PUBLISHED SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18, 1997
Copyright 1997 The Pensacola News Journal. All
rights reserved
Hill's bio
fraught with fallacies
Revival leader
admits he inflated stories
By John W.
Allman
staff writer
Working the stage four nights a
week at Brownsville Assembly of God, his blue
eyes blazing and his right leg pumping like a
piston, Steve Hill relates to people by firing
off snippets of Scripture interspersed with
images from his own life.
One of his favorite message topics is:
"Each man writes his own legacy." Hill
has already endeavored to write his. It is his
autobiography, "Stone Cold Heart," that
colorfully details his ascent from a life of
crime and drugs.
Night after night at the Pensacola Brownsville
Revival, Hill repeats those same stories about
his past, quoting many of the details in his
book.
But the facts of his past often differ from
what he says and what he wrote.
- The self-proclaimed "former
junkie" and "heroin
addict" was never a heroin addict.
The
truth, which Hill admits, is that he
inflated the stories about his drug use
to make a bigger impression on audiences.
"I dont mean to call myself a
junkie. I call myself a drug
addict," he said during a recent
interview. "Heroin addict has more
of an impact on peoples lives when they
hear it."
- The man who says that from 1972 to 1975
he was arrested "13 times" has
only three arrests on his record in his
hometown of Huntsville, Ala.
When
asked to document the other arrests, Hill
told the News Journal that many were for
"crimes that were never solved"
and that they occurred in a number of
states, but he says he cant remember
specifics. For example, he said one
arrest was "on some campus" in
Tucson, Ariz. Pressed for further
details, Hill instead sketched vague
accounts of other misdeeds:
Hill said he was questioned but was
never detained in connection with the
murder of a Huntsville socialite.
Hill said he used to buy drugs from a
former police chief.
Hill said he broke into pharmacies to
steal drugs and was arrested once for
that crime.
But no records could be found to back
up his assertions.
- After graduating from high school in
1972, Hill said he wandered the country
for three years, working odd jobs and
using and selling drugs.
Yet,
according to employment records requested
by the News Journal, Hill worked a
full-time job in Huntsville during the
time he claims he was on the road.
- In his autobiography, Hill says he was
expelled from high school and implies it
happened more than once.
During a
recent interview, Hill said that never
happened.
Even minor details who opened a door,
who placed a telephone call are not
accurate and Hill admits it.
Hill told the News Journal that he
even made up names in his book.
Nowhere on the cover or inside the
book does he say that names have been
changed.
Nor does the book warn the reader that
the stories are anything other than what
they seem.
top of
page
|