Brother Says Major Bashinsky was Shot in the Head at Golf Course

The older brother of a deceased Alabama lawyer writes on his blog that a private source told him Major Bashinsky was shot in the head next to the golf-course water hazard where his body was found.

Sloan Bashinsky, writing at his blog goodmorningfloridakeys.com, also says Major Bashinsky was bisexual and wonders if that might have played a role in his recent disappearance and death.

Law-enforcement officials in the Birmingham area have not released information about cause of death in the Major Bashinsky case. But Sloan Bashinsky, in a post dated today, writes:

I learned through private sources last night that Major was shot in the head by a pistol, beside the golf course pond. The pistol was found. It appeared Major’s body had not been there long, before it was found.

Sloan Bashinsky is the namesake of the renowned late Alabama businessman who became CEO of Golden Enterprises, maker of Golden Flake potato chips and other snack foods.

While the senior Bashinsky was known for his business acumen, his two sons both went into the law. Major had a solo practice in Birmingham, focusing on wills, estates, trusts, and financial planning. He was reported missing on March 3 after failing to return home from work as usual.

Sloan has written five books about the law, including The High Legal Road: A New Approach to Legal Problems (1990); Kill All the Lawyers: A Client's Guide to Hiring, Firing, Using, and Suing Lawyers (1986); and Home Buyers: Lambs to the Slaughter? (1984).

I've read two of Sloan Bashinsky's books and found them to be well written and exceedingly helpful to the layperson. It appears that Sloan Bashinsky is the rare lawyer who writes and speaks truthfully about his profession. My guess is that several of his books have made him an unpopular figure in the Alabama legal community. That makes me think I would like Sloan Bashinsky a whole lot.

Sloan now lives in Key West, Florida, where he produces a Web site called goodmorningkeywest.com as a companion to his blog, which appears to be updated daily. Both sites make for fascinating reading, even the parts that precede the disappearance and death of Major Bashinsky.

Sloan appears to be a straight shooter about his family's difficulties, and writes that his brother was deeply conflicted on a number of fronts:

In yesterday’s post, I disclosed my deceased brother had been bi-sexual, and he had struggled with that when he lived in Birmingham.

Received this feedback by email from an old Birmingham friend:

Well, if you wanted to further embarrass the B family in the light of everything else going on, you have certainly accomplished it.

My reply back to him:

As long as you have known me, do you really think I want to do something to embarrass the B family?

If I had my way, I wouldn’t even be involved in this.

If law enforcement had talked with me, I may never have been put to write anything about Major. Or at the very least, it might have been written very differently.

Sloan then writes about where his own instincts are taking him regarding Major's death:

About a week ago, I was shown in a dream that Major’s sexual orientation was somehow in play in his disappearance. I learned yesterday through a private source that law enforcement became aware of that early in its investigation. Perhaps that explains why law enforcement has been so tight-lipped. Perhaps that explains why the news reports have said nothing about it. Perhaps it was hoped the keep the whole subject under wraps, to save the Bashinsky family further embarrassment.

I had a dream around 6 a.m. this morning, to the effect that my family, in particular, and Birmingham people, in general, need to rise above their Puritan attitude about people whose sexual orientation is different from what they perceive to be God’s plan. The dream specifically targeted Puritans.

Sloan writes that he was accepting of Major's sexuality:

Major once lived in San Francisco. Later, he lived in Key West. Both cities are well-known to be gay-friendly. Some years ago, the Key West City Commission adopted the gay creed, One Human Family, as the city’s own creed.

That is not, however, why I live in Key West. I am straight. All seven of my wives and several girlfriends, including a Birmingham gay woman, who is like a sister to me today, would all attest to that. As would they attest to my acceptance of men and women with gay or bisexual orientation. It never was a factor for me with Major. And it still isn’t.

Sloan provides insight about the area where Major's body was found:

Highland Avenue, which runs from 5 Points South, where Major’s car was found by his oldest daughter, Sloan (who was named after me), all the way to and down the side of the golf course, is heavily populated with gays. The city park next to Independent Presbyterian Church is widely-known as a pickup station for gays. The pond is about two blocks east of the church.

We all are children of God, every last one of us. None of us are going to hell because of our sexual orientation. None of us. St. Paul proved it.

Sloan Bashinsky writes powerful words about homosexuality and religion:

I want law enforcement to leave no stone unturned. I want law enforcement to get to the rock bottom of what happened to Major. And if God uses Major’s sexual orientation to try to shift Birmingham, and more specifically, Mountain Brook and Major’s relatives and friends out of their Puritan prejudice, then good for God.

Every Christian I know seems to have placed St. Paul on the same pedestal as Jesus, and only a few of them know Paul was homosexual, and that is why he condemned it and preached celibacy.

It was that very perspective that enabled me to convince a number of gay men to attend a very different kind of Sunday school class at Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham, which all of my family attended when I was young. A Sunday school class who accepted those gay men with open arms and love. In 1996, this happened.

If Major had felt safe being openly bi-sexual in Birmingham, maybe he would still be alive. Please give that possibility serious consideration as you go through your own soul-searching over what happened to him, and to his wife and four children, who are in a living hell right now over his death.