Friday, November 2, 2001
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Friday, November 2, 2001 |
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Heated e-mail exchange over letter to editor ends with report to PTC police By JOHN
MUNFORD You know politics are getting dirty when the cops are called in. Peachtree City Councilman Dan Tennant filed a complaint with police last week, alleging he was threatened by former mayoral candidate Fred Wellman in an e-mail that compared Tennant to terrorists. The two exchanged heated e-mails after Tennant attacked a fellow council member in a letter to the editor that was published last week. In the letter, Tennant attacked Carol Fritz, who is running for reelection, urging voters to vote for "ABC-Anybody But Carol." Wellman was not arrested in conjunction with the Oct. 26 complaint. He found out about the complaint the next day when a police officer called him at work and asked him to provide a written statement for the file. When the officer called, Wellman said his first response to Tennant's allegation was to laugh. "Honestly, I laughed because I knew I hadn't (threatened Tennant)," Wellman said. "I think Mr. Tennant thought it would be a great way to get me off his back." Tennant told The Citizen Thursday morning that he perceived part of the following statements from Wellman's e-mail as a direct threat: "... I am still a believer in civility and respect. But I have learned that some people don't understand what respect means and sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Like our current enemy. They do not understand that we all should get along. We will have to fight them in a way they understand. The same is for you. You don't believe in civility and respect except to hide behind it and try to use it against me. You have foolishly believed that my calls for an end to the fighting means I am afraid of a fight. I an not and I am not afraid of you." "He is an officer in the U.S. military," Tennant said. "Their stated policy is to hunt them (the terrorists) down and kill them. ... After re-reading the e-mail, I could reasonably interpret Mr. Wellman was making a threat on my personal safety and welfare." Tennant said he has not decided whether he wants to press charges against Wellman. "I'm still uneasy thinking about having to run into that guy," Tennant said. Wellman admits the e-mails violated his pledge for civility, which was part of his campaign before he withdrew so he could serve in the military after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. "I'm not feuding with Dan Tennant ... I am just disenchanted with him," Wellman said. "Maybe he thought by getting charges filed against me that he would intimidate me." As for last week's letter to the editor about Fritz, Tennant said he wrote it with humor and sarcasm to keep the attention of readers. Wellman said he didn't like the style in which Tennant wrote the letter. "I thought it was over the top," Wellman said. "It wasn't the content so much as it was the tone. I was completely offended. This guy represents our city and he's doing this ... a sitting council member attacking another sitting council member." Wellman said he doesn't want public officials representing him to bash other public officials in public. Tennant maintains his letter to the editor stuck to provable facts and he felt compelled to speak out about Fritz's voting record. Fritz said Wednesday evening that she will refrain from commenting on Tennant's letter. "I just have nothing to say about that right now," Fritz said. Tennant said Wellman harbors ill will towards him because Tennant decided to endorse another mayoral candidate, Steve Brown. "He did a lot to help me in my campaign and I want to help him," Tennant said of Brown. Mayor Bob Lenox, who presides over the City Council meetings, said Tennant's history of writing negative letters has made it difficult to get council business done. "For the two years Mr. Tennant has been on council, that letter is indicative of his attitude," Lenox said. "He has basically attacked me, Annie (McMenamin) and Carol but he hasn't done it to Steve Rapson yet. ... I don't mind disagreement, but what I do oppose is smearing somebody with half-truths and untruths who is doing the best job they can." For his part, Tennant still believes "it was worth it" to write last week's letter about Fritz. "It was straight from the heart," he said.
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