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ESCANABA -- During Tuesday's Delta County Board of Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Bob Petersen made a statement about things being said about him and the other commissioners. Below is that statement.
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I do have a statement I'd like to make tonight, and I'm feeling bad that I even have to address this, to be honest with you. I would like to talk about what has been passed around online and during the recall signature process lately.
A lot of speculation about the origin of the (Three Percenters) flag on my Facebook page. It was not taken in Lansing on April 30 of 2020, it was in fact taken in Lansing, April 30 of 2014 -- this picture right here. Taken in 2014, right here is when it was posted. I'm not a member of the Three Percent -- never have been, even though I did tell somebody online that I was. I did, but I'm not a member and I never have been, or any other militia, for that matter. I am surely not a recruiter like I was accused of online. I just thought the flag was interesting so I took a picture of it.
I was not in Lansing during the protest of April 30 of 2020. That was during the COVID shutdown, I was actually right here in Escanaba. I know this because I made a withdrawal, a cash withdrawal from my checking account on that exact day.
I was also not involved in any attempt to kidnap our governor. This and many other lies have been told about not only myself, but Commissioner Moyle and Barron trying to build a case for recall.
They say they are recalling us because we fired our previous administrator, but as (Christiana) Reynolds said, they were concerned about decisions made prior to the meeting on Feb. 7, which was our third meeting. I whole-heartedly believe that the plan to recall us was in motion well before that night in February.
We have been trying to keep our heads down, do our work for the last nine-plus months, but this is getting out of hand when they start accusing us of felony criminal acts that we were never involved in. I will be looking into what, if any actions, I can take on everyone and anyone that was involved in this disgusting lie and any other lies and baseless accusations that are made against me. I will no longer standby and allow these people to slander my name just so they can take my place on this board.
I am sure everyone that has heard me knows I am a staunch Second Amendment supporter. I am cofounder and was president of the Delta County Gun Owners Association for approximately ten years. I and several others go to Lansing most every year -- except for 2020 -- to stand for your right to keep and bear arms. Every one of these events that I have participated in have been peaceful and well-organized with many congressmen and law professionals joining the event. I again attended the … march on Oct. 5 -- at absolutely no cost to the county -- and I will continue to attend these events until there is no need because our rights are no longer under attack. I proudly support and will continue to fight for the Second Amendment rights and all other issues pertaining to our county.
If these people are OK with lying about something as egregious as me being involved in a riot at the state capitol and a plot to kidnap our governor of Michigan, do you think they would have a problem lying about lesser issues?
This was handed to me at one of the meetings by a member of the recall petition. It says "proud white nationalist." That's a picture of me with black X's drawn through my eyes. … If this is what we've got to deal with being county commissioners, I guess that's what we have to deal with, but I think it's -- I think it's foul that … people would put out such a thing. Something that's so easily disproven, that I would be a part of a riot in Lansing, I would be a part of the kidnapping plot to take the governor. If that was the case, it would have been all over the newspapers, it would have been all over the internet, it would have been all over the news, and I would have been sitting in jail for at least -- I think these other people have been sitting in jail for about a year.