Several residents demanded the resignation of Houghton County Commissioner Joel Keranen during Tuesday’s commission meeting, citing opposition to a parade float that appeared in the Traprock Valley Fourth of July celebration.
The float depicted multiple signs referencing immigrant deportations during the past year, with two individuals dressed as ICE agents and another two dressed in immigrant costumes. The display sparked heated debate about its message and appropriateness for a community celebration.
Joan Chadde, a District 2 resident, questioned the float’s place in the parade. “We know that at this point our society is having a lot of friction and I don’t think that the Fourth of July parade is the time for that,” Chadde said. “I would guess Traprock is like two, three miles from Lake Linden, like why are they not part of the Lake Linden community celebrations?”
Lexi Tater, an organizer with UP North Advocacy – Western Upper Peninsula, called the float’s message harmful to the community. “This behavior is highly unsettling and frankly it’s disgusting,” Tater said. “We have a university here that brings in many international students and faculty, our community here one of the most diverse across the peninsula. It is our duty as we sit here to stand up for these folks, all while our elected officials such as you choose not to.”
Shannon Perkins, another District 2 resident, directly called for Keranen’s removal. “Your statement, you said we should be talking about county matters. This is a county matter,” Perkins said. “And once you’re gone, maybe we can get back to running the county in the best instance of every resident versus the chosen few you represent. To call this not a county business is quite frankly insulting, Joel. Resign.”
Keranen has helped to organize the Traprock Valley Fourth of July celebration for several years. The Traprock Valley 4th of July Facebook page posted a call for groups interested in the parade’s “celebrations of America.” During the commission’s standing committee reports, he addressed the public directly.
“This is what the extreme left does. It’s pretty much the only play in their playbook,” Keranen said. “The intolerance and hateful rhetoric is coming from the extreme left, not from me. I will not allow my character to be smeared by my political opposition, by people who have never even spoken to me or spent any time with me. I will trust people who know me or have worked with me to judge my character.”
After his statement, Keranen told Chairman Tom Tikkanen he does not intend to resign from the board.
Public comment at the end of the commission meeting was roughly evenly split between supporters and opponents of the commissioner. Many who spoke in support shared personal interactions with Keranen or defended the float as an example of free speech.
Gail Ongie, Keranen’s relative defended him against accusations of racism. “I totally support my brother. The ones that are speaking against him, 95 percent of them have never had a conversation with him, don’t know him,” Ongie said. “He had a student that was from Haiti living in his house for a year. But he’s racist, so you can’t have a Haitian living in your house. He must have hated her. He must have treated her horribly. No, she comes to visit him with her husband and child many times.”
Dan Holcomb, president of the Copper Country Republicans, characterized the float as satire. “The ICE float was clear satire supporting border security and law enforcement, not racism or hate,” Holcomb said. “Conflating enforcement of federal law with white supremacy is a tired smear backed by groups like the Keweenaw Indivisible and socialists.”
Krissy Tepsa, a District 1 resident, expressed frustration with the intensity of the debate. “I disagree with you. Some of you disagree with me. That’s fine. But I won’t go and attack your views. I won’t come after you and try to get you to step down,” Tepsa said. “I don’t do that. I just look the other way and I may speak my opinion, but I won’t go against you people.”
One individual was asked to leave the room after exceeding the time allowed for public comment. Chairman Tikkanen redirected the crowd several times when outbursts occurred during the meeting.
Keranen was elected to represent Houghton County’s District 2 in 2024. He was appointed to the board prior to the election to fill a vacancy left by Chairman Al Koskela’s passing. His term is expected to end in 2028. Legislation approved by Michigan leaders in March 2024 extended county commissioner terms from two years to four years.
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Houghton County Commissioner Joel Keranen full statement on the Traprock Valley 4th of July Parade:
Good Evening.
It’s nice to see a roomful of people here tonight. It would be great if they were all here to discuss the matters of Houghton County, such as the Health Department, Houghton County 911, our public defenders, or the possibility of a new jail and how to pay for it.
Unfortunately, I’m guessing they are not here to discuss any of those things. They are here because of the nonsense surrounding the Traprock Valley Parade.
