigated the shooting, and ultimately arrested Tyler.

• June 16: Original date for Tyler's trial now pushed to Falll. Tyler faces charges for trespassing, for theft of the busses, 18-wheeler, truck and Mercedes. Tyler also faces forgery charges for forging John's signature when he sold the truck and Mercedes.

• June 16: New York Times covers Tyler's arrest for shooting Jake's dog

• Tyler feels like he has done nothing wrong. He has bills of sale for the buses and 18 wheeler.

• Tyler says the police told him he could take the buses and 18-wheeler.

• Tyler says there is no way they can prove he forged anything. But he said that when he didn't know that Reta had found out about the truck and Mercedes.

• June 19: Tyler released an on $21,000 bond for animal cruelty and reckless endangerment

• August: Cheryl and Jeff's 14th Anniversary.

• October 16: Tyler pleads guilty to theft

• November: Mary Grace's 91st Birthday

2018

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/02/woman_receives_3_million_judge.html

<<Timeline II

2014

• New Year's Day: John's dogs get into a big fight and his dog Schroeder is fatally injured. John writes:

Somehow I made it about four hundred feet down the hill with Schroeder in my arms, half clinging to my face, blood pouring off chin. I suddenly tripped on a root and dropped him on top of me. Broken leg and all. In the fall, Schroeder had let go of my face and now blood was pouring out of both of us. My other older dogs then began circling around us. I quickly realized they were still in attack mode, and I was out of breath.

I looked at the other dogs, then up at the gray sky, thinking: Is this it? Is this how I am going to die, torn to pieces by the puppies that I raised and fed with baby bottles?

...it was New Years Day. There were no animal hospitals open, and no chance of getting one on the phone, either. A few phone calls yielded the expected results. I remembered an old expression: "Whatever you do on New Years Day, you will be doing for the rest of the year."

The cleaning ritual commenced once again. This time I got into the tub to wash myself, and realized what a strong dog Schroeder actually was. He's going to make it, I thought. I reminded myself that a tiny little acorn turned into a great hickory tree.

I set the alarm on the E. Ingraham clock in Mama's room. She still asked after the dog's welfare. Do you think he is going to be okay? How is he doing now? Has he gotten any better? she asked. I sure am sorry, she said.

He vomited again, a much darker-colored vomit, and when I attempted to wipe it from his mouth, I found that I could not even get my fingers between his clenched teeth, let alone a damp rag. I curled up the corner of a washcloth and did what I could.

*We were together alone on that white tile floor for quite some time, like two candles in the middle of the night.

Finally, one massive tremor, like a sort of earthquake from within, shook his whole body, and I realized that he was passing, or perhaps already had and this was just some neurologic convulsion. I always wondered what had caused that trembling. Do we all shake like that at the moment of death?*

I looked up at that flaking paint on the bathroom ceiling, that goddamned hole in front of the door and the inside of the roof that leaks all the way to the stars and just cried out.

I then let the three spaniels out of the kitchen. The black one left that night, and never returned. Perhaps she knew. Perhaps she was killed by a hunter, hit by a car, poisoned, or bitten by a snake. In this shit of a town, the possibilities for death are endless.

John takes Schroeder's lifeless body out to the woods. Later, John buries Schroeder.

• The maze has grown in a bit

• March 15: John’s 48th Birthday

• Tyler is 21 years old.

• Michael Fuller is 43

• Rodney is 44 years old

• Tyler says that John started getting tattoos at the age of 47, and got enough tattoos over one year to equal what it would take anyone else a lifetime to accrue.

• Bubba says that John's motivation for getting so many tattoos was to help Tyler, and to give Tyler money. Bubba said that John had "sacrificed his skin" for this cause.

• May: John has written a story about the death of his dog Schroeder, called: "Death of a Giant"

• Guy McPherson publishes it on his web site. The story gets so many subsequent negative comments that John asks Guy to remove it.

• The story is published in the Procyon Short Story Analogy

• Bio to accompany the story: John B. McLemore resides at his grandfather's old homeplace in a small, crumbling town in Alabama. For many years, he restored antique clocks, performed 19th-Century electroplating, fire gilding, bronze patination, and micromachining for other shops. His varied interests have included sundials, the Astrolabe, chemistry (particularly electrochemistry), investing, climate change, peak oil, the 80s New Wave and Eurodisco, and numerous other subjects. An avid gardener, John planted his first hedge maze in 2009, and still finds time to pull some of the weeds. He currently cares for his mother, his last remaining relative, who is ailing with dementia.

• May 2: Brian has finished and released: TAL: "I Was So High"

• June 7: Cheryl's 42nd Birthday

• July 4: Brian and his future wife visit DC

• July 16: John's neighbor tries to kill his wife with a hammer and a tractor

• July 24: In an email, John reaches out to Reta about the Clouse house being torn down. John talks about suicide and despair.

• July 31: Birmingham, Alabama Water Board Scandal that bothered John.

• August 1, 2014: John posts a version of the "Worthwhile Life Defined" essay that he would later send to Brian

• August, 2014: Cheryl and Jeff's 11th Anniversary.

• September 9: John comments on Peakoil.com

To break up the monotony here a bit….Never Been Married, Never Will. I have never met a Happily Married Man in my life. As a single dude, I could tell back in ’05 when I first started reading about peak oil and global warming, that these 2 issues were going to be ‘too big’. So yes, it is possible to become a doomer without being screwed yourself in the process. I could always take a look around at other peoples failed marriages and draw conclusions without having to re-invent the wheel myself.

• September 10: John comments on Peakoil.com

I am currently befriending a 21 year old boy with 3 kids by 3 different girls. He lives in an old U_Haul van behind a tattoo parlour. I am trying to help him get out of the court system, and point him in the direction of independence….something he has never known. His father used to rape his mother while he and his baby brother hid behind the sofa. This young man grew up watching his mother being raped on the living room floor nightly by his father. His same father raped his older sister as well as his niece when the girls were only about 12-13 years old. This young fella entered the court system at 14 as a result of attempting to escape his homelife. Hopefully, I can instil a bit of useful knowledge into this boy about the future.

• September 11: John comments on CleanTechnica

• September 21: John comments on CleanTechnica

• September 23: John quotes William S. Burroughs on Peak Oil

• September 26: Brian has finished and releases TAL: "The Secret Recordings of Carmen Segarra"

• September 27: John comments on "Driver's License Slavery" and being a "Doomer" on an online forum.

• Approximate: As they are exchanging emails, John sends Brian an essay he wrote called "A Worthwhile Life Defined."

• Brian says that John would say that people shouldn't use the "N" word, and then he'd use the "N" word. Brian says that John was a racist, homophobe, and misogynist. Even though he would be empathetic, and be outraged at inequality and injustice.

• Tyler turns 22

• October 11: John writes about being careful with his money

• Undated Photo of gates that John had Tyler make for the passages underneath Mary Grace's house

• October 14 (Approximate) Brian visits John for the first -- and only -- time

• Gets a tour of the property. Meets Mary Grace.

• John shows Brian his 53 page manifesto, and suicide note. John wishes Brian hadn't said it out loud. This is the only time they met in person.

• John shows Brian a video of the history of the fossil fuel industry, and says that there was a chance that John wouldn't be alive by the time Brian had arrived.

• John shows Brian how he has sent his suicide note to Town Hall, and his attorney. The suicide note sent to Town Hall, has instructions including how many dogs he has, where some -- but not all -- of the money is hidden. And a list of people to contact.

• John says he's unbanked, and that 100k would go to Peta. John said that he could stay alive and burn through his money or leave it to Jake and Tyler. John wants to leave Jake and Tyler a "shit pot" of money.

• 2nd night in Alabama: Brian meets Jake at John’s kitchen table.

• 3rd day in Alabama: Brian visits Black Sheep Tattoo Parlour, and is shown the back room with the bar and stripper pole.

• Brian talks to Bubba outside. Bubba says that John "sacrificed his skin to keep them in business."

• Brian visits with John and Tyler in the workshop. Tyler is filing a chain saw. John makes a gold plated dime for Brian..

• Exterior of John's Shop. Photo taken in 2017.

• John's shop in 2017, a year after his death

• John shows Brian his stomach tattoos and nipple piercings.

• Tyler doesn’t have a place to live. He’s sleeping at the Tattoo Parlour

• 4th day in Alabama: John and Brian run errands in John's 1985 Mercedes 190E: To the Bibb County Courthouse, Library, and Burt Family compound. Brian's last night. John wants to stop by Little Caesar's to get a pizza for Mary Grace. John says he's going to miss Brian. Brian says he's miss John, too. The Little Caesar's manager tells Brian he can't record in the store, and John gets indignant. John says the manager is probably a "f_g." And is a "top." John asks Brian to turn off the recorder and tells Brian about a local man with whom he'd had a sexual relationship. The man was not a good person. The man had worked on John's yard over the years. They'd been close.

• Approximate: John sends Brian the 5th revision of his 53 page manifesto titled: Critical Issues for the Future

• Does anyone have a transcription of the manifesto as distilled by Brian?

• November: Mary Grace's 88th birthday

• December 24: Brian proposes to his future wife

• December 26: Air Date: "Wake Up Now"

• Brian has not been in touch with John as much since he's been working on this episode.

February 6, 2015

• Brian's TAL episode on the frayed relationship between Cops and African Americans is released

• Brian has been focused on this story, and not in touch with John as much.

Exact Date Unknown

• Police come to John's house and threaten to search it without a warrant.

• Cahawba Christian Academy votes to hire Ms. Gail Sammons as Principal

February 11, 2015

• John joins the internet forum Peak Oil

February 13, 2015

• Part 2 of "Cops See it Differently" is released.

• Brian has been focused on this story, and not in touch with John as much.

March 15, 2015

• John’s 49th Birthday

• Tyler is 22 years old

• Michael Fuller is 44

• Rodney is 45

• John decides to get the back tattoo?

• In order to create the back tattoo, John went into the woods, and picked a tree branch and asked Tyler and his friends to whip him, then tattoo him over the welts.

March 20, 2015

• Bubba posts a picture of John’s finished back tattoo.. Brian notes that John did not have this tattoo when he last saw John in October.

End of March, 2015

• Tyler and John have developed a ritual that they call "Church."

• John said this means they get in the backroom of the shop and get drunk as hell.

• John said he lets Tyler practice on him. They call the Wild Turkey the Holy Water, the back room the "sanctuary," the tattoo needles are the reliquaries.

