Avoiding the Constitution: Lieutenant Governor, Jefferson County Sheriff Candidates

OPINION: I’m tired. I’m worn down. After years as a conservative voter, I’m an independent—because neither party matches my values. Both parties seem to hate me when I talk about our freedoms under the Constitution.

Americans and Alabamians are being played for fools—and I’m done conforming to deceivers on either side, and I refuse to play along.

Recently, the US Constitution has become a dirty word to Christians and Conservatives. Conservative favorite politicians' statements seem to not align well with our nation's supreme law anymore. It is a situation where instead of admitting deception, standing firm on our values, we are re-shaping our values to fit the politics or politician of choice.

• I firmly believe that Christians and Conservatives have abandoned their values. It's subject to who does something, rather than what they do now. Firmly into identity politics now.
• Christians are now known more for who they vote for, not for the savior. In fact a lot of people use churchy words when being hateful to others on social media.
• Our nation and churches are both broken, and needs repair.

Recently, I've seen both Christians and conservatives celebrating death of people they don't like. I've seen people celebrating saying "FAFO" about US Citizens who were in the wrong place at the wrong time (one was a 6 month old), and just being vile people overall.

I am ashamed.... and that drove me to declaring as an Independent.
I can't tolerate that as a Christian. It's also illogical.

My Goal in This Article

I'm not here to tell anyone who to vote for. I'm sharing information from my personal conversations with candidates (so far). I wanted to first inform myself, and help my wife out, who works her tail off and has no time to research.

Method matters sometimes. I started by telling the candidates that I've been a conservative for 20 years, to let them know that I think like them, that I don't oppose or hate them. Then, I asked my questions.

In the wake of the whole ICE kerfuffle in Minnesota, the question for the day is... as a conservative, a Christian, and/or as a candidate:
Will you abandon or stand firm and support the US Constitution, when it is not convenient or politically expedient?

Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama

Jacob "J.J." Reach, Party Unknown.

My Assessment: 👟 < a sneaker.

The snag: He didn't verbalize support for the US Constitution when asked in generality, but wants to swear the oath of office to uphold it?
Not good enough for me. I hope that changes.

His Facebook page has some thin blue line imagery, painted over a shield with the US Flag on it. In this day and age, that symbolism is a bit of a dividing line between citizen and law enforcement.

If you read any comment thread on social media, where something horrible happens to someone, no matter how innocent that person actually is, it's telling how conservatives think today. "If only they just complied with my constitutional violation, they wouldn't have been hurt!"

As a contrast, Mike Hale made deputies articulate to him the reason why an officer did certain things where the Constitution applies. It was an "it depends" situation, rather than an absolute bias. I liked that about Sheriff Hale.

There simply isn't a lot to see on the website about the things I care about as a voter, on the "Issues" page. I started a conversation with Mr. Reach when I saw him on a Facebook ad, excited that someone conservative was running against Mark Pettway.

The Conversation:

Not a lot of discussion. I asked for permission to ask a "pointy" question, and he replied "sure." My question had a foundation of issues in unincorporated Jefferson County. Local corruption, JCSO's failure to function or enforce municipal ordinances, and unchecked felons who brazenly carry weapons they are prohibited from carrying.

My questions:

1. Under your administration, will your department provide proper law enforcement functions for small communities like ours.
2. As sheriff, will you require your officers to have respect for the US Constitution's restrictions on what officers can do, even when it isn't convenient or expedient, upholding individual citizen rights?

His lengthy response indicated that he wants to make sure unincorporated areas have proper coverage, citing the current administration reallocating deputies to municipalities who have their own police force.

Fair.

He addressed the issue about individuals who should not have weapons under current law.

Ok.

As to the Constitutional question, I don't think I saw a direct answer. That, is telling.

I would respectfully request any concerns with lack of response or addressing the situation or complaint to your satisfaction to notify me personally as your sheriff.

My administration will be completely transparent and addressing concerns directly and not passing the buck.

If there is no violation, there is no complaint. A sheriff should not fear the Constitution, not avoid it, and should be very comfortable with that. I wanted a stronger answer.

He closed by saying that he looks forward to a meet and greet, which I may or may not attend. I can't get excited for someone who wants to be a Constitutional sheriff, who will swear an oath of office that includes upholding that US Constitution, with no willingness to acknowledging it - or strongly supporting officers in adhering to it or obeying the Constitution of our nation, and our State of Alabama.

