Background: Grand Traverse County Governmental Center (Grand Traverse County). Inset: FILE – In this image from a Zoom meeting provided by the Grand Traverse, Mich., County Board of Commissioners, Grand Traverse County Commissioner Ron Clous holds a rifle at his home during a county commissioners meeting, Jan. 20, 2021, in Michigan (Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners via AP, File).
Four years after a contentious incident in Michigan where a county commissioner displayed a rifle during a Zoom public meeting, a settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit with the woman who was speaking at the time of the gun presentation.
Patricia MacIntosh joined a virtual session of the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 14, 2021, shortly following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. During the public comment section, concerns were voiced regarding the Commission’s ties to the extremist group, the Proud Boys. This discussion referenced a prior event in March 2020, when the Board of Commissioners had allowed members of the group to advocate for declaring the county a “Second Amendment Sanctuary.”
The attendee demanded that the Commission publicly denounce the Proud Boys and the violence in which they have participated. Board Chairman Rob Hentschel unapologetically told the citizen to, “save her opinions for her magazines and editorials,” and accusing her of spreading misinformation about the Proud Boys.
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MacIntosh spoke up, and used her public comment time to criticize the commission for its support of the Proud Boys, a self-described “Western Chauvinist” group whose leaders played a major role in the Capitol attack. MacIntosh spoke of the insurrection in Washington, D.C., and an anti-government militia group’s plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
MacIntosh concluded her remarks, asking the commission, “Will you please make some sort of a public statement for the community that you do not accept the behaviors [of extremist groups]?”
Instead, though, Clous, seated in front of multiple mounted deer heads, briefly left the Zoom hearing only to return brandishing a high-powered rifle. Hentschel can be seen laughing while Clous displayed what MacIntosh said was a “menacing smirk.”
MacIntosh explained to press at the time, “I didn’t think he was going to shoot me, obviously, but I do think his whole point was to intimidate me and threaten me and anyone else who’s going to speak out … and see if he can stir up masses of people who are just looking for things to fight about.”
Video of the interaction can be viewed here.
Shortly thereafter, MacIntosh filed a federal lawsuit alleging a violation of her civil rights and requesting both money damages and an injunction against the commission’s allowing weapons during meetings.
After more than four years of litigation, the county last week approved a $100,000 settlement with MacIntosh, which will be funded by insurance, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported.
As part of the settlement, Clous also penned an apology letter which said, “While not my intent, I understand that my actions in getting my rifle could reasonably have caused you to feel uncomfortable or intimidated, and for that, I apologize.”
“We are elected officials to manage taxpayer dollars and try to govern or go towards a future,” said current Grand Traverse County Board Chair Scott Sieffert. “And I think a settlement was the best way to put it to bed put the past behind us.” Sieffert was not a member of the board at the time of the incident.
Sieffert also told local media that the board passed a new ethics policy as a partial response to MacIntosh’s lawsuit.
MacIntosh has said she may use the settlement money to create a scholarship fund.
Counsel for the parties did not immediately respond to request for comment.
