WHEATLAND - Mary Eikenberry showed up for work Friday morning to find the locks changed at the Platte County attorney's office.

Commissioner Tim Millikin said the county had accepted Eikenberry's resignation Thursday and asked her to leave without making a scene.

But Eikenberry insists that the county commission exceeded its authority when it voted unanimously Thursday to accept her resignation - which she'd sought to withdraw - effective immediately. She said had no plans to leave.

"If I need to wait all day, yes," Eikenberry said.

"I have tons of work; this is my office," Eikenberry said, patting the locked door.

Tillie Routh - Eikenberry's former deputy, whom the commissioners hired to handle prosecutions until a new county attorney takes office - also showed up for work at about 9:40 a.m. Friday, escorted by Sheriff Steve Keigley. Routh and Eikenberry didn't speak to each other, and Eikenberry left the building about five minutes later.

It's the latest act in a drama that's consumed the Platte County Commission since early April.

"I don't know how much legitimacy there is behind the whole thing or whether it's, quote-unquote, a witch hunt," said Carl Case of Wheatland, who was watching outside the office building. "I just think, on a personal level, Mary is a wonderful lady. And I think she should have been given more time to prove her skills."

Eikenberry defeated incumbent Eric Alden in last summer's Republican primary, then ran unopposed in the general election. But her office and her performance have been the subject of controversy almost since she took office in January.

Critics have complained that Eikenberry dismissed dozens of criminal cases in the four months she's been in office, and at least one formal complaint has been filed against Eikenberry based on one of those case dismissals.

Her supporters say she's been undermined since she took the job and hasn't been given a chance to settle in to the office. In her resignation letter, Eikenberry said: "The events of the past four months have made it clear that I will not be allowed to succeed as Platte County attorney."

Last week, all four employees in Eikenberry's office - Routh and three legal assistants - resigned. Two days later, Eikenberry submitted her resignation.

But on Monday, Eikenberry presented the county with another letter withdrawing her resignation. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, she said that since the commission hadn't formally accepted her resignation during a duly called public meeting, she was within her legal rights to withdraw it.

Eikenberry reiterated that position Thursday, telling the commissioners before their vote that they were "well beyond your authority."

"I don't see anything in the statute that gives you the authority to do what you are doing," she said.

Afterward, Eikenberry said she intended to remain in office and perform the work she was elected to do.

"My plans are to be at work this afternoon and be at work tomorrow morning and be at work Monday morning," she said.

She predicted that the vote would come back to haunt the commissioners.

"The voters won't forget," she said.

The commissioners didn't discuss their reasons for accepting her resignation, other than to cite actions they had already taken.

In particular, Evans said, Commission Chairman Joe Reichardt had notified the county Republican Party on May 3 - the day the commission received Eikenberry's resignation letter - of the county attorney vacancy, as required under state law. The party then has 15 days to provide the commission with the names of three potential successors, and the commission has five days to select the new county attorney.

"They felt that they had already acted on the resignation, and I concurred with them from a legal standpoint," Evans said.