| Sources |
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 11 May 2001.
Marilyn Bernice Price obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 2 Apr 2007.
Carr feels lucky, thankful to God to survive crash
April 02, 2007
Try to imagine this: You and your business partner are riding down Interstate 75, strapped in and heading home to Sevierville in an F-350 pickup, talking about the land you've just seen in Kentucky that might make a great development site.
Then without warning, a vehicle comes hurtling at you. You know you're about to crash, you know it's gonna be bad, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, you can do about it. This could be the end.
That's what happened to Dale Carr and Todd Thompson a week ago when they were driving south on I-75 near London, Ky. The crash killed the elderly couple in the car that hit Thompson's pickup. The Sevierville businessmen escaped with relatively minor injuries - and their lives. Thompson is already back at work at their real estate and auctioneering business. Not Carr. He's laid up at least until Wednesday with a broken arm and a bruised bowel likely caused by the pressure of his seat belt.
"I'm not bedridden, but I'm not able to work," Carr, a member of the Sevierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen, said. "The doctors said to stay calm so I don't rupture my bowel. I'm not supposed to lift anything or drive a car, nothing to exert any force."
When reached at home Thursday he didn't mind reliving the crash that might have killed Thompson and him had the cruise control on Carr's SUV been working.
"We had talked about whether to take the truck or the van, and we had cruise control working on the truck. I love that truck anyway because it's so high. I'm sure the good Lord up above intervened to make us take that truck."
Over and over Carr expressed remorse and sadness for the deaths of the couple driving the car that left the northbound lane, crossed the median - one of the few stretches of I-75 in that area that doesn't have a concrete barrier in the median - and struck the pickup. But he also is so very grateful to be able to talk about it.
"We could see the car coming our way and we knew we were going to get hit," Carr said. "You have a split second to react. I broke my arm so I think I must have thrown my arm up in front of my face. It's like slow motion in a movie to experience this. The seat belt begins to grab you and the air bag comes out."
Carr was awake except for a few minutes after he was placed on a helicopter to be airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. He was in constant and excruciating pain. Thompson, who had cuts and a sprained ankle, was taken to UT in another helicopter. While still trapped in the pickup Carr borrowed Thompson's cell phone and tried unsuccessfully to reach his wife JoAnn, then managed to contact his elderly mother Edna. Thompson reached his wife Janie, who helped spread the word. The Thompsons just adopted a Guatemalan child, so Janie had to make arrangements for her care before heading off to Knoxville to see her husband at the hospital.
The accident happened the night of March 22. Carr remained hospitalized until the evening of March 24. The first few nights after the wreck he kept dreaming about it, waking up from the nightmare. He doesn't do that any more. He also appreciates, understandably, the value of seat belts and air bags. He has high praise for the medics who helped him and Thompson at the scene and in the hospital. And he just knows for sure God was looking out for the two business partners - it wasn't their time.
"I've always believed in a higher power and in the Lord Jesus Christ," Carr said. "I know his hand had to have intervened in this. I feel very sure Todd and I would not have made it if God hadn't felt it wasn't our time to go. He left us here for another purpose."
As JoAnn drove him home from the hospital a week ago Saturday night, he flinched when he came to the first intersection on Chapman Highway. But he's gotten over that too. He has spent time at home fielding calls and answering mail from well-wishers, overwhelmed by the response. And he's itching to get back to work and to BOMA meetings.
"I hope we live up to what people expect us to be," he said, introspective after such an experience. "I'm so thankful to be alive."
- Stan Voit is editor of The Mountain Press. His column appears each Sunday. He can be reached at 428-0748, ext. 217, or e-mail to svoit@themountainpress.com.
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 30 Jun 2007.
Bruce Bennie Carr obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 4 Mar 2011.
Carr gears up for state House run; incumbent Montgomery leans toward campaign; hasn’t made final decision
Dale Carr Richard Montgomery
By DEREK HODGES
and JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE — Alderman and Vice Mayor Dale Carr has announced his intention to run for the Tennessee House of Representatives seat in 2012. It isn’t clear yet if that means he will be running against incumbent Richard Montgomery in the Republican primary.
Carr confirmed his plans this week; he said he announced the decision at a Tea Party meeting.
He said he believes the county may gain a second representative’s seat when districts are redrawn using information from the recent U.S. Census, but if not he will run against Montgomery as a Republican.
“I’m running for state representative next year, whether there are two seats or one,” Carr said.
Carr has been on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for six years; he is midway through his second term. He would not have to run for alderman again until 2013, meaning he does not have to decide whether or not to retain his seat as alderman. The vice mayor is appointed by the board.
He named local Farm Bureau Insurance agent Roger McFalls as his treasurer.
Carr considered running for Montgomery’s seat two years ago. He said this week that he decided to wait after Montgomery indicated he would not run again.
Montgomery, however, said he never promised Carr he wouldn’t run for another term, only saying he indicated he was considering leaving the post.
“I never told him I wasn’t going to run,” Montgomery said. “I told him there was a good possibility I might not.”
However, an April 21, 2009, story in The Mountain Press may call both men’s positions into question. In it, Montgomery said he likely would not seek another term after serving through 2012, though he stops short of committing to stepping down.
