This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 11:07 AM- LEHI -An Arkansas company is offering $100 to a Utah woman who found a severed rodent head in a can of green beans.
But for Marianne Watson says she won't go along with the deal, which required a pledge not to sue over the unsavory incident.
The letter from Allens Inc. of Siloam Springs, Ark., describes the $100 offer as a "gesture of goodwill." Marianne Watson isn't interested.
"I won't sign it under any circumstances," she said.
Still, Watson, 49, said she never wanted to take legal action.
Instead, she wants to "put enough media attention on them that they either withdraw those cans or do something other than what they're trying to do, which is shut me up."
Watson was cooking lunch for two sons Sunday when she said she found a severed rodent head in a can of Allens Cut Green Beans, which had been purchased at a Wal-Mart store in American Fork.
Allens spokesman James Phillips said the beastie probably was picked up during the harvest and did not originate in the canning factory. He called it an isolated incident.
"We apologize as much as we can, but we also do everything known from a technology standpoint and personnel standpoint to prevent it from happening," he said. "But inevitably, occasionally, things like this occur."
Watson said she may have the rodent remnants and green beans tested. She has refused to return them to the company.
"I was thankful I had a little soup earlier because I couldn't eat after seeing that," she said.