Attorney: Eddie Long's wife proceeds with divorce

[December 03, 2011]  DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- An attorney for the wife of Bishop Eddie Long says she is moving forward with plans to end her 21-year marriage to the embattled Georgia megachurch pastor.

In a statement issued late Friday, Vanessa Long's attorney says "she has determined that dismissal of her divorce petition is not appropriate at this time." Earlier Friday, she said in a statement released through Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church that she loves her husband and planned to withdraw her petition.

According to the divorce petition filed Thursday in DeKalb Superior Court, the couple is "currently living in a bona fide state of separation." The split comes more than a year after allegations that Eddie Long used his lavish lifestyle and position of spiritual authority to lure four young men into sexual relationships. Eddie Long settled the cases but has never admitted to any wrongdoing.

[Associated Press; By ERRIN HAINES]

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