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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: June 2007

Falwell's father was a dogfighter

 

LYNCHBURG, Virginia--Obituaries for televangelist Jerry Falwell, who died on May 15, 2007 in Lynchburg, Virginia, not far from where the Michael Vick dogfighting case was breaking, skipped lightly over at least two aspects of his early life.

Little mentioned was Falwell's role as an ardent segregationist from his debut on WBRG radio in June 1956 until several years after the Congress On Racial Equality tried to integrate his church in 1964.

Not mentioned at all was that Falwell's father, Carey H. Falwell, a key figure in many of his sermons, was at least twice convicted of hosting high-stakes dogfights, at a time when dogfighting, cockfighting, and pigeon shoots were among the fundraising mainstays of the Ku Klux Klan.
Falwell often mentioned his father--but not the dogfights.

"Carey Falwell was a flamboyant entrepreneur who opened his first grocery store when he was 22," summarized Peter Applebome of The New York Times. "He was soon operating 17 service stations, many with little restaurants and stores attached. He built oil storage tanks, owned an oil company, and in 1927 began American Bus LinesSıLater, he turned to bootlegging liquor, among other enterprises. His best-known business was the Merry Garden Dance Hall and Dining Room, which became the center of Virginia's swing society.

"Carey Falwell had no use for religion," Applebone continued. "He was left shaken forever by an episode in which he shot his brother to death. He became a heavy drinker and died of liver disease at the age of 55," but Jerry Falwell claimed to have achieved a deathbed conversion.

The National Humane Review, published 1913-1976 by the American Humane Association, reported in July 1938 that "Carey H. Falwell, proprietor of the Merry Garden Night Club in Lynchburg, Virginia," was convicted of hosting dogfights on February 6 and May 2, 1938.

Carey Falwell was also fined $100 for having a gaming table at the May 2 dog fight. A 30-day jail sentence was suspended.

Testified Carey Falwell on the witness stand, "I like dogfights. I would go to one tonight if they were going to have one."

The dogfights on Falwell property involved participants from as far away as Texarkana, Texas.