Neil: Councilman Anderson needs no defending

The Opinion by Rosemary Zacher attacking Councilman David Anderson and the suggestion he step down deserves a different perspective (“Dover councilman’s actions ‘disrespectful and immature’"). As admitted in her letter that she was urged to write, she is a recent arrival to Dover. That she attended this meeting indicates that she is both a caring and a sensitive individual. We could use more of her kind in Dover.

Councilman Anderson is a perceptive, innovative thinker, whose record as a protector of all people is genuine. The incident that caused him to laugh was not directed at anyone but was spontaneous, as a result of a happenstance to Councilman Gerald Rocha, sitting beside him on the council dais. Not only did Councilman Anderson apologize in public, but Councilman Rocha explained what had occurred.

When I became a professional newsman in the 1960s, I covered homeless problems caused by illegal drugs, compounded by the Supreme Court decision that said a person with a mental illness cannot be forced to stay against his or her will in a hospital. Periodic economic downturns added to the problem of homelessness, which has defied a solution. The numbers are so great, there is no easy answer.

The Dover charter has no provision for health, social services, education or the ability to use taxpayers’ money to simply build buildings. We need to work in concert with agencies that can provide what is needed.

It is not a Dover city problem. Homelessness is a state and national problem. City Council approved, and Mayor Robin R. Christiansen launched, a Blue Ribbon Panel on Homelessness to do what we can for the greater good.

David Anderson knows homelessness is not a laughing matter, and he is simply not a person to insult or belittle anyone. His record shows it.

Councilman Fred Neil

Dover City Council 3rd District

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