MARRIED AREA MINISTER MAKES ROOM IN HIS LIFE TO TAKE A SECOND WIFE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 12, 1993                   TAG: 9301120119
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium
MARRIED AREA MINISTER MAKES ROOM IN HIS LIFE TO TAKE A SECOND WIFE
Elwood Gallimore just "married" a 16-year-old girl, and he says his wife doesn't mind.
But Floyd and Henry county authorities may have a problem with it.
Gallimore, minister of Evangelistic Tabernacle in the Henry County community of Bassett Forks, watched Friday as Virginia State Police seized 426 videotapes from a house on church property.
Gallimore is suspected of practicing bigamy, conducting marriages without a license and contributing to the delinquency of a child, according to a search warrant on file in Henry County.
Police hope to find evidence on the videotapes that Gallimore performed marriages for church members who already had spouses, according to the search warrant.
Gallimore, who has a 25-year-old son, said Monday that he has no license to prove his recent marriage to the 16-year-old girl.
That marriage, he said, was conducted as others in the Evangelistic Tabernacle have been. "If a man's already got a wife and he wanted to get another," Gallimore said in describing the marriage, "you just ask her.
"If she accepts, we consider that `what God's drawn together, let no man put asunder.' "
He said he and other men in his church who have two wives are not breaking Virginia law, because the marriages are "in God's eyes."
The search warrant indicates that a Floyd County girl alerted authorities to the goings-on.
No charges have been filed. Henry County prosecutor Bob Bushnell said the situation could raise questions that have no legal precedent in Virginia.
"There are limits as to the extent to which a law of religious beliefs can allow people to violate the criminal law," Bushnell said.
Floyd County prosecutor Gino Williams would not comment on the investigation.
The Evangelistic Tabernacle practices the Holiness faith, Gallimore said. Its members adhere strictly to the Bible, including Old Testament references to the hundreds of wives of David and Solomon. He said his church does not recommend that men have dozens of wives. But two is fine.
"People live together, shack up, every day of the week," he said, "and people don't consider it against the law at all."
He said he has been minister of the church for five years. He admits he is not licensed, but denies having conducted marriages.
The videotapes the police confiscated are merely recordings of church services, Gallimore said.
He explained that his new bride is so young because the Bible dictates "she has to be a virgin."
Asked if he, his longtime wife and his 16-year-old bride live in the same house, Gallimore responded:
"No, not as of yet. If the law ever gets off our backs and leaves us alone . . ."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB