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Doug Deakins attended his first government meeting Wednesday, and it was memorable. The Grants Pass resident went to the lectern at the Josephine County Board of Commissioners business meeting Wednesday and read suggestive text messages that County Commissioner Simon Hare sent from a phone belonging to Deakins' wife. The texts went to the Deakins' 18-year-old daughter and 21-year-old niece. Hare, 36, does not dispute that he sent the texts. He says it was a misunderstanding when he grabbed the wrong phone in a spontaneous effort to prank a friend. "They were not malicious in intent," Hare said of the texts. "It was just a joke." The incident occurred the night of Dec. 5 at the Cedarwood Saloon on Redwood Avenue. Deakins, who is a helicopter pilot with Swanson Group Aviation, and his wife, Stefani, were at a table with some acquaintances, including Jennifer Putnam, who also is a friend of Hare's. While Stefani Deakins was away from the table, Hare picked up a cellphone, thinking it belonged to Putnam, and sent a text to two people he didn't know, thinking it would be a fun prank to pull on Putnam.  One text read "Dude ur so hot." The other said "God I gotta get in your pants." It was Stefani Deakins' cellphone, not Putnam's. And the apparently random recipients of the texts were Deakins' daughter and niece. The two young women immediately texted back in alarm. When Deakins returned to the table, she responded and pointed out she didn't send the texts and was told by Putnam that Hare had used her phone. That prompted a confrontation between Doug Deakins and Hare. Deakins, who said he had no idea who Hare was at the time, said that rather than apologize, Hare warned that he knows a lot of attorneys in town. "He was visibly intoxicated, if you ask me," Deakins said. Hare disputed Deakins' version of events and that he was drunk. "I apologized profusely and asked if there was anything I could do," Hare told the Grants Pass Daily Courier after the meeting. "His wife even said she thought it wasn't anything malicious." Stefani Deakins said that, while she believes Hare did not know whom he was texting, she agrees with her husband that Hare was more belligerent than apologetic. "He did tell me that he has family members in town and he has attorneys in town and we will lose every day of the week" if they took him on, she said. Putnam, however, said Hare apologized. Putnam, who was the treasurer of Hare's recent re-election campaign, said she saw that Doug Deakins was upset, and she also realized that Hare had used the wrong phone by mistake, so she intervened to explain the matter to both men. "What I observed while I was standing there is that apologies were given and accepted," she said. But Deakins is having none of it. "I'm hoping the public can see past the public persona and see the real person," he said, adding that he believes an elected official should be held to a higher standard. Deakins said that, while he doesn't know Hare personally, he has read about him and agrees with Hare on issues such as timber and economic development. "This is beyond a political agenda, this is personal," Deakins said. "If he had apologized to me, it would have been over." Deakins said that, while he didn't report the incident to police, he did discuss it with several people and was advised that the incident could be considered identity theft. When the circumstances were described to Bill Landis, director of the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety, he said it's possible that Hare's antics could be considered identity theft or telephonic harassment.  Hare was elected to the commission in 2010 and re-elected to a second four-year term in November. This is the second public misadventure involving Hare and alcohol. On May 10, 2013, Hare reported his 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee had been stolen overnight from downtown Grants Pass. A Medford police detective who handled the case at the request of local authorities eventually concluded that Hare falsely reported his Jeep was stolen. However, the detective was unable to uncover enough direct evidence to support his belief. The detective reached his conclusion after interviewing several people who reported they were either with Hare or saw him the night before and that Hare had consumed alcohol at several downtown establishments. Some of the witnesses reported Hare appeared to be intoxicated, and one person reportedly persuaded Hare not to drive. The case was officially closed after the Oregon Department of Justice reviewed the reports and concluded there was not enough evidence to charge Hare with a crime. Reach Grants Pass Daily Courier reporter Jim Moore at 541-474-3721 or [email protected] .