I will tell you about parade. It started in 2020, and the purpose of the parade is to celebrate freedom and liberty. Our only rules are, we do not allow commercial advertising or campaigning politicians. If you were to attend the parade, you would find floats that are patriotic, clever, humorous, or involve political satire. One such float from this year’s parade caught the attention of those on social media. I am going to venture to guess that none of those people actually attended the parade; rather they made assumptions about the float based on social media posts. I did not build this float, nor did I have anything to do with it. However, some have determined that because I did not ban the float from the parade, this means that I am a white supremacist, among other things. Let me address this. Recall-the purpose of the parade is to celebrate freedom and liberty. So I am not going to ban a float when freedom of speech is one of the core freedoms that is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Someone’s free speech doesn’t end where the next person’s feelings begin. It begins and ends with our Constitution.
But let’s be honest. This isn’t about a float. What this is about is a world view. It goes back to my stance on gender. This is clearly evident by the flyer that the “non-partisan” Keweenaw Indivisible group shared over social media calling for me to resign. The group incorrectly, and frankly irresponsibly, defined a simple 4th of July parade as an event that glorified ICE and white supremacy. That statement was completely false. They also used the flyer to reference my 2-genders proposal from December. They went back to something that had absolutely nothing to do with a parade float.
However, they also made a statement that I actually wholeheartedly agree with. They called for the community to show me that hate has no home in the Keweenaw. This is true. Hate has no home in the Keweenaw, or anywhere for that matter. Let me be clear. I have never said I hated anyone. You have never heard from me any name calling, profanity, or threats. Go back and read my statement from December. You won’t find anything other than a clearly stated biblical based world view. My world view is shaped by my faith and by the truth of the Bible. YOU may find the values and beliefs that stem from my faith offensive. But I didn’t define them, God did. And I have the absolute right to hold to these beliefs because of our great constitution.
On the other hand, I am now going to show you where you WILL hear hate. Here is just one of the communications (voicemail) I have received over the past few days.
*Joel Keranen plays a voicemail recording from an individual who identifies as a resident from Sault Ste. Marie and a Michigan Technological University alumn i*
“Hello, I am a Michigan Tech alum and a Yooper by blood, although from Sault Ste. Marie and you are a racist piece of shit, and you should kill yourself. You should, you really should. That would be great. Thanks. F**k you.” – Anonymous voicemail message
Our country was founded on Godly principles because our great founders stated (in case you forgot) our rights are unalienable. Translation- they come from GOD! They don’t come from a king (even though some say we have one). They don’t come from any elected official. Not 5 county commissioners, not from Lansing, or from 545 people in Washington DC. I have the right to bring my biblical worldview into the public square just as much as the extreme left has the right to bring their secular worldview in.
But let’s be clear. The people here today calling for my resignation do not want my world view in Washington DC, Lansing, or Houghton County. And because I dared to do that in December, that is why they are here again today. That is why I’m being called all kinds of nasty, mean spirited, profanity laced names, and am facing threats and character assasination. This is what the extreme left does. It’s pretty much the only play in their playbook.
The intolerance and hateful rhetoric is coming from the extreme left -not from me. I will not allow my character to be smeared by my political opposition, and by people who have never even spoken to me or spent any time with me. I will trust the people who know me or have worked with me to be the ones who judge my character.
So what you will most likely hear tonight during our public comment time will be more false assumptions about my character, riddled with profanity and hate. I hope I am wrong.
What’s ironic about all this is, I am 100% supportive of you having the right to believe whatever you wish. You can believe in atheism. You can believe there are 27 genders, or there is no such thing as gender. You can believe in illegal immigration or open borders. You are free to be a Socialist, Marxist, or Communist. You are free to believe whatever you wish; because again, we have unalienable rights.
But what you are NOT free to do is to RESTRICT ME from being a God-fearing conservative with values and morals that Americans have treasured for 250 years.
It has become obvious that the extreme left feels it is reasonable to attack any other Houghton County resident who holds the same values as me and dares to speak up. They’ve been pressuring their affiliations and even threatening their livelihoods. This is completely unacceptable. If you believe in what I’m saying and you dared to speak up, or plan to speak up tonight, thank you. I know it’s not easy.
