‘Terrorism’ letter angers officials

Dan Kulin

Friday, May 9, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.

A four-page letter titled "Freedom From Terrorism: Micro-Terrorists Blight Boulder City, Nevada," and mailed to city voters in the last week is full of lies and may violate state election laws, Boulder City Attorney Dave Olsen said Thursday.

Olsen and other city officials called a press conference at City Hall Thursday to denounce the letter, which had "Public-Service Election Information" printed across the top.

Most of the letter is about the deterioration of Lovely Lane at the hands of an unruly and messy household, described as "a clan of micro-terrorists," who leave junk and junked vehicles around their property. Toward the end of the letter the author criticizes the mayor, City Council members, the city manager and the city attorney and calls for a new group of elected officials.

Olsen said the letter was penned by a convicted felon, not a Ph.D., but he also said he believes "there's someone else behind him," Olsen said.

Mayoral candidate Bill Smith said Olsen is implying his campaign is somehow behind the letter.

"They're doing their best to make people think that I'm behind it. That's the reason for their press conference," Smith said.

Smith, a former councilman, said he had nothing to do with the letter, and has never heard of the man city officials say was the author.

Olsen said: "Nobody said Bill Smith was involved in any way."

Mayor Bob Ferraro, who said he doesn't know if Smith was involved with the letter, said the letter was intended to hurt the incumbents in the June 3 general election.

The election features the race for mayor between Ferraro and Smith. Also, four candidates are vying for two spots on the council, incumbent Bryan Nix, Karla Burton, Roger Tobler and Kevin Polk.

Mailing letters to the city's 9,399 registered voters would cost $3,000 to $4,000, Ferraro said.

"Where's he getting this money? I don't know. But I thought there might be more people behind this," he said.

Olsen said the letter might violate election laws against publishing political material under someone else's name. The secretary of state's office was sent a copy of the letter, he said.

According to the letter, the author is a Dr. John Flint who used a Boulder City post office box as a return address. But city officials said there is no Dr. John Flint, or Lovely Lane, in Boulder City.

Boulder City Police Lt. William Brown said Flint is an alias for a resident who in the early 1990s spent 10 months in prison for filing a false tax return and for tax evasion. Brown said the man has lived in Boulder City since at least 1979.

Brown and city Code Enforcement Officer Larry Markotay said they also recognized the complaints in the letter as identical to those made by the same man who uses Flint as an alias.

Markotay said the city addressed the man's complaints about his messy neighbor last August and hasn't heard from the man since then.

The man identified by police as the author has an unlisted phone number, and did not answer the door at his home Thursday afternoon.

Olsen said city officials had to publicly denounce the letter to make sure people knew it was not accurate.

The letter has prompted dozens of citizens to call city leaders or City Hall.

Ferraro said he's received roughly 50 calls about the letter.

"I don't think many believed it, but they questioned it," he said.

City Manager John Sullard said his office received about 10 calls and the city clerk's office received even more.

"We got a lot of calls from people worried about the word micro-terrorists," Sullard said.

An unsophisticated voter could be fooled by the letter, especially because it purports to have been written by someone with a doctoral degree, Olsen said.

"That lends an aura of credibility to it," he said.

"We want to make sure people know the incident he is alluding to in general and artistic terms was resolved last year by the city," Olsen said. "The letter is misleading and false and just plain wrong."