Family Council Action Committee clarifies threat reports

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - A spokesman for the Family Council Action Committee says morning reports of heightened security at their office need to be clarified.

Jerry Cox released a statement Thursday morning said morning radio news reported his office had increased security in the wake of threats from proponents of Issue 5, the proposed medical marijuana law.

"Security has been an ongoing concern ever since state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney was brutally murdered at the office next door to ours in 2008," Cox said, "but we have taken additional precautions recently due to all the vitriol coming from folks who want to legalize marijuana."

Cox says in the press release that proponents of Issue 5 have called and emailed his office numerous times. Cox says, "One caller told the lady who answers our telephone, 'I hope you die.' The people threatening my staff are vile, mean, and vulgar. They don't sound like sick people looking for medicine. They sound more like hardened criminals looking to profit from 'medical' marijuana."

Cox says he takes the threats very seriously.