• John says that he just listens to Tyler during these sessions, and that Tyler asked him about life and death. He explains things like the theory of relativity to Tyler. Or, they'll just turn off the lights and be quiet together.

• Tyler says the "Church" sessions started off with Tyler going over to John's to tattoo him for $100.00 per hour.

April 10, 2015

• TAL Episode: Last But Not Least available for download.

• Brian has not been in touch with John as much since he's been working on these episodes.

• Approximate: Up until the Spring of 2015, Tyler has not had a serious girlfriend, or a regular place to live. This changes in the Spring of 2015. Tyler starts dating and getting serious about Cami.

• Approximate: Tyler says that John started asking him to tattoo over existing tattoos, over and over again.

• Tyler says that John would ask Tyler to pierce his nipple, just to pierce them, over and over again. John's nipples were already pierced, but he wanted Tyler to re-pierce them before each new tattoo.

• Tyler said that John would get an endorphin high off the pain fix of piercing his nipples over and over again.

• Tyler said that Church morphed into an elaborate form of "cutting." The excitement and thought of it cleared his mind from all his worries. His mind was blank.

• Tyler said his company also helped John.

April/May, 2015

• Photo of John in the maze with back tattoo

• Brian says: As the months have gone by:

• John has devoted himself to changing Tyler's life.

• Every time Brian calls, Tyler is either there, was just there, or John is waiting for Tyler to get there.

• John is giving Tyler more and more work, giving Tyler more and more money. John has hired Tyler a lawyer, and is accompanying him to court. John is giving Tyler lectures and advice. John sometimes feels like it is a "user-ship" as opposed to a friendship.

• Tyler has moved into South Forty, the trailer park across the street from John.

• John is thinking of putting Tyler and Jake in the will. Tyler and John take walks, and like to spend time together.

• John and Tyler have built a swing. John wishes that Jake and Tyler understood trigonometry, algebra, and geography. John says that Tyler has a lot of his Daddy's (Rodney's) mannerisms, including grunting.

• Jon has built a bar for Tyler to exercise on.

• Tyler has a bed in John's dining room and is pretty much living there. Tyler is taking care of John, his mom, the dogs, the yard. They depend on him.

• Undated Photo of John and Mary Grace

• Once, while talking to Brian on the phone, John pisses in the sink and says he has a little, short dick).

• Approximate: John goes on a buying spree, buying antique toys, glass chickens he was obsessed with, and materials for swingset, etc.

• Approximate: Brian talks on the phone with the Chief at the Tuscaloosa County Sherriff's Department:

• Learns that there was no murder.

• Learns that no one would press charges. Case closed.

May 5, 2015

• John comments on Peakoil.com

• Approximate: Cami and Tyler move in together. Tyler spends less time at John's.

• Tyler starts tattooing John's nipples with empty needles. There is no point to this, except for the pain of it. Tyler recommended this as therapy to John, telling him that it was like a stress reliever. Later, Tyler shows Brian a video of John getting his nipples "tattooed" with blank needles.

• Tyler said he was "getting used to the crazy shit he was having me to do him."

• Tyler says that what John started to want things that went far beyond any weird stuff he'd been asked to do before.

June 7, 2015

• Cheryl's 43rd Birthday

• Approximate: John and Brian's last phone conversation.

• John has been mulling over climate change since 4:30AM.

• 2:25PM: John says he is just sitting there with his orange pants on, waitin' on Tyler.

• Brian communicates to John that there was no murder.

• John ruminates on climate change.

• John tells Brian about the time he tried to mentor Michael Fuller, who would be about 45 on this day, and is living in New York City.

• John says, "Even after 25 years, you'll remember me." And Brian says, "I'm never going to forget you." Seems like this would make it something like a final conversation -- for the time being.

• Brian says this conversation took place almost a 18 months after John first told him about the "murder." (A year and a half would make it June of 2015.)

• By now: "Church" is one of the main ways John and Tyler spend time together. Tyler says the brutality of what John wanted Tyler to do to him kept intensifying, far beyond tattooing with an empty needle or repeated nipple piercings, or being lashed with a tree branch.

• Tyler said that it was happening every day. That they'd be working in the shop and John would say, "Do you think we can have a church session real quick"

• Tyler says it was getting so ridiculous, he couldn't keep up with it. Tyler is wary of the things that John wanted him to do. Tyler says he tried to put an end to it, and wouldn't do it for a couple of weeks. But it threw John into a depression.

• Approximate: Allen Bearden has been out of town at a Watch and Clock Convention and hasn't talked to John for a while.

June 13, 2015

• Brian says Tyler is 24 by now.

• John adds five books of feminist literature to his Amazon Wish List

Thursday, June 18, 2015

• Tyler takes Noel to John's house, to swing on the swing.

• John asks Tyler to "skin his head" so Tyler shaves John's head so it looks like Tyler's.

• Noel teases John, "ha, ha, ha."

• John told Noel she would have a similar haircut when she got the women's prison.

• Tyler is furious and "calmly eases out of there."

• Approximate: Allen Bearden returns from the clock convention and Allen and John email a bit, back and forth.

Friday, June 19, 2015

• Jake's wife, Skyler, and John talk on the phone for four hours.

• Skyler says John talked about how bad the world is and no one should bring any more kids in the world.

• But, "he was fine."

Sunday, June 21, 2015

• Father's Day: John and Tyler don't spend the day together because of what John said to Noel.

• Afternoon: John listens to Brian's February 2015 TAL episode about police and African Americans and sends Brian a string of emails, as John listens.

• John sends Brian The Collapse List

• 8:55PM: John emails Brian a graph of the increasing gold reserves of the Russian bank. "What do the Russkies know that we don't?"

• John had spent the day trying to get ahold of Tyler.

• Tyler finally picks up and explains why he is so upset.

• John didn't have one clue of what he said that made Tyler mad.

• John apologizes and starts crying. They both cry and they both say, "I love you."

Monday, June 22, 2015

• 5:38AM: Sunrise

• 11AM: John B posts on peakoil.com: "A dead man is stable."

• Tyler is supposed to do yard work for John on this day, but they decided to go fishing.

• Tyler lied to everyone and told them he was cutting John's grass, when he was really fishing with John.

• They called it "Their Father's Day."

• Tyler bought John a small bottle of whiskey. They drove by Aunt Gertrude's house. And John's old girlfriend's house. John was getting nostalgic and blue.

• John tells Tyler, "This is the most important day of your life."

• John and Tyler wade through The Cahaba River, Tyler holding John's hand. (John can't swim.)

• John had never explored the river like that.

• John and Tyler spray paint their initials under a bridge at the Cahaba River.

• Allen Bearden writes John an email and says he wants to come visit John that week.

• Faye Gamble attends a wake.

• John and Tyler return to John's house. John is drunk on a pint of Wild Turkey 101.

• John says, "Just give me a pain fix before you leave." So, Tyler pierced and/or tattooed John's nipples.

• Tyler goes home. He's pissed about having to do that to John. (Tyler later says he shouldn't have left John that drunk.)

• John calls Allen Bearden who is teaching vacation Bible School, and silences his phone.

• John repeatedly messages Tyler, begging Tyler to put his kids to bed and come back. John starts threatening to kill himself. John texts, "It's all I can do to keep from blowing my brains out in the driveway." John texts Tyler, "Anything you want in this house, you can have."

• Cami suggests to Tyler that if he goes over there every time John threatens to kill himself, Tyler will go crazy. Cami says you can't just live your life around John.

• Cami recognizes that Tyler has clothes down at John's, has a bed in John's dining room, is there all the time, and is pretty much residing there. Tyler has been taking care of John, the dogs, John's mom. They depend on him.

• Tyler is pissed about having to pierce and tattoo John's nipples after their day together. Tyler says that's part of the reason he didn't respond to John.

• Tyler goes to sleep.

• Michael Fuller says this episode with Tyler pushed John over the edge.

• 8PM: Sunset

• 9:15PM: John walks out onto the front porch and calls Faye Gamble:

• John says he is going to commit suicide, and that if Faye calls the cops, he will shoot them.

• John tells Faye that a bunch of Tyler's belongings are in the workshop.

• John says to euthanize his dogs and tells Faye where to find an envelope with cash to pay for that.

• John gave Faye "other instructions" but at first Faye declines to explain what those are. John told Faye where to find "certain things..." Faye says, "He wanted me to know where certain things were..." Later, Faye refuses to tell Brian what those "certain things" are.

• Weeks later, Faye admits that John told her he had gold bars wrapped in the freezer.

• John told Faye step by step how he was going to kill himself. Getting cyanide out of the refrigerator. John starts drinking the mixture, then screaming, then the phone went silent except for dogs barking.

• Police Chief Len Price arrives at John's house

• Faye arrives at the house after Woodstock Police Chief Len Price

• Faye tells the police that John said he had gold bars in the freezer. But Faye does not look in the freezer. Faye does not know if the police looked in the freezer.

• Suicide note excerpt

• Allen Bearden calls John back. No answer.

• Obituary

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

• Tyler hears the news and goes to John's house. Police tape is up. It's a crime scene.

• Tyler sees John's glasses on the porch, in blood and vomit. Tyler is devastated.

• Tyler made sure all the dogs were fed, installed a padlock on the house doors, and went to the hospital to see Mary Grace.

• Reta and Charlie arrive at John and Mary Grace's house with Police Chief Len Price. They discover the padlock on the door. Len Price suggests they call Tyler.

• On his way up the hospital, Tyler gets a call from Reta. Tyler has only heard that the cousins were "distant, drunk kin." Tyler drives back to the house.

• Tyler sees Reta and Charlie in the driveway. Tyler calls Mary Grace.

• Tyler tells Mary Grace that Reta and Charlie are trying to get in. Mary Grace says not to let them in, and tell them to come to the hospital.

• A huge screaming match ensues in the driveway. Charlie tells Tyler he doesn't give a f*ck.

• Reta is cussing and says Mary Grace "will not come back to this house."

• Police Chief Len Price is there for the screaming match.

• Thirty minutes later, the Reta and Charlie are at Mary Grace's bedside.

• Mary Grace is hostile with Reta.

• Tyler had just told Mary Grace that Reta was taking her to Florida.

• Tyler had just told the nurses he was Mary Grace's adopted son.

• Mary Grace and Reta talk about other relatives they have in common.

• Tyler tells Mary Grace that he is going to take care of her, and talk about old times, and get her new shoes, and his daughters are going to pick her flowers every day.

