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GOP spat comes to blows
Friday, Nov. 17, 2006

by C. Benjamin Ford

Staff Writer

What began as a gentlemen�s agreement between two Montgomery County Republican candidates may end up in criminal court.

At the center of the dispute is money, claims of racism and an alleged assault.

Onetime County Council candidate Adol T. Owen-Williams charges that school board member Stephen N. Abrams grabbed him by the throat and slammed his head against a wall on Monday night after a meeting of the county�s GOP central committee in Rockville.

Owen-Williams, 42, filed a complaint with a Montgomery County District Court commissioner on Wednesday evening; court records show a summons was issued charging Abrams with second-degree assault and attempt to extort money through an accusation, a misdemeanor. There was no indication that Abrams has been served the summons, which can be sought by anyone whose charges are reviewed by a District Court commissioner
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Abrams, 63, an attorney from Rockville, was a Rockville City Council member from 1980 to 1989, and a county school board member from 1992 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2002 before being elected for his latest term in 2004.

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Abrams and the rest of the GOP council candidates lost last week.

Owen-Williams also said he and Abrams had a ��handshake agreement� that Abrams would reimburse him for the $5,000 campaign expenses he had accrued during the primary campaign.

��I trusted his word and didn�t get a written contract,� Owen-Williams said. ��I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was a decent, honorable human being even though I�d been warned he wasn�t.�

On Monday, Owen-Williams said, he waited until after the central committee meeting to ask Abrams privately about the money.

��I questioned him when I could expect payment,� Owen-Williams said. ��He said, �Listen, son, you don�t need to bring that topic up to me.� I said, �I�m not your son,� and he said, �Listen, boy.� Then he charged up the stairs at me and when he got to the top of the stairs, he squeezed his hands around my neck. I yelled at him, �Have you lost your mind?��

Owen-Williams, who is black, said being called a ��boy� by Abrams, who is white, was offensive.

Owen-Williams said Abrams shoved him back against a wall and he grabbed Abrams� arms, forcing him to let go.

��I yelled at him, �Don�t you ever put your hands around me again,�� Owen-Williams said.
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��I wasn�t used to hearing that, and I�m not sure why he was referring to Adol as my �boy,�� Reinheimer said.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Owen-Williams said several people told him that if he forgave Abrams the $5,000 debt, Abrams would not press charges against him.

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��I�ll do what is in my best interest and the best interest in the party,� Owen-Williams said. ��If it�s going to call undue negative attention to the party, I�ll just let it go.�

Mr. Owen-Williams, that white man tried to kill you. And he called you boy on top of it.

So what are the benefits of being a black Republican again? So white people can steal and try to assault you?

Sign me up