INSIDE INGLEWOOD - On Tuesday, July 16 Inglewood formally recognized two new council members, George Dotson and Alex Padilla.
Faithful Central Baptist Pastor Kenneth Ulmer was appointed to swear in the two new councilmen.
Inglewood held its District 1 and 2 elections in April. Owing to a number of election irregularities that remain under investigation, a run-off election was held for June 11.
According to the church's Web site, "Rev. Kenneth C. Ulmer was called to be [the] church’s third pastor in 1982."
What will not be found on the church's Web site are the recent legal developments.
Pastor Ulmer remains under investigation for a number of activities involving pedophilia, possible perjury, embezzlement of funds from the California Redevelopment Agency (which, when dissolved in 2011, became a bulwark to the church being able to sell the Forum, according to Faithful Central Board member and Butts mayoral campaign contributor Marc T. Little) and theft. Faithful Central is an IRS tax-exempt 501 (EIN # 95-2113182) that was given $18 million in 2012 to facilitate the sale of the Forum.
This and much more may be found in a former Faithful Central pastor's wife's book, Life After the Lowdown, by former Inglewood resident Ingrid Mitchell. Mitchell's husband, Youth Pastor Troyvoi (aka: “Bobby”) Hicks was the key figure in the scandal that Ulmer is alleged to have covered up. Troyvoi was under the senior leadership of Ulmer.
Hicks has since been transferred to another church in northern California.
In the church's 2012 Annual Report (dated 13 February 2013), Little reported that "the sale of the Forum ran into a huge obstacle in 2011 when the California Redevelopment Agency was abolished and, along with it, the $23.6 million that the City of Inglewood had allocated toward the $80 million transaction that Madison Square Garden was trying to accomplish at the Forum. However, the City of Inglewood was able to put together tax exempt bonds and other forms of funding to contribute $18 million instead of the $23.6 [million.]."
A number of town hall and related civic and political events, all headed by Butts, have been held at the church's seemingly popular "Living Room" space on Florence Avenue.
No one, not even God, would respond to requests for comments.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a monthly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 60
Pub: July 26, 2013
