The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/08/05
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. — The presidential election was decided last November, but in this western Carolina mountain town, the divisiveness of that race has risen again to pierce the serenity of one Baptist congregation.
And the wound hurts.
 Rick Havner/AP | |||
| Some members say they were booted for how they voted. | |||
 Rick Havner/AP | |||
| Heidi and Dan Jenkins talk about the uproar at nearby East Waynesville Baptist Church in North Carolina. Some ousted members say their only sin was voting for John Kerry. | |||
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"I've been in church all my life, and I've never seen anything like this," said Selma Morris, 78, a member of East Waynesville Baptist Church for 32 years.
Last week, a church gathering led by their young pastor kicked out nine members because they failed to support President Bush, some members say. The pastor, the Rev. Chan Chandler, had told the congregation last November that if anyone planned to vote for Democrat John Kerry, they should get up and leave, members say.
Members who protested the expulsion have stopped speaking publicly about the incident. Several calls to Chandler's house have gone unanswered.
Last week, he said the expulsions were not "politically motivated." He has not commented publicly since.
Haywood County has more than 120 houses of worship for its 54,033 residents. Not everyone in Waynesville, which has about 9,200 residents, was aware of the situation at the church, but many who lived along Woodland Drive, where the church is located, had something to say.
"That beats hell, telling people how to vote," said Arnold Bryson, whose proudly maintained house has a clear view of the simple red-brick sanctuary at the end of the street.
Down the street from the 100-member church, most of the folks browsing at Heidi and Dan Jenkins' yard sale echoed that opinion, whether they had supported Bush or Kerry.
"It is beyond belief that in this day and age in America that any church would tell us how to vote," said Heidi Jenkins, 52.
"You can't be a Christian if you hate people," said Joan Erickson of nearby Canton.
Friendly tourist town
Like many Smoky Mountain retreats, Waynesville has embraced tourism in a big way. Shoppers strolled down the classically rustic Main Street on Saturday, browsing at Just Ducky (a children's clothing store), T. Pennington Art Gallery and Textures: For the Finely Crafted Home. Frog Level, as the old downtown is known, hosted an Every Bloomin' Thing Festival.
Surrounding the shopping district are quiet neighborhoods with large craftsman style houses in brick, stone or frame.
Waynesville also shows off its Southern, NASCAR-loving roots. Just two miles south of downtown on Saturday morning, a "fire engine pull" in the Big Kmart parking lot drew 300 spectators and raised $4,000 for the Special Olympics.
The 10-man team of the Waynesville Police Department took top honors, defeating teams from the Waynesville Fire Department, Big Kmart and the Waynesville Correction Center in Hazelwood, which sponsored the event..
As the crowd dwindled by 1 p.m., master of ceremonies Robert Dudley realized he had forgotten to raffle the sheet cake made to look like a fire truck.
"We gotta raffle this cake off," he announced over the PA system. "We gotta settle this cake." In short order, they did.
Bush won Haywood County in November by 56 percent to 43 percent, larger than his margin in 2000.
Former President Bill Clinton carried the county in 1992 and 1996, and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis won by 53 votes over President George Bush in 1988.
Last year's presidential race, according to some townspeople, was no more heated here than in the rest of the nation, and no more heated than in elections past.
A shock to Baptists
Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, was stunned by the report.
"I am appalled," Land said by phone Saturday. "I know thousands of Baptist pastors, and I can't think of one who wouldn't be appalled."
The 43,000 congregations within the Baptist denomination are independent, Land pointed out. Any punitive action probably would occur at the local or state level.
Dr. Jack Sammons, head of the Waynesville Baptist Association, could not be reached Saturday.
People are eager to find out whether Chandler will address the issue at this morning's scheduled worship. Morris said she heard a rumor that services would be canceled, but that could not be confirmed.
Several members involved had scheduled a meeting for Monday with an attorney to see what recourse they might have.
Morris told the Asheville Citizen Times that the nine members were voted out of the congregation at a gathering that was scheduled as a board of deacons meeting, but became instead a congregational business meeting with about 20 members present.
Individual church bylaws could allow an expulsion, said Dr. George Bullard, associate executive director-treasurer for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
Saturday, at Jack's Donuts in Waynesville, owner Frank Fulbright, 62, took a bipartisan view. After all, church members on both sides of the dispute stop by for his renowned yeast-raised doughnuts, which measure about two inches thick.
Jack's is just across the street from Lowe Fly Shop & Outfitters, which has a 30-foot-long trout outlined with monkey grass in its side yard.
"Old Satan's in there working overtime, playing both sides against the middle," Fulbright said.
Anyway, business is business. Whether Bush or Kerry walked into his shop, Fulbright said, he'd just offer them a doughnut and a cup of coffee.
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