Following that Facebook post, several threats were made against Keller which prompted extra patrols by Middletown police and Butler County Sheriff’s deputies as well as other security measures, according to Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer and police Chief Rodney Muterspaw.
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At Tuesday’s Middletown City Council meeting, resident Joe Whittman said Keller, R-Middletown, “made an abhorrent statement regarding the recent tragic shootings in Dayton.”
“Her bigotry and small-mindedness are not representative of Middletown values,” he said. “Many of our small businesses are owned by members of the LGBTQ community and are a dynamic and integral part of the Middletown community. They are our brothers and sisters. They run businesses, pay taxes, raise families attend our churches and are some of the finest people I know.
“I believe the community as a whole should denounce Ms. Keller’s statements, as she does not speak for Middletown. She certainly does not speak for me.”
He also asked for council to include members of the LGBTQ community in the city’s non-discriminatory policy.
During council comments, Councilwoman Ami Vitori said she agreed and thanked Whittman for his comments.
Vitori said “we need to find a better representative for our people.”
Earlier this week, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones and Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken both called for Keller’s resignation.
Timken said Keller’s Facebook post “was shocking and utterly unjustifiable” as the nation was in “utter shock over the acts of violence in El Paso and Dayton.”
“Our nation is reeling from these senseless acts of violence, and public servants should be working to bring our communities together, not promoting divisiveness,” she said.
Jones said it’s a time to mourn as a community and praise the work of the responding police officers. It’s also time for Keller to resign, he said.
“She should resign because she doesn’t represent our party. She doesn’t represent any party,” said Jones, who is backing one of Keller’s opponents in her Ohio Senate bid.
Jones also said her post “is the most bizarre ranting that I’ve ever seen from anyone” and blamed “everybody for those deaths, everybody except somebody that looks like her.”
Keller said the call for her resignation is “the sheriff‘s ridiculous way of getting back at me” for “standing with firefighters” being critical of his attempt to control the Butler County Emergency Management Agency.
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