Clinton Shrugs Off Alleged Death Threat, Goes Jogging

In the wake of an alleged threat on his life, President Clinton, wearing a black T-shirt captioned “In the Line of Fire” above gray cross hairs on the back, jogged Saturday in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

Clinton ran a circuitous route, at one point ducking into an alley with his motorcade in tow only to find a dead end.

With a sheepish grin, he turned around and threaded his way back through the Secret Service vehicles and press vans as they were trying to untangle themselves.

The President’s run came after an unemployed limousine driver, Ronald Gene Barbour, 45, of Orlando, Fla., was arrested on a federal charge of threatening to kill Clinton during one of his morning workouts.

Barbour was being held without bond Saturday in the Seminole County Jail in Sanford, Fla.

A Washington television station reported that Barbour was in the capital area Jan. 11-17. Citing unnamed sources, the station said Barbour planned to shoot Clinton during one of his runs on the Mall. Clinton was in Europe at the time.

Barbour, in a telephone interview Saturday, described himself as a “harmless little fuzz ball” who planned to take his own life, not the President’s.

“I don’t harbor that kind of feeling for anybody,” he said.

Barbour, who says he has been a manic-depressive for 14 years, said he does not remember making the threats, though he had told friends he didn’t like Clinton.

One of Barbour’s neighbors called authorities after Barbour talked about the plot, the Secret Service told the Orlando Sentinel.