Eldrin Bell to speak Sunday at Mt. Sinai
By W. WINSTON SKINNERwinston@newnan.com
Longtime Georgia lawman and political leader Eldrin Bell will be in Newnan on Sunday to speak at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church.
Bell will speak at the Lovelace Street church for the Sunday School Summit at 9:45 a.m. He was invited to Mt. Sinai by Hamilton Bohannon, an internationally known musician who has been a member of the church since boyhood.
Bohannon said having someone like Bell visit “helps to draw interest” to Mt. Sinai’s Sunday school program. The Sunday School Summit project is an effort at “trying to build the Sunday school up,” Bohannon said.
Bell and Bohannon have known each other for a half century. “I met him in the early ‘60’s,” Bohannon said. “I was a freshman at Clark College in Atlanta.”
Bohannon would walk his girlfriend down Hunter Street to a bus stop.
Bell “was a street cop,” Bohannon recalled. “He was always a friendly guy. We became instant friends.”
Bell received his undergraduate education at Morris Brown University and Georgia State University. Graduate studies were obtained at Harvard University Law School, Northwestern University Institute and Atlanta University.
Bell also received training at the FBI Academy and the National Executive Institute. He is a Secret Service Academy graduate and completed the Association County Commissioners of Georgia certification program.
Currently Bell is enrolled in the Certified Commissioners Advanced Program, better known as CCAP.
Bell is chairman of the Clayton County Commission. He was elected to the commission in November 2004, after serving in Atlanta law enforcement for 33 years.
Bell is a past chairman of Regional Transportation Planning Board, chairman of the Clayton County Regional Health Board, vice-chairman of the Transit and Transportation Board National Association of Counties, a Corner Stone board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, an associate member of the Gate City Bar Association and a life member of Clayton County NAACP.
Bell serves on the board of the Atlanta Regional Commission and chairs the ARC’s aging services committee.
Bell founded the Clayton County Library Foundation, and he spearheaded the 2008 special-purpose local-option sales tax effort in Clayton County.
Bell is an active member of Salem Bible Baptist Church in Atlanta. He is an ordained elder and is a government relations advisor to Jasper William Jr., Salem’s pastor.
Bell is the father of 11 children – seven of them adopted. He has 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Bohannon expressed appreciation to Stafford Dudley, Mt. Sinai’s pastor, and Clifford Durrah, the church’s Sunday school superintendent, for their involvement in the Sunday School Summit project. Durrah “gave me permission to do this,” Bohannon said of his inviting notable people he knows to visit the church.
There are plans to invite others who have crossed Bohannon’s path to Mt. Sinai as the Sunday School Summit moves forward. “We’re going to continue that from time-to-time,” Bohannon said.
