Former 'Ukiah boy' to star in inaugural

Long before he became the controversial high-profile evangelical minister chosen to deliver President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural invocation, Rick Warren was spreading the faith at Ukiah High School

"Tom was a Ukiah boy," said Ron Selim, a retired teacher who began his career in 1972, the year Warren graduated from Ukiah High School.

The Ukiah boy now is at the center of a national brouhaha over Obama's selection of a speaker who holds conservative views on abortion and same-sex marriage.

On Thursday, Obama called on Americans to "come together, even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues." He defended his selection of Warren, a choice that has angered some supporters.

"We're not going to agree on every single issue, but what we have to do is be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable, and then focus on those things that we hold in common," Obama said at a Chicago news conference.

"There are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented, because that's what America is about," he said. He noted veteran civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also would speak at the inauguration.

Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, is widely known for the best-selling "The Purpose Driven Life" and other books. His selection this week to give the inaugural invocation drew protests from the Human Rights Campaign, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights group.

Warren's Texas-based public relations firm, ALR communications, said Warren was too busy to grant an interview.

Warren, the son of a Southern Baptist minister, helped start the Ukiah chapter of the religious group Fishers of Men, said Selim, who has kept in touch with Warren's sister, Chaundel Holladay.

Holladay and her husband, Tom, also from Ukiah, are an integral part of Warren's Southern California mega-church.

Warren was student body president in the fall of his senior year, according to the Ukiah High yearbook. By all accounts, he excelled in school and was highly focused on his future.

"He always said he was going to have a church. He certainly did it," said former classmate Steve Gomes, a Ukiah real estate developer.

Warren's Orange County church has multiple campuses and boasts an average weekly attendance of 22,000. Time magazine's August issue featured Warren on its cover, calling him America's "most powerful religious leader."

Among Warren's critics is Joe Solmonese, president of the national Human Rights Campaign.

"By inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table," he said in a letter to Obama.

Warren angered the gay community by endorsing California's successful Proposition 8, which amends the state Constitution to declare that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Obama opposed Proposition 8, although he, like Warren, opposes same-sex marriages. Aides said Obama believes such state constitutional amendments can threaten same-sex civil unions, which he does support.

Some Mendocino County Democrats also were less than thrilled with Obama's selection.

"I am disappointed. On the West Coast here, we really feel like we're a part of the progressive edge and we saw (Obama) as the progressive candidate," said Val Muchowski, a member of the Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee.

"It seems strange to choose someone like that to open your ceremonies," she said.

But for others, the excitement of a local boy being chosen for such an honor is what counts.

"It's amazing," Gomes said. "It's exciting. We talk about our wine when it hits the White House. Why not our alumni?" Selim said.

This story includes information from the Chicago Tribune. You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson

@pressdemocrat.com.