no donut for you either

[SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim?]

LACON - After less than five months on the job, Wenona's police chief has
been charged with a felony criminal offense alleging he threatened a City
Council member with physical harm during a late-night confrontation at her
home.
Michael L. Walters, 55, allegedly threatened Nanzy Salz at about 10:15 p.m.
May 31, when he and City Administrator Bill Simmons went to her home to
challenge her on information she had been giving other council members about
the criminal record of a part-time officer hired by Walters.

The Marshall County grand jury indictment on one count of intimidation,
handed down Monday and unsealed Tuesday, accuses Walters of threatening to
inflict "physical harm" on Salz.

Salz told the Journal Star on Tuesday that Walters "pretty much said he was
going to stick his foot up my (expletive)."

Intimidation is a Class 3 felony punishable by probation to five years in
prison. Walters voluntarily appeared at the Sheriff's Department and posted
$100 cash bail Tuesday, a spokesperson said.

Walters did not return calls to his home in Colfax, where he was formerly
chief, or to Wenona city offices. But Simmons, who has not been charged with
anything, said Tuesday he did not believe the chief's actions that night
constituted a crime.

"He made a statement," said Simmons, who confirmed the gist of Salz's
account of that statement. "But Mike had no intention of bodily harming
her."

Walters had lost his job in Colfax in May 2004, when a new mayor refused to
reappoint him. He resigned as chief in Metamora in 1992 at the request of
village officials who said they had lost faith in his leadership abilities,
according to Journal Star records.

The latest incident arose after Salz gave other council members court
documents showing that a part-time officer hired by Walters, Allan
Smallwood, had been convicted of a crime in 2002 while working as a
part-time Woodford County sheriff's deputy. Smallwood initially was charged
with felony official misconduct for allegedly taking videotapes from a crime
scene he was guarding. He eventually pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of
misdemeanor theft under a plea agreement.

Simmons claimed Tuesday that he and Walters went to Salz's home to warn her
that her actions could expose her and the city to legal liability. Simmons
alleged that Salz had said Smallwood was convicted of a felony.

But Salz said all she did was give court documents to local officials. She
said Walters and Simmons threatened to sue her, and she maintained there was
no doubt that Walters was making a physical threat.

"Oh, yeah, he meant it as a threat. That was why he said it," she said. "He
threatened me with the city administrator standing there."

Smallwood lost his certification as a police officer and no longer works for
the department, Simmons said.

Salz sought the removal of Walters from his job at a July council meeting,
but her motion was voted down 5-1.

Simmons, who was mayor before becoming administrator, suggested the
council's vote of confidence was more meaningful than the indictment. And it
means Walters will remain in his job, he added.

"I don't know what (State's Atorney Paul Bauer) and the grand jury thought,"
Simmons said, "but I guess they don't know the people in this community like
we do."