By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

A fight with the Almighty is what Fayette County commissioners started when they turned down Bishop Luther Graham's request for sewerage last week, Bishop said Monday.

Graham said he wants to continue to negotiate with the county government to try and resolve a problem with a failed septic tank. “I don't want to make a federal case out of it if I can help it,” he said. But at the same time, he vowed to fight to keep his ministry, adding that he has talked with attorneys.

Dejected and frustrated following the County Commission meeting last week, Graham said the group's refusal to allow him to tap onto neighboring Clayton County's sewer system is “just not fair.”

Graham operates Chariots of Fire Ministries Inc. out of his home at 1660 Ga. Highway 138 on the northern Fayette/Clayton border. The ministry seeks to help people who have lost their homes or jobs to get back on their feet.

Although interested acquaintances are working to set up a network of support, Graham has run his ministry for two years with no outside support, living off his retirement and disability pay. He retired in 1990 as a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army, he said, and entered the ministry the following year.

People who know Graham get emotional talking about what he has been able to accomplish.

“He introduced me to a lady who had been sleeping in her car with her two children before she got in touch with the ministry,” said John Ford, a real estate broker who works in the north Fayette area and supports Graham's efforts.

“Within two weeks she had a job and an apartment and the kids were back in school. It's amazing what this man can do,” said Ford.

But when Graham purchased the Hwy. 138 house recently, he bought a world of trouble.

The septic system failed, and experts have not been able to find a way to successfully repair it. With raw sewage sometimes seeping out of the ground and running down the street, neighbors have raised an outcry, and county health officials have applied pressure to get Graham to solve the problem.

Although he knew there were problems with the septic system when he bought the house, Graham said he was sure at the time that, if he couldn't fix the problem, a backup solution was available. Since a Clayton County sewer line runs right next to the 2.5-acre property, and the home already receives its water from Clayton County, Graham said he thought he would be able to hook onto that system for a much more satisfactory solution than the only other one available — buying more property next door and putting in a new septic system.

But after more than two hours of hand-wringing over the decision in two separate meetings, the County Commission last week voted 3-2, with Glen Gosa and Herb Frady opposed, to deny Graham's request for permission to use Clayton County's sewer system.

Fayette County has a decades-old policy of denying such requests, commissioners said, for fear that once another county's sewer line is available in Fayette, additional users will tap on and density of development will increase with the availability of sewerage.

“I don't see how this board can help you out of your problem,” said Commissioner Greg Dunn before voting with the majority.

But Fayette County did approve a Clayton County sewer tap-on for Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School, just down the road from Graham's home, and Graham said he feels that's evidence of discrimination. “Call it religious or whatever,” he said.

“They'll allow [sewerage] in for some people, and then won't allow it in for another. It's just not fair,” Graham said following the vote.

Some commissioners hinted that they think Graham is using the home not only to house his own family, but also to temporarily board homeless clients. Water use at the residence has run as high as 25,000 gallons a month, commissioners said.

Graham said he has at times allowed clients to wash a load of clothes or take a shower, but he arranges temporary boarding at local hotels. Boarding clients at the home would be in violation of zoning ordinances.

Having already paid $3,200 for repairs to the septic system that didn't work, Graham said he is paying $675 a week to pump out his septic tank, and has run out of money. The septic company is threatening to place a lien on the property.

Meanwhile, even with frequent pumping, the system continues to leak, and Graham is under orders from the county Health Department to solve the problem or stop using the plumbing altogether. A new septic system would cost $13,000, plus the cost of land that may or not support such a system, he said. Hooking onto Clayton sewer would cost about $16,000, he added.

Rick Fehr, county environmental health director, said testing so far indicates there's simply too much rock to put a new septic system at 1660 Hwy. 138, and since the entire area is inundated with rock, there's no guarantee a new piece of property will work any better.

Graham said he will try to negotiate and, if that doesn't work, he is willing to fight by whatever means necessary to keep his ministry. “I'm willing to go to jail,” he declared.

“I'm trying to be a blessing to the local government,” said Graham as he considered his future options Monday. “The only reason Fayette County doesn't have homeless people walking the street is this ministry,” he added.

But, he added, “What they're saying is we don't want you or your type ministry in Fayette County.

“People think they're fighting pastor Graham,” he continued, “but they're fighting God. Fayette County needs to know they're messing with God.”