• Mary Grace explains to the Reta that John loved Tyler and that Tyler is going to take her home, after going to the attorney first. Mary Grace says Tyler is going to help plan the funeral. Reta and Charlie leave Tyler and Mary Grace together, at the hospital.

• Reta says that it's fine for Tyler to move in to the house and take care of Mary Grace.

• Allen Bearden tries to get ahold of John and there is no answer.

• Boozer Downs was supposed to take a written statement from Faye about what John said the night he committed suicide, but he never does.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

• The social worker calls Reta at her hotel and says they are not releasing Mary Grace to Tyler. Part of the reason is because Tyler is not related to Mary Grace. (Tyler couldn't name any of Mary Grace's doctors or medications.)

• Tyler is at the hospital, trying to get Mary Grace. He wants to take her to the lawyer to get power of attorney.

• The hospital will not release Mary Grace to Tyler. Case worker deems Mary Grace mentally unfit, and Tyler is not next of kin.

• Afternoon: Brian emails John back. "This is fascinating."

• Early evening: Jake's wife Skyler calls Brian to let him know that John has killed himself.

• Skyler talks about the last time she talked to John, and how he "was fine."

• Skyler says they are focusing on John's mom, to make sure she doesn't go to a nursing home.

• Brian wants to attend the funeral. Skyler says it will just be John's mom and the Goodsons.

• Tyler is at Mary Grace's house with two trailers and two trucks, trying to load up stuff to take.

• Reta goes to the house, but the police had already run Tyler off.

• The police tell Reta she might want to try to get custody of Mary Grace.

• This is when Reta decided to fight Tyler. Boozer and Faye agree to help Reta get custody.

• Allen Bearden tries to get ahold of John and there is no answer.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

• Reta and Charlie go to Lowe's to purchase new locks for the house.

• Faye says Reta and Charlie did not get into John's house until three days after he killed himself. And there was no gold in the freezer.

• Faye says that when the Reta and Charlie got in the house, things were missing that were there when Faye was last in the house: Mary Grace's purse, checkbook, and John's laptop.

• Reta takes photos of the property:

• Basement

• Basement 2

• Buses and trailer

• Brian calls Tyler:

• Tyler catches Brian up on how Reta and Charlie are there to get the pearls and diamonds and gold.

• Tyler says that "as they speak" Mary Grace has been released but is stuck at the hospital, because the Reta and Charlie haven't come to take her out. Mary Grace is pacing the floors, asking why John left them like this.

Friday, June 26, 2015

• Approximate: Tyler's wife Cami is at the post office, and picked up a package addressed to John.

• Reta hears about this at the post office and proceeds to the police to report it.

• Reta picks Cami out of a line up, but charges are never field.

• Approximate: Mary Grace gets a pedicure.

• Approximate: Reta and Charlie go to Walmart to get John some burial clothes. They also go to the florist to make arrangements for flowers at the service, and go to the cemetery to show them where to dig John's grave.

• The undertaker comes out and tells Reta about the nipple rings. Reta tells the undertaker she wants the rings. The undertaker says, "Sure. No problem."

• Reta helps get Mary Grace ready for the funeral

• Mary Grace getting a pedicure

Monday, June 29, 2015

• 11AM: Graveside services held for John B at Greenpond Presbyterian Church

• Cemetery

• Brian attends the service. More people have shown up than Brian expected. 30-40 people are there. There is no headstone for John. John is to be buried next to his father.

• Tyler is wearing black, and carrying a framed picture of John as a boy, and "Just Only John" to give to Mary Grace.

• Mary Grace arrives with Reta and Charlie. Brother Ben (in a wheelchair and fedora) performs the service, and says John was "very smart."

• Brian is disoriented because John was a huge atheist and could be mean about it.

• Mary Grace (88 years old) thanks Brother Ben, and says John is at peace, and it makes her feel good that people thought so much of him. Mary Grace cannot bear the thought of not having John.

• Tyler's mother has tears in her eyes, and clutches Brian's arm.

• After the service, Tyler and Mary Grace talk for a few moments. Mary Grace says Tyler is welcome to go to the house, any time he wants.

• Reta intervenes and guides Mary Grace away from Tyler, and tells Mary Grace that if Tyler comes to the house, it's trespassing.

• Tyler's mother half-shouts, "I hope you do the right thing."

• Reta asks after the nipple rings and is told the undertaker couldn't get them off.

• After the service: Tyler's family doesn't feel comfortable at the formal lunch arranged for mourners. They go to Tyler's grandmother's place. The gathering includes Tyler's Uncle Jimmy. Tyler is frustrated that people don't know how much John and Tyler meant to each other, and how much Tyler contributed to John and his mother's quality of life. Tyler says that John never tried anything with him.

• Tyler's Eulogy for John B: Well, John B. I mean, he had to know that I cared about his ass. You know, cause, I mean, whenever I left him there, he'd say, "I love you man." Every time. And I'd say, "I love you, too, John B." And sometimes he'd say, "Just because I say I love you, don't mean I'm trying to get up your butt or anything." And I said, "I know John B. God damn." Because he knew, I mean, he mighta had a little sugar in his tank. But he knew, you know, he didn't ever try anything with me, like 'at, you know what I mean.

• According to Brian, Tyler is a hero for accepting John's homosexuality.

• Tyler says he reads John's book to his kids: Just Only John, a book from John's childhood.

• Tyler says that he and John had come to an understanding that Tyler wasn't going to charge him anymore for general upkeep of John's property (cutting the grass, pruning the maze), because it was kind of like Tyler's responsibility because it was going to be Tyler's someday. John had told them that he wasn't going to leave them any money because they wouldn't appreciate it. So he was going to leave them gold and the property. John has 140 acres.

• Tyler says he isn't going to give into Reta and Charlie so easily.

• Allen Bearden tries to get ahold of John and there is no answer.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

• Allen Bearden calls a mutual friend, a mechanic in Birmingham, and he hasn't heard from John, either.

• Approximate: Boozer Downs attempts an informal mediation session between Tyler, Mary Grace, Reta and Charlie.

• Things fall apart when Mary Grace tells Tyler, "Don't call me mama, no more."

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

• Approximate: Allen Bearden is driving home from church with his family, when he gets a call from Fay Gamble. John had been in the ground for a week.

• Allen was fourth on the list to contact. Reta and Charlie were eighth/ninth on the list. Allen is upset with Faye for contacting Reta before Allen, and for causing Allen to miss the service. Reta acted weird and said she tried to call. Allen doesn't have any texts, missed calls, or messages since June 22.

Timeline IV >>

<<Timeline I

March, 2005

• Early March; John writes:

People already stopping by and asking about opening date. We decided on Monday, March 14, day before my birthday.

• March 3; John writes:

I buy sign letters from Commander Board. Also deposit another $1,000.00 from the investments account. Exhibit 6.

• March 9; John writes:

I pay Mark Gilbert for Dozier work around premises and deposit another $700.00 in the checking account. The source of this money was a milling machine I sold out of my shop in February. Exhibit 7.

• Mid March; John writes:

PANIC! Jeff and Cheryl had begin to show signs of losing interest. There was a load of stuff to get done. They encouraged me to go ahead and that is exactly what I did. Only about 5 days before opening day. Tables were built, Mark Gilbert called to help cleanup grounds, posts to put up, chains to stretch, loose stuff on building, garbage still everywhere, tarps to nail and block down, and the whole week freezing and raining. Jeff was rarely seen on weekends these days, and Cheryl and the kids and I finished what was left of the cleanup. Meanwhile Jeff criticizing, this ain't right that don't suit him, this ain't no good, that ain't where it ortta' be.

• March 12; John writes:

Buy swing at Lowes so customers will have a sit down place. Two days left to open. For the week of March 5 thru 12 I was pretty much on my own for finishing the extensive list of "to do's"

• March 13; John writes:

Day before opening. Last pre-opening order from Deb's nursery. Jeff is in a good mood. We bring ALL container stock over to the shop on Sunday evening in pouring rain, storm and wind. Tornadoes are blowing around Bibb County and weather sirens blowing.

• March 14: John and Cheryl and Jeff open Woodstock Garden Center next door to her house. John writes:

Opening day. I deposit another $1,200.00 from my (not the joint) investment account. $600.00 cash out (pay cash for first orders of tender plants in case new suppliers don't trust a new checking account. Exhibit 8. Deposited 2 days later on Wednesday.

By March 14 my total investment in this business including monies loaned to Cheryl, and cash paid to Deb's nursery, Arvell, Joe, Gray, and others was $9,350.00. By March 14 morning Jeff and Cheryl (my combined 66% parents) had coughed up: 00.00. I had already been paying Cheryl cash for the water, phone, and light bill. Furthermore the sweet promises of payment of the $1,000.00 loan had begun to occur less frequently. On March 14, Cheryl brought by (around lunchtime 50.00 in change for the box. Over the next week she would add the following: [Twin Roll Paper Towels $1.00, Clock $10, Battery for clock $3, two small garbage bins $8, bottle of glue $1, two pair scissors $10, round of drinks for machine $35.]

Including the 50.00 in change this brought her total investment in this business to about $118.00 between the end of December until closing day on May 16. Many suggestions were contributed (Such as how I needed to buy concrete statuary, etc), but not one penny more was contributed. No sign of the $1,000.00 either.

Between the end of December and closing day Jeff contributed a paint brush, some stiff wire, some small sheetrock screws, and I would estimate his expenditures to be about $20.00. Also contributed was much complaining, griping, hot air, and cigarette butts. I have difficulty in accurately appraising the exact value of these items. There was to be no more financial contribution by the two of them for the rest of the period the business was open.

I paid for every single item used in that business from December 30 to May 16 down to the office supplies, bank drawer, pens, paper, light bulb, telephone wire, paper towels, cups, pots, pans, hoses, soap, outlet covers, breakers, wire, all lumber down to the last nail, even to the roll of toilet paper hanging on the stop.

• Jeff Dodson watering plants at the Woodstock Garden Center

• March 15: John’s 39th Birthday

• John and Olin are close friends.

• Tyler is 13 years old

• Michael Fuller is 34

• Rodney is 35

• Approx: John meets Olin in a parking lot in Birmingham. Olin bought azaleas from the Garden Center. John and Olin laugh about "Megaphone" and share a tender moment. Olin wants to make a move and doesn't.

• March 17; John writes:

First stock of tender bedding plants arrives. Exhibit 11 shows payment. Another batch arrives the next day on Thursday.

• March 21; John writes:

Another $300.00 deposited. This time the source was books sold out of my shop.

April, 2005

• April 4; John writes:

Another thousand dollars deposited as a result of tools sold out of my shop once again.

