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RELIGION/(C^e Charlotte $ost
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Reynold’s faith Lawyer sentenced two-years for fraud
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOMERSET, N.J. - Star
Jones Reynolds has urged
members of a Somerset Coun
ty church to realize the impor
tance of faith in their lives.
“Beauty wealfh and success
mean little if you have not
developed a relationship with
God,” the 44-year-old co-host
of ABC’s daytime talk show
“The "View,” said to the con
gregation at the First Baptist
Chiurch of Lincoln Gardens in
Somerset.
‘Tve learned that a relation
ship with God is achieved
through solitude, meditation,
prayer and soul-searching
and—above all—patience.”
Jones Reynolds also urged
the congregation to “do some
soul-searching and maximize
their potential.”
She signed copies of her
book, “Shine: A Physical,
1 Emotional &
j Spiritual Jour-
I ney to Findit^
I Love,” for
I church mem-
I bers.
Jones
Reynolds, who
married
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Reynolds
banker A1 Reynolds in a star-
studded wedding in 2004,
had a breast-hit procedure
last month. She has had a
dramatic weight loss in
recent years.
On the Net:
\vwwslarjones.com/index.cfin?f
a=welcome
DALTON, Ga.-A Dalton
attorney was sentenced to
two years on Wednesday
after he helped defraud
himdreds of small black
churches out of nearly $9
million.
R. Scott Cunningham, 54,
was a co-conspirator in a
scheme formed by a former
client he represented in
bankruptcy proceedings,
prosecutors said.
Cunningham’s chent was
small-town preacher Abra
ham Kennard, who
scammed more than 1,600
primarily poor black
churches in 41 states. Ken
nard, who was convicted in
February last year, told
members that for a fee of
several thousand dollars to
join his company, the
churches would get a for
givable loan or grant worth
Ground-breaker dies at 84
up to $500,000.
Kennard was sentenced
to 17 1/2 years in prison
last year.
Prosecutors said Ctm-
ningham deposited pro
ceeds of more than $8.7
million into his attorney
escrow accoimt, helped con
ceal its source and dis-
btused the amoxmts that
was directed by Kennard.
In a statement in court,
Cunningham said he
should have been wary of
the money Kennard was
putting in his account, and
said he was “stupid and
foohsh for believing in my
client.”
Cunningham claimed he
was conducting legitimate
business. ‘ But prosecutors
said he ignored warnings
about the somce of Ken-
nard’s fortune.
Cimningham was ordered
by the court to forfeit any
assets he acquired as a
result of the activities
related to his conviction.
He was found on two
counts ofmoney laimdering
and one count of conspiracy
to commit money launder
ing in December.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Churches help Haitian
fight deportation
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Church groups and the family of a
Haitian immigrant who has been staying in the United
States illegally are fighting to keep him firom being deport
ed.
Josue Theodore, 33, of Pawtucket, was involved in the
music ministry of churches in Rhode Island before being
detained in October, more than two and a half years after a
judge ordered he leave the coimtry He has been held at the
Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls since
then.
The Rev. Duane Clinker, pastor of HiUsgrove United
Methodist Church in Warwick, where Theodore served,
said Theodore was a mentor to many young people. He
helped with the chmch’s youth choir, and spent time niar-
turing their talent. Clinker said.
“Is he an asset to America? Yes, he is,” Clinker said. “Is
the family going to be horribly impacted by this? Yes, and
for what piarpose? Irreparable harm is about to happen,
and for no good reason.”
Theodore also served at Elmwood Avenue Church of God
in Providence, Clinker said.
Theodore entered the United States on a transit visa in
2000. He was supposed to leave a few days later, but stayed
and asked for pohtical asylum, said Theodore’s lawyer,
Lawrence Gatei.
His application was denied, and later, in January 2003,
an immigration judge ordered he be deported, according to
Gatei and Paula Grenier, a spokeswoman for the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Susan Eastwood, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office
for Immigration Review, said Theodore never appeared for
a court hearing scheduled Jan. 31, 2003.
But Theodore’s wife, Beverly, said her husband was never
told by his previous lawyer of the January 2003 court hear
ing. She said he did not know of the deportation order imtil
last May, about a month after the two were married, when
they began filing paperwork for him to get U. S. citizenship.
Beverly Theodore is a U.S. citizen.
She said her husband, who works as a car mechanic, had
a Social Security number and a work permit he received
from his previous lawyer.
“It’s weird to think that you are illegal in the country
when you are filing and paying your taxes,” Beverly said.
Josue Theodore was arrested when he tried to apply for a
truck driver’s license at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
HiUsgrove United Methodist and other chmch groups
held a communion service outside the detention center this
week to advocate for Theodore’s release as part of their
marking of Holy Week.
Beverly Theodore said she is afi-aid that if her husband
returns to Haiti, he could be harmed because of the politi
cal unrest in the country
“My biggest fear,” she said, “wo\ild be him getting deport
ed.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-The
Rev. Walter D. Bingham,
the first black moderator of
the Disciples of Christ
denomination, died last
week at a nursing center.
He was 84.
Bingham, a retired pastor
who died last Wednesday,
was elected moderator of
the 1.3 million-member
denomination in 1971,
when the church’s national
convention was held in
LbuisviUe. He was also the
first black moderator of the
denomination’s state and
local levels, as well as a del
egate to the National Coim-
cil of Churches and the
World Council of Churches.
When Bingham retired in
1991, one feUow minister
called him a denomination
al hero and “an attraction
for ministers coming here to
Rev. Walter D.
Bingham earned a
bachelor’s degree
from Talladega
(Ala.) College in
1945 and divinity
degree from
Howard University
in Washington,
D.C., in 1948.
