# Calvin Howard - Production Acres murdered



## HALLSHAY

Calvin used to be very involved on haytalk and I wondered why we hadn't heard from him in awhile. It turns out that Calvin was murdered this summer by an 83 year old neighbor with a 16 gauge shotgun over an apparent field spraying incident. I found the following posted on agtalk by Calvin's wife Tamara:

I wanted to let you gentlemen know that my husband was murdered by a neighbor on Tuesday morning.
He loved this board and wandered to it thru the day to take his mind of the job of running so large a place.
He loved your feed facilities and your photos and your wisdom.
I would send him a note now and then thru the day that would start....
"if you can quit looking at that dang Ag Talk......" :>

His killer remains in jail on $175,000 conditional bond.They finally released his body to come home
only last night.

you were a big part of his farming day to day,from food and fuel to farm jokes and very recently he felt
compelled to show me pics of hoop buildings and a bull breeding cattle. He just laughed and laughed
at your stories.And I just rolled my eyes at him
And the truck got stuck photos gave him equal entertainment.He thought you the brightest
farmers in our nation.

anyway,sorry to be so late to inform you
all my best wishes to you and thank you for the part you all played in his life
Tamara Howard
Lancing TN

Another article

WARTBURG, Tenn. - An 83-year-old Lancing man accused of shooting a prominent Morgan County farmer to death with a 16-gauge shotgun remained in the Morgan County Jail this afternoon in lieu of $175,000 bond.
Lillard P. Daniel is accused of second-degree murder in the death of Calvin Howard, 38, owner of Production Acres Inc., a Lancing-area company that has a 1,600-acre farm and sells hay to more than 1,000 customers.
Howard's body was found Wednesday morning in a pool of blood on the floor of Daniel's garage of his home on Nashville Highway in Lancing, according to an arrest warrant.
Daniel gave a written statement that Howard had come to his home Wednesday.
According to the warrant, Howard confronted Daniel about a letter Daniel had sent him earlier.
Daniel had indicated he was "unsatisfied" over a field of his that Mr. Howard had sprayed earlier in the year, according to the warrant.
Daniel in his statement to authorities said Howard "began yelling at him and told him to shut up several times," the warrant states.
Daniel said he "told Mr. Howard that he would shut him up," picked up the shotgun that was in the garage and shot Howard.


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## Nitram

My heart goes out to Tamara and all family, friends. It is so sad that such a trivial issue could end someone's life. Martin


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## HALLSHAY

I have been searching a bit and I think this has most of the facts. The one that really gets ya is that he was shot in the back.

Hello Topix and Anonymous users.
My name is Mariella Buddle, I am Calvin's eldest. His step-daughter. He loved me just as much as his own son and daughter.
I will tell everyone all the 'true' facts.
Dad was never a police officer, he went straight to Freed-Hardeman and got his degree in Veterinary Medicine.
I don't know anything about his grandfather, I don't even know his name. I don't think this is relevant to what happened two generations later.
I don't know which 'sister' is on here saying things about the other family. I understand, However, there is not a place for that here.
Dad always carried a small pistol on him when he went out on his land, curiously that morning he did not bring it with him. Hardly that of a 'bully'.
Lillard contacted dad several months back, he wanted his fields to look like nice, like ours and the Branstetter's across the road. Dad agreed and had one of the hired help spray his ground for weeds.
It killed everything on top of the soil, but not the seed. You see, you must plant grain afterwards or else the weeds will still return.
Then it rained, feeding our corn fields and the weed seeds in the dirt. You all know what happened next.
Dad got an email that morning from Mr Daniel. Saying he was very upset about weeds coming back up and that dad had overcharged him for the roundup and called him everything but a good christian man.(when in fact, his fields were so bad that dad actually doubled the amount he put in the mix.)
I know my dad, normally he honestly would have just ignored that email and gone on with his day. But he was in a good mood that day, the sun was shining, our corn was healthy and had enough rain and was in perfect condition (unlike the midwest which had a horrible drought and corn was short) and Production Acres was about to have it's first profit in over 10 years. He would finally be able to take his family on a vacation for the first time in almost 8 years.
Dad got up and put on his hat, got in his beat-up dusty truck and drove it to our neighbors, Mr. Daniels home, to discuss the letter. No check, no one threatening to sue. Just anger and someone trying to resolve it.
The autopsy Dad was shot one time. Square in the back. I am not sure how many of you came to the funeral, Seemed like the whole town. It got so hot in there. My mother paid for it. I picked the casket. A beautiful carved oak.
We buried Daddy on his land, facing the west so he can watch the sunset.
He was so tired of doing hay, his real passion was cattle. He planned on buying several dozen head after this year, he wanted to be more focusing on being a cattleman instead of the hayman.
His favorite quote was by John Wayne.
"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."
As far as the aftermath of it all, the court trial beings in January for 2013, and probably will be dragged out even longer. You believe me that I will be there. My mother has nearly 5 lawyers, she meets with them in their Knoxville offices every few weeks to discuss the case. I do not know if they are planning on taking his land, it's such a shame though.
I am sorry for Lillard and his family. In more ways than one. Peace be with you.