• Week of April 18; John writes:

One of Cheryl's friends goes over to Jim Norman's and buys out his old, mostly dead, and diseased plant stock. Furthermore they plant the choice pieces, and want to bring over the garbage and dump it off onto me to sell at whatever price for them. This material constituted a plant pest/disease problem and I wasn't about to risk several thousand dollars stock to be contaminated by this material. They were also remodeling Cheryl's kitchen, and she was afraid they were not going to finish the job if I couldn't be pressured into taking this stuff.

• Friday, April 22; John writes:

Jeff and I go over to look at the crap. He is in agreement. Later on they call me over to the house to discuss it, and Jeff is going hog wild, towering over Cheryl asking "Whaddya think baby tell 'im what you think?!" Meanwhile Cheryl is sitting on a small stool near the floor with tears streaming down her face. Jeff is going into full swing, I am inching my way to the door. Jeff starts hollering at me to get my ass back there, meanwhile leaving room to holler and cuss back at Cheryl, and I make out with some comment like "if they are going to act like that I wish I was out of it especially since I paid for everything anyways."

To top it off, it is going to freeze, and I had to bring the rest of the plants in by myself. Later me and Mary Grace go over and stash plants indoors and vacuum. No sign of Jeff or Cheryl.

• Saturday, April 23; John writes:

Jeff comes over to lecture me on how "we equal partners in dis here and don't you fergit it." Also I heard a lecture on how "this here place is costin' me money every day," (although he hadn't put a cent into it hardly), also a lecture on how he ran a group of forty sheetrock hangers and how this place was "stressin" him and how it wouldn't be worth the stress if it was making a thousand dollars a day. Also much blowing of cigarette smoke in my face, thumping of cigarette butts, Jeff seemed to think a place just wasn't right unless a pile of cigarette butts was laying everywhere. He seemed to enjoy coming over and thumping them out on the grounds, and scowling at me when I stopped to pick them up. After a few weeks the parking lot of Woodstock Garden was beginning to look more like the Green Lantern. I received a finishing lecture from the "equal partner" about how he could "rent this here out or sell this here," at which I offered to take him up on. He didn't seem to like having his bluff called (I had the money and he knew it), and flew into a fit until a customer came in and spent about an hour talking about how her Richard Wright house was falling apart. This seemed to cheer Jeff up.

• Late April and Early May; John writes:

Jeff comes over usually after work in variable moods sometimes cheerful and other times scowly. At other times he has started drinking his beer out styrofoam cups on the garden center porch and thumping out his cigarette butts. April 15 has come and gone, and when I gently inquired of Cheryl about the 1,000.00 I was informed that "that money is already gone." In this same month I was informed about how Jeff had bought a thousand dollar prom dress for his daughter and wasn't going to let her wear it; another time I was told that Cheryl's sister had been knocked up by a 16 year old boy and how they were going to have to contribute $600.00 to get her married off, another time I was warned to lock up the money because Cheryl's brother was on crystal meth and had been arrested 4 times this month. Meanwhile they have a huge row one Saturday morning with Arvell Kornegay's grandson and daughter. The whole situation for this time was like a nonstop showing of Jerry Springer.

Cheryl informed me that I was going to just have to work my thousand dollars out of the business, and sat me down one afternoon for a rethink of the finances. Throughout this time they seemed to enjoy coming over and bragging about how they were spending a thousand dollars here or there... another time it was for a thousand dollar beauty walk dress.

• Saturday, April 30; John writes:

I reluctantly place the potting soil order with BWI. This was the purpose of my last check deposited. Exhibit 15. I say reluctant because by this time you never knew what was going on from day to day. When it arrived Jeff wanted to know "What's all this shit doing out here?" His exact choice of words.

May, 2005

• Sunday, May 1; John writes:

This is the day of our "rethinking financing" discussion with Cheryl. Sunday. Since I had over ten thousand in by now, and Cheryl and Jeff wanted to quickly make back their 2000 they had already paid Johnnie Faye, she wanted me to start writing checks to herself and myself as a factor of four to one. Her first check was 250.00. I subsequently removed a thousand dollars from the account for myself. Check number 139. Exhibit 16 is Cheryls cleared check.

• Sunday, May 8; John writes:

The same situation. 2200 for me, 550 for Cheryl. Her and Jeff were in an extra cross mood on this night (Mother's day Sunday), Exhibit 17. Jeff and Cheryl by this time are constantly criticizing everything. Cheryl comes over to rearrange the merchandise after closing. Nothing suits Jeff, everything is overstocked/understocked, needs to be put here, or over there. Suggestions keep coming about what I need to be stocking instead, but still not a cent more spent by either one.

• Monday, May 9; John writes:

Cheryl comes over at lunch, and tells me one of her friends wants to install a little ice cream stand on the garden shop grounds. She wants me to know that whatever objections I have are irrelevant because so far I have been running the show and they have had no input in the business whatsoever. I bite my tongue about no money whatsoever, and assure her I have no objections, and she seems encouraged, cheers up, describes the space required, and informs me that they will be settling up Friday after hours.

• Saturday, May 14; John writes:

Friday comes and goes, no ice cream stand in sight. Not one on Saturday or Sunday either. A stack of beer cans has been deposited by Jeff in a cooler out behind the building however. Not well hidden, mind you, in plain view where a customer could pop up the lid and view the remaining coors light cans. They decided they wanted to work the weekend shift, so I only came over for an hour or so those two days and after closing Sunday evening.

• Sunday, May 15; John writes:

Sunday Evening. Since we owed ALA TAX about 500.00 and had orders on the way, we did not write checks to ourselves this evening. This week had not been as busy as Mother's Day week. Cheryl remarked the low stock, so I prepared orders for Monday at home that evening. Cheryl was in a good mood while we went over sales slips, the baby playing on the countertop. There was also only about 800 in checking with about 6 or 7 hundred dollars in the drawer.

• Monday, May 16; John writes:

Cheryl comes in at noon telling me we are understocked. I place the orders I had prepared the previous evening. Jeff comes in at about three complaining that we are overstocked, and I call back and reduce the orders while he is sprawled out on the potting soil bags. He is doing the beer in a styrofoam and cigarette thumping thing again today, complaining about how his head feels like it is about to bust.

I ask what happened with the ice cream stand, he just looks at me like I am some sort of idiot. He spends most of the day on the bags of soil with his sunglasses on (doing his Corey Hart impersonation) blowing smoke and thumping butts out the door. I made the grave error of cleaning up some of the King's butts which seemed to set him further into his attitude problem. I had to go over and let the lawnmower man in and out of the fence so Kristy worked for about an hour and a half. By closing time Jeff was fully loaded.

• In another telling of the same day, John writes:

Jeff came in that Monday, loading up on Coors Lite, attitude problem painted on and sunglasses in place, piled up on the bags of potting soil (doing the Corey Hart thing), glaring from side to side, blowing smoke, thumping cigarette butts, and complaining about how his head felt like ti was going to bust.

He wanted "some kinda check," and I explained to him that there was only about 800 in checking, Ala tax was due, and orders were coming in. Also the week after Mother's Day had not sold nearly as much as the previous week.

I thought he had cooled off, but by closing time, he had an audience on the porch and made a big deal out of telling me that "I hope you ain't gonna try to slip outta here tonight without leaving me some kinda check." He followed me to the truck like some school bully after a kid's lunch money and proceeded to tell me loudly (in order to impress his audience) about how this place was "stressing" him, how it wouldn't be worth it if it was making a thousand dollars a day, and he was ready to close it tonight, and was he and Cheryl were going to dictate to me what was to be done about my investment.

I went straight to City Hall and told Cheryl that I was being kicked out, I wanted my thousand dollars back, and I wanted Boozer Downs as a witness.

After meeting, all three of us met in the garden center office, but Jeff wanted to go out on the porch so he could put on a big show and impress the Kornegays. It worked. Their light went on before Jeff finished screaming, hollering, turning red, spittle flying, beer can jiggling in right hand... a perfect Jerry Springer Moment.

• Boozer Downs says that Jeff was pacing angrily around John while John called out latin plant names, to taunt him; John writes:

Boozer and I left.

• Tuesday, May 17; John writes:

I asked Billie Hudson to perform a bank scan, and asked Bob and Jackie Neff to help me clean out. Cheryl came over at lunch apologetically, and by afternoon Jeff's sister Shelly and a friend came by with a video camera to cause trouble. Jackie called the cops. Before Cheryl got there Jim Normal had driven by twice, Billie Daily had drove up and rocked on the porch, Anne Kornegay's driveway was as busy as a Wal Mart parking lot the day before Christmas, even her sister from Tuscaloosa had driven up to set in the swing and watch the festivities.

Cheryl had told me that we have until tomorrow (Wednesday) to get everything out, but by (Tuesday) afternoon, had changed her mind because "Jeff was acting crazy and she didn't know what he might do next."

• Wednesday, May 18; John writes:

By [this] morning, Cheryl wanted 250.00 which I left with Donna Brothers. When Cheryl picked up the last dollar she was obviously ever going to get out of me, her attitude assumed that of Jeff's. She began moaning, and complaining about how was a pansy, pussy, pantywaist, etc. and having a fit over me actually getting everything out.

Meanwhile, merchandise began to disappear from the premises. Cheryl told me that they had given a pallet away to one of their friends (Mark Gilbert), and the rest must have been stolen. A police report was filed.

• Thursday-Saturday, May 19-21; John writes:

I was continuously put off until Saturday about picking up the rest of my stuff. I counted bags, and it turns out the bag count was accurate. They had hidden the remainder of palletized stock behind their house. This was the most effort they had put forth in weeks. Cheryl acted surprised that the only pallet missing was the one given away. The police report filed shows the material recovered on Friday, May 20th, but it was not discovered "not missing" until Saturday, May 21.

I never received the rest of my merchandise because Cheryl said that I didn't know what it was like to have to go home and live with and listen to Jeff. So I got out quietly. She promised to mail all of my paperwork to me, but April 15th of [the following] year came and went without a sign of it.

I have had no communication with Cheryl since that Saturday morning. [May 21]. They attempted to re-open the next season, and presumably sold the merchandise. Currently the premises are for sale still bearing the material I bought and paid for and is still on site.

• June 7: Cheryl's 33rd Birthday

End of 2005

• August:

• Cheryl and Jeff's 2nd Anniversary.

• Cheryl is 33. She stops working as Town Clerk at some point in 2005.

