Word: baptiste
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After 39 years as mayor of Smyrna, Tenn. (pop. 12,000), John Sam Ridley could hardly separate his personal business from the town's. He used his city credit card to visit a daughter in Texas, vacation in Florida and attend the Southern Baptist Convention, claiming that as mayor he was on duty 24 hours a day. He and his brother Knox, a former judge, owned Smyrna's Chevrolet dealership, which serviced cars for the city. A conflict-of-interest suit filed against Sam dragged on for seven years, through two of his re-elections. Then, facing an impending decree...
...Jackson, a Baptist minister with strong support in black churches, the issue is particularly touchy because for years he has been the subject of unsubstantiated rumors. Some of his backers worry about his vulnerability on "character" questions. As Hart's campaign was collapsing two weeks ago, several advisers met with Jackson in Chicago. According to one of his aides, they discussed possible tactics in the event similar questions were raised about Jackson, and he was warned against any appearance of impropriety...
...sacrifices his right of privacy. Congressman Jack Kemp, who has had to deny 20-year-old rumors of sexual misconduct, rejected the Times inquiry as "beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate." Vice President George Bush warned the press against "unseemly inquiries into private behavior." Pat Robertson, the other Baptist clergyman seeking the presidency, said national candidates should be held, at the very least, to the same standards of conduct as U.S. Marine guards stationed at the Moscow embassy...
Those declarations were made only three days after fellow TV Preacher Jerry Falwell made sure that Bakker would never minister again at his former domain in Fort Mill, S.C. Bakker had relinquished control of PTL (for Praise the Lord or People That Love) to Falwell, a Fundamentalist Baptist, after confessing that he had paid $265,000 in hush money to cover up his adultery. But prior to last week's board meeting at PTL, Bakker had wired Falwell that it seemed time for a comeback...
Falwell and the board launched an investigation into the new sexual charges against Bakker that had been leveled, without public documentation, by Baptist Televangelist John Ankerberg of Chattanooga, Tenn. Falwell disclosed last week that part of Bakker's hush-money payment was made by PTL and that the remainder was provided by a major PTL contractor, Roe Messner of Wichita. At Dortch's request, Messner then billed PTL for the sum, but Falwell described that as a mere "error in judgment...