Dalton bombing victim maintains positive outlook

Jim Phillips’ sense of humor has helped buoy the spirits of a North Georgia community still shaken by Friday’s bombing that nearly killed the Dalton attorney.

As Phillips lay badly burned in a hospital emergency room mere hours after the incident, he asked his pastor to deliver a message to Peter Infanger, music director of Dalton First United Methodist Church.

“Better tell Peter I won’t be there to sing in the choir on Sunday,” repeated the Rev. Billy Beard, assistant pastor of the church where Phillips, 79, has been a member more than 40 years.

“He’s a funny guy, and he isn’t letting what happened change his outlook,” Beard said.

Phillips, of Calhoun, was still in critical condition Sunday evening at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta. He will remain there for at least another month, the pastor said.

“We still can’t believe it happened,” said Beard, who addressed the bombing during church services Sunday morning. “God doesn’t cause these things, but He can make something like this work out for the good.”

Meanwhile, the investigation into Friday’s bombing of Phillips’ law office has shifted, Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said Sunday.

“We know pretty much what happened,” Frazier said. Investigators now are working on a timeline and, “if they can, they hope to find out why he did it,” he said.

The perpetrator, Lloyd Cantrell, 78, of Varnell was killed in the blast.

His youngest son, Bruce Cantrell, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday that his father was motivated by revenge for perceived slights by Phillips, a longtime family friend. Cantrell said he had tried unsuccessfully to have his father involuntarily hospitalized.

At a community meeting Sunday afternoon, Dalton city officials offered counseling to residents affected by the bombing.

Also, Dalton Mayor David Pennington offered Phillips’ law firm —- McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle and Fordham —- space in City Hall to use as a temporary office. Frazier said it’s not yet known whether the historic colonial home targeted in Cantrell’s attack can be salvaged.