By DAVID EPPS
Pastor

I must confess that I do not know Senoia Mayor Joan Trammell all that well. We have met a time or two and I have found her to be a delightful person and an engaging conversationalist.

I have a son who, with his family, makes his home in the growing little town of Senoia and he has been satisfied with Mayor Trammell's efforts on behalf of the city. I have a friend who knows the mayor well and reports that she works weekends as a home health nurse so that she can give her full attention to the city during the week.

Although, we are in different professions and live in different communities, after seeing the headlines in a recent edition of The Coweta Citizen Review, I feel a certain kinship with Mayor Trammell.

"'I have never taken a bribe,' Senoia mayor angrily rebuts charges," read the headlines of the Friday, April 4 edition. My curiosity aroused, I continued to read the lead article regarding a recent meeting of the Senoia city council.

The way I read the article, a citizen seems to have intimated that "deals (were) being made" and money was exchanged "under the table." Now most people would agree that that's a pretty serious charge. Reputations are lost and people go to jail over such matters. Mayor Trammell, according to the article, "lashed out" at the resident and said, "I work as a nurse and do that for money. I have never taken a bribe."

Let me assume, since I have no information to the contrary, that Mayor Trammell is telling the truth. If the mayor is being truthful, then the alleged allegation (did I cover myself here?) is, thereby, allegedly false. And I've got to tell you, I just despise false allegations.

In 30 years of ministry, I have offended more than a few people. I have discovered that one way that angry, offended people often do to try to get even is to make patently false statements. If you are the target of such allegations, life can turn painful very quickly.

A number of years ago, I sent a postcard to a newly elected state senator and asked her to vote for pro-life legislation. The postcard featured a trashcan full of aborted pre-born infants. Was the postcard graphic? Undoubtedly so. Was it in poor taste? Perhaps. But the point was made. One could not see the photograph and still operate under the illusion that the babies in the trashcan were just pieces of protoplasm.

The senator turned the post card over to the United States postal authorities and apparently requested that I be investigated. The allegation? According to the postal inspector, the "concern" was that I was distributing "child pornography" through the mails.

The headlines in the local paper read, "Reverend Epps under federal investigation." Why "child pornography?" Because the dead children in the trash can were naked.

So, naturally, I had flashbacks when I saw the headlines involving Trammell. The issue was eventually resolved in my favor and the senator defeated the next election. Sometimes God does vindicate the innocent.

Over the years, some of the allegations aimed in my direction were potentially career-ending. One was that I had had an affair (that one spread by an irate husband who had left his wife and several children for a younger woman and the church was paying his wife's rent, food, and lawyer bills). Another rumor was that I had punched my wife in the face in the back of the church parking lot because she disagreed with me. When I told that one to my board, one burly board member said, "David, has this person ever met your wife? I'm even afraid of your wife!" My wife nearly always disagrees with me about something. But punch her? Never. Not on your life!

One minister of another denomination reported that I had left a church because, "Poor Brother Epps just loved the wine a little too much," and, recently, it came to my attention that some individual was reporting that I resigned from my last pastorate after "having become a drunk and having absconded with the church's money." (Sigh. Do all ministers have such lies told about them. The sad answer is "yes".)

For the record, I have never had an affair, neither would I dare to do violence to my wife (she is a nurse and has already threatened to surgically rearrange strategic parts of my body if I dare do either of the aforementioned actions). While I do receive Holy Communion a couple of times or more a week, the alcohol that I consume in a year wouldn't fill a single wine bottle. Diet Coke is my addiction of choice. That, and carrot cake, when I can find it.

As for the money, well, I can give you the name and number of my former church bookkeeper who knows that I never had direct access in those days to a single cent in any church account. In fact, I have never even asked for a raise from any church since 1976. But facts never seem to matter to people who, in anger or disappointment, choose to spew out unfounded allegations.

Here's my suggestion to those who may allege that Mayor Trammell is guilty of bribery, if indeed that was the charge: Take your evidence to the police, if you have any. Push the thing to the limit and prove your case. Run her out of office and put her in jail.

On the other hand, here's my suggestion to Mayor Trammell, assuming that she is the honest person I believe her to be: Aggressively fight false charges with the full force of the law, both civil and criminal. Send a message that such charges will not be allowed to stand unchallenged.

I can assure you that, in the future, if I can discover with certainty who it is that makes a false, slanderous accusation, I will own that person's house, furniture, boat, swing set, and dog house. I don't own a great deal, but I do treasure my good reputation and if anyone tries to destroy it with lies, I will revert to my U. S. Marine training and respond with extreme prejudice.

Some armchair theologians will say, "Jesus said to turn the other cheek." He did, indeed, but he also gave instructions that disciples who did not own a sword should buy one.

There are times to turn the cheek and times to strike with fury. People who smear innocent people with false statements deserve to feel the fury. Mayor Trammell will probably choose to turn the other cheek. But I certainly wouldn't blame her if she drew the sword.

[David Epps is rector of Christ the King Church in south metro Atlanta. He may be contacted at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com.]

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