don paulk

Sex Scandal Hits Atlanta-Area Megachurch
By DORIE TURNER – 18 hours ago

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.

The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.

"I am so very sorry for the collateral damage it's caused our family and the families hurt by the removing of the veil that hid our humanity and our sinfulness," said D.E. Paulk, who received the mantle of head pastor a year and a half ago.

D.E. Paulk said he did not learn the secret of his parentage until the paternity test. "I was disappointed, and I was surprised," he said.

Earl Paulk, his brother, Don, and his sister-in-law, Clariece, did not return calls for comment.

A judge ordered the test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which are investigating Earl Paulk for possible perjury and false-swearing charges stemming from a lawsuit.

The archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.

In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.

So far no charges have been filed against Earl Paulk. District Attorney Pat Head and GBI spokesman John Bankhead would not comment.

The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving the Paulks, D.E. Paulk said.

"It was a necessary evil to bring us back to a God-consciousness," said the younger Paulk, explaining that the church had become too personality-driven and prone to pastor worship.

The flashy megachurch began in 1960 with just a few dozen members in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. Now, it is in the suburbs on a 100-acre expanse, a collection of buildings surrounding a neo-Gothic cathedral.

For years the church was at the forefront of many social movements — admitting black members in the 1960s, ordaining women and opening its doors to gays.

At its peak in the early 1990s, it claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors and was a media powerhouse. By soliciting tithes of 10 percent from each member's income, the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress.

Today, though, membership is down to about 1,500, the church has 18 pastors, most of them volunteers, and the Bible college and TV ministry have shuttered — a downturn blamed largely on complaints about the alleged sexual transgressions of the elder Paulks.

In 1992, a church member claimed she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Don Paulk. Other women also claimed they had been coerced into sex with Earl Paulk and other members of the church's administration.

The church countered with a $24 million libel suit against seven former church members. The lawsuit was later dropped.

Jan Royston, who left the church in 1992, started an online support group for former members to discuss their crushed faith and hurt feelings.

"This is a cult. And you escape from a cult," she said. "We all escaped."

These days, Earl Paulk has a much-reduced role at the cathedral, giving 10-minute lectures as part of Sunday morning worship each week.

"My uncle is 100 percent guilty, but his accusers are guilty as well," D.E. Paulk said, declining to talk further about the lawsuits. No charges expected, lawyer for ex-cop says
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No charges expected,
lawyer for ex-cop says

CHICAGO — A lawyer representing a former police officer suspected in the disappearance of his wife said Monday he does not believe his client will face charges stemming from the investigation. Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, lawyer Joel Brodsky also criticized the media for their coverage of Drew Peterson, who resigned as a Bolingbrook police sergeant after his 23-year-old fourth wife, Stacy, vanished three weeks ago. Police have named the 53-year-old Peterson as a suspect in her disappearance, and authorities have called the case a possible homicide. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.

Still, the investigation into her disappearance caused prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in a bathtub in 2004. At the time, authorities ruled her death an accidental drowning, but investigators exhumed her body last week at the request of a prosecutor, who has said after examining evidence he believes her death was a homicide staged to look like an accident.

Townsend resigns

WASHINGTON — Fran Townsend, the leading White House-based terrorism adviser who gave public updates on the extent of the threat to U.S. security, is stepping down after 41/2 years. President Bush said in a statement Monday morning that Townsend, 45, "has ably guided the Homeland Security Council. She has played an integral role in the formation of the key strategies and policies my administration has used to combat terror and protect Americans." Her departure continues an exodus of key Bush aides and confidants, with his two-term presidency in the final 15 months. Top aide Karl Rove, along with press secretary Tony Snow, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior presidential adviser Dan Bartlett, have already left.

Church sex scandal

DECATUR, Ga. — The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her. Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair. The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.

Lots of big talk

TEHRAN, Iran — The presidents of Venezuela and Iran boasted Monday that they will defeat U.S. imperialism together, saying the fall of the dollar is a prelude to the end of Washington's global dominance. Hugo Chavez's visit to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran followed a failed weekend attempt by the firebrand duo to push the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States away from trading in the slumping greenback.



Their proposal at an OPEC summit was overruled by other cartel members led by Saudi Arabia, a strong U.S. ally. But the cartel agreed to have OPEC finance ministers discuss the idea, and the two allies' move showed their potential for stirring up problems for the U.S. The alliance between Chavez and Ahmadinejad has blossomed with several exchanged visits — Monday's was Chavez's fourth time in Tehran in two years — a string of technical agreements and a torrent of rhetoric presenting their two countries as an example of how smaller nations can stand up to the superpower.

Security guards detained

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi soldiers detained two American security guards along with several other foreigners traveling in a private security convoy after they opened fire Monday in Baghdad, wounding one woman, an Iraqi military spokesman said. U.S. military and embassy officials had no immediate information about the report, which follows a series of recent shootings in which foreign security guards have allegedly killed Iraqis. Last month, the Iraqi Cabinet sent parliament a bill to lift immunity for foreign private security companies that has been in effect since the U.S. occupation began in 2003.

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the convoy was driving on the wrong side of the road in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah when the shooting took place about midday.

Associated Press

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
No charges expected,
lawyer for ex-cop says

CHICAGO — A lawyer representing a former police officer suspected in the disappearance of his wife said Monday he does not believe his client will face charges stemming from the investigation. Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, lawyer Joel Brodsky also criticized the media for their coverage of Drew Peterson, who resigned as a Bolingbrook police sergeant after his 23-year-old fourth wife, Stacy, vanished three weeks ago. Police have named the 53-year-old Peterson as a suspect in her disappearance, and authorities have called the case a possible homicide. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.

