SPENCER — A federal judge should decide later this week whether a former Salisbury Post reporter will have to testify about an article he wrote and notes he took when covering the town of Spencer.

Judge P.T. Sharp said he would take a couple of days to consider a request by the newspaper to throw out the subpoena.

Former reporter Brad Hodges was subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit Spencer residents Ebenezer and Jean Eberhart filed against the town and Mayor Buddy Gettys, Police Sgt. Eric Stillwell and Land Management Director Larry Smith.

The couple alleges that the defendants set into motion a chain of events designed to put their nightclub at 117 Long Ferry Road and residential rental units out of business. The couple says the town violated their civil rights, and they are asking for damages from lost profits, embarrassment and humiliation, injury to personal and business reputation as emotional distress.

Part of the suit cites an article Hodges wrote about a Spencer Board of Alderman meeting, and attorneys for Eberhart subpoenaed Hodges to testify about the meeting. The attorney also wants to see the notes the reporter took at the meeting.

In his article, Hodges wrote that Gettys told Eberhart to sit down and shut up. Later, the Post published a correction that, according to an audio tape of the meeting, Gettys never used the phrase shut up but ordered Eberhart to be quiet.

On behalf of the Post, attorney Amanda Martin asked the judge to throw out the subpena.

“What was said was said in a room full of people and was taped,” Martin said in a federal courtroom Monday. She argued that Hodges’ testimony would not be relevant, there is no compelling reason to make him testify and that the information could come from other sources. “There is no way this reporter should be compelled to testify.”

Ann Rowe, an attorney representing the town and its officials, said they have no interest in pursuing Hodges’ testimony and asked Sharp to rule his testimony inadmissible.

Neither the Eberharts nor their attorney attended Monday’s hearing. The Eberharts could not be reached for comment, and their attorney did not return a message left with his office.

Judge Sharp said he would take a few days to consider the motion. He added that the Eberharts’ absence would weigh heavily on his decision.

Contact Jillian McCartney at 704-797-4253 or jmccartney@salisburypost.com .