By Associated Press
Guntersville, AL – Authorities are trying to find a woman who phoned in a death threat to the chairman of the Marshall County Commission and missed a Tuesday deadline to apologize.
Billy Cannon said a woman called him Sunday from a blocked number and shouted a string of profanities. She then told him that if he allowed a new junk ordinance to pass on Monday, she would make sure he was dead before the end of the week, according to The Sand Mountain Reporter.
Cannon said threatening a public official is a federal offense. At the commission's meeting Monday, he called on the woman to turn herself in by Tuesday afternoon or face state and federal charges.
He said that if she apologized by Tuesday afternoon, no charges would be filed. She missed the deadline and could now spend six months in jail if convicted once she is found.
Acting Chief Deputy Doug Gibbs told The Reporter that extra deputies were present at Monday's meeting as a precaution.
With District 1 Commissioner Douglas D. Fleming abstaining, the commission voted to approve the county's new junk ordinance. But some questions were raised about whether it had been properly publicized as required by law, so the commission decided to vote on it again on Feb. 26.
Notices stating the commission's intention to adopt the proposed ordinance are set to appear in each of the county's three newspapers in the meantime.
A small group of citizens who oppose the ordinance attended Monday's meeting but were not allowed to speak. They said they oppose the ordinance because they say it is a question of property rights. They also said they did not believe Monday's vote was legal.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)