Benjamin D. Bridges Sr. (August 30, 1940 – September 1, 2022)Ben Bridges Sr.
VoteSmart.org. Retrieved June 3, 2012. was a former Republican politician and one-time member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Bridges represented Georgia's 9th (1997-2001), then 7th (2001–2003), and then 10th (2003-2009) districts, based about the city of Cleveland, between 1997 and 2009. He was chairman of the House Retirement Committee and was replaced as the 10th district's representative by fellow Republican Rick Austin in 2008.

Biography

Born in 1940, Bridges graduated from high school in 1959 and received a barber license in 1960. He worked as a barber for six years before joining the Georgia State Patrol in 1966. He retired in 1995 with the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1997. He served in the House until 2008.

2007 anti-evolution controversy

In February 2007, Bridges was criticized by the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

and others for circulating a memo condemning evolution and

heliocentrism Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at ...

in the Georgia legislature. The memo claimed that: The memo also directed readers to the website of the

young Earth creationist Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between approximately 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. In its most widespr ...

Fair Education Foundation, which claims the Earth is not rotating or orbiting the Sun, and denies the existence of any stars or

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s outside the solar system.The Earth Is Not Moving
Fair Education Foundation. Retrieved May 18, 2013. Marshall Hall (1931–2013), the memo's author and the founder of the Fair Education Foundation, was the husband of Bridges' longtime campaign manager, Bonnie Hall.
. Texas Citizens for Science. February 16, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2012. Bridges claimed he had nothing to do with the memo, but Hall stated that he had Bridges' approval. Bridges said he did not necessarily disagree with Hall's viewpoint; he was quoted as saying, "I agree with it more than I would the Big Bang Theory or the Darwin Theory".Jeremy Redmon

''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. February 15, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2013. Bridges' memo was later circulated in the Texas legislature by the conservative Republican

Warren Chisum Warren D. Chisum (born July 4, 1938) is an American politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 to 2013. Legislative career Chisum started his political career as a Democrat, but he party switched to the Republican Par ...

Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

, the seat of Gray County in the Texas Panhandle.

References

External links

Voting record (2006–2008)
on VoteSmart
Fair Education Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Ben 1940 births Living people Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Barbers Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state) American creationists People from Madison County, Georgia People from Cleveland, Georgia 21st-century American legislators 21st-century Georgia (U.S. state) politicians