Another new violation of separation of church and state - the sheriff preached from the pulpit in a local megachurch while in full dress uniform.  His talk was extremely sectarian and will certainly lead to further attempts to proselytize people - and believe me, they can get VERY aggressive in this hellhole (even ignoring "No Trespassing" signs and continuing after being told "I'm not interested, leave me alone!" and "Didn't you see the No Trespassing Sign? I'm not interested, get off my property!").  He's supposed to have done this before, and refuses to consider that his actions are violating one of the principles of this country.  (The churches he associates with think that separation of church and state is either a lie, or that it's one-way - they can influence and manipulate the government, but the government must have a hands-off attitude towards THEIR churches.)

I also found out that he is considered a standard to be looked up to nationwide, among Law Enforcement types.  They think he's the best thing since sliced bread, and I've been treated to people gushing about how great it must be to live in his county.  (Said individuals also are militantly conservative and don't like hearing about the racism, homophobia, and general hatred for the Other to be found here.)  He's been part and parcel of the virulent hypocrisy to be found in Polk County.

This needs to be stopped... cold.  I have little faith in most of the more local groups, because the ones that took up the standard in the past threw it down after a short while.  (Yeah, they continue with the things that are offensive, but did make some minor changes - like doing the "invocation" "before the start of the official town meeting" and they did - after being called on it - invite a couple of groups they consider non-Christian to lead the prayers, but it's still going.)

Link to news article regarding his sermon:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/c ontent/news/articles/bn9/2015/6/16/grady_judd_sermon.html