Lance McKellips

From: Lance McKellips
Hi Jerri, it has been a very long time, and givin the circumstances, I was
reluctant to contact you, but I feel inside that I should reach out to you. I
have only recently started reading the blog on Topix.com. I say
recently meaning
since last December. Prior to that, I didnt know it was there. I am wanting to
appologize for a comment that was made there about your relationship with your
Dad. My sister was a very headstrong woman, and was very much like my
grandmother, in her inability to tactfully say things from time to time. It was
a quality that I both admired, and cringed, in both of them. Debbie and her
Father, had only recently worked through their issues, as they were estranged
for almost all of her life. She was killed Monday in a head on collision, and I
felt a conviction to address the issue of her post. I am very sorry for the
insulting tone that the statement had. Please find it in your heart to consider
forgiving her for that.

I assume, and maybe I should not, that because Gary and I were friends, and are
still to some small degree, that I am someone that you may have
questions for. I
dont remember ever really getting to know much about you back then, and if Im
not mistaken, we actually got to meet either the day of, or the day before the
funeral? Im sorry if I am wrong about that, Gary wanted to go out the night
before, to a bar that I think your Dad had owned at one time?, and we
got pretty
tore up there if I remember right. I had no idea how to handle what
was going on
then, all I knew was that my friend lost his Dad, and all I could do was be
there for him. Gary and I met many years before that, and became what I thought
were good friends really quick. I think then that we were friends, at 15 or so,
if someone else likes the same band as you, youre life long buddies...lol,
anyway, I wanted to share with you my feelings about your Dad. It really doesnt
matter how I felt about Gary and Mike and Jane, because your Dad is who is
relavent in this situation. The first time I met him, I really think I pee'd a
little. He was such a tall, big man. Very powerful in his prescense, and
definately the person who made sure everything was as it was supposed to be. At
the time, they lived on Sam Peck Rd. in those apartments. I think
maybe managing
them?. Anyway, behind my house, was a huge old tree, that produced about a
k-billion twigs of missletoe. Gary and I wanted to, after my Dad had suggested
it to us as a way to pay for something that we wanted, sell that missletoe, so
we would have some money. My parents were very econimically challenged then,
kind of like now, so if I wanted something extra like whatever it was we were
trying to raise money for, then there had to be a creative solution, other than
them giving it to me. I cant ever remember what we were trying to buy, but it
was obviously important. Back to how I met your Dad, we thought that going door
to door at the complex would easily net us what we were looking for, as it was
near christmas, and we were selling missletoe....supply and demand, it couldnt
miss..... Sounds kind of goofy now, but it was the biggest plan ever back then.
ANyway, Dad shot it down, and we made little missletoe bags to take door to
door. We also concluded in our wisdom, that in order to do this, it would help
if I stayed the night over there, so we would have that evening, and the next
day to rake in the cash. So, Gary asked Jane, Jane said ask your Dad when he
gets home. I cant tell you what he did then for a living, because I dont really
know for sure, but I can tell you I remember clearly when he arrived at the
apartment. Dad had brought us over there, and was waiting with me to
make sure I
could stay before he left. Dad smokes, then and now, and was smoking when Jerry
pulled up, but for some reason, (apparently a previous problem I was unaware of
at the time) He thought Gary was smoking.  He was needless to say, very very
upset, but Dad cleared it all up, and I was allowed to stay over. That night I
had a blast. Your Dad was the funnest dude ever, he was tossing us around like
stuffed animals, just doing Dad stuff. He was firm when needed, but I have to
say, that as far as I was concerned, he was alright. But, ya know, I was just
visiting. I cant speak for any other time when I wasnt around. Throughout the
next several months, I was over more and more, and then I got recruited to help
them move into the house out by Pinnacle....I still hate moving by the
way.....but honestly, I was glad to help. This is going to sound awful, but
remember, i was just a young teenage boy....I thought Jane was a looker, so I
had no problem being around to help....your Dad would have squished me like a
bug for that, and I meant no disrespect, just a kid. I went to Wynne
with them a
few times, and really enjoyed being around your Dad. He would tell us
jokes that
he probably shouldnt have, but dang they were funny, I still use one from time
to time. We were at an aunts house one time up there, and Gary and I had been
running the wild streets of Wynne, so when we came in, naturaly, we
smelled like
teenage boys. The aunt had a no shoe rule, so off they came...immediatly
followed by the large hands of Jerry, helping us both find the
bathroom, and the
tub, and the soap...will never forget it, he was laughing like crazy while he
was telling us to go was our stinkin a%& feet, good God how can they get that
bad...and so on, it was really funny. Im not sure how many years went by from
then to when Gary and I kinda started growing apart, probably around the time
our schools were desegregated, late 80's, but we always stayed kind of close,
just because. I had gotten a disc injury in 1991, and was told I was unable to
do the kind of work I had been doing...cars, salvage yards, paint and body type
stuff, so, I decided to go back to school to learn something new. I
signed up to
learn about radio, and found my thing. It was a 2 year course, so, I am fairly
certain I was in school around the time of the murder, but I will contact them
to find out. Actually, I was going to call just last week anyway, to check on
computer classes, but the accident changed the course of my week.