• John shows up at a Town Hall meeting and announces, "The Town Clerk owes me 10,000 dollars."

• October 3:

• Tyler's father, Rodney is arrested and convicted (same day) for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

• November:

• Mary Grace's 79th birthday

• Approximate: Reta says that John must have boarded up Mary Grace's bedroom sometime in 2005, since Mary Grace thought she was 78 when John died.

• December:

• "Brokeback Mountain" is in theaters.

• Tyler and his brother and sister and mother move in with Miss Hicks.

• James Howard Kunstler's book, The Long Emergency is published. John became a fan of the book, of Kunstler, and of the concept of "Peak Oil." John and Kunstler began communicating directly in 2009 or 2010.

• The web site peakoil.com is created

2006

• Approx: Cheryl's brother Johnny built the doggy mansion.

• Dog House in 2017

• Cheryl next to dog house in May of 2017

• Cahawba Christian Academy Board of Directors votes to join the Alabama Independent School Association

• Olin sees "Brokeback Mountain" almost every day. He purchases a giant TV, and asks the local movie theatre to host a screening.

• Olin tells John about the movie, and John discounts Olin's feelings.

• John's become close with a guy from town. The guy has some college, and goals. John is head over heels. John tells the guy he loves him, and the guy never calls back.

• John has been distant from Olin. John connects with Olin and cries on the phone about the man he's in love with.

• John told Olin he was desperate to have a one on one love relationship.

• March 15: John’s 40th Birthday

• Tyler is 14 years old

• Michael Fuller is 35

• Rodney is 36 (incarcerated)

• Olin sends John a copy of the Brokeback Mountain short story. John cried when he read it. John occasionally re-reads the story.

• John would intimate that he wanted a closer relationship with Olin, but nothing ever came of it.

• Approximate: Faye Gamble starts working as town clerk (ten years before John's death), and meets John.

• Faye in a 2017 Photo

• John came into her office one day and introduced himself by saying, "I guess you know who I am."

• April: John still hasn't spoken to Cheryl. It's been a year. And John's things are still at the Garden Center. Per the small claims suit, Jeff and Cheryl opened the garden center in April/May of 2006, and sold his merchandise.

• June 7: Cheryl's 34th Birthday

• August, 2006: Cheryl and Jeff's 3rd Anniversary.

• November: Mary Grace's 80th birthday

• December 12, 2006: John files a small claims suit against Cheryl and Jeff for $2,792.00.

2007

• Cahawba Christian Academy Board of Directors votes to hire Dr. Steve Morgan as Principal.

• Approximate year that Mary Grace is diagnosed with dementia

• John makes a random comment about living with Olin.

• John asks Olin if he's still looking for a partner. Olin says he's no longer looking. But the two do not become a couple.

• February 2: John requests an extension on on his small claims suit against Jeff and Cheryl Dodson

• Bibb County Courthouse

• March 15: John’s 41st Birthday

• Tyler is 15 years old

• Michael Fuller is 36

• Rodney is 37 (incarcerated)

• April/Approximate: Cheryl is ordered to pay John $100.00 a month per the outcome of the small claims suit.

• Cheryl Acker Dodson's brother passes away. (Cheryl is 35)

• Cheryl calls John to let him know she will be missing a payment.

• Cheryl says John B was broken hearted about Cheryl's brother, and loved him, as did everyone in the town. Kendall Burt pays for Cheryl's brother's funeral.

• June 7: Cheryl's 35th Birthday

• August, 2007: Cheryl and Jeff's 4th Anniversary.

• November: Mary Grace's 81st birthday

2008

• March 15: John’s 42nd Birthday

• Tyler is 16 years old

• Michael Fuller is 37

• Rodney is 38 (incarcerated)

• At some point during 2008, Jeff Dodson helps John get the internet at the McLemore house.

• Cheryl says she would run into John and he'd want to be friendly and have her come to the house, and she said that since he sued her, she never felt like they could be friends again.

• John is known to have told his friends that he suspected he was suffering from mercury poisoning.

• April 6: Photos of the property shared by Reta

• April 6: More photos of the property as shared by Reta.

• June 7: Cheryl's 36th Birthday

• August, 2008: Cheryl and Jeff's 5th Anniversary.

• November: Mary Grace's 82nd birthday

• December 27: Tyler’s daughter born

2009

• March 15: John’s 43rd Birthday

• Tyler is 17 years old

• Michael Fuller is 38

• Rodney is 39 (incarcerated)

• Approximate: John conceives of the maze, and starts clearing the land for the maze.

• June 7: Cheryl's 37th Birthday

• August: Cheryl and Jeff's 6th Anniversary.

• October 26: Planting the maze - Photo Credit: Reta

• November: Mary Grace's 83rd birthday

2010

• Cahawba Christian Academy Board of Directors votes to hire Ms. Shelley Jones as Principal.

• March 15: John’s 44th Birthday

• Tyler is 18 years old

• Michael Fuller is 39

• Rodney is 40 (incarcerated)

• April 8: Former Woodstock Town Council member Daphne Miller Brooks is sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling almost 2 million dollars from her employer. Daphne was interviewed extensively for S-Town, but most of the interviews weren't used.

• Approximate: John sends an email to James Howard Kustler and they begin communicating first via email, then via phone. Per Kunstler:

I heard from John B McLemore of Woodstock, Alabama for the first time somewhere around 2010, maybe, something like that, or 2009. He sent me e-mails, and they were interesting e-mails. You know, they were obviously from somebody who was a fairly erudite person who was interested in the things I’d been writing about in The Long Emergency. We had this correspondence and then he started calling me.

He was a particularly interesting guy. First of all he had this very flamboyant mode of presentation. You know, he was like a character out of Tennessee Williams meets Bizarro World. You know, he was flamboyantly Southern and he sort of played up on it. And I enjoyed talking to him.

...We would mostly talk at first about world issues and economic issues and markets and commodities and oil and natural gas and, you know, all this stuff that I was writing about. But eventually he started talking to me about the town itself that he was living in and how he called it “Shit Town.” And how everything in it was busted, rusted, shot up, broken, deformed, messed up, ruined. You know, in some way that everything including the human personalities and families and relations in the town were all in some kind of terrible condition. And it all seemed kind of emblematic of the ruined condition of the fly over heartland of America that ended up voting for Trump, right?

• June 7: Cheryl's 38th Birthday

• August: Cheryl and Jeff's 7th Anniversary.

• September: Satellite images. School buses and the 18-wheeler on the McLemore property.

• Approximate: Faye Gamble comes to see the maze, and admires the flowers.

• September 10: Photos of the property later shared by Reta in 2018

• Exact date unknown: The Building Inspector gives John his first computer (?) - according to Faye.

• November: Mary Grace's 84th birthday

2011

• March 15: John’s 45th Birthday

• Tyler is 19 years old

• Michael Fuller is 40

• Rodney is 41 (incarcerated)

• April 18: Tyler’s daughter born

• June 7: Cheryl's 39th Birthday

• July 24: Reta visits John and Mary Grace

• Mary Grace, John, and Reta

• Mary Grace and Reta

• Maze Photo

• August, 2011: Cheryl and Jeff's 8th Anniversary.

• November: Mary Grace's 85th birthday

• Undated: Email from John B. to Kunstler. Apparently, Kunstler thinks we are moving to a salvage economy, but John makes the point that nothing new is salvageable.

2012

• February: John joins Twitter

• March 15: John’s 46th Birthday

• Tyler is 20 years old

• Michael Fuller is 41

• Rodney is 42 (incarcerated)

• John first meets Allen Bearden, and helps him fix an Elliott Grandfather clock. Allen Bearden is at first taken aback by John and his methods. John spends three hours filing/fashioning a custom part for the clock. Later, Allen refers to John as a "master."

• John and Allen have lunch about once a month, and are good friends.

• Approximate: Allen tries to help John by saying he'd take him to the doctor. Allen gets John a book and suggests he try to heal himself holistically. Allen suggests John try growing medicinal plants in his garden might help him.

• John finishes and gifts the sun dial for Thomas Moore:

• Photos: here || here || here || here || here || here

• 2017 Photo of Tom Moore

• 2017 Photo of Tom Moore demonstrating the Sun Dial. Another photo

• May: John's Google profile photos

• June 7: Cheryl's 40th Birthday

• August 4, 4:30AM: Kabrahm and friends are partying in the woods when someone gets stabbed, but no one dies.

• August 7-21: Jake Goodson and friends are working in John's yard. John overhears them talk about how Kabrahm killed somebody, and was bragging about it.

• Jake Goodson about the time that John overhears the murder story

• August: Cheryl and Jeff's 9th Anniversary.

• September 8: Photographs of the Property - later shared by Reta in 2018

• September 8: Same series of photographs of the McLemore property

• November 7: John complains about youtube

• November: Mary Grace's 86th birthday

• November/December: John first emails THIS AMERICAN LIFE with the subject: "John B. McLemore lives in Shit-Town, Alabama.

• Brian notes that Fall and Winter of 2012, is when John first started to lose touch with old friends, and focused on Tyler, Jake, and the kids at the Tattoo Parlor.

2013

• Cahawba Christian Academy Board of Directors votes to hire Rev. Tim Bonds as Principal.

• Tyler and John work on the maze.

• Daily Mail photo of Tyler working on the maze

• Tyler's photos: Here || Here || Here || Here || Here || Here || Here || Here || Tyler's photo of the maze just after planting 1 || Planting 2 || Planting 3

• John starts calling Faye and talking about suicide.

• John calls Faye Gamble. He is depressed and crying and was ashamed. He said he had done something very bad. Finally, John told Faye he got a "horrible tattoo." Faye said he was "so upset," and told him not to do any more.

• Undated photo of John showing off his first tattoo

• Undated Photo of John with snake and Tyler's sister

• February 21: John comments on an internet forum

• March 15: John’s 47th Birthday

• Tyler is 21 years old

• Michael Fuller is 42

• Rodney is 43 years old.

• Bubba said John started getting tattoos at the age of 47

• Friends say that John started drinking heavily around this time.

• June 7: Cheryl's 41st Birthday

• June 16: John tries to upload a picture to his youtube profile

• July:

• July 4: Brian meets his future wife

• July 12: TAL episode "500" is released.

• Victim complaints are lodged against Ervin Heard

• After eight years, Rodney is released from prison.

• August, 2013: Cheryl and Jeff's 10th Anniversary.

• Approximate: Mr. Not-A-Good-Person does yard work on the McLemore property. Over time, John became attached to the man, and didn't want him to leave... Didn't like it when the man had other commitments.

