KENT, Ohio — During Thursday night's emergency Portage County NAACP meeting, dozens of people expressed their frustration over Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski's recent Facebook post.
Zuchowski referred to undocumented immigrants as "locusts" in his initial post, and called for residents to "write down all the addresses of the people" supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris with signs in their yards.
"I have intentionally not put up signs in front of my house, I have intentionally not put it on my car. I have one, but I am scared," one woman from Kent said Thursday. "As an indigenous person who is brown ... think on what he's done."
She was not the only one outraged by Zuchowski's remarks.
"How do we trust a man who has been elected to protect and serve every resident in Portage County and yet he is speaking out against half of them?" another woman asked.
The meeting lasted about two hours and was focused on creating an open space to address community concerns. Multiple other organizations were present, including voter activist groups, and Portage County Deputy Board of Elections Director Theresa Nielsen also took questions from the crowd.
"Many of the things that I've heard ... they sadden me," Nielsen said, with tears welling in her eyes. "You should not be afraid to vote."
Portage County NAACP President Reney Romaine believes these meetings are important.
“We were getting a lot of calls, text messages, Facebook, different things about the way people felt about the post," Romaine told 3News, "so it’s better to come together in unity. There's strength in numbers."
Comments on Zuchowski's post showed some in the community supported his comments. However, others at Thursday's gathering found them intimidating.
"He wields way to much power to be able to intimidate a community such as ours," one man said. "He should be bringing us together, where he should be allowing us to live together as one. He is using fear and intimidation to tear us apart."
In a statement, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office said, "Our office has reviewed the comments and determined they don't violate election laws." On Tuesday, Zuchowski put out another Facebook post claiming his remarks had been "a little misinterpreted??" but adding, "I...as the elected sheriff, do have a first amendment right as do all citizens."
"Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence(s) of that speech," another woman at Thursday's meeting declared.
WKYC has reached out to Zuchowski multiple times requesting to speak with him in person, but has not heard back.