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- Oxford Eagle, November 9, 1997
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- Sheriff Charles Lamar Dies In Fiery
Crash
Apparent Suicide, Officials Say, Note
Confirms
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- Chase McFadden
- STAFF WRITER
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- At approximately 9:45 p.m. on the evening of
Saturday, November 8, the body of Yoknapatawpha County
Sheriff Charles "Chuck" Lamar was pulled from the burning
wreckage of his car in a cotton field next to Highway 7
South outside Oxford, the result of an apparent suicide
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- Lamar was pronounced dead on arrival at Oxford's
Baptist Memorial Hospital around 10:10 p.m. by Dr. Cooper
Dyson, acting emergency room physician at the time. Death
was attributed to third degree burns to 90% of the
sheriff's body and smoke inhalation, along with other
trauma about the head and neck.
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- A blood alcohol content of .5 was found in the
sheriff's blood stream, plus a small amount of the
prescription drug valium, hospital officials report. This
combination would have caused Lamar to be drowsy behind
the wheel and may have led to the crash, hospital
officials say, but sheriff's deputies think otherwise.
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- An apparent suicide note was found on Lamar's desk in
his North Oxford Hills home. The note reads, in part,
that Lamar believed that he had suffered too much at the
hands of the world and Oxford to continue living as an
honorable man. Officials surmise that Lamar was referring
to his divorce from longtime wife Caroline Blanchard, his
near defeat in the latest election where he won
re-election by 200 votes, and the disappearance and
probable kidnapping of his daughter Macy Lamar, who
vanished from the Oxford Mall after buying a Sheryl Crow
music CD.
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- Blanchard could not be reached for comment.
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- According to Sheriff's Department Public Relations
Officer Elizabeth Jones, Deputy Taylor Sheldon will be
appointed acting sheriff at the next meeting of the board
of supervisors - despite protests from supporters of
Harold Mazza, who won nearly 50 percent of the vote in
his race against Lamar. While Mazza's supporter's say he
should be installed as sheriff, an 1879 law says no
person without prior law enforcement experience may take
over a vacant peace officer's position in time of war,
sickness, or death.
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- Mazza has released a press release stating his regret
about the sheriff's death. He refused to comment on the
appointment.
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- Sheldon, who has been with the department for 15
years, said he was "shocked and aggrieved" by the news of
Lamar's death, but added that he plans to take up the
office if appointed to do so.
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- The sheriff's department will continue to work on the
priorities Lamar had set forth before his death,
according to Sheldon - disciplining scofflaws before they
turn to lives of crime, and cracking down on drugs and
illegal gambling.
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- Lamar's funeral is being handled by Oxford Funeral
Home. Visitation will be from 3 to 6 on Tuesday evening
with burial in the Oxford Cemetery Wednesday afternoon at
1 p.m.
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