A city councilman claims he’s receiving threats on his personal cell phone, and he wants them to stop.

Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens, who represents Ward 2 on the council, broached the subject publicly during Tuesday’s meeting at the Municipal Complex, imploring City Attorney Jeff Turnage to help him. The threats, Mickens said, have come through calls and text messages “over the past few weeks.”

“I’m not a lawyer. I’m not a judge. I don’t know what is right and what’s not,” Mickens said. “So I need some legal advice, as far as getting threatening phone calls and text messages. Is there any law out there, Jeff, that we know of?”

After a brief pause, he added, “I’ll put it like this: Can you threaten an elected official?”

Turnage assured him legitimate threats were illegal and could constitute harassment.

“I think there are heightened penalties for threatening an elected official or a law enforcement officer. It depends on what the threat is,” Turnage said. “If it’s, ‘I’m going to beat you in the election,’ it’s probably not a threat. If it’s, ‘I’m going to beat you,’ then that probably is a threat.”

Turnage advised him to show any evidence of the alleged threats to Police Chief Joseph Daughtry. Mickens told The Dispatch after the meeting he plans to take the attorney’s advice.

“(Daughtry) may think it’s in a gray area. I don’t know,” Mickens said. “If somebody says, ‘I’d like to kick his butt. I’d like to whoop his tail.’ They didn’t say, ‘I’m going to do it’ but, ‘I’d like to do it.’ See, it’s a play of words.”

Mickens is seeking election to a fifth term and faces two challengers in the April 1 Democratic primary – Laisha “Ms. She She” O’Neal and Roderick Smith.

During the campaign, Mickens has had dustups with O’Neal and Democratic mayoral candidate Leroy Brooks. Mickens accused Brooks of grabbing him and swearing at him during a public gathering in late January at Trotter Convention Center. O’Neal filed a police report against Mickens after she claimed he threatened her outside of the courthouse Feb. 10, following a hearing before the Lowndes County Democratic Party in which Mickens unsuccessfully challenged his opponents’ residency in the ward.

Mickens did not directly accuse anyone of the phone threats, but he did connect them to the election.

“I just want it to stop,” Mickens said. “This election is going too far in the wrong direction. Everybody just run your race and leave everybody alone.”

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.