I DIONt THINK ANYTHING WOULD COME OF IT
Ky. student expelled for web page
comes to grips with sudden fame
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -
Jason Johnson has spent
the weeks since his expul
sion from college trying to
get a grasp of the furor
swirling around him.
“I’m sort of getting my life
in line right now and bal
ance it with this sort of
mantle I’ve assumed,”
Johnson said.
Johnson, a 20-year-old
sophomore at the Universi
ty of the Cumberlands, a
small Baptist school in
Williamsburg, Ky, posted
entries about being gay and
his dating life on his
MySpace.com web page.
School administrators
found out about Johnson’s
site earlier this month and
expelled him from school,
sparking a media swirl,
possible legal battle and
even a political' debate over
whether the state should
give the university $11 mil
lion a new pharmacy
school.
The school has declined
comment on Johnson’s
expulsion, but college offi
cials have said the universi
ty has a pohcy that says it
reserves the right to expel a
student who “promotes sex
ual behavior not consistent
with Christian principles,”
including homosexuality.
Johnson said that was a
policy many students were
aware of, but no one
seemed to follow, so he did
n’t think the web site would
cause any problems.
“Mostly I did it just as a
way to tell everybody in my
life what’s going on in my
life,” said Johnson in a
phone interview from his
home in Lexington.
“I didn’t think anything
was going to come out ofit.”
Johnson declined to dis
cuss any possible legal
action against the school,
saying his lawyer advised
him not to.
Since leaving the school,
Johnson said his life has
changed “pretty dramati
cally” Johnson said he
went to college to learn and
figure out how being gay
and Christian “fit into the
overall pictxire of who I
am.”
The expulsion from school
is an opportunity to talk
bachelor’s degree from Tal
ladega College in Alabama
in ,1945 and his divinity
degree from Howard Uni
versity in Washington, D.C.,
in 1948.
He was a pastor in Tulsa,
Okla., and taught refigion
and philosophy at Jarvis
Christian College in
Hawkins, Tbxas, before
moving to Louisville.
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“He was very active in the
ectunenical movement and
sought Christian unity in
all his decisions,” Lexington
Theological Seminary presi
dent emeritus Wayne H.
Bell said in a statement
released by the seminary.
Bingham was a seminary
trustee from 1968 to 1988
and remained active with
the board in emeritus sta
tus for many more years.
Bingham came to
Louisville in 1961 to become
pastor at Third Christian
Church (Disciples of
Christ), now known as
Third Central United
Christian Church.
Bingham, a native of
Memphis, Term., earned a
Juneteeth staple passes
Marilyn Turner, pictured above with a Buf
falo Soldier, died April 17.
Turner worked with Pape Ndiaye to bring
the annual Juneteenth celebration to Char
lotte each year. Friends of Turner said that
“her mission was to leave the community
more beautiful and beneficial than when
she inherited it. She was, in a very real
sense, a modern day Harriet Tubman... All
of us will miss our gentle warrior. Marilyn
Turner picked up the baton passed down
through the generations and, once having
realized her ancestral responsibility, ran
the good race. We are all the better for her
having done so.”
Aponk juhnTemU
EarEy Regisb'ation is $3$ per person. The deadtine for Early Registrafion is April 19.2006.
Register online at Mww.pastorscocESortium.net or call 704.393.9202 for more infoimation.
about what he has learned,
Johnson said.
“This case has become an
outlet for me to speak out
about Christianity and sex
ual orientation and how
those two aren’t mutually
exclusive,” Johnson said,
‘You can be a gay Christian.
I know, I am one.”
He’s getting an opportuni
ty to speak to a large audi
ence. Along with newspaper
stories, Johnson’s case has
been featured on CNN and
National Public Radio, He
also taped a segment set to
air Monday on Paula Zahn’s
show on CNN.
And, now that he’s been
expelled from his college of
choice, Johnson is looking
for a place to finish his edu
cation in theater and learn
ing how to juggle the
demands of his sudden
fame. Johnson said he’s
waiting to hear from East
ern Kentucky University in
Richmond, Ky, doing inter
views and responding to e-
mail and phone messages.
“It’s been a wild ride so
far. It’s kind of like a roller
coaster. It goes up and it
goes down,” Johnson said.
COCA-COLA ‘TEACHER” OF THE MONTH
“Tanya Pitts”
First Grade Teacher,
Winterfield Elementary School
Motto:
“Practice doesn't make perfect,
it mak^ permanence. ^
■ Tanya Pitts
Our “Teacher of the Month, ” Tanya Pitts, was selected 2005-2006 “Teacher of the
Year” at Winterfield Elementary, which speaks loud and clear to her gifts and talents as an edu
cator, A chip off the old block, Pitts is foOowing in her mother’s footsteps. She’s aspired to
be a teacher since childhood. Watching her mom interact with students laid a solid founda
tion. In fact, she would line her dolls and animals up in classroom style while she gave instmc-
tions. It has all paid off, and Winterfield Elementary children are the beneficiaries. Involved in
Winterfield’s advancement, Pitts serves on the faculty advisory council.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Pitts is one of five children born to Lynn and Marjorie Pitts.
She has two sisters, Tracy and Tricia, and two brothers, Tony and Timothy. She graduated
from Cincinnati Christian High School in 1994, received lier BA In elementary education in
2000 and masters in education in 2001 from the University of Tennessee. Pitts began her
teaching careen in Nashville, Tennessee.
Committed to spiritual growth, Pitts is a member of City of God Ministries, where she is
active as the teacher of Children’s Church. And, as a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.
She finds many opportunities to give back to the community’. In her spare time, Pitts enjoys
reading, movies, shopping, eating and hanging out with friends.
Best Wishes “Tanya” from
Coca Cola Bottling Company Consolidated of Charlotte
Coca Coia d(eaf