Mayor escapes indictment, councilman charged on one of six counts

KINGSTON - A grand jury decided Friday not to indict the mayor of this small, northwest Georgia town on two felonies and a misdemeanor, but a Kingston city councilman was not so fortunate. <br> <br> Mayor Margo Martin had been charged in May with influencing a witness, compounding a crime and being a party to a crime. <br> <br> City Councilman Billy Sanders, also arrested in May, was cleared of five of the six charges he faced making terroristic threats, selling liquor without a license, selling alcohol to an intoxicated person, maintaining a disorderly house and selling alcohol on Sunday but was indicted for disorderly conduct. <br> <br> District Attorney Joe Campbell could not be reached for comment. <br> <br> In a report filed by Police Chief Mark Borgschulze, officers responding to complaints about noise at Bill&#39;s BQ, owned by Sanders, found alcohol being served at 12:45 a.m. on a Sunday, which is against the law in Kingston. <br> <br> According to the report, Sanders said Martin had told him he could sell alcohol until 1:30 a.m., since the police would be gone by 10 p.m. <br> <br> After a city council meeting the next night, Borgshulze said Sanders made threats against him at city hall, then left yelling and using profanity, prompting the disorderly conduct and terroristic threat charges. <br> <br> Martin&#39;s charge of influencing a witness came from allegedly requesting police evidence be turned over to Sanders, Borgschulze said. <br> <br> The mayor previously has said the charges were ``completely uncalled for.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Kingston, about 47 miles northwest of Atlanta, has a population of about 800.