ATLANTA (AP) — A sheriff in northeastern Georgia said he was canceling Valentine's Day because of the bad weather, telling men they were off the hook for the romantic gifts their partners may be expecting.

Sheriff Scott Berry in Oconee County took to Facebook to announce his decision after an ice storm slammed Georgia on Wednesday.

Men, he wrote, "are exempt from having to run out and buy lottery scratchers and Hershey bars from the corner stores" until Tuesday.

The post was in fun and was shared more than 1,500 times. But it angered a man who called the sheriff's office Friday from a Michigan area code to protest the decision, saying snow up north isn't a big deal.