Pastor’s comments not previously reported
March 12, 2008
“I said this in public (before). I would not get in the car with Ted Kennedy or George Jones.“
—Spoken by a Dothan minister
It’s one of those things that’s eaten at me since I first heard it.
Generally speaking, when someone says something during a public meeting that might be deemed controversial, offensive, or just funny, it has a tendency to be picked up by the media. It might be repeated to evoke laughter, bring outrage, or create support. Maybe it is a quote that motivates, uplifts or brings an “amen.“
If it is different, we like it.
During the March 6 county commission meeting, a local pastor made the comment which I would normally have reported but didn’t because ... well, because it was personal. Yes, it was said in a public meeting I covered with nearly 50 people in attendance, and there was certainly truth in his words, but ..... I couldn’t bring myself to put it in the story. I conferred with the editors that be and they agreed. Don’t put it in the story.
But, there it is. Haunting me, so I decided to blog it. I know, I know, I am communicating it.
At any rate, I don’t know much about Ted Kennedy or George Jones, other than the well-known fact that alcohol has gotten them both into trouble in the past. I’ve heard Jones stopped drinking some years ago and that he has credited his wife, Nancy, with basically saving his life.
I also know every alcoholic fights his or her own internal demons—whether it is the memories of the pain inflicted on others when they were drinking or the things of which there is, frighteningly, no recollection at all. I also know I could not condemn the Country Crossing project (including bingo) because one of its developers used to get drunk.
And I guess I would get in the car with George Jones. I guess I would. Would you?
