PORTLAND – Authorities in Maine say no charges are planned against the owner of a store in Standish for a sign that invited customers to bet on a date when President-elect Barack Obama would be assassinated.

Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion said Friday that Oak Hill General Store owner Steve Collins denied any knowledge of the “Osama Obama Shotgun Pool” sign. Dion added that the sign was nowhere to be found when a deputy visited the store to investigate a report of it on Nov. 7.

Dion also said posting the sign would not necessarily constitute a threat or a terrorizing incident.

The handwritten sign on an eraser board inviting the $1 bets ended with an expression of hope that there would be a winner.