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	Dublin Pastor Says He'll Fight Charges of Child Sexual Abuse By Tim Thornton The Roanoke Times [Virginia] October 21, 2006 http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/wb/xp-88003 Radford - Standing in his sock feet just inside the front door of his modest house, Hawthorne Reed Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church across the river in Dublin, said Friday he plans to fight the accusation that he sexually abused a child. Reed is charged with two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child younger than 13, all linked to incidents that allegedly occurred in July 2000. "They're not true," Reed said of the charges. "Anybody could make allegations. I'm going to fight this stuff in court." Reed said he knew the people who accused him, but didn't know why they did it. "Who knows what goes on in people's minds?" he said. Outside the 61-year-old preacher's house on a dead-end Radford street, a trio of small dogs roamed the yard, playing near a sign that urges voters to support a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman. Reed said he continues to preach and has received support from his congregation and the community. "The people that know me know that I'm not that type of person," he said. As for people who don't know him, "You can't stop people from thinking what they're going to think." Everett Shockley, Reed's attorney, has filed a discovery motion that says, in part, the charges against Reed are so vague that he cannot defend himself against them. They give no indication of exactly what is alleged to have happened or where it is supposed to have taken place. Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak was unavailable for comment Friday. Reed became disabled earlier this year, according to court documents. He said it wasn't an accident that ended his working days. "It's where my body wore out," he said. Reed wouldn't say where he used to work or how long he's been in the area, but he did say he was born in Radford and moved away for a time. Reed was indicted Sept. 12 and arrested two days later. Free on $7,500 bond, he is due back in court Dec. 5 for more motions and to set a trial date. According to court documents, Reed was charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling and assault and battery sometime in the past. He declined to comment on those charges. "There's lots of things people have done when they was young," he said.
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