Les Coffey, owner of the Peerless Mill in Rossville, was released from the Walker County Jail on a $1,000 bond Thursday after being arrested Wednesday on a felony charge of making terroristic threats against the city.
Tennessee American Water cut off service to the mill Wednesday morning. Rossville police Detective Dave Scroggins said Coffey called the City Court clerk’s office with threats to block the city sewer line unless his water was turned on.
Rossville City Court Clerk Rhonda Keith said Coffey angrily declared that the city had violated a contract with him by turning his water off.
“He said that if we didn’t have his water turned on by 10 a.m. that he would put a chunk of concrete in the sewer line,” Keith said.
Scroggins said that Coffey also called a Kleen-A-Matic in Rossville and told people there that if they didn’t help him negotiate with city authorities, he’d cut off the sewer line and hurt their business. Coffey said Thursday that he made no such threats. The owners at Kleen-A-Matic could not be reached for comment Thursday.