SHORT TAKES : Officials Get Letter Threats Over Concert Ban Controversy

Two town officials and the police department have received death threats related to moves to ban the rap group 2 Live Crew from playing at a local club, police said today.

The threats were contained in two letters sent to town offices Tuesday which made “threatening references” to firebombs, police chief Robert Mark said. A third letter has not yet been opened, he said. All have similar handwriting.

The precise content of the letters, addressed to police and two selectmen who have taken opposite positions on the July 23 concert, was not revealed.

But they arrived a day after a widely publicized selectman’s meeting was held to explore ways to keep “2 Live Crew” from performing at the 1,700-seat Club Casino in Hampton Beach, a popular seacoast resort area.

The club’s owners are describing the show as X-rated and said they would admit only people 18 years old and over.

The group, whose album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” has been ruled obscene by a federal judge in Florida and banned from record stores in San Antonio, Texas, have been forced to cancel a series of concert dates in the ensuing controversy.

Hampton town officials decided they were powerless to stop the concert but said they may propose a local obscenity law at their March town meeting.