False and slanderous allegations made by members of the Ottawa County Republicans were printed Sunday Nov. 6th, 2011, in the Miami News Record editorial section. Mike Tuttle serves as the Secretary of the Ottawa County Republicans but also works for Jay Calan at his place of business. Tuttle’s letter went back over 22 years to dig up my past association with the Ku Klux Klan and Professional Wrestling. It's no secret that I was once in the Klan and that I quit the KKK and became a Christian. My story is told all over the world in churches, books, magazines, and TV shows. However, Tuttle did not bother to check his facts and simply copied from the Internet stories written by the KKK and other Aryan supremacists in a juvenile attempt to discredit me. Therefore, I feel I must take the time to set the record straight, especially since I am the President of the Ottawa County Conservatives, a voting member of the Ottawa County Ministerial Alliance, a licensed ordained minister, an International Evangelist, an Official Diversity Change Agent with the United States Armed Forces, and a consultant lecturer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
I did not quit the KKK to become a professional wrestler. I was in the Klan when I became a professional wrestler. I lost my wrestling career because of my appearances as a Klan member on Oprah Winfrey and other talk shows. Tuttle went on to cite my “interference” in wrestling matches and stated that I cost another wrestler his belt by interfering in his match. I think it is sad that Mike Tuttle, a mature adult, does not know what most ten-year-olds know: Professional Wrestling is fake. When men who weigh over 250lbs hit one another in the face 30 times and no one bleeds, that can't be real! It is all acting and scripted. To use my involvement in Pro Wrestling in an attempt to assassinate my character is equivalent to attacking an actor in a play at the Coleman Theater for portraying a villain. After reading Tuttle's letter, one Miami pastor stated that he wonders if Tuttle sits up on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa Claus to bring him presents! Can the Republicans of Ottawa County be comfortable knowing that one of their elected officials believes professional wrestling is real? This is only one reason I believe that the people in leadership of the Ottawa County Republicans are an embarrassment.
Tuttle lied and said I left the Klan 1990, but it's a documented fact that I left the White Knights of the Klan in 1989.
The most serious of Mike Tuttle’s accusations against me was his statement that I admitted to committing several felonies. This is a slanderous lie. There is a TV interview and other media in which I was asked about something illegal that happened when I was in the Klan. In those interviews, I used the word “we” in describing the incident; but it is clear that it was an editorial “we” because I was a leader in the Klan at the time of the incident being discussed. I was taking responsibility as a Klan member for the action, but at no time did I say I was the one who personally performed the illegal action. Tuttle used the term "felonies" which misleads the reader into thinking I admitted to several felonies. Tuttle says that, to his knowledge, I have never been held accountable for my actions. He then says he wonders how this could be possible. It's possible because they never happened.
Tuttle also made the blatant false accusations that I have made a career out of self-promotion by manipulating the facts of my past and that I use the pulpit for personal and monetary gain. I am extremely surprised that a retired career law enforcement officer as he claims to be would not know the legalities in publishing a letter of libelous and slanderous falsehoods. I have NEVER manipulated any facts of my past; and, as any pastor or evangelist, I have received voluntary donations and have been paid for my ministry just as Mr. Tuttle is paid for his work. There is no proof to the contrary. Tuttle has crossed the line with his outright lies to the people of Ottawa County, and he must be held accountable for that.
There are plenty of facts to back up everything I have ever told about myself, including all media forms. I speak in mainline churches all over the world. I am a regular speaker at the FBI Training Academy where I help train law enforcement officers on how to combat and understand the mindset of hate groups and gang members. One cannot set foot on the FBI Training Academy grounds, located on a secure military base, without undergoing an extensive background check. If I were a liar and manipulator of the facts of my past as Mr. Tuttle stated, I would not be granted access to those grounds or be used by the FBI as an authority on hate groups. I am a diversity speaker for the United States Armed Forces and have been given an award from the U.S. Army as an “Official Change Agent.” In addition, just last year, I addressed Pentagon officers, including generals, at Ft. Belvoir, for the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and I conducted chapel services for the officers and their families. I work with educational systems across the world implementing an Anti-Bullying program for children in addition to teaching them to take a stand against racism. There is more than enough proof that will hold in a court of law to back up everything I say. However, there is no proof to what Mr. Tuttle says; and he should be concerned.
Both Jaycee Calan and Betty Goodrich lied in their letters that I was defeated by Greg Heibert for an officer’s position in the Ottawa County Republicans by 45-4 votes. There were 40 people in attendance that night and not 48 as they led the people to believe. I was not campaigning but was nominated for an office, and so was Greg Heibert. The vote count was 33-7 and not 45-4. Until that night, the largest attendance at a regular 2011 meeting of the Ottawa County Republicans was about 15. The elections were held due to the resignation of the former OCR Chairman Scott Morton who had been hounded by Jay Calan to resign. This left my wife, the Vice-Chairman, as acting Chairman. The night Mr. Morton resigned, Mr. Calan came into the meeting throwing his fists back, challenging me to fight him. Dr. Heibert also childishly asked me if I wanted to “throw down” with him. Some people who had never been to a meeting before got up and left due to the behavior of Jay Calan. The night of the elections, about a month later, approximately 25 people showed up who had never been to a meeting. Many of them said they received a phone call telling them to come vote for Jay Calan. It was obvious that Mr. Calan had stacked the deck in his favor. Since the overwhelming majority of people there were under orders to vote for Jay Calan or Greg Heibert, no one else stood a chance of election. I didn’t need the position anyway since my wife was already Vice-Chairman at the time of the ‘election,’ outranking both Heibert and Tuttle. We could have stayed in their group with my wife as 2nd in command, but we did not wish to be associated with these embarrassing people after witnessing what they have done in Ottawa County.
Jaycee Calan claims in his letter that the majority of Republicans in Ottawa County stand behind Jay Calan and Greg Heibert. There are over 4500 registered Republicans in Ottawa County. Fewer than 1% attended the meeting to vote them in, yet Mr. Calan claims to have the backing of the majority of Republicans? In 1992, KKK Leader David Duke ran for the Republican nomination for President against then President George H.W. Bush and received less than 1% of the vote! It would be absurd to say David Duke represented the majority of Republicans with such a low count any more than saying that Jay Calan and Greg Heibert represent the majority of Republicans in Ottawa County with the same percentage.
Greg Heibert’s editorial telling me how to minister on how Apostle Paul preached door to door just shows his ignorance of the Bible. Paul wrote several letters to churches, and he established churches and preached in them. Jesus Himself preached in the Synagogues. I do not have the credentials to go into Dr. Heibert’s place of business and tell him how to fill a cavity in a tooth. Likewise, he has no credentials to tell me how to work in the ministry.
As for the rest of his and Betty Goodrich’s rants, all I can say is: Just consider the source!
I am thankful my wife resigned from a position of leadership in the OCR, and I am sorry that we ever had anything to do with the people who now lead it. Jesus is the answer, not the Ottawa County Republican party!
Johnny Lee Clary
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