Mumpower's Little Flower

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:00:00 -0500

A piece of Dome trivia sent some readers on a weekend trip.

Bloggers with Scrutiny Hooligans, a left-leaning Web site based in Asheville, were intrigued by an item in our profile of Congressional candidate Carl Mumpower.

In the trivia section, we noted that Mumpower, a Baptist, owns The Church of the Little Flower, a Catholic church in Sodom, N.C.

In the ensuing road trip, the bloggers write that they learned that Mumpower bought the 40-acre property 13 years ago with an eye to convert it for weekend retreats, but his grandfather, a Baptist minister, insisted that he keep it consecrated.

So Mumpower spent "a good deal of time and money" fixing it up:

He has let many different people use the Church and the surrounding property for free - up until recently there were bi-weekly services held in the church, and a troop of local Boy Scouts have used the surrounding acreage for camping trips.

Mumpower is running for the Republican nomination to face U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler.