CUBA, N.Y. -- The town supervisor in Cuba, Allegany County, is apologizing for a Facebook post saying, among other things, that President Obama "deserves a bullet to the brain."

The December post prompted calls for the town to punish Robert Carney. The town board on Wednesday demanded Carney resign his position immediately.

"I've carried this thing within me for many, many, years," said Carney, R-Cuba, on Wednesday. "You may see me struggle but you'll never see me quit.

"That being said, I will not resign. I have no intentions of resigning."

Before speaking to us, Carney released a statement, which said he feels immense guilt and remorse and wishes he could take his words back. Carney said he "wears his heart on his sleeve," but is not racist despite using terms like "black" and "Muslim-loving."

Carney has sent a letter of apology and is no longer active on Facebook.

"How sorry am I, extremely. I am held accountable to a higher degree. Again, I cannot take the words back, but I regret saying them, I regret writing them."

"I, like my other colleagues on the town board, were all appalled by the comments," said Joseph Miller, Cuba deputy supervisor and board member.

"There's a lot of people in the community that are deeply hurt and there's concerns that these kind of things go swept under the rug all too often and we're not going to stand for it."

Carney's apology was met with mixed reaction from the community.

"I believe that he was venting and not realizing this would actually become such a large issue, so I accept the apology. Very sincere man," said John Brian Devanney, Cuba resident.

"No, I do not accept that apology. He should probably resign," said Jacob Hamed, Cuba resident. "I would not want somebody like that to hold his position here in Cuba and to be able to talk about people in that kinds of a way."

Miller says the backlash is a distraction from conducting town business, and while the board has no authority to fire or remove Carney, it will pursue other avenues if he doesn't resign.

"To make a request of the Allegany County District Attorney to convene a grand jury to make a determination, recommendation as to whether these activities go as far to constitute misconduct by a public official," Miller said.

"Be patient with me. Give me an opportunity to right the wrong," Carney said. "I've opened up a hornet's nest and I'm going to get stung by it and I'm going to get stung by it for a long, long time."

The next board meeting is Feb. 7.