For his part, Carr said in 2009 that the two had a “gentlemen’s agreement” that he would not run against Montgomery. Further, the 2009 story quotes him saying he “might consider running in 2012, but that’s only if there’s not someone else more qualified already running.”
He indicated at that time that Montgomery is better-positioned to serve because of his seniority and committee appointments, which take a long time to earn.
Montgomery said he hasn’t made a decision yet.
“Right now I’m planning on running (in 2012). I haven’t decided I’m not going to run,” he said. “Republicans have got some pull down there now which makes a big difference. It means we can have some say in what gets done.”
Montgomery said the committee appointments he has now, including membership on several key groups and the chairmanship of the Education Committee, mean he’s better able to work for Sevier County in Nashville. A freshman representative would take years to move into the same position and would have to build relationships that Montgomery said he already has.
“I’m very happy with representing Sevier County,” he said. “I have tried to do a good job. I feel like I brought back to Sevier County about as much as anybody could have.”
There is some chance the two men might not have to square off at all, with redistricting potentially giving the county the chance to have two resident representatives. However, since both men live in Sevierville, it seems unlikely the lines could be drawn to split the city in a way that would avoid the duel.
Whatever happens, Montgomery says he won’t hold a grudge against Carr if he goes through with his promised challenge.
“He’s my friend now and he’ll be my friend if he runs,” Montgomery said.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 26 Nov 2011.
Carr committed to challenging Montgomery for House next year
by DEREK HODGES
Rep. Richard Montgomery will seek re-election.
Dale Carr, a Sevierville alderman, will run against Montgomery next year
Though the primaries for State House of Representatives races are still months away, they're already shaping up to be a battle between two local political heavyweights, and it appears only some creative district drawing could stop it.
Sevierville Vice Mayor Dale Carr expressed interest in running for the 12th District seat two years ago, but held back to allow State Rep. Richard Montgomery to serve another term. However, it now appears the same courtesy won't be extended this year, with both Republicans saying they're in the race.
The two men say they've weighed their choices to run carefully and each has his own motivations for running. While it's yet more than a month before the filing period even begins, Montgomery and Carr say they're ready.
"I am going to be running for re-election," Montgomery said last week. "I've talked to a lot of people who've supported me and told them I want to run again. I hadn't really been ready to announce that publicly until now. I just don't know if I would be doing Sevier County a good deed to bow out now and bring in somebody new right now."
"I am going to run," Carr vowed last week. "I've made it known I want to run and I'm going to run. I think if I didn't do it now after saying I would and making it known I want to, people would lose some trust in me."
Carr said he told Montgomery two years ago he wouldn't challenge him as a "gentleman's gesture," with what Carr says — and Montgomery denies — was an agreement between the two men. Carr said the two men agreed on two reasons for him not to run in 2010.
First was the weighty tasks set to come before the next General Assembly, with tight budgets and redistricting in the headlights. Montgomery said he felt he would be better suited to handle those matters well for the district because he has connections in Nashville and understands the processes there after having been in the House for nearly a decade and a half. Carr apparently agreed.
The two men differ on whether there was more to the discussion at that time, though. Carr maintains Montgomery told him he would not be running for re-election in 2012. Montgomery says there was never any such promise, though he admits telling Carr he hadn't yet decided if he'd run again.
Now his mind is made up, with Montgomery again citing challenges like the coming budgets and his seniority in Nashville — he is chairman of the House Education Committee and sits on several other powerful boards — in helping him make his decision.
"I believe I still can be of good service to Sevier County and the 12th District," he said.
Carr said he doesn't like the idea of challenging Montgomery, but is ready to do it.
"It's hard for a newcomer to face off against an incumbent," he conceded. "I feel like I need to move and and take on step forward, though. I'm running for the office; I'm not running against Richard, per se. We've agreed we want this to be a friendly race."
That's a sentiment the competitors-to-be share.
"Dale is a great guy and I know in his heart he wants to run and to serve," Montgomery said. "I don't think his running has anything to do with Richard Montgomery. It's about wanting to serve the people of Sevier County as I have been so lucky to do for many years. I think we will have a respectful race."
Of course, the potential remains that any number of other candidates could jump into the race, whether for the August primaries or the November general election.
The only opportunity the two men see to avoid the face-off is redistricting, the process in which House and Senate seat maps will be redrawn to account for population changes. There is a possibility that effort could split the county in such a way that Carr and Montgomery are in different districts, since the area's population is now too high to be represented by just one seat. However, that seems like a long shot since they both have Sevierville addresses.
"Obviously the Legislature hasn't voted on those maps, but I'm hearing they're looking at breaking off portions of Kodak, New Center and Jones Cove to move into another district," Carr said. "Of course, that can all change in a day, but my understanding is that's the proposal, so it wouldn't do us any good in avoiding this."
• dhodges@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 2 Aug 2012.
Carr drives to House District 12 win
by JEFF FARRELL
Alderman Dale Carr survived a late rally to defeat incumbent Rep. Richard Montgomery Thursday in the Republican House District 12 primary by a final tally of 3,535 to 3,457.
Carr started the night with a lead of 61 votes when officials announced the unofficial totals from early voting and absentee ballots. With 11 of 24 precincts reporting in, he ran out to a 111-vote lead. But then the lead started to shrink, and a big push by Montgomery in Seymour — his home — brought the margin to within two votes.
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, d. 30 Jun 2007 (Age 78 years) 
