Followers

Monday, March 16, 2009

Popcorn Sutton Died Today

I just got word that Popcorn is dead. Information is scant, but apparently, he was out on bail and when he received some kind of legal document instructing him to return to prison, he killed himself. To tell you the truth, this took me completely by surprise. Given the support he was receiving, I thought he was winning. News keeps trickling in. Neal Hutcheson, who knew Popcorn well (Neal made the film, "The Last One"), has just emailed me that Popcorn hooked up a hose to his Jeep and "went for one last ride." He had been scheduled to return to prison this Friday.

5 comments:

  1. So am I Gary! It has just made me sick to my stomach! I don't know why these fool Judges let pedophiles,thiefs and killers go with a slap on the wrist and target a man just doing what his family had been doing for a hundred years that wasn't hurting nobody.I'd like to tell that damn Judge just where to go!I guess Popcorn thought he couldn't make it locked up and unable to see his mountains. Lord, I hate this so bad!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too mourn his loss. but the way I look at it, Popcorn Sutton died a free man, rather than die a slow and lingering death in a lonely prison cell, Popcorn died at at place and time of his own choosing.
    The people of Appalachia have always cherised their freedom and indepenence....and in fact settled in these rough and untamed mountains so that they might live as they chose beyond the reach of the rich and powerful men who wished to control them.
    Popcorn lived and died a free man who would not conform to the narrowness of others.
    While the rich and powerful live in prisons of their own making and wear the chains they have forged in life, Popcorn made his own way in this world and refused to bow down to the mighty and powerful men.
    May we all do likewise.

    ReplyDelete
  3. People who knew Popcorn (I didn't)said that he was
    extremely fatalistic about the future. He has been in ill health for some time. He was only 61, but he looked much older and people who have talked to him recently commented on how frail he appeared. He had told several people that if he was imprisoned for eighteen months, he would not survive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow what a shock! Just hard to believe.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember him saying in Neal's film
    " The Last One" that moonshing would be a thing of the past in 5 years but he would not be around, so it didn't matter. Well, he was right!
    Carol

    ReplyDelete