I wanted you to know this about your Dad. I am telling my nephews stories about
their mom right now, because I feel that it is important that they know these
great stories, just as it is important for you. Jerry was no saint,
but he was a
better man than I have ever been, in many ways. I just want you to know thats
how I feel. I respected Mr. Millstein, only met him a time or 2, but have alot
of respect for a man that accomplished what he did in life, but I really liked
Jerry. He and the boys had their relationships, as all parents and children
have, some better than others, but my memories are all fond ones. My time spent
with him was always positive. I cant imagine how difficult it must really be to
lose a parent, not yet anyway, but it is unfortunatly something we
must all have
to experience at some point, but not knowing why must be the worst thing
imaginable. I know it is when it is a sibling lost. I have seen intimately this
week, how grief strikes no 2 people the same way, so today I practice
understanding, when it comes to the grief of another. I can only pretend to
imagine how much you must have been through in all of these long years, with no
real answer. I will never know why Debbie was taken either, but I hope for you,
that you get the answers, so that you may have closure, and live the rest of
your life like he would have wanted you to. Not in term oil over his death, but
celebrating his life, and your love for him. OK OK OK, enough gushy stuff. Im
sorry, I hope I havent upset you. My heart has been speaking for a few
days, and
it just wont shut up.


I dont remember the date that your Dad died, but I will either google it, or if
you will tell me, that would be ok too. But I wanted to look, and see
if maybe I
was working that night. To be perfectly honest with you, it is
embarrassing, but
I cant remember where I was when I found out. But I know I can find
out with the
right information to start with. I was working at a radio station then, and as
young DJ's do, I was dating alot, and I am really trying to remember who I may
have been with, or if I was working that night. I do know that I met
someone not
long after all of this, or maybe right around the time, that I ended up
marrying. We had 2 beautiful girls together, but we didnt survive each other. I
was an ass back then, and she could be a little hard to live with
sometimes, but
all in all, we loved each other, I believe, we just couldnt stay married
anymore. Where Im going with this, is that, I really want to be able
to tell you
where I was and who I was with, not because I feel the need to prove anything,
but because I want you to know that I never ever had any ill will towards your
Dad. I genuinely liked, dare i say loved that man. I really admired him, even
though he and Gary had their problems, and he and Mike did too. Those problems
didnt affect me, and he never treated me poorly over them.


Also, sometime around then, I owned a handgun. It was a lorcin 380, in spite of
what may have been said...that I purchased new, at Ladies and Gents
Pawn shop on
Markham. Im not sure if they are in business anymore or not. Whoever
that was in
that texting message was accurate about 1 thing though. The slide on that cheap
little pistol had cracked while firing once, and was VERY unsafe to shoot. As a
matter of fact, Lorcin wouldnt warrenty it if I remember right, so i had a
useless handgun, that very well could have killed or injured someone who was
firing it.  Sometime in that time frame, Bobby Cox Bail Bonds in little Rock,
had a big gun buy, to get guns off of the street. some anti gang type
thing. For
me, it was an opportunity to do 2 things. destroy a dangerous handgun, and get
10 bucks  I think it was for doing it. only a 90 dollar loss. I came out ok
compare to some of my purchases nowadays...

They were suppose to destroy every weapon they collected, and I never imagined
that they didnt, why would I?, it was a highly promoted event, you would think
was on the up and up. A few years later, and again, I want to find out an exact
time frame at least...I had been contacted by the ATF, or someone who
introduced
himself as such, I never met him, it was all on the phone. It was about that
gun.I forget where it turned up, and details, but it was obviously
registered in
my name, as I had purchased it, so they were contacting the owner, according to
their information. I told him what I had done with that gun, where I had
disposed of it, and I never heard another word. I assume they got it all
resolved. But I do want to try and find out, just so I know for sure if nothing
else.


I have got to try to go to bed. This has been a hard week, and sleep seems hard
to make happen with my mind racing like it has been. Trying to find people from
the past, phone numbers, having to tell her dear friends she is gone, mom, mom
is a basket case, and me, well, for me, 2mrw will be the first alone day for me
since the accident. Not sure how it will be 2mrw, but, if I dont stop
tyoing, it
wont take much longer to find out...

Jerri, Im really sorry that all these years have gone by, and I havent
contacted
you somehow. after this accident, I will leave no one un talked to anymore. You
and I didnt really know each other, and Gary and I didnt speak for many years,
and to be honest, I didnt know that we would ever again.  Matter of
fact, when I
heard about David on the news, Gary and I hadnt talked in 2 or more years.  It
was Davids deal that made me find him and talk to him. I was living in a camper
at my parents place, trying so desperately to re assemble some kind of life
again. The divorce was very hard on my soul, and has made life a difficult
challenge for me, but Im still trying. I have remarried another good woman, who
is so very patient with me, and I am blessed to know her. She may have indeed
saved my life. I really hope you have read this far, and that I am not out of
line for contacting you. My sisters post wasnt right, and I wanted to rectify
that, but also, with all that seems to go on in the family named Parks, I
thought it might be as good a time as any to remove myself from anyone who may
be at odds in this situation. I have been very troubled over how to handle the
Gary thing. If he did anything like that, I cant support it. If he didnt, his
life as he knew it is ruined. I have my own things that to me, are very
important to deal with, and try to correct, so my immediate response was to
remove myself, and just not associate. But that makes me an ass too, because it
was only a few weeks before Gary was picked up, that my wife and I stayed with
Gary overnight, so we wouldnt have to buy 2 nights at the hotel, for a
convention we were attending. The Hilton is kind of nice, but not nice
like they
charge....I want to see him, but Im afraid to do any damage to any progress I
have made in my journey. I know he hasnt always been the friend to me that I
would hoped he would have been, but I still feel loyalty. It has always been a
curse for me actually. I am loyal many times I shouldnt be. I try to
be a friend
I would want in my corner. Sometimes that is very difficult. But I want you to
know this before I shut up...I want your Dads case closed too. I hope it isnt
painful in its outcome, but it definately needs to be solved. For all of you,
and us who were around.