Man sentenced to month in jail for taping phone call

Judge Lynn Brown said he sentenced Clifton Wayne Morris, 66, to jail because Morris seemed unrepentant and likely to illegally tape phone conversations again. Brown also placed Morris on a year’s probation.

Morris pleaded guilty in June in Unicoi County Criminal Court to a charge of attempted dissemination of a cordless transmission.

It is against Tennessee law for a third party to tape a phone conversation.

Schools director Denise Brown has acknowledged the threats made against Mark Stevens, publisher of The Erwin Record. In the July 2004 conversation, Brown tells veteran school board member Nancy K. Bogart, “Well, I tell you what I’m gonna do. And I’m serious. It’s gonna stop, or I’m going to beat the s… out of (Stevens) myself.”

The Record has criticized decisions by Brown, including one concerning the newspaper’s bid for printing work. Brown picked a Johnson City firm whose bid was $500 higher than the newspaper’s.

The Record is owned by Sandusky Newspapers Inc. of Ohio.

Morris delivered a copy of the conversation to the Record.

Morris said at his plea that he did not believe he should have to apologize to Denise Brown or Bogart. Instead, he said, the two women might owe Unicoi County residents and him an apology.