PAINT ROCK, Ala. (AP) -- An Alabama mayor is backing down from an attempt to ban the media and out-of-towners from council meetings.
Paint Rock Mayor Brenda Fisk tells WAAY-TV she issued the ban earlier this year without knowing it would violate the law.
Fisk says she wanted to avoid City Council meetings becoming a "circus" like they did a few years ago during a controversy over police in the rural town of 200.
Fisk previously defended the ban to an area newspaper, the Jackson County Sentinel. She said what goes on in Paint Rock isn't the business of anyone other than residents and property owners.
Fisk relented after the newspaper published an editorial about the rule. She now says she made the comments believing a phone call from a reporter was a scam.