Tax Ail

Lawrence Co. Courthouse panic button triggered during dispute with ‘unruly’ taxpayer before county tax sale
 

    Moments before the annual Lawrence County tax sale began the morning of Monday, Aug. 25, at the Lawrence County Courthouse, the panic button in the collector’s office was triggered by county officials who were dealing with an ‘unruly” Stotts City resident.
    Suspect Travis Duncan was allegedly attempting to resolve an unpaid tax so he could participate in the county tax sale, according to Lawrence County Collector Kelli McVey.
    Shortly after the alarm, several Lawrence County deputies and detectives descended down Hickory Street and to the Mt. Vernon square sirens blaring, lights flashing. Within minutes, a team of officers escorted the handcuffed Duncan out of the courthouse and into a police cruiser.
    Before being placed inside, Duncan made a loud plea to the public.
“Sir, sir. I’m being unlawfully detained for just trying to deal with my property taxes,” Duncan loudly said as he was placed in the vehicle by Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Jon Ford.
    Duncan, 53, was then taken to the Lawrence County Jail where he was booked for interfering with a government operation.
    “We’ll issue him a summons Duncan and the prosecutor can decided whether she wants to pursue on it or not,” said Ford.
    “This gentleman was in Friday, he has an issue with his tax bill, said Ford. “He was causing problems for the county collector, Mr. McVey on Friday, we escorted him out ... and allowed him to leave with a warning, to not be in here being a problem. Well, he’s back this morning I think they’re getting ready to do a tax auction ... and he was in here trying to do whatever it is he was trying to do and getting a little unruly so they notified us. They hit the panic alarm and we responded for that.”