When I heard on TV over the weekend that some more children had been taken from a religious compound, I assumed it was the FLDS again. But I couldn't believe it when I heard that the man was Tony Alamo! They kept mentioning California and Arkansas, but they never mentioned Nashville. And he had such a Nashville connection!
At the time he lived in Nashville and operated The Alamo store on lower Broadway, you couldn't step outside your car and go into some establishment without coming back outside to fiind your car littered with his tripe. Your windshield would be covered with his brochures ranting on about the government and Catholics. Totally inane.
He and his wife Susan were evangelists. Maybe they started OK with the best intentions, but then they got nuts, like most do. They started converting people and they would control them. They would have them work in their store and other operations and not pay them. Well, they would pay them, but their money had to go back to the compound. I was sort of scared to go into their store--because they were crazy and all that--but one time I took a deep breath and walked in. I was pretty amazed. The people in the store actually seemed normal. And their stuff was amazing. Beautiful dresses and suits and cowboy boots and such. Outfits that country music singers would wear. And they were not cheap. I remember seeing a beautiful suede dress for over $3,000. And this was a long time ago.
Despite that, they really were wierd. Tony's wife Susan died, and he wouldn't bury her, because he said she was going to rise from the dead. They had a nice house in a very nice neighborhood--it wasn't all that far from where I grew up. The Alamos got in trouble with the IRS and because of not paying their employees (imagine that!) and suddenly Tony seemed to disappear from the scene. His nice house burned down to the ground. Once he was arrested, you never heard about him again.
Until last weekend. Unbelievable.
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