Crossville – A Small Town with Big City Problems

Three years ago, we moved to the outskirts of Crossville, a small town that bridges the gap between central and eastern Tennessee. Crossville has a population of about 12,000 and Cumberland County is a mostly rural county with a total population just over 61,000. While we don’t live within the city limits, we do go into town often.

We were charmed by the old timey downtown main street with little shops and restaurants and the majestic county courthouse right in the middle of everything. We were awed to see a war memorial right across the street from the courthouse with all the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our country.

We found the people to be friendly and helpful. It is normal to tell someone to “Have a blessed day”. There are more churches than Dollar Generals. There is a festival for everything and sometimes just because it’s Friday. Car cruises and parades go right up main street. And there are farmer’s markets and lots of local craft people. Crossville is the Golf Capital of Tennessee, communities built around golf courses. We even have a Jack Nicklaus course just a few miles down the road. There is history, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and parks. Oh yeah, unlike most of Eastern Tennessee, Crossville is sitting on a fairly flat plateau located in the Allegheny Mountain range. There are beautiful mountain views around every bend.

It didn’t take long to realize that just like everywhere else, everything isn’t sunny and rosy all the time. There is a serious drug and alcohol problem here. So much so that there are multiple rehab facilities in the area. This is a small town with limited job opportunities. And there is a significant homeless population as well. The police, sheriffs and even animal control are overwhelmed.

Just like us, many people have relocated here from other parts of the country and many are now retired, which really helps to keep the economy going. It’s a double-edged sword. The outsiders bring money in to spend at local businesses, which the locals like. But they also build more expensive houses, want higher end options like restaurants and shops and build housing plans where once there were only fields. The cost of housing has increased significantly while the availability of affordable housing has decreased significantly.

I’m not sure why, but yesterday everything seemed to be out of control in Crossville. The day began with multiple bomb threats left in the aisles of the Dollar General Marketplace, which is across the street from three schools. The schools went into lockdown to keep the students safe within the school buildings while the police, bomb squads and bomb sniffing dogs meticulously worked to ensure the store was safe and ultimately, no bombs were found.

During the school lockdowns, a student at the high school made serious threats to commit a mass casualty at the school, prompting police to detain the student and remove him from the school. This will obviously not end well for this young person.

And the culmination of a crazy day in town ended in the early evening when a disabled veteran was gunned down in the middle of Main Street between the War Memorial and the Courthouse. The official statement says that he is in critical condition in the hospital while another man is in jail on attempted homicide. Witnesses say that there was an altercation and then the shooter returned to his truck, retrieved his gun and went back and shot the victim at point blank range. The shooter’s wife physically tried to restrain her husband from getting the gun and returning but was unsuccessful in her attempts.

And the really crazy thing is that because this is 2025 and everybody has cell phones and dash cams, people were taking videos as this happened. And right after, they were posting those videos to Facebook. Has society become so cold-hearted that they can’t see that two people’s lives are forever altered because of a stupid argument. And the families of both have to see the videos passed all around. Facebook immediately took the videos down, but people were begging to have the video sent via messenger so they could see it.

Where is the humanity? Where is the compassion? Where does this morbid desire come from to see someone else’s tragedy? When I hear that something like this happened in our small town, I immediately feel sad that it happened, concerned for those involved and pray for the best possible outcome, whatever that may look like.

But here is what I know. People are the same no matter where they live, what their education or occupation is, or how old they are. There is evil all around us which can manifest in many different ways. It is our job to always be alert and always be prepared to take immediate action should something like this happen where we are. And we should always be right with the Lord in case today is the day that we leave our earthly body behind.

Today I pray for those who are personally affected by the events of yesterday. I pray for those who were harmed, those who inflicted harm, those who threatened to inflict harm and those who feel the need to turn everything into an entertainment spectacle. Who do not understand the difference between make believe on TV and movies and the reality of the fragile nature of life. I pray that the Lord will watch over our small town and lay a healing hand on each and every one of us. I pray that lessons are learned and I pray that we can treat each other with a little more kindness. Show a little more grace for one another. Help each other instead of treating life like a spectator sport.