Paul Davis: Teel does city a favor, will not seek re-election

Paul Davis
Columnist
Published: June 2, 2008

The Rev. Jerry Teel has done the people of Opelika a huge favoring by announcing that he will not seek re-election as president of the Opelika City Council.

He had indicated to many that he didn’t plan to seek re-election (thank God), but here lately others have said he might take the plunge if no one declares for that seat. That seems to be his only source of a regular paycheck. His has told the Opelika-Auburn News that he will not run. He can’t run and he can’t hide, either.

For a city as lovely as Opelika to have such sorry leadership in the seat of city council president has truly been a travesty. Teel has lost almost every job he’s had in recent years, was removed as pastor of the last church he served and owes thousands in back state and federal taxes.

Recently, Teel and his wife had another judgment filed again them in the amount of $42,745 for debts, interest and court fees. Somehow, he is able to keep getting folks to loan him money.

The latest debt was from a loan provided by Jerry J. Johnson of Opelika. Teel, in an e-mail to Johnson’s lawyer, correspondence which is part of the court file, promised Johnson that the debit would be paid in full, including interest, on or before April 30.

It was not paid, according to Johnson’s attorney, Larry Ray. The circuit court clerk also has no record of the payment.

Teel, who now says he has a company called Teel Marketing, has also defaulted on bank loans and car loans and even was accused of misusing a City of Opelika credit card. He paid tuition to Auburn University for his daughter with the city’s card. He said he made a mistake. He’s made bushels of them. He repaid the city for the tuition.

The bill for his daughter’s classes went to the city for payment. He just flipped out the wrong credit card. That’s all. Yeah, right!

When the city brought it to his attention, he wrote a check and paid it back, Opelika’s Mayor Gary Fuller explained.

The people of Opelika deserve a better public official to serve as president of its council.

The next city council president had better call for a thorough city audit before taking that post. I truly believe there have been many other shady or questionable deals under the current administration. I don’t have any proof, yet.

But I’m still looking. The city has had a pretty cozy relationship with folks like Roy Johnson of Opelika and former head of the state’s disgraced junior college system. Johnson has confessed his sins and now is implicating others. I wonder how many names we’ll easily recognize if and when Johnson comes clean.

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Restaurateur Don DeMent seems intent on developing new restaurants as quickly as he turns out his signature sandwiches seven days a week at Momma Goldberg’s Deli on Magnolia Avenue in Auburn.

He’s fed thousands of Auburn University students his famous kosher-style sandwiches and now he’s expanding big time. There’s a new store in downtown Auburn on Thach Avenue. Now, he’s franchising his operation with new stores in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville and Dothan. There are 19 stores on the drawing board.

Five more are planned in Birmingham. He and his associates are thinking big. There will be stores in Tuscaloosa (can you sell a kosher-style, Auburn-born sandwich in Tide town) and four more in Huntsville. There is to be one or more in LaGrange, Ga., plus stores in Mobile and Montgomery. Heck, an Auburn grad has even asked about franchising a Momma Goldberg’s Deli in Boulder, Co.

Dement is like a kid with a new toy. His deli has the distinction of being the oldest eating spot in the city that has been open continuously for 32 years under a single ownership. The Barbecue House on College Street is about to observe its 30th birthday.

The name Goldberg? It was shipped in from Birmingham where his boss, on one of DeMent’s first jobs, was Chester Goldberg in the furniture department at Pizitz.

“I started out on a wing and a prayer. I bought my corner on Magnolia Avenue for $37,500. The folks at J&M Bookstore had bought it a year earlier (for $18,500) but decided they did not want to expand. Folks laughed at me for paying what I did. They said I got “took,” he chuckles. The corner today must be worth a million.

Paul Davis writes a Sunday column for the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be contacted at