Lynchburg without the stranglehold of the Falwells

[no_hypocrisy]

Maybe one good thing about the scandals reigned upon Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, is that Lynchburg may be free of the Falwells as unelected local government.

I went to school at Sweet Briar College, graduating in 1979. I've watched as for 40+ years, the City has been in the grips of Jerry Falwell and then his son via their college/university and to a lesser degree, their church, the Thomas Road Baptist Church.* The school has been incrementally buying up land and taking it off tax rolls, thereby raising the municipal taxes borne by local residents. Jerry Falwell had so much influence that when he died in May, 2007, the public schools made an announcement over the public address system. (My goddaughter leapt up and yelled, "Yay!" ) I went out for take-out that week-end in Lynchburg and the local Pizza Hut had a Jerry Falwell and black crepe on the computer screen-saver when I went to pay.

As it is, Liberty University is the biggest employer in the City, if not the region, and calls a lot of shots as far as ordinances and zoning, again, without the precondition of elections.

I don't know in which direction Liberty University will take, but at least it won't be for the financial benefit with power that has been given to the Falwells. For all I know, it might become a true Christian college. (Naaaaaaaaaaaaah!)


* Lynchburg has about 100 Baptist churches. Thomas Road is the largest and wealthiest.

[underpants]

1. Family from very near there. We passed right by it on 460 going to Roanoke.

The family I have from near there knew Jerry from school.

The amount of expansion has been amazing. First were the apartments across 460. Then the ski slope and domed admin building overlooking from the hilltop. In the midst of it they were buying everything they could get their hands on from what I understand. When God came and took Jerry he was insured up to his eyeballs. They paid off all their debt (plus the papermill online was getting cranked up) and THEN they really started expanding. The newest are what I’m guessing is a field house and dorms that literally block out the horizon. Oh, and my favorite, the tower. Funny I made phallic jokes but my wife called it “the rocket to Heaven”. That cracked me up.

My family there were not at all fans of Jerry.

Thomas Road and Liberty still will have a lot of pull I would suspect but it could be different. As I’ve posted here before - I run into Liberty grads all over the place and I’ve met exactly one who is good at their job and a nice person. One.

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. "Company towns" are a model for fascism

Seems that a big private university with a dogma of authoritarianism would be every bit as bad as a mining town.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. That's why I wonder whether with "different management" the school becomes

just that, a school, and not an influence.

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. You graduated Sweet Briar

the same year I graduated Fishburne Military, about an hour from you. We used to play against against Falwell's little religious brown-shirts at Lynchburg Christian Academy. Those were the only times I got cleeted in while playing in 5 years soccer.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. I was a music major and attended most concerts.

There was a piano concert by a pianist from the then-Liberty Baptist College.

The audience was compelled to stand and salute the Flag before the concert started. I really didn't feel like it, but was compelled to follow the lead as my department chair was in attendance and could see me from his seat.

Since when does patriotism (or the false premise thereof) have anything to do with Beethoven?