Tom Klinginsmith's death at age 59 came as quite a shock. When his son, Gregg, was the assistant principal at South Middle School, I asked frequently how his dad was doing. It was still hard for me to believe that Tom was old enough to have a son who was one of my bosses.
My favorite Tom Klinginsmith story comes from the time when he was serving as the city attorney for Jasper. At that time, the city was in much turmoil and Tom had his work cut out for him, since his bosses, the mayor and the city council did not get along with each other (a pattern that has been repeated many times since). On one occasion, after a particularly heated council meeting, the council and mayor went into closed session to discuss personnel, with the city attorney remaining in City Hall with them.
The audience, totaling about 30, walked outside, and stood by the cars talking while the session continued. I noticed that I could hear considerable shouting coming from the room, with Mayor Fred Youngblood being the source of most of it. So I stood as close to the building as I could and realized I could hear every word he was saying, so I took out my ink pen, began writing it down, and used the closed session shouting as the lead in my article in the next day's Carthage Press.
When the next council meeting came, the mayor was still ticked off by my actions and approached me before the session started. "What you did wasn't right," he said. "I could sue you for printing what went on in closed session. That's against the law."
Tom Klinginsmith, who was only a few feet behind us, quickly stepped in, and said, "No, it's not against the law, Fred. You're not going to sue Randy because he didn't do anything wrong, and you need to be quieter when we go into closed session."
Fred Youngblood did no argue with Tom and from that night on, he followed his lawyer's advice. I never did get another good story out of a Jasper City Council closed session.
Tom Klinginsmith was much more than a good lawyer. He was a good family man, and was heavily involved in his community, but his skill at handling the rambunctious Jasper City Council (and mayor) is something I will always remember.
3 comments:
Did the Carthage Press run only a standard obit about Tom Klinginsmith and not a news or feature story? If so, shame, shame on them. What happened to the old tradition of doing a feature obit on prominent citizens who pass away?
Mr. Klinginsmith was more then just an attorney. He was a dear friend. Back in 2005 when I and my two son's walked into his office we thought it was the end of the world. Not only did he take my case, but he gave me back my life. Then later he helped with the adoption of my two son's to my new husband. He called my house a couple of weeks ago and said he would call me after the first of July, well that never happened. The reason for the call has since been resolved due to the dimise of such a good man everyone settled. But I am here to tell you his legacy of wanting a civil war reenactment in the Carthage area needs to be honored. Honored in his memory as he had a dream and it is our job to see it is fulfilled. I know I will do my part. Darlene Wallace author of Disappearing Doors and long life friend of Thomas Klinginsmith. We will forever miss you and never in a million years be able to replace you and when our time comes we will be looking for you by the Pearly Gates. We miss you Mr. Klinginsmith The KAuffmans
I think old tradition is only observed if you have an Editor that gives a rats ass about the job he's doing. Does anybody else ever want to finish his sentence when he starts stuttering? Maybe it's just me.
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