Old Fashioned Christian Hypocrisy in Florida
• Christian Fundamentalism
INVERNESS -- Don Bates, who proclaimed himself one of the "God guys" in his campaign for School Board, quit the race Friday after the Times confronted him with his having been arrested and charged with masturbating in public at the Crystal River Mall in 1994.
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He said he would step down from the District 1 race for the board, leaving Louis Miele the only candidate for the seat that will be vacated by Carol Snyder.
Bates was at the forefront of a highly publicized battle last year when Snyder proposed that the School Board try to rotate various prayers at the beginning of meetings rather than using only Christian prayers, a long-standing tradition.
Bates rallied Christian friends and other church members to sign a petition voicing "no confidence" in Snyder's leadership and publicly blasted Snyder's stand at public meetings. When she chose to retire, he stepped into the race.
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According to the Crystal River Police Department, in November 1994, Bates called a 29-year-old man over to his car in the parking lot of Sears at the mall. As the man approached the Nissan Maxima, "he saw the man was naked from the waist down and was masturbating. The complainant said that vehicle then took off out of the parking lot."