Courtesy Photo Brandon Ross gives a Nazi salute to the Alpena County Board of Commissioners after giving public comment at a committee meeting last week. On Tuesday, the board chastised Ross and his beliefs and called them disgusting.

ALPENA — At the end of an Alpena County Board of Commissioners committee meeting last week, a man making public comment about controversial books at the county library shared his Nazi views and said, “Heil Hitler!” as he gave the Nazi salute to the commissioners.

Since the meeting, the man has been identified as Brandon Ross.

As Ross left the podium, commissioners and many in the crowd appeared stunned and speechless.

On Tuesday, during the Alpena County Board of Commissioners meeting, board Chairman John Kozlowski read a prepared statement denouncing Ross’s comments.

“This person closed his incoherent un-American rant with a hateful proclamation and a gesture that left many in this room in shock and disgusted,” Kozlowski said.

After last week’s meeting, some people expressed concern about why none of the commissioners responded to Ross.

Kozlowski said Tuesday everyone was in shock at Ross’ public display of hatred and he believed that prevented anyone from challenging him.

Kozlowski then read the board’s opinion of Ross’ behavior and beliefs.

“This person’s views and comments are disgusting and not of the board,” he said. “As a result of this individual’s conduct, we are looking at options to ensure that, going forward, some comments are followed or perhaps even prefaced to an individual speaking and known to use foul language or offensive gestures. I hope that others can learn from this, as well. We can both protect the First Amendment’s rights while preventing censorship by making common-sense adjustments to how content is received. This is true of ensuring a Nazi is called out for their grotesque beliefs, words, and actions.”

On Tuesday after the meeting, Ross told The News via Facebook Messenger that his public comment to the commissioners was not intended to incite hate but to educate and to make people aware of the dangers of pedophilia.

“I’m fully aware that the things I say will likely be manipulated and used in a dishonest way,” Ross told The News. “It’s ok though I wouldn’t expect anything less. The goal of my speech was to plant seeds. It was not to incite hate. You will notice that my speech did not include derogatory words or threats. A few days before my speech I read some comments on the library’s social media page. These comments were absolutely vile. Its funny, the people who say banning books about pedophilia is fascist will turn around and say we should ban the Bible. How hypocritical of them. Sounds like they are the true fascists. I find it amusing that the last two words of my speech gained so much attention. Yet, when I mentioned Magnus Hirschfeld and his books about pornography and pedophilia, nobody bats an eye.”

Hirschfeld was a Jewish German physician and sexologist whose citizenship was later revoked by the Nazi government, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. He was an outspoken advocate for sexual minorities and founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and World League for Sexual Reform.

Because of Michigan’s Open Meeting Act and the First Amendment protections for freedom of speech, there may be little the county can do to prevent people from speaking whatever is on their mind during a meeting.

According to Jennifer Dukarski, general counsel for the Michigan Press Association, the commissioners can only force the end of a person’s comment if it becomes severely disruptive to the point of violence or a threat to public safety.

“You cannot discriminate based on content because the board doesn’t like the message,” she said. “Is it deplorable? Yes, but not illegal.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.