• John B. would later tell Brian that he had a sexual relationship with Mr. Not-A-Good-Person.

• Due to the way Brian ends the podcast, many think that Mr. Not-A-Good-Person is Rodney, Tyler's father.

• After John died, Mr. Not-A-Good-Person told Brian that he started dating a woman, and John started using derogatory language when talking about the woman. The two had a falling out.

• September 14: John complains about Gmail's new compose box

• Fall; John writes:

In the fall of 2013, three spaniel puppies were dumped in my yard. I had them fixed, and they have been with us ever since. That's how you get dogs around here: they just suddenly appear.

• October:

• October 13: John joins Disqus

• Rodney registers as a sex offender.

• Black Sheep Ink moves to Bessemer.

• Whites Only Back room with pool table and stripper pole installed...

• November: Mary Grace's 87th birthday

• December:

• Ervin Heard arrested and fired

• December 12: Brian's TAL Episode "Cars" is available for download.

• December 13: Ervin Heard indicted on 20 charges including custodial sexual misconduct, human trafficking and sexual abuse.

• Olin hangs up on John because he can't take it any more. John emails Olin a rude, angry message. Olin responded and then John replied. Olin replied that he couldn't hear any more about Bibb County. John writes back that he felt judged by Olin and they could never be an item. It's the end of their friendship. They never talked again.

• John emails This American Life

• When John introduces himself to Brian via email he writes: "Me, I am 47, unmarried, sort of ahem, like, ahem. Let's just say, I might be a fan of David Sedaris. Or in other words, I might know who Audrey Lord and Ann Bannon is."

• Late December/Approx: John and Brian talk on the phone for the first time.

Timeline III >>

1840

• House wherein John McLemore and his mother lived is built/constructed.

• Back of the house || Approach from the driveway

Late 1800s

• Bibb County comes into it's own as a thriving coal county.

1889

• October 1: Mary Grace's mother, Daisy, is born. Daisy weighed 2 1/2 pounds.

1899

• Jesse Miller's son Brooks is born.

1890s

• Population is on the rise and citizens start to steal from each other, murder each other, and burn each other's houses down. A newspaper calls the county "Bloody Bibb."

1891

• Jesse Miller (early 40s) has extorted a lot of land for himself, was locked in jail, but escaped. He signed all his land over to his son Brooks (12 years old)

1896

• Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson: "Separate but Equal" - confirmed and legalized racial segregation in schools, and in private and public buildings.

1907

• Tom McLemore's sister, Gertrude, is born.

1921

• Tom McLemore born.

1926

• November 29: Mary Grace Miller born. Mary Grace was an only child and liked it that way. She says she got all the attention and didn’t have to share her toys. She was a daddy’s girl, but she suffered a bone disease called osteomyelitis when she was a child.

Unknown

• Brooks Miller transfers 124 acres of Jesse Miller's land to Mary Grace.

Late 1930s/Early 1940s

• Mary Grace went to elementary school in Woodstock then attended high school at a private school in Birmingham called The Misses Howard’s School for Girls. She would catch the bus at the general store in Woodstock and return home every day. One story she tells is about how other kids would have to stay late because they would not have their lesson books up-to-date, but not her. She will say that Miss Pearl was a hard teacher, and you always wanted to do what she said. She also talks about how Miss Howard wanted to be buried in England and wonders if she was.

• Mary Grace's mother, Daisy, walked her to the store every morning and would be there every evening to walk her home.

• When she rode the bus, neighbors say that Mary Grace would get off the bus and teach his sister piano lessons. Afterwards, they would drive her home.

1944

• Tom McLemore's Cousin Jimmy is born on April 4.

• Approximate: Tom McLemore is a Private first class in the army during WWI, serving in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Luzon.

1951

• Mary Grace says she met Tom McLemore at the Presbyterian Church in Greenpond, where they were later married. The reception was at the home of Reta's Granddaddy Holdsambeck.

1952

• Tom McLemore and Mary Grace Miller are married. Wedding Photo Reta's father was an usher. Reta's aunt was a bridesmaid, and Reta's older sister was a flower girl.

1950s

• Tom and Mary Grace move to Indiana and live there for 12 years.

• Brooks, Daisy, and Tom while Tom and Mary Grace lived in Indiana

• Brooks, Daisy and Mary Grace while Tom and Mary Grace lived in Indiana

• While she was in Indiana, Mary Grace got a bird named “Romeo.” The “Miner” bird was huge, black, and could talk.

• A sign on main street reads: "The Klan People of Bibb County Welcome You."

1954

• Brown v Board of Education

1955

• December 1: Rosa Parks sits in the Blacks Only section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. When the bus fills with white people, she is told to move farther back, and give up her seat in the Blacks Only section. She refuses.

1956

• March 12: Southern Manifesto

1958

• Mary Grace works as an Assistant Librarian at the Hammond, Indiana Public Library - unconfirmed

• Tom works as an "Iron Buster" at McKee Construction in Hammond, Indiana - unconfirmed.

• Aunt Daisy was diagnosed with breast cancer while Mary Grace lived in Indiana.

1959

• Mary Grace works as an Assistant Librarian at the Hammond, Indiana Public Library - unconfirmed.

• Tom works as an "Iron Buster" at McKee Construction in Hammond, Indiana - unconfirmed.

• KKK sign just outside Bessemer, a few miles from what would ultimately be known as "S-Town"

• Brooks wife Daisy passes away. Daisy was Mary Grace's mother.

1960

• Tom and Mary Grace leave Indiana to move back into the old house with Brooks.

• Brooks bought Mary Grace a new red Thunderbird. Either a 1959, 1960, or 1961. It was still on the property when John passed.

• Mary Grace always wore bright colored clothes, well before they became fashionable. And hats, she loved hats.

1962

• The Brooks Miller (later McLemore) house before updating

• The house is updated. This seems to be the last time it was updated. When John passed away there was no air conditioning and the home was heated by wood stoves.

• Back of the house.

1963

• Brooks Miller passes away. Brooks was Mary Grace's father.

1965

• March 7: Bloody Sunday

• August 6: Voting Rights Act

1966

• Mary Grace is pregnant and prays for a genius.

• March 15: John born

• John is given his paternal grandfather's name as a first name, and his maternal grandfather's name as his middle name.

• Tom McLemore is 45 or 46

• Mary Grace is a librarian now, or has worked as a librarian in the recent past. Where? Birmingham? Bibb County?

• November: Mary Grace's 40th birthday

• Alabama Private School Association formed by a group of eight Segregation Academies

1967

• March 15: John’s First Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 46 or 47

• March: Lee v. Macon

• November: Mary Grace's 41st birthday

• December 4: Lurleen Wallace and Bibb County lose "Wallace v. United States"

• Years later, Bibb County would be the last county in Alabama to comply with the school desegregation order, long after Brown v. Board of Education. Bibb County was under a court order to desegregate until 2007.

1968

• March 15: John’s 2nd Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 47 or 48

• November: Mary Grace's 42nd birthday

1969

• March 15: John’s 3rd Birthday

• John is Pre-School Age.

• Tom McLemore is 48 or 49

• November: Mary Grace's 43rd birthday

1970

• Cahawba Christian Academy is incorporated as a private Christian school in Bibb County, Alabama.

• Member of the Alabama Private School Association. ie: Segregation Academy

• First year of classes were held in Eoline, Alabama for grades 1st through 12th.

• Pre-school was held at the old pastor’s manse of The Brent Presbyterian Church.

• First headmaster was Rev. Aubrey Elam.

• March 15: John’s 4th Birthday

• John is in Kindergarten at Cahawba Christian Academy? In Eoline, Alabama? Or Alpha Christian Academy in West Blocton?

• Kindergarten photo?

• Tom McLemore is 49 or 50

• November: Mary Grace's 44th birthday

• Rodney is born

1971

• Pictures of the house in 1971

• March 15: John’s 5th Birthday

• John is in 1st Grade at Alpha Christian Academy

• 1st Grade Photo?

• Photo of box John made as a small boy.

• Mary Grace says their bird could call John B. and that it sounded just like her. John would come in the house want to know what she wanted, and she would say, “Nothing, it was Romeo that called you.” That would make John so mad.

• Tom McLemore is 50 or 51

• November: Mary Grace's 45th birthday

• Rodney is a year old

• Approximate: Land for Cahawba Christian Academy donated by Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Belcher, Jr.

• Long after Brown v. Board of Education, schools in Bibb County finally start to actually desegregate in 1971 or 1972, due to law suits, and court orders. Centreville High School's first year of desegregation was 1971.

1972

• September: Cahawba Christian Academy moves to present location.

• March 15: John’s 6th Birthday

• John is in 2nd Grade at Alpha Christian Academy. (Noted that John looks to have been one of thousands of children whose parents refused to send them to desegregated schools, and formed "Christian Academies" to circumvent the public school system.)

• Undated Alpha Christian Academy Class Photo

• Tom McLemore is 51 or 52

• Rodney is 2 years old

• June 8: Cheryl is born.

• November: Mary Grace's 46th birthday

1973

• March 15: John’s 7th Birthday

• John is in 3rd Grade at Alpha Christian Academy (feeder school for Cahawba Christian Academy?)

• Tom McLemore is 52 or 53

• Rodney is 3 years old

• May 16: Local news story about "Instant Academies"

• June 8: Cheryl's 1st Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 47th birthday

1974

• March 15: John’s 8th Birthday

• John is in 4th Grade at Alpha Christian Academy (feeder school for Cahawba Christian Academy?)

• Tom McLemore is 53 or 54

• Rodney is 4 years old

• June 8: Cheryl's 2nd Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 48th birthday

1975

• March 15: John’s 9th Birthday

• John is in 5th Grade at Alpha Christian Academy, even though most kids his age would be in fourth grade.

• Tom McLemore is 54 or 55

• Rodney is 5 years old

• June 8: Cheryl's 3rd Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 49th birthday

1976

• March 15: John’s 10th Birthday

• John is in 6th Grade at Alpha Christian Academy

• Undated school photo

• Tom McLemore is 55 or 56

• Rodney is 6 years old

• June 8: Cheryl's 4th Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 50th birthday

• Exact date unknown: Mary Grace goes to a garage and asks if they have any extra motors John can tinker with. John put the motor back together perfectly.

• Approximate: Reta and Charlie get married.

1977

• March 15: John’s 11th Birthday

• John is in 7th Grade at Alpha Christian Academy or Cahaba?

