STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Local News

• Business Buzz: August 20, 2008
• Peak Your Profits: A terrific two-fer you won’t say no-no two
• Columbiettes collect school supplies for underprivileged

Share and Enjoy [?]

An irate email, written by an angry resident to City Council, has sparked controversy and escalated out of control after a local television news station reported it Wednesday night.

Peter Weins wrote the entire City Council Tuesday evening, alleging financial harm caused to his family by the council’s actions, and wishing the same misery back on the families of the council. The email, addressed to the “Marco Axis of Evil,” was written out of frustration over the continued approval of sewer districts by the City Council.

Weins, who lives in the Estates area of Marco Island, is not slated to receive sewers for several years. After City Councilor Rob Popoff received the email, he forwarded it to police, calling it a “veiled threat.”

The police found nothing illegal about Weins’ email, said Marco Island Police Chief Roger Reinke.

LESLIE WILLIAMS / Eagle staff

Peter Weins points to the puncture in his wife's tire after removing it from her van Thursday. Broken eggshells still litter his driveway after his house and cars were struck with eggs Wednesday night, in retaliation for an e-mail he sent to City Council members that some interpreted as threatening.

Weins said the entire thing has been misinterpreted.

“I said, ‘I hope your family suffers as mine has,’ ” Weins said Thursday. “Now how has my family suffered? Financially. And maybe I left a word out there, but the fact is, there was no physical threat.”

But Weins said the backlash to his email has been over-the-top. On Wednesday night, after a news report appeared about the missive, Weins said vandals struck his house with eggs, poured bleach on his lawn and punctured a tire on his wife’s car.

Marco Island Police are investigating the incident, and collected bleach containers and egg cartons from Weins’ driveway Thursday morning.

According to Reinke, a witness reported seeing a dark, silver or gray vehicle and three teenagers around the time of the crime.

Weins said he does not think a member of the council is responsible, but said he believes the council would be appalled to know the response to the emails.

Popoff said he thinks other members of the community who oppose sewers should feel the same way about Weins’ actions. Popoff said he has since received yet another email from different resident stating that “he doesn’t approve of bringing a councilor’s family into the fray, but goes on to basically say I deserved it.”

Popoff, who Weins said in his email “should suffer the most,” said he can’t help but take it seriously when another resident talks about any kind of harm to his family.

“At a minimum it’s obnoxious and inappropriate,” Popoff said. “Do I take it as serious when someone talks about my family? Yes. I ran for council; I asked for this. But my 10-year-old daughter and my 14-year-old son did not ask for this.”

Weins admits he lost his temper while composing the email. Because he can be overly “harsh” with his words, he said, he avoids attending City Council meetings.

But Popoff questioned Weins’ motives for sending the email, noting that he lives in an area that will not receive sewers until 2012. Still, Weins said, his costs have only gone up since he moved to the island, and he wrote the email thinking of the future costs he will have to pay if sewer construction continues.

“I’m suffering because of taxes that have up on the road and the utility taxes,” he said. “And I am going to suffer more. Maybe it hasn’t heavily affected me so far, but it’s going to affect me.”

Meanwhile, Popoff said, Weins is only hurting the cause of fellow residents who oppose sewers.

“The more they do this, the more it hurts them,” Popoff said. “They need to create havoc, they need to create a scene, because that’s how they think they’re going to create momentum.”

January’s upcoming elections may prove to be a battle over sewers, with four avowedly anti-sewer candidates pitted against four pro-sewer candidates.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact the Marco Island Police Department at 389-5050.