Steve Huff, a professional journalist and prominent true crime blogger or web sleuth, grew up in Nashville and was forever changed by the murder of Marcia Trimble in 1975. The murder happened 30 years ago this past Monday, and many older Nashvillians consider it a terrible milestone in Nashville’s evolution from a small town to a larger, more dangerous city.

Huff’s childhood friend Meredith Harris, who was also Trimble’s best friend, was interviewed by WSMV-TV’s Demetria Kalodimos recently. Huff’s remembrance of the murder and its aftermath are poignant and powerful:

I lived miles away on another side of town, but I can remember Marcia’s face on my parents’ TV in our living room. Maybe not the night she disappeared, but many, many nights afterwards. I can recall riding the bus to school early in the morning and thinking of Marcia Trimble, and how much she looked like any girl I might meet at school on a given day. I didn’t know what it meant to be haunted then, yet for some reason, the little girl from the Woodmont area, a side of town I barely knew anything about, was beginning to haunt me.

We lived in a small house set well back from the road, and there were no streetlights, only a few yardlamps my father had installed. There was a moment every night, near sunset, when light and shadow were balanced and somehow the world was still visible, but veiled. I’d never feared this time before, I’d never really feared the night that followed. After Marcia Trimble vanished, to be found dead a month later, on Easter Sunday, I began to fear the twilight. The night outside the window changed, even at my home, far from Copeland Drive.

I think it was then that I realized the boogeyman was sometimes real, and he could lurk in the thickets and shadows found in even the safest neighborhoods. At 7 I learned that evil was real, and that we might never know its true face, until it was too late.

I’m relieved for the Trimble family (and for Huff) that Trimble’s murder may have finally been solved. It’s also some measure of justice that, in the wake of Trimble’s death, Huff has dedicated himself to seeking justice for the victims of violent crime.

Bill Horner, publisher of the Sanford (N.C.) Herald, was in town with his family last week to visit Preds forward Martin Gelinas (above right, with Horner’s son Zachary). Horner became a rabid hockey fan when the Hartford Whalers relocated to Raleigh as the Carolina Hurricanes in 1998, and he struck up what has become a longstanding friendship with Gelinas:

My love for the game has been enhanced by friendships I’ve forged with two professional hockey players, Martin Gelinas (formerly of the Hurricanes, now with the Nashville Predators) and Serge Payer (a former teammate of Marty’s in Florida, now with the Minnesota Wild). They’re two of the finest people I’ve ever met and I like to think we’d be friends even if we didn’t share so many hockey-related experiences.

Horner and his family attended the Preds’ game against the Vancouver Canucks last Thursday night and were unfortunately witnesses to a serious injury for Gelinas, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament during the contest.

We had a great trip, the only blemish (and it was a major one) being Marty’s torn ACL injury at the beginning of the second period of Thursday’s game (a 3-2 OT loss to Vancouver). In his 19 years in the league, he’s never had an injury this serious, and it happened with our group and six more of Marty’s friends (from Switzerland and Montreal) all in attendance. We were all pretty devastated, but Marty was a great host despite being on crutches the rest of our time there. We went to practice on Friday (the morning an MRI revealed the extent of the knee injury) and Saturday and spent a wonderful evening with the Gelinas family and the Swiss and Canadian friends, plus did some sight-seeing around Nashville.

I’m sad to see Gelinas, a journeyman player who is also a stand-up guy, suffer such a tough injury, but I’m not surprised to see that he was still a gracious host to his guests. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery, hopefully in time for the playoffs, Marty.

Nashville Predator David Legwand, who was arrested earlier this month for driving under the influence, is the subject of a new “song” about the incident at the Way Offside hockey blog.

He was traveling fast on Eighth Avenue South
When a cop pulled him over, looked him in the mouth
Said, boy you doing 50 in a 35 mile zone.

“Well that may be, occifer my friend
‘cause math ain’t my strong point in the end
though $27 mill for six-years adds up fine.”

“An’ it would do you good to try an’ remember
that’s the deal I struck and signed last December
‘cause I’m a big-time hockey playin’ man.”

Docleslie, the blogger behind Way Offside, published an NHL DUI all-star team last fall prior to Legwand’s arrest. In all seriousness, it’s a shame to see Legwand make such a poor decision at a time when the Preds need all the good news they can get. At least he wasn’t cited last summer or fall.