• Tom McLemore is 56 or 57

• Rodney is 7 years old

• June 8: Cheryl's 5th Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 51st birthday

1978

• March 15: John’s 12th Birthday

• John is in 8th Grade at ? Cahawba Christian Academy? - middle school?

• Tom McLemore is 57 or 58

• Rodney is 8 years old

• June 8: Cheryl's 6th Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 52nd birthday

1979

• March 15: John’s 13th Birthday

• John is in 9th Grade at Cahawba Christian Academy?

• Tom McLemore is 58 or 59

• Rodney is 9 years old

• June: John finishes middle school

• June 8: Cheryl's 7th Birthday.

• September: John starts first year of high school at Cahawba Christian Academy. He is 13 years old.

• Mary Grace worked as a librarian at Cahawba Christian Academy. Does anyone know if Mary Grace was the librarian at the school when John attended? How long was she the librarian at the high school?

• Yearbook Photograph of Cahawba Christian Academy

• November: Mary Grace's 53rd birthday

1980

• March 15: John’s 14th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 59 or 60

• Rodney is 10 years old

• June: John finishes first year of High School at Cahawba Christian Academy.

• School picture, exact year unknown.

• June 8: Cheryl's 8th Birthday.

• September: John starts his 2nd year of high school

• November: Mary Grace's 54th birthday

1981

• March 15: John’s 15th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 60 or 61

• Rodney is 11 years old

• June: John finishes 2nd year of High School at Cahawba Christian Academy.

• School Photo

• June 7: Cheryl's 9th Birthday.

• September: John starts his 3rd year of high school

• November: Mary Grace's 55th birthday

• Mary Grace in 1981. She worked as a librarian at Cahawba Christian Academy.

1982

• March 15: John’s 16th Birthday Junior Year Photos

• Tom McLemore is 61 or 62

• Rodney is 12 years old.

• June: John finishes 3rd year of High School at Cahawba Christian Academy.

• John signs Becky's yearbook

• June 7: Cheryl's 10th Birthday.

• September: John starts his senior year of high school

• November: Mary Grace's 56th birthday

1983

• March 15: John’s 17th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 62 or 63

• Rodney is 13 years old

• June: John graduates from Cahawba Christian Academy

• John's Senior Picture

• Yearbook Photo from Senior Year

• John was voted "Most Unpredictable."

• Class Photo: Looks like John was one of 13 students in the senior class.

• June 6: John's applies to join the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors

• June 7: Cheryl's 11th Birthday.

• September: John begins attending: Birmingham Southern College

• John meets Tom Moore who is an associate professor.

• Recent picture of Tom Moore

• John doesn't fit in. He drives back home every night. He wasn't preppy like the other kids.

• John would do things -- like wear a red wig -- to get people to make fun of him so that he could understand why they were making fun. Tom Moore found this John tragic, and would spend hours talking to John, to lift his spirits.

• John promises to make Tom a Sun Dial that he finally finishes in 2012.

• Tom Moore said that John was doing fire gilding at the age of 17.

• November: Mary Grace's 57th birthday

1984

• March 15: John’s 18th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 63 or 64

• Rodney is 14 years old

• June: John finishes first year at College

• June 7: Cheryl's 12th Birthday.

• September: John starts second year of College

• November: Mary Grace's 58th birthday

1985

• March 15: John’s 19th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 64 or 65

• Rodney is 15 years old

• Tom Moore recommended John to a school counselor.

• 1985 Photo of Tom Moore

• John went on medication at some point, but didn't like how it affected his personality. John went off his medications.

• June: John finishes second year at College

• June 7: Cheryl's 13th Birthday.

• September: John starts third year of College

• November: Mary Grace's 59th birthday

• December: Cheryl at Christmas

1986

• After declining enrollment, Cahawba Christian Academy closes grades 1-12 in 1986 and kept the pre-school open.

• The pre-school was operated by Mrs. Mary Lynn Davis.

• The building was rented to the Bibb County School System as an elementary school for two years while the Brent Elementary School building was being renovated.

• Approximate: Reta and Charles move to Florida

• March 15: John’s 20th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 65 or 66

• Rodney is 16 years old

• June: John finishes third year at College. Last year.

• John got a D in Chemistry but was brilliant about electroplating, and devised a technique for gold plating utilizing potassium cyanide.

• During a final exam, John walks out on school, and never comes back. Brian says that John just said, "Fuck it." John's explanation is that "He lives life on a Grand Scale."

• June 7: Cheryl's 14th Birthday.

• September: John does not attend a fourth year of college

• November: Mary Grace's 60th birthday

1987

• March 15: John’s 21st Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 66 or 67

• Rodney is 17 years old

• June 7: Cheryl's 15th Birthday. Cheryl attends high school with Tyler's mom, Maya

• Approximate: Road crews are working outside the McLemore property.

• John takes water to them, and meets his first love, William.

• William (a tattoo'd road worker) helps John come out of the closet/isolation.

• John would help William with official paperwork

• November: Mary Grace's 61st birthday

1988

• The money received from renting Cahawba Christian Academy school buildings was used to reopen pre-school through 6th grade at the old Southern Methodist Church building with Ms. Becky Davis as principal.

• March 15, 1988: John’s 22nd Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 67 or 68

• Rodney is 18 years old.

• June 7: Cheryl's 16th Birthday. Cheryl attends high school with Tyler's mom, Maya

• John and William are in the first year of their sexual relationship

• November: Mary Grace's 62nd birthday

1989

• Cahawba Christian Academy returns to its present location and begins rebuilding enrollment.

• March 15: John’s 23rd Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 68 or 69

• Rodney is 19 years old.

• June 7: Cheryl's 17th Birthday. Graduates High School?

• John and William are in the second year of a sexual relationship. (The relationship ends after two years.)

• November: Mary Grace's 63rd birthday

1990

• Cahawba Christian Academy continues to renovate the building; and joins the Alabama Christian Education Association.

• The Rev. Elam returned as headmaster until Ms. Diane Thompson was named Principal.

• The school added a daycare facility by donation of S.E. Belcher, Jr. family.

• With this expansion the school provided daycare through 12th grade.

• March 15: John’s 24th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 69 or 70

• Rodney is 20 years old.

• June 7: Cheryl's 18th Birthday. Graduates high school.

• November: Mary Grace's 64th birthday

1991

• March 15: John’s 25th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 70 or 71

• Rodney is 21 years old.

• Tyler born

• June 7: Cheryl's 19th Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 65th birthday

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden

• John's business card

1992

• March 15: John’s 26th Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 21

• Rodney is 22

• Tom McLemore is 71 or 72

• Tyler not yet a year old.

• June 7: Cheryl's 20th Birthday.

• Jeff says he first saw Cheryl in 1992.

• Jeff was fighting and winning “Toughman” competitions, local amateur boxing events won by process of elimination. Cheryl's cousin Buddy was the “Road Warrior.” Jeff was the “Gentleman.”

• Jeff at one of the competitions

• Cheryl says they didn't start dating until 10 plus years later.

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden. John's business card

• In John's earlier years, he traveled to London, and visited with other Horologists. He wrote about and consulted on Horology.

• John made over 150k per year, in the nineties, according to Allen Bearden.

• Approximate: John meets Michael Fuller, who is making a habit of hanging out at Senior Frog's and Quest, and going to jail.

• November: Mary Grace's 66th birthday

1993

• During one meth'd out night in 1993, Tyler's Uncle Jimmy, was beating on the door of someone's trailer and got shot in his head. It was too risky to take the bullet out. Uncle Jimmy is Tyler and Jake's mother's brother.

• March 15: John’s 27th Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 22

• Rodney is 23

• Tom McLemore is 72 or 73

• Tyler is a year old

• June 7: Cheryl's 21st Birthday.

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden;

• John made about 150k per year.

• John's business card

• People would travel down in their cars from the Eastern Seaboard to get their Bracket Clocks fixed.

• Exterior of John's Shop. Photo taken in 2017.

• John is known for doing a dangerous mercury burning procedure called fire gilding.

• John's shop in 2017, a year after his death

• Another angle of John's shop

• Approximate: Michael Fuller is hanging out at John's as a place of safety. Michael Fuller was an exotic dancer. John would be up in the middle of the night, after working on clocks. Michael would hang out there, even hiding from the cops.

• November: Mary Grace's 67th birthday

1994

• March 15: John’s 28th Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 23

• Rodney is 24

• Tom McLemore is 73 or 74

• Tyler is 2 years old

• June 7: Cheryl's 22nd Birthday.

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden; John made about 150k per year. John's business card

• Approximate: Michael Fuller can stay at John's as long as he wanted. Michael Fuller finally goes home to his family and rehab, and gets sober. Michael Fuller says John helped a lot.

• November: Mary Grace's 68th birthday

1995

• March 15: John’s 29th Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 24

• Rodney is 25

• Tom McLemore is 74 or 75

• Tyler is 3 years old

• June 7: Cheryl's 23rd Birthday.

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden; John made about 150k per year. John's business card

• November: Mary Grace's 69th birthday

• People who knew John well, say that he was "quite racist" when he was younger, and not as much so as he got older. This despite Brian hearing John use racial epithets during visits and phone conversations.

1996

• March 15: John’s 30th Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 25

• Rodney is 26

• Tom McLemore is 75 or 76

• Tyler is 4 years old

• June 7: Cheryl's 24th Birthday.

• November: Mary Grace's 70th birthday

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden; John made about 150k per year. John's business card

• Woodstock incorporated as a municipality called North Bibb 1996.

1997

• John's Aunt Gertrude (Tom's sister) passes away. On the last day of his life, John and Tyler drove by Aunt Gertrude's house and John said how much he missed her.

• March 15: John’s 31st Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 26

• Rodney is 27

• Tom McLemore is 76 or 77

• Tyler is 5 years old

• Bubba says that when Tyler was five and six years old, he would have to miss school, and go to the job site with his Dad to lay bricks.

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden; John made about 150k per year. John's business card

• Cheryl Acker (later Dodson) is town clerk. Cheryl said she met John in 1997 or 1998.

• June 7: Cheryl's 25th Birthday. This is her first of eight years as Town Clerk

• November: Mary Grace's 71st birthday

1998

• February: Mary Grace at Reta's sister's 50th birthday party

• March 15: John’s 32nd Birthday

• Michael Fuller is 27

• Rodney is 28

• Tom McLemore is 77 or 78

• Tyler is 6 years old

• Bubba says that when Tyler was five and six years old, he would have to miss school, and go to the job site with his Dad to lay bricks.

• Horology experiences a "Hey Day" according to Allen Bearden; John made about 150k per year. John's business card

• Cheryl:

• June 7: Cheryl's 26th Birthday.

