Preaching Boy Suspended; Angry Crowd Greets Father

Angry parents confronted a street preacher when his 10-year-old son returned to preach at an elementary school and was suspended for a fifth time, and a shouting match ensued before sheriff’s deputies broke up the melee.

“It got wild out there,” said David Strode, 40, a street preacher who accompanied his son Duffey to Eastfield Elementary School today. “They called me all kinds of names, like son of a bastard.

“I started preaching to them. I told them the reason their children were upset is they refuse to tell them about hell and that they are sinners because they would not repent of their ungodly sin. They got mad.”

The Strodes have been locked in a battle with school officials who have repeatedly suspended the three Strode children for refusing to enter the building before school starts and preaching instead. The Strodes say their children are only exercising their freedom of speech and religion.

But school officials contend that the students are violating school policy and that they are disobedient and disruptive.

This morning, David Strode sat in his pickup truck in the parking lot of the school while Duffey began his sermon on the dangers of hell.

Assistant Principal Shirley Ramsey brought the Strodes inside, where Duffey was suspended until the end of the school term, June 3.

About a dozen parents were waiting for Strode outside the school. They presented him with a petition of 400 names calling for an end to the preaching and requesting the Strodes conduct themselves “in a proper manner” if they want to remain in the community.

“I put my finger right in their face and they turned their heads in shame,” Strode said. “Everybody was yelling at me. They said I had some kind of weird religion.

“Anytime a man of God shows up that is not ashamed to preach the Bible, the devil always shows up.”

“Right now we got the town of Marion in a position where they have to acknowledge their sin. They’ve got to rebel or repent. It looks like they are going to rebel.”

Sheriff’s deputies broke up the melee when it moved outside the gate of the school, saying it was impeding traffic flow.

Strode was pulled over by deputies on the way home and given a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. He must pay a $25 fine.