Leander, or Lee, was AB’s oldest. He contracted polio as an adult and had difficulty getting around. If you got in front of him and blocked his view he’d give you a good whack with his cane. The only way he could make a living was by selling moonshine, which he kept hidden in a well on his property.

Everyday he would drive into town, park in front of the post office, and “hold forth.” One day a woman walked by, who was about seven months pregnant. She waggled her finger at him and said, “I know what you been doing, Leander!” He looked at her belly and replied, “I know what you been doin’ too!”

In the middle of prohibition, he put up signs around town announcing a “bring-your-own-booze” barn dance in his barn. One woman in town got upset when she read the signs, confronted a local policeman, and demanded to know what he was going to do about it. The policeman said he was going to go to the dance and have a good time, like everyone else.

One of Leander’s sons was named Chas. He was called Chalk. Chalk was 16 when he decided he wanted to join the military, but the recruiter knew him, told him to forget it and go home because he was too young. Chalk waited until the recruiter went off to lunch. The substitute recruiter didn’t know Chalk and he enlisted.

After the war Chalk got himself a little corner gas station that was a thinly disguised front for selling moonshine. He had the station re-plumbed. One day the police showed up to investigate. Through the window they could see Chalk frantically turning on the pipes to drain the moonshine to the outside of the building. They ran around the side to collect the “evidence” in bottles only to find it was a false pipe. All they collected was dirty dishwater.

Besides being crafty, Chalk had guts. He had a tank installed underneath his car that ran almost the whole length, and put on beefed up shocks, to haul moonshine out of the county. He often practiced driving backwards to escape roadblocks without having to turn around. On one particular straightaway near Black Mountain he saw a roadblock of two police cars up ahead. This time instead of backing up, he floored the gas pedal. The police knew Chalk and got their cars out of the way.