Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992 TAG: 9203050163
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The New River Valley Mall marketing director received three death threats by phone Wednesday Stepnick morning after setting up a fund-raising display.
"They were very violent, and very foul, and very frightening and we are taking them seriously," she said. "They all asked to speak to me and the police were called immediately."
The Christiansburg Police Department is investigating.
Stepnick, 29, said she did not take the calls herself. Her secretary said one caller was a woman and the others were men - or the same man.
She said she could not elaborate on the advice of her attorney.
"This is killing me, killing me, killing me," said Stepnick, who has been the mall's marketing director for 1 1/2 years. "I'm usually a blabbermouth!"
Stepnick said she is not used to this sort of thing.
"My job is to make people happy."
She had set up a collection box, marked with a small sign and three balloons, in the mall's customer service center for Collins Knighton, a Pulaski County DJ put off the air by court order Monday.
Knighton, 36, had been fired Feb. 3 by Mike Gummer, manager of WSPK, a country music station in Pulaski. Knighton accepted a $2,000 check and agreed not to work at a competing stations in the New River Valley for a year.
He returned the check two weeks later when he was hired by WRIQ, another country station in Fairlawn. Gummer took him to court Monday and secured a temporary restraining order prohibiting Knighton from continuing his "Collins in the Morning" show at his new station.
Knighton admited signing the agreement, but said he was pressured into it and needed the money to continue child support payments to his former wife in Atlanta.
He said he thought returning the uncashed check canceled the agreement. He said he needs to keep working to continue supporting his two children.
Stepnick said she thought Knighton should be commended for trying to keep up those payments when so many men try to get out of them.
"I will say that I am an ardent supporter of Collins," she said. "I think the world of him."
A few people had contributed to Stepnick's Knighton fund Wednesday, although she did not know the amount. She said the box had generated several inquiries from people who said they might contribute later.
A Pulaski County jury will hear the case April 13 and decide whether the agreement signed by Knighton is valid.
by CNB