For now, Howard County Board of Appeals member Donald B. Messenger is resisting the County Council's order that he resign from the board.

"I've requested a meeting for next week," Messenger, an attorney from North Laurel, said Friday. "They may succeed, but there's a day to sit back and a day to fight. It's distasteful to me."

County Council Chairman C. Vernon Gray, an east Columbia Democrat, declined to say if a date had been scheduled or if he was interested in such a meeting.

"It's not something I want to talk about," Gray said.

Messenger, whose five-year term doesn't end until January 2001, confirmed that he received a letter from the council about 10 days ago, but called the wording of the letter "vague.

"We don't know where they're coming from until we get some answers," he said. "It was designed to ask me to resign. Their loss, not mine."

Although Messenger said he's not upset about the matter, he said he believes that Jerry L. Rushing, chairman of the Board of Appeals, is responsible for asking the council to remove him.

Asked how he felt about Rushing, Messenger replied, "Don't even ask. I feel the same way Monica Lewinsky felt about Linda Tripp."

Pub Date: 3/07/99