Developer Charged With Assaulting Reporter

Posted Thursday, December 9, 2004 12:00 am

By: (AP) A developer was charged with threatening and assaulting a newspaper reporter who wrote a story about a proposed private club in Burlington.

James Moffat, a reporter for the Times-News of Burlington, said Ernie Koury Jr., 50, confronted him in a hall Tuesday before a meeting of the Burlington City Council. Koury allegedly grabbed Moffat by the throat and shirt collar, shook him, and threatened to kill him if he wrote another article about the club like one Moffat had written earlier.

The story, written in November, quoted a planning and zoning commissioner who questioned what kind of business the club would be. Koury's attorney assured the commissioner that "nothing illegal" would take place.

City council members agreed Tuesday to rezone land to allow a club.

Koury, who declined to comment Wednesday, was charged with communicating threats and simple assault. The newspaper asked Moffat to file the charges.

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Developer Charged With Assaulting Reporter

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