• By JAMES MINTON
• Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
• Published: Oct 31, 2009 - Page: 4B

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CLINTON — The chairman of a group attempting to oust Wilson Mayor Joshua L. Thomas from office submitted Friday a recall petition to the East Feliciana Parish registrar of voters.

Registrar Edwin Lea McGehee said Timothy Perry, the group’s chairman, told him the petition contained the signatures of 206 Wilson voters, but McGehee said he won’t be able to give an official count until Monday or Tuesday.

In a related matter, a spokesman for Sheriff Talmadge Bunch said deputies are investigating reported threats against recall backers.

Sheriff’s Detective Don McKey said the calls came from an East Louisiana State Mental Health System facility in Jackson, and detectives are trying to determine the department where they originated.

Thomas, 25, took office July 1, and the recall petition began circulating Aug. 3. The deadline for submitting the petition to McGehee is Nov. 2.

The mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the petition.

“We realize he’s not what we need,” Perry said, adding that voters question whether Thomas actually lives in Wilson.

Perry said Thomas does not respect the Board of Aldermen and got rid of several employees from whom he could have learned how the municipal government works.

“He’s dumb enough to fire the district attorney, who’s doing free (legal) work, and then try to hire someone from Port Allen,” Perry said.

Board members Harriet T. Sensley and Eunice Smiley said earlier this month that Thomas ordered a village employee to lock them out of the municipal building when they tried to hold a special meeting on Oct. 1. The three members held the meeting outside on the sidewalk.

Because fewer than 1,000 voters live in the municipality, the mayor’s opponents need the signatures of 40 percent of the voters to force a recall election.

McGehee said 415 active voters were registered in Wilson on Aug. 3, meaning the petition must have 166 valid signatures to result in an election.

He said he and the deputy registrar will compare each signature to the voter’s signature on their registration card to decide whether the signature is valid and to determine if the person lives in Wilson.