• This is her second of eight years as town clerk.

• John would help Cheryl stuff envelopes for parade notices.

• John helped Cheryl plan the Christmas parade, and Open House.

• John and his mother were always around, hanging out at Town Hall.

• Mary Grace had a Pippy Longstocking vibe about her. She would wear a red skirt, green sweater, and purple hat, and socks that clashed with her shoes -- and the kind of bright red hair you get in a bottle.

• Mary Grace would want to know about scandals, and John would tease Cheryl telling her that she was the scandal. (Cheryl was getting a divorce.)

• John would help Cheryl with her job of annexing property into the town. John would drive with Cheryl to Centreville to the probate court. John would help deal with records of the court. He wasn't getting paid, but he would help Cheryl work.

• John and his mother attended Town Council meeting regularly, and annexed their land into the town limits.

• Cheryl says these years were some of the best years of John's life.

• Cheryl says that as a divorced, single mom, she now feels like she was one of John's projects.

• Cheryl says that she mentioned she liked The Goo-Goo Dolls and John bought her their CDs and made her CDs, too. He left one of his own raps on one of the CDs.

• Undated photo of John with children's toys

• Daphne Brooks called John "idealistic." [Daphne Brooks is the woman who went to prison for embezzlement who spent hours talking to Brian. Brian originally thought Daphne might be her own chapter.] Daphne says: These were good times for John. He never complained.

• November: Mary Grace's 72nd birthday

1999

• January: John advertises his services in the January/February edition of the NAWCC Mart & Highlights.

• March 15: John’s 33rd Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 78 or 79

• Rodney is 29

• Tyler is 7 years old

• Michael Fuller is 28

• Cheryl:

• June 7: Cheryl's 27th Birthday.

• Cheryl says these years were some of the best years of John's life.

• This is her third of eight years as town clerk.

• Cheryl says John continued to be engaged with building the town.

• Cheryl says that as a divorced, single mom, she now feels like she was one of John's projects, and they were very close friends.

• November: Mary Grace's 73rd birthday

• Reta and Charlie retire.

2000

• March 15: John’s 34th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 79 or 80

• Rodney is 30

• Tyler is 8 years old

• Michael Fuller is 29

• Cheryl:

• June 7: Cheryl's 28th Birthday.

• Cheryl says these years were some of the best years of John's life.

• This is her fourth of eight years as town clerk.

• Cheryl says John continued to be engaged with building the town.

• Cheryl says that as a divorced, single mom, she now feels like she was one of John's projects, and they were very close friends.

• Town of North Bibb name changed to Woodstock in 2000.

• November: Mary Grace's 74th birthday

2001

• March 15: John’s 35th Birthday

• Tom Mclemore is 80 or 81

• Rodney is 31

• Tyler is 9 years old

• Michael Fuller is 30

• John and Cheryl are still very close friends. This is Cheryl's fifth of eight years as Town Clerk.

• Cheryl says that as a divorced, single mom, she now feels like she was one of John's projects, and they were very close friends.

• Cheryl says John continued to be engaged with building the town.

• May 17:

• John sends Cheryl flowers: "You so good, my leg's so tired."

• Cheryl's wedding day. Husband: Wade. Second marriage.

• Cheryl realized John liked her.

• June 7: Cheryl's 29th Birthday.

• June 28: Woodstock police chief resigns

• November: Mary Grace's 75th birthday

2002

• March 15: John’s 36th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 81 or 82

• Tyler is 10 years old

• Michael Fuller is 31

• Rodney is 32

• Cheryl:

• June 7: Cheryl's 30th Birthday. This is her sixth of eight years as town clerk.

• John and Cheryl are still very close friends.

• Cheryl says that as a divorced, single mom, she now feels like she was one of John's projects, and they were very close friends.

• Approximate: Jeff Dodson moves to Woodstock

• Jeff Dodson in a 2017 Photo

• November: Mary Grace's 76th birthday

• Approximate (any time in a ten year window): John tries to tell Mary Grace that he is gay, but she leaves the room. They never talk about it again.

• Two of John's friends describe watching him perform fire gilding. They said he did it dozens of times a year ie: at least twice a month.

• John's shop in 2017, a year after his death

• Exterior of John's Shop. Photo taken in 2017.

2003

• March 15: John’s 37th Birthday

• Tom McLemore is 82 or 83

• Tyler is 11 years old

• Michael Fuller is 32

• Rodney is 33

• John makes a "mix-tape" CD for a friend. Link to songs on CDs

• Approximate: John tries meeting men through a phone service called "Megaphone." It's a singles line for men.

• John and Olin Long each joined Megaphone with the purpose of finding someone to date.

• John pings Olin and Olin responds. Olin Long lives in Birmingham.

• John and Olin talk on the phone for the next 15 months, usually just after Olin's night shift, when would be finishing up in the Clock Shop.

• John meets a gross man from "Megaphone" at the Church of Christ parking lot. The guy shoves his tongue down John's throat. John leaves and goes home to take a bath and wash his mouth out.

• John meets a man from Megaphone who comes to the house. The man gropes John, masturbates into the garden, and leaves.

• May: Cheryl says that her son and Jeff's son became friendly, and she started dating Jeff soon after. She says they were married three months later.

• June 7: Cheryl's 31st Birthday

• August: Cheryl and Jeff Dodson get married.

• This is the third marriage for Cheryl and the third marriage for Jeff.

• Cheryl and Jeff purchase their home from John and Mary Grace's cousins: Reta and Charlie Lawrence.

• This is Cheryl's seventh of eight years as Town Clerk.

• November: John's father falls in the driveway and is taken to the hospital.

• November: Cheryl's dog has puppies. The mother is subsequently hit by a car. John and his mother take in all the puppies. John wrote:

November of 2003, I was presented with a box of ten newborn puppies whose mother had been killed by a car.

• November 29 or 30: Mary Grace's 77th birthday

• November 30: John's father passes away from injuries sustained when he fell in the driveway. John's father was 82 or 83 when he died. John wrote:

My father died on Nov 30, 2003. We went to the hospital, and dealt with the puppies when we came home. We planned the funeral and buried my father between trips back and forth between the hospital and the house to tend to the puppies. We mourned death and raised new life. Tombstone

• December; John writes:

My mother and I spent the winter cleaning up shit and piss twice daily, mopping the floors with bleach and hydrogen peroxide, and laying out mountains of paper and plastic sheeting while we raised them. Somehow, all of them [puppies] survived.

2004

• John has started to shutter his clock restoration business.

• March 15: John’s 38th Birthday

• Tyler is 12 years old

• Michael Fuller is 33

• Rodney is 34

• March 22: Cheryl and Jeff's daughter born. This is Cheryl's last year as Town Clerk.

• John and Mary Grace send gifts and attend baby shower?

• New Town Hall for Woodstock is completed

• Approximate: John sends Olin a picture of himself; John and Olin Long finally meet in person. They develop a close friendship.

• Cheryl and Jeff and John are very close friends and John spends a lot of time at their house, and is close to their kids.

• June 7: Cheryl's 32nd Birthday

• August: Cheryl and Jeff's 1st Anniversary.

• November: Mary Grace's 78th birthday

• After Christmas; John writes:

"I reach agreement with Cheryl about opening garden center after several previous conversations with her about it. Cheryl and Jeff wanted a 3-way partnership with the profits going 33% each way after the original investment had been recovered. Beyond that I was to receive $1,000/month for running it. It was my expectation that all 3 of us would, of course, have about 33% money wise invested."

January, 2005

• January 5; John writes:

"Cheryl had bought the building from Johnnie Faye Champion for $3,000.00 and still owed Johnnie Faye $1,000.00. She did not feel right asking Johnnie Faye questions about where to get the best plants and other business questions until the remainder was paid off. On January 5th I loaned Cheryl Acker $1,000.00 cash in the form of ten one hundred dollar bills counted out in my kitchen over the dishwasher. Her small son was a witness, and my mother was sitting out in the hall. Exhibit 1 shows the source of the money: A private investment account. This loan was accompanied by sweet promises to pay back as soon as Jeff received his Income Tax Refund. This sweet promise would fizzle out over the next dozen weeks or so."

• January 11; John writes:

"I tour greenhouses as Plantersville, AL."

• January 12; John writes:

"I meet with Johnnie Faye Champion, she shows me paperwork and Trade "secrets" of previous ownership (Her former husband)."

• January 15; John writes:

"First order of evergreens and shrubs placed and paid for cash with the remainder of the money from the private investment account."

• January 17; John writes:

Tour WO Bearden Nurseries and make contact with other nurseries as advised by Johnnie Faye.

• Mid January; John writes:

I additionally loan/give Cheryl Acker another $100.00 cash to pay Arvell Kornegay for assisting with cleanup. By January and February, we were attempting to cleanup the catastrophe left behind by the former owner, which was about as big a mess as the Chernobyl blast."

• Mid-Late January; John writes:

"Cheryl advises me to open business account with whatever bank."

• January 20; John writes:

Checking account opened at First United with initial deposit of $1,500.00 with $600 cash out used to purchase plants from Debs Nursery. Also to register and attend GSHE.

• January 21; John writes:

Attend GSHE in Mobile. Meet more growers and suppliers. Exhibit 2 shows initial checking account opening, source of money (our investment account) and that it was a DBA account with my name only on this account.

• Late January; John writes:

Open account at Gray Lumber for building materials.

• January 28; John writes:

Another check for $2,000.00 goes into the business with $500.00 cash out. This also used Deb's Nursery for deciduous flowering shrub stock. Exhibit 3

February, 2005

• February 1; John writes:

A monthly distribution check from our account. I contributed it to the business. Exhibit 4

• Early February; John writes:

Buy handy cart from Wal Mart with cash out money, write check to DT Wesley for Plastic Tables (Feb 4), buy second hand shovel, rake, and other miscellaneous garden tools from Glenn Majors (Feb 9). Also write checks to Gray Lumber payment on account. Exhibit 5.

All of us in cleanup phase. Jeff's kids very helpful, too. Still no sign of payback of $1,000.00 loan but still sweet promises.

• February 19: John gets measured on Cheryl Acker Dodson's door.

• February 28: John sells a milling machine out of his shop to help fund the Garden Center ($700.00)

• Late February: John writes:

Much repair completed. Tables built (Gray lumber supplies wood). Besides $100 paid to Arwell, another $100 cash paid to Joe Mize for spraying down and cleaning grounds.

Timeline II >>