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## mlappin

Not to get off topic here, or maybe it ain't. But a trial?? Really? Howard was shot in the back if all info is correct. Sounds like murder plain and simple.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

My heart goes out to him and his family. Such a tragedy. My God, what is this world coming to and by an 83 year old man?


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## Vol

This just sickens me.....I knew nothing of this....Calvin lived less than 100 miles from me on the beautiful Cumberland Plateau....my sincerest condolences to his family. I know Calvin is in a better place.

Respectfully, Mike


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## slowzuki

Some people are just unstable. We have a neighbour who came screaming at me out of his house claiming he's not a stupid man and he knew what I was trying to do. What I was doing was bushhogging his field for free as I had never got any cattle to turn out on it. He later wrote me a series of letters saying to spite me he was going to let the field grow up in brush and I would never be allowed on it again.


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## somedevildawg

My condolences to the family.....what a shame, think ill borrow that quote from Howard as one of my favs......rest in peace


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## Tamara in TN

Thank you Mr Hall. Calvin thought a lot of you in particular.
The charge was upgraded to a first degree (premeditated/ambush) to more closely resemble the actual happenings that day, only last week and we have a trial date of May 28 2013.We founded the Calvin Howard Agricultural Scholarship on his behalf.It is managed by the East Tennessee Foundation.Four hundred and twenty two people came thru that funeral home that night to tell him goodbye with us.
We miss him every day.
Every.single.day.
Tamara Howard
Production Acres
Lancing TN


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## HALLSHAY

I am so sorry for your loss. I hope that the trial is swift and just because I am sure that it is very painful to relive what happened on a daily basis. If there is anything that I can do to help please do not hesitate to contact me. Please post the scholarship information and an address and maybe we can get some HayTalk members to donate a few bucks.


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## Tamara in TN

you can find a link to the foundation on our home page:
www.productionacres.com
it is an Ag based scholarship for people from Nashville east to the NC line.


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## Tamara in TN

* 
There is far more love in the world than evil,I have felt this Calvin was taken away.More caring and gentleness and goodness and love and goodwill than the evil spirits of this world let us see on a daily basis.*

* The news is not the murders of the day, but the neighbors who bring food to the door in their own tears and the strangers who send notes and the community people who see you doing chores and just stop and ask if they can help.It is the store clerks that hug you and the tractor dealers that send parts and refuse payment.*

* It is the family members that forgets in that split second any petty arguments to do what they can,anyway they can.And that can not have been just for me.*

* It is for all and there when needed.Take hope and courage in that......tamara*


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## JD3430

Tamara,
I dont know you, but I also lost a loved one very recently. He was murdered by a drunk driver.
I found the best therapy was doing what you are doing: Talking about it with others and starting a charity in his name. We started a golf tournament which raises money to put a kid in college who otherwise couldn't afford to go.
In a few years or so, you will have a favorite picture you will see most every day that will make you smile. The holidays are really tough (as you know). They are tough for me.
We drank together, hit on a lot of girls together, played football together in high school. Best man in my wedding. Still miss him to this day. He always accepted me for who I was. He was there when my kids were born. Those are the people you miss the most. I'm sure thats the way Calvin treated you, too.


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## Bob M

Tamara,
It sounds like Calvin was a great man and certainly did not deserve this. Hopefully you and your family can continue to focus on the positive things in this world,as there are many. Not sure what we could do to help you and your family but if you do need anything that we could help with please contact me. Bob Miller and family North East Md.


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## Tamara in TN

"I would like to send our deepest love and appreciation to the men and women of the office of the Ninth Judicial District in Kingston. They have had nothing but love and concern for the children and I and we felt it then and now. Thank you for your work. We do not feel your efforts were in vain.
Please be proud of yourselves.
Well. It would appear that there will never be a trial for the man that murdered my husband.
He has been judged incompetent to stand trial and no form of therapy or medicine will make him competent.
In an odd bit of dark irony, this man who planned, plotted and carried out the execution of my husband is now, rather suddenly, not a threat to himself or others. So while he is too incompetent to stand trial, he is not dangerous enough to commit to a mental hospital where he could be confined properly.
In short, he is free.
And the crime he committed never happened. Let's all pray that he hurts no one else in this very close and loving community."
Tamara Howard.


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## mlappin

What a travesty of justice that is.

Too mentally incompetent to stand trial, but competent enough not to be institutionalized.

Must of took a whole herd of lawyers to come up with that.

Herd of lawyers? Whats the correct term for a group of lawyers? I know a group of baboons is called a congress (fitting right?) but what would a group of leeches be called?


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## Tim/South

No words for how this has played out.

Tamara, you have managed to take a much higher road on this than I could have found possible.


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## RockyHill

Tamara, we just joined Hay Talk this year (even though it has been our 'go to' site for farming info for a long time) and had not seen this thread until today.

You have our deepest sympathy on the loss of your husband and all the legal circumstances that stated mildly, adds insult to injury. Simply cannot comprehend the combination of incompetent and set free.

Prayers for comfort and strength for you and your family, for protection for all that possibly would be in harms way of the murderer, for the ones in the murderer's family that are hurt by his actions. As for the murderer, the legal system has failed but God will deal justly with him.

Jeff & Shelia


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## HALLSHAY

So Sad!


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