The horrible death of Bill Sparkman in backwoods Kentucky has brought out the usual collection of vultures, ghouls and opportunists. Even though everyone admits that details remain sketchy and investigating officials are (rightly) keeping some pertinent facts close to the vest, the piling on started almost immediately. We’ve had some of it right here at TMV, but you don’t have to look far to find more… and more… and more who are careful to couch their assertions with “maybes” but still seem ready to declare that this politician or that pundit could be at the root of it. Others from the accused side of the aisle stand equally prepared to fire spitballs back across the wall.

The fact remains that the facts are not known. Was Bill murdered by some politically motivated zealot? Was he killed by paranoid meth cookers or pot growers in a region historically rife with bootleggers? Or did he simply run into a serial killer roaming the back country in search of victims? Again, we don’t know.

What we do know is that an economically struggling cancer survivor left behind two children who will never have their father come home again. We know that a single man, for whatever reason, died a lonely, horrific, gruesome death out in the mountains. No matter what your political preferences, you might want to save the thinly veiled end zone dances and opportunistic attacks until the family can begin pulling itself together and the officials get a bit further in their investigative work.