Settlement reached in contempt case against mayor's wife

MACON - The wife of Macon Mayor Jack Ellis has agreed to a settlement by finally moving out of the home she had agreed to sell more than a year ago in exchange for a dismissal of a contempt charge by the couple that had purchased the house. <br> <br> Margarethia Ellis agreed to pay nearly $17,000 in attorney&#39;s fees, relinquish all claims to the home and drop her appeals in exchange for the contempt petition which sought to fine and jail her for failing to turn over the property to the new owners. <br> <br> She had refused to move from the house even though she initially agreed to its sale in 2001. She said she would not have sold the house if she had known her husband planned to file for divorce. They have since reconciled. <br> <br> The terms of the agreement were announced Monday before Bibb County Superior Court Judge Phillip Brown.