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.