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Sunday, 23 December 2007

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Uncle: Time for Casey to put on 'man shoes'

Pastor speaks out about his nephew

The uncle to Casey Aldridge, the father of Jamie Lynn Spears' baby, says his nephew should accept responsibility for the pregnancy.

"I'd like to tell Casey that he may not like it, but it's time for him to put on the man shoes," Odus Jackson tells PEOPLE in an interview from his office at the Galilee Baptist Church in Gloster, Miss.

Jackson, who serves as the pastor there, says he's trying to reach out to his nephew, who is planning to be in Tennessee with his parents for Christmas. Jackson would not say exactly where Aldridge is, but a source close to the family tells PEOPLE that the 18-year-old Gloster native is not in Louisiana or Mississippi.

"I don't want to get in their family business, and I don't think they want me in their family business," Jackson says, "but there's going to be a baby involved, and [Casey] has responsibilities."

Jackson says it's not up to him to say if Aldridge and Spears should get married. "There are a lot of things that are in the way [and] that will make it tough to last," he says.

Spears, who is 16, has been with Casey for at least two years, according to Jackson. She was with the Aldridge family on Thanksgiving when she and Casey went hunting. She was also with her boyfriend at the last two Aldridge family New Year's Eve parties. "I don't think she'll be with us this year," Odus adds, referring to all of the media attention that is now focused on the family.

Jackson says he and the Aldridges have been inundated with calls from media outlets since Spears and her mother Lynne went public with the pregnancy earlier this week.

"We don't have anything to hide," Jackson says about his decision to talk about his nephew and his famous girlfriend. "We've all done things in our lives we're ashamed of, things people never know about. But if this wasn't the Spears family – a famous family – no one would be making this kind of deal about it."

By Mark Lambert