Are South Alabama politicians just off the rails?

We thought Nodine was strange. What is stranger is that people knew not only about his “notorious” affairs – but most of his other public transgressions outlined in his impeachment. This includes the conventional media and our other elected officials, some of whom have the gall to feign ignorance and ask why he wasn’t impeached sooner.
 

The scary thing is – how many more Nodines are there out there? And how many people know about them and aren’t saying anything.

At least there is one South Alabama politician that doesn’t try to hide it.

Orlando Bethel is running for Sheriff of Baldwin County. We were intrigued after seeing him at the Baldwin County Young Republicans’ Candidate Forum in Fairhope on 5/15 – a tall, well-spoken (if slightly incoherent) African-American Republican with extensive knowledge of the Constitution. See his website www.orlandobethelforsheriff.com and here:

And his campaign commercial:

Here he is confronting Sheriff Hoss Mack:

We did a little research and things got stranger:
Bethel is from Detroit. He moved to Loxley around 2000 and runs “Repent or Burn in Hell Ministiries” whose frequent messages are “God Hates You” and “Santa Is Satan”.

(Ed.: Reports that Bethel was “ordained as a minister” by “Prophet” Fred Phelps, Sr. of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas – infamous for disrupting the funerals of soliders – are incorrect according to Glynis Bethel.)

He and his followers (called Prophetesses) routinely street preach outside of schools and other churches in Baldwin and Escambia (FL) counties. They have filed numerous lawsuits against government entities and individuals. One filed against the Baldwin County Board of Education in 2006 for not allowing them to hold after-school “prayer groups” was dismissed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals last month. They create websites based on the Judges involved – such as www.kristidubose.com. Bethel has been arrested several times – most recently at the Strawberry Festival last month.
Here is the video of Bethel, holding a sign “Santa is Satan”, being asked to leave the Loxley Elementary School property by the Loxley Police while his wife Glynis speaks in tongues.

Here is WKRG reporter Pat Peterson confronting Bethel:

A website – www.supportbaldwinschools.com  – was started by Baldwin County parents to oppose his preaching at local schools.

Interestingly enough, Bethel and his followers, arguably the most annoying people in South Alabama, voluntarily maintain a forum at the “Annoyatorium” on the website www.amiannoying.com (Am I Annoying .com)

He has made national news feeds several times:
From 2002: LOXLEY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Loxley, Ala., are investigating the alleged beating of a preacher by funeral mourners who didn’t like his blunt eulogy. Glynis Bethel told The Associated Press that her husband — the Rev. Orlando Bethel — was attacked during a June 14 funeral and dragged out of the church. That’s because Bethel told mourners the deceased was in Hell and that they were headed the same way. The dead man was Glynis Bethel’s uncle. Orlando Bethel referred to him as a “drunkard and a fornicator.” Glynis Bethel, who’s also a preacher, says “the fornicators didn’t like what he said so they got up and beat him.” She says police didn’t make any arrests, so she and her husband — who may have a broken nose — are taking out warrants.

Baldwin County’s school board has asked a judge block further lawsuits. The Bethels responded by filing another lawsuit for $5 million. The Bethels object to the denial of permission to set up a Christian after-school program and accuse the Board of religious bias against them. The board says that the Bethels have already cost them over $30,000 in legal fees so it filed with the local Circuit Court asking “for guidance in hopes of preventing prolonged legal expense to the taxpayers.” The Bethels have more than a dozen federal lawsuits against various government entities in Alabama, including the Baldwin school board, the town of Loxley and the cities of Selma, Montgomery and Robertsdale.

Bethel claims an endorsement by Judge Roy Moore that we have not been able to verify: “Judge Moore of Alabama said, “we need more Christians who are not afraid of God’s word and have been a humble servent of Orlando’s for years and give me a first class endorsement for President.”