Still, the investigation into her disappearance caused prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in a bathtub in 2004. At the time, authorities ruled her death an accidental drowning, but investigators exhumed her body last week at the request of a prosecutor, who has said after examining evidence he believes her death was a homicide staged to look like an accident.

Townsend resigns

WASHINGTON — Fran Townsend, the leading White House-based terrorism adviser who gave public updates on the extent of the threat to U.S. security, is stepping down after 41/2 years. President Bush said in a statement Monday morning that Townsend, 45, "has ably guided the Homeland Security Council. She has played an integral role in the formation of the key strategies and policies my administration has used to combat terror and protect Americans." Her departure continues an exodus of key Bush aides and confidants, with his two-term presidency in the final 15 months. Top aide Karl Rove, along with press secretary Tony Snow, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior presidential adviser Dan Bartlett, have already left.

Church sex scandal

DECATUR, Ga. — The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her. Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair. The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.

Lots of big talk

TEHRAN, Iran — The presidents of Venezuela and Iran boasted Monday that they will defeat U.S. imperialism together, saying the fall of the dollar is a prelude to the end of Washington's global dominance. Hugo Chavez's visit to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran followed a failed weekend attempt by the firebrand duo to push the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States away from trading in the slumping greenback.

Their proposal at an OPEC summit was overruled by other cartel members led by Saudi Arabia, a strong U.S. ally. But the cartel agreed to have OPEC finance ministers discuss the idea, and the two allies' move showed their potential for stirring up problems for the U.S. The alliance between Chavez and Ahmadinejad has blossomed with several exchanged visits — Monday's was Chavez's fourth time in Tehran in two years — a string of technical agreements and a torrent of rhetoric presenting their two countries as an example of how smaller nations can stand up to the superpower.

Security guards detained

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi soldiers detained two American security guards along with several other foreigners traveling in a private security convoy after they opened fire Monday in Baghdad, wounding one woman, an Iraqi military spokesman said. U.S. military and embassy officials had no immediate information about the report, which follows a series of recent shootings in which foreign security guards have allegedly killed Iraqis. Last month, the Iraqi Cabinet sent parliament a bill to lift immunity for foreign private security companies that has been in effect since the U.S. occupation began in 2003.

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the convoy was driving on the wrong side of the road in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah when the shooting took place about midday.

Associated Press
The artery that carries Atlanta's motorized lifeblood — 380,000 cars a day — into the city's heart is about to go under the knife. For an expensive operation.

The state Department of Transportation received two bids Friday to repave 4.7 miles of the Downtown Connector from University Avenue to 10th Street. The lowest one is $27,726,790.79.

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The 2.1-mile piece from 10th Street to the Brookwood Interchange is already under contract as part of the $88.5 million project rebuilding the 14th Street bridge, according to DOT.

Of all the projects he deals with, "this one by far will affect the most people," said Greg Mayo, DOT's director of construction. "This one will be certainly on my mind every day."

DOT plans a publicity blitz, and they have one piece of good news to spread. Each contractor lays out a plan for sequencing the work, but DOT has recently decided the question that matters to commuters: No lanes are scheduled to close during rush hour.

DOT tries to schedule work on metro Atlanta highways during nights and weekends, but since the Connector between Courtland and 10th Street requires extra "deep milling" work, DOT engineers weren't sure they could make that work there.

But hold the champagne.

"Closing [a lane] during rush hour may occur in an emergency," said DOT spokeswoman Crystal Paulk-Buchanan, for unforeseen circumstances like equipment breakdowns.

In addition, commuters in the 14th Street bridge area will at times see traffic shifted aside. And even if it's by the side of the road, "let's face it, an orange barrel's an orange barrel," she said. People tend to slow down when they see them.

During nights and weekends, the lane closing will be unleashed. The contractors will decide the details, but DOT will let them start at 8:00 p.m. with a single lane, and work their way up after 10:00 p.m. to four or more lanes overnight, as long as at least two are open.

On as many as eight weekends, they can close four or more lanes all weekend, leaving two open. On weekdays, all lanes are supposed to open by 5:00 a.m. If a crash happens on the Connector by lane closures, the contractor has to have its wrecker clear the crash within 45 minutes, or be fined $5,000.

Though DOT will now take at least a couple weeks to double-check the bidders' math and plans for spacing out the work, if everything's kosher the lowest bid wins.

The low bid came from E.R. Snell, and its only competitor was contracting giant C.W. Matthews, at $28,158,853.48. DOT will announce Nov. 30 whether it has a winner, and if it does, will probably sign a contract within weeks.

When to start work in earnest is up to the contractor, but with asphalt, weather rules.

"As soon as it stops freezing we can start working on it," Paulk-Buchanan said. "A nice early warm spring means we can get started on this at the end of March. A cold cold winter could be the end of April. That said, we don't have any concerns we can't finish this in a single paving season," in late 2008.

The pale gray baked surface on much of the Connector, with its ruts and gouges, is an outward sign of worse deterioration underneath, according to DOT. While spots here and there have recently been paved, like under new bridges, most of the current asphalt was laid just before the 1996 Olympic Games.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
A lawyer representing a former police officer suspected in the disappearance of his wife said Monday he does not believe...