The Slatest

Alabama Mayor Once Jailed in Tree-Stump Scheme Is Attacked by Former Talk Show Co-Host in Alleged Sex Tape Dispute

Talladega Superspeedway.

AuburnPilot/Wikipedia

Here’s an interesting story from Al.com about Larry Barton, 74, and Benny Green, 71. Barton is the mayor of Talladega, Alabama (the home of the Superspeedway) and Green is his former radio talk-show co-host.

Barton says Green attacked him on Saturday.

“I pulled up to the barbershop and there was a guy in a hood and trench coat standing there,” he said. “I opened the door and he started pounding me with a baseball bat.”

Barton was hospitalized, but his injuries are not life-threatening. Green tried to flee the scene on a bicycle but has been arrested and charged with assault.

Barton was elected mayor of Talladega in 2011 after serving time in federal prison in the ‘90s. His crime? Defrauding the city of Talladega during an earlier term as mayor via a devilish scheme of tree-stump intrigue.

Prosecutors said Barton took $5,900 by having checks written to a man he claimed to have hired to remove tree stumps around town.

Barton says he saved his own life on Saturday by giving Green a few good ones to the groinal regions.

“Ain’t no doubt about it,” he said. “If I hadn’t kicked him twice in the balls I’d be dead.”

He’s not sure why Green attacked him, he says. But Green’s former lawyer, Steward Springer, has an theory. “Barton was caught on hidden video having sex with Green’s wife,” Springer told Al.com.

Barton, for his part, denies any involvement with Green’s wife.