Foul-mouthed speaker prompts calls for decorum at Santa Rosa commission

Santa Rosa County Commissioners briefly discussed Thursday putting rules in place to punish meeting speakers for using foul or offensive language.

The conversation followed Milton resident Michael Stevens unleashing an expletive-laden tirade accusing Commissioner Kerry Smith of verbally assaulting him.

It was Smith who suggested the commission consider a temporary ban against speakers who violate the rules of public decorum.

"I don't want to see that again. I'm willing to make a motion right now to suspend someone from even walking into this room for 60 days if they do something as stupid as that," Smith said in reference to Stevens' outburst. "I think maybe we as a board need to make sure that never happens again, to maybe put some punishments in place if it does happen again."

Previously: Santa Rosa commissioner rails for Democrat-less government. His own party says he went too far

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Smith's suggestion, which did not receive serious consideration from fellow commissioners, was made as the board convened for the second time Thursday morning to conduct its regular meeting. The fireworks that led Smith to offer a motion to create sanctions had occurred earlier at the commission's public forum session.

Stevens, who has been an outspoken critic of Smith, used his four minutes of allotted public speaking time to accuse Smith of approaching him between meetings Monday and telling him "I dressed, looked and sounded like a (expletive) idiot."

"He continued the attack," Stevens said. "Saying I am a brownshirt who needed the arm band of a Russian serf."

When a visibly angry Smith shouted over Stevens that he had made up the allegations and had a "foul mouth," Stevens repeated his initial accusation with added emphasis. Charging the commissioner had told him "I looked like (expletive) (expletive)."

In Stevens telling of the altercation Smith appeared to be threatening him with physical violence and a sheriff's deputy ultimately stepped in to drag Stevens, who says he is disabled, to safety. But when asked after Thursday's final meeting if he had filed a police report, Stevens said he had not, and acknowledged the commissioner had never made physical contact with him.

"My context was he tried to admonish me. He did not touch me," Stevens said. "He let me know I was Putin's puppet. I am an American citizen."

Also after the meeting, Smith admitted antagonizing Stevens during the encounter in question.

"He was getting in my face," he said. "I told him 'nice brown shirt moron.' I don't even think he got it. I still don't think he gets it."

Related: Santa Rosa Commissioner James Calkins lambasted for recent "Democrats are evil" comments

A "brownshirt" is so named from the brown shirt that was part of the uniform of a Nazi storm trooper.

Stevens wasn't the first public forum speaker Thursday to let go with a cringe-worthy expletive. Frequent speaker Sherry Chapman, who for the second time this week called for the resignation of Commissioner James Calkins, made the comment "this (expletive) needs to stop."

Chapman was directly quoting a phrase County Commissioner Ray Eddington had uttered Monday at the county's Committee of the Whole meeting. Eddington was expressing his own frustration with Calkins, who has been roundly criticized but continues to stand by his own public labeling of the Democratic Party as "the most evil party in this country."

"I work for everybody, Republican, Democrat, Black, white, purple or green," Eddington had said. "This (expletive) has got to stop. We have got to work together."

Eddington has since apologized for his comment.

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Smith himself had to apologize for words used Thursday. During his upbraiding of Stevens he spoke of the language Stevens had used as "your New York attitude," and when someone in the audience raised an objection noted his own wife hailed from "the communist country of Chicago."

"I just want to apologize to anyone from New York or Chicago (for any offense taken) during my brief little outrage there during the public forum," Smith said. "My wife is from Chicago, my daddy is a Yankee. There's nothing there. I was just kidding."

Smith said he didn't want to find himself caught up in the same storm of criticism U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had encountered when he criticized Donald Trump for being from New York.

Earlier, Commission Chairman Colten Wright had wrested control over the public forum shouting match between Smith and Stevens and warned Stevens away when he began to approach the speaker's podium.

"We should be pretty careful about talking about verbal threats and using profane language when we're doing it ourselves," he told Stevens before addressing all assembled. "And the next person that comes up here and uses the F-word is going to be shut down ... and if somebody drops an F-bomb up here (on the board dais), they'll be shut down."

At the regular meeting, Wright said the discourse of the day provided an example of what our society has come to, and opined that "too many people on the far left and far right choose vulgar language to present their side" of an issue.

"Far too often words are used to label people, or attack," he said. "Very rarely have I seen that have a positive outcome."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa Commission debates changing rules for public speaking