| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 271.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 11 Feb 2011.
Have you seen Debo? Black plot missing since December
Debo is a black plot male about 8 years old who disappeared from Del Rio in early Dec. 2010. If you know where he is, contact owner John Turner at 423-487-3529. Turner lives at 1025 Old 15th Road, Del Rio, TN 37727.
Author: David Popiel
Despite colder weather and more snow threats, people were acting more from their hearts and warming up to Valentine's Day in our hometown, where jewelry, candy, and flowers are all high on the "to do" lists.
There are a few more things I wanted to add about our recent conversations with Maurice Moore of Moore Brothers excavation before we talk about a heart-wrenching story of a man and his dog. Maurice has always loved to work and when not working he spent time helping his friend, racer Duayne Hommel. "He was such a personable man. At South Carolina the kids would stick their fingers through the fence to try to touch him. He was a fan-friendly guy," said Maurice. Many times, Jimmy Owens accompanied them with his racecar. Racing provided a fun escape from construction and caused him no regrets. Likewise, the decades in excavation have been relatively safe with no major injuries to him or co-workers. Tim Hux and brother, Jim Hux, help the brothers, Maurice and Dennis Moore, too. A food friend of Dennis's is Jimmy Dellinger, who also has worked with the company. Many of you know his brother, David Dellinger. Jimmy drove a truck in years past for Maurice's uncle, Arthur Smith, who I recalled as a rather famous mountain logger near Del Rio. I got to know him in my quest to acquire wormy chestnut for woodworking. Maurice said that cabinet door's in his Mom's last home were made from wormy chestnut supplied by Smith.
Do you ever feel that something is calling you to a particular place? It's the only reason I could think of why Del Rio seemed to be a destination in early February. It is a community haunted by memories of many folks I've interviewed and photographed over the decades: Messers, Rathbones, Stokelys and more. Dizzy Dean Hill, a bear hunter, was a good friend, too. I bumped into Gary Strange off Highway 107 and we talked about his honey business before returning to Newport. On Monday, John Turner called me to ask for additional help to locate his missing bear dog. Perhaps you saw the classified adv. in the Plain Talk last Sunday with the photo of Debo, who has now been missing since Dec. 3, 2010. Being a dog owner and lover, I decided John needed some more help in getting the word out in hopes of recovering his constant companion and hunting dog these past eight years.
On Tuesday morning the weather was overcast like a veil of white smoke caused by fine snow flurries in the mid 30s, as I drove along the Old Fifteenth Road towards Sand Hill Church. This is the land of Christy and, of course, bear hunters. After about four miles I found Turner's home, a white frame house behind a long hedgerow. This is where Debo, the black plot, and his littermate, Maybelle, have lived since they were pups, following a long lineage of hunting dogs raised by John. First, let me tell you of the incidents leading to the missing dog and then chat about the family, because many of you know various members, as I discovered too.
When hunting season started last Dec. 2, John's son, Josh Daniel, and their friend, Robert James, could not hunt opening day. Because of a spinal condition, John is unable to maintain the pace through the mountains as he did when he was younger. "They love to run," he said of his dogs so he took them by truck to an area he calls Westmare Hollow. If you stand on the 25/70 roadside along the French Broad near the old Riverside truck stop you will be looking at that rugged mountain area, the spelling of which neither of us knew. As soon as the dogs were loosed they got bear scent and ran across Rocky Top. He did not see either of them until later that day. The dogs carry collar identification and they were spotted by bear hunters who apparently returned the dogs to the Sand Hill area. Maybelle came running home to John. Debo never showed up. "They could come home from the Gulf. They know all these mountains." John talked to bear hunters and searched along most roads and did not see a carcass or glimpse of his dog. No one else has come forward and there is no trace so John believes the dog may be in North Carolina where someone might like to use him for breeding. The original litter comes down through a world champion coonhound known as Sizzlin' Heat. Being a redbone hound owner and knowing their disposition to sleeping, I wondered if this were a tongue-in-cheek name. Debo is named after a black plot of same name in an old movie called Fish Hawk. Of the original litter, nine to 10 pups, all have been killed except Debo and Maybelle.
Sand Hill Church is at the fork where left takes you to Ebenezer Church and the main road is right until the Chapel Hollow cuts off high to the right to Christy Mission. It is in these rugged hills at Click Mill along Big Creek that the Turner family lived. Dad was Edward Lee Turner, a farmer, married to Ida Mae Waddell, of Greeneville. She traces back to the Rickers and a full-blooded Cherokee great, great grandma. Edward and Ida Mae's children are Wanda Thomas, the oldest. You remember she ran Wanda's Florist in Newport and married postal worker Bill Thomas. Other sisters are Linda and Ellen Turner, who has worked in real estate sales for as long as I can recall. John's brothers are Edward Jr., Clinton Darrell "Steve," and William Lee. John has always been accustomed to work and hunting. He did construction, including building a cabin for Norman Jones, and labored on offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. John has three children: John, Wendy, of Morristown, and Mandy Turner of Edwina. It seems to me that John has lived and worked to be able to hunt, something his Dad started teaching him when John was seven. By the time he reached 12 he had his own gun and always a dog at his side, whether tracking bear, deer, boar, turkey, fishing, camping or just enjoying the woods and mountains. He was able to keep the family in fresh meat and continued that interest to give away hundreds of pounds of meat to those who needed it, he said. Most of his life he has been a solitary hunter but holds nothing against organized hunts or bear and hunting clubs. "It's always been more challenging to me to hunt alone." It has been his constant therapy whether he ever saw another animal or not.
Inside his home his life is reflected in the many family photos around the livingroom and also walls showing trophy heads, deer antlers, and a large anaconda skin. Yes, his love of hunting has taken him to the Amazon valley in South America. Of the largest bears he has killed weighed about 600 pounds and was taken during a Dec. 2008 hunt in the Stone Mountain area, his favorite hunting area. There is a branch called Gillot in a hollow of the same name that is a haunt of hunters. I'm sure there are more that get away then are killed, and that's a good thing, as I see it. Sometimes the bear wins. In Dec. 2009, Debo chased a ferocious bear that clawed him in the snout ripping off the right side of his face. He still carries a scar under his right eye from that encounter. Veterinarians at Appalachian Hospital took care of Debo who recovered fully but was out all hunting season.
I am sure that every sound outside sends a hope to John that Debo has come home and that every time John looks down the road or drives the mountains he yearns to suddenly come upon his long lost dog. Maybe you know what happened at can contact him----
Just Plain Talk: Have you seen Debo? Black plot missing since December
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, d. 14 Apr 1998, Cocke County, Tennessee