OKEECHOBEE — Okeechobee County Commissioner Bryant Culpepper is once again at the center of controversy in Okeechobee as an online petition calls for his resignation. The petition was started by a woman named Melissa Ort, who states, “A man who believes hair dryers cure coronavirus, is unable to use proper capitalization in sentences, and who spews hatred and ignorance toward anyone who disagrees with his stances should not be in a position of power.”

In addition, she accuses him of being “consistently engaged in publicly promoting sexist, racist, and homophobic views via Facebook for years” and “promoting hate and ignorance on a public forum.”

The petition calls for a public rebuke by the other commissioners and requests the governor intervene in his removal from office.

As of the writing of this story, 832 people have signed the petition.

When asked for comment, Commissioner Culpepper offered apologies for any out-of-line comments he has made recently and said he has been on some medication for a back injury, which caused his blood sugar to skyrocket to almost 400. Because of this, he said, he has not been himself, and may have said some things that he shouldn’t have, and he apologizes. He is working on getting his sugar under control and is no longer on that medication. If he offended anyone, he is very sorry. “I joke around a lot, and I honestly did not mean to offend,” he said.

In March, a similar petition was started by a man named Wyatt Deihl. The reason he gave was that he felt Commissioner Culpepper should not have given advice about using a blow dryer to cure the coronavirus. He felt this and some other remarks demonstrated incompetence. His petition garnered 58 names.