Campaign:

Jacob “Jj” Reach - For Sheriff

For Sheriff

Photo of Mr. Reach being promoted with Mr. Pettway:
https://www.facebook.com/jeffcosheriffal/posts/hard-work-never-goes-unnoticed-at-the-jcso-congratulations-to-newly-promoted-cap/10157039118038576/

Interesting public information. I won't pretend anyone is innocent in the following.... However, there was a civil rights lawsuit against Mr. Reach and a few others. Seems like there was some discussion of mistakenly issued warrants. I'm not a legal expert, but it looks like the court granted qualified immunity. My opinion is, qualified immunity should be abolished, because it allows for rampant abuse under a doctrine of "oops, I didn't know it was wrong."

References if you want to dig:
https://www.juryverdicts.net/LeslieHillPRemitReply.pdf
https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/files/201513592.pdf
https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama/supreme-court/2020/1180370.html
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/9054305/Leslie_Hill_v_Mike_Hale%2C_et_al
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-ca11-15-13592/USCOURTS-ca11-15-13592-0

Lieutenant Governor of the State of Alabama

Pastor Dean Odle (R), 58 - "The Anti-Establishment Republican"

My assessment: 🐺 != 🐑

Born in Tulsa, OK, Rev. Odle is the first person I had a conversation with, regarding his run for the Lieutenant Governor's position. So many red flags.

At the time, I saw a Facebook ad, and had not seen anything about him previously. I hadn't even seen his dissertation on the flat Earth. 🤪

CHRISTIANS really need to be careful. Church spiritual abuse is real.
Anyone can just wear a Christian-looking title, use churchy sounding jargon, and actually be a deceiver or abuser, which we were warned about so many times in the Bible:

• Matthew 24:4-5: Jesus warns, "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many".
  It was important enough for Jesus to say. Maybe Christians should listen?
• Matthew 7:15: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves".
• 2 Timothy 3:13: "Evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived".
• 1 Timothy 4:1-2: "The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons".
• 2 Corinthians 11:3-4: Warns against being corrupted from the simplicity in Christ, as the serpent deceived Eve, and warns of those who preach "another Jesus" or "another gospel". 
• ...and more.

The Dean Odle discussion summarized:

I have screenshots so he can't escape this, in case the veracity of the below is challenged... Not my first rodeo.

1. If elected, how will you ensure fair elections?

"Wow! Fixing our elections is a BIG part of why I’m running for Lt. Governor. I would love to meet you and hear more."

2. Does an ICE agent need reasonable articulable suspicion to detain and ID someone, who is inside of the border of the USA?
   Notes on "Why this question?":
   This was a bit of a test question, to see how well Rev. Odle supports the US Constitution, which he would need to swear an oath to, in order to assume office. We want officials who understand that the Constitution is not optional, nor is it a suggestion. It is supreme law. We want officials to follow the Constitution even when it is uncomfortable or not expedient.
   
   Under current case law, ignored or not, all policing/law enforcement in peacetime America without a declared war or martial law requires reasonable articulable suspicion in order to detain or ID a citizen. Alabama is not a stop and ID state, and even those states still have a standard that must be met, per the US Supreme Court.
   
   He seemed to not answer, so I followed up, and received a response:

I haven’t read what’s in their jurisdiction in great detain so I don’t know. But don’t get testy with me…I’m very busy. I can’t get to every email, message or comment every day. Neither can I live on my computer 24/7.

I was a bit taken back by Rev. Odle's response and tone, so I informed him of what I was looking for, and thanked him for helping me make an "informed decision" to gracefully withdraw from the conversation. He responded to that:

Illegals do not get afforded the same Constitutional rights as US citizens. So it all depends on the situation. And yes sometimes I get to read and email or message but then I am called away or something happens and don’t get answer. It’s tough to run for statewide office without the big staff and millions of dollars. Sorry for my impatience with you. I have had a rough couple of weeks.

I dug in a little more, noting that not every person detained is actually an illegal, and you can't reasonably assume so. In a free America, we can't just be randomly detaining people without reasonable suspicion of crime, based solely on appearances, instantly deciding they don't get Constitutional rights. He had a response to that:

Article 4 paragraph 4 gives the federal government the responsibility to protect the states from foreign invasion. Of course Biden allowed it. Hundreds of thousands of military age men flooded into our country. These included Chinese, Arabs, and Latin individuals. So how do you propose the federal government clean up this mess? Posse Comitatus refers to not using the military in domestic problems unless the President invokes the Insurrection Act. But it is impossible to try to clean up this invasion without some bad things happening. But as an American, do I want them to clean it up? Yes I do.

It was at this point that I saw the contempt that he had to my line of reasoning and questioning. I indicated to him that I agree with deporting illegals and arresting those obstructing justice. Just not with improper detainment.

The conversation went into DARVO territory (deflect, accuse, and reverse victim and offender). This is a tactic of abusers and narcissism.

I advised him that at this point, I can't vote for him in good conscience. He became hostile at this point, and I pointed that out.

Hostile? You sound like you need a safe space.

My response was, acknowledging the personal attack, wishing him luck, and expressing disappointment that my own party is eating itself. He wasn't done though.

You can send a personal attack at me but I can’t respond…that’s a Democrat MO.

At this point, Rev. Odle has annoyed me. I expected better of a pastor... or a regular person. Conversation was functionally over, but I shared my favorite Skillet song with him, and I did so before I had a clue he was into the End Times Prophecy stuff....

Juxtapose the conversation that I had, with Reverend Odle's rather sizeable social media presences.

All of the following are published on Ballotpedia, public information:

1. https://www.odleforltgovernor.com/ - Campaign Website
   Invokes the American Revolution.
2. https://www.facebook.com/DeanOdle2026 - Facebook Page
   Where my conversation happened, via Facebook Messenger.
3. https://x.com/PastorDean67 - X
4. https://www.instagram.com/deanodle111/ - Instagram
5. https://www.youtube.com/@OdleforLt.Governor2026 - Youtube
   Clearly some language that self-aligns with President Donald Trump, with "Drain the Swamp" 8 months ago in a Youtube video headline with the Escambia County Republican Party. When I see that, I view it almost as coat tail riding, and a warning sign.
   I have noted that the embattled/controversial Walker County Sheriff, Nick Smith, did something similar during campaigns, and called the investigation into the death of Tony Mitchell, and non-APOSTC certified officers in schools as "a witch hunt."
6. He's got a tiktok - pastor.dean.odle.
7. https://www.facebook.com/dean.odle - Personal, but he has some interesting church sermons... and a Dean Odle Europe channel?
8. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-odle-802a3477/ - LinkedIn
   Founder and Sr. Pastor of Fire & Grace Church and FGSM

More public information: This is where it gets interesting.

I'd like to know how a church that barely occupies the footprint of one house, can afford to do all this.

1. BONUS Rev. Odle's church: Fire and Grace Church, Opelika.
2. BONUS Rev. Odle's Ministry School.
3. BONUS Dean Odle Ministries. and... conferences featuring cosmology and end time prophecy. Sermon/video archive there as well.
4. Islam and Communism - Reads like a conspiracy.
5. News Media:
   1. 2022 Campaign News Article: https://www.cbs42.com/news/politics/your-local-election-hq/watch-dean-odle-talks-alabama-governor-campaign/
   2. 2025 Article: https://www.al.com/news/2025/01/anti-establishment-republican-pastor-announces-run-for-alabama-lieutenant-governor.html
   3. 2025 Article: https://www.alabamagazette.com/story/2025/04/01/podcasts/dean-odle-discusses-what-he-perceives-as-corruption-and-other-topics/6155.html
      Of course! The earth is young, flat, and the moon landing was fake!
   4. 2026 Article: https://alpolitics.com/dean-odle-president-trump-is-putting-the-teeth-back-into-the-monroe-doctrine/

As if there weren't enough red flags.

Mr Odle's church denomination is indicated as non-denominational, but references the Pentecostal bird symbol in its insignia.

Some, but not all churches with this insignia say that if you don't speak in tongues/gibberish, you aren't confirmed to be a Christian or have salvation through Jesus Christ yet.

There was a slight red flag in a Google Review, which is that person's opinion, but it seems to check out.

Reverend Odle REALLY struck a nerve somewhere. How much of this is true, I don't know... but it is disturbing.
He has a Facebook page someone created about him:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063469335413

Then there's.... Dean Odle's Oodles:

Nonetheless, he seems to have plans? I found these parcels, when I was trying to find the church. I found his family home, which I won't show.

Here's the actual parcel where the church is below.... A&P Holdings, LLC. Interesting, worth a deeper dive.

On Google, A&P Holdings appears to be categorized as an apartment rental agency.
https://share.google/6a7CSDhV2xVOWwo4d

Sylvan Springs, AL - Mayor: The predetermined election.

Election is already over in August 2025. First election in 20 years, and the mayor and town council made sure to shut down all election related talk on the town's previously open Facebook page, by disabling all comments.

Some citizens said they were scared to go vote - their words, not mine, because of who was running the polls. People friendly to the incumbent only.

What can one do? The citizens tolerated it.

Conclusion

Alabama has a democrat, and a republican choice for many elections. However there isn't a lot of differentiation. It is difficult to get these candidates to unequivocally support our nation's Constitution, to which they would have to swear an oath to.

When a politician does not want to support the most basic founding document, our country's supreme law, that is a problem that indicates we are headed down the wrong path.

We will cover more as we learn more, and have more discussions.