HANDY DANDY ANDY AND MAMA JUNE

 

It was rumored to be a wild meeting of the Florence City council for 02/18. It lived up to the hype. The agenda items were tame, but the action came into play at the end of the meeting with the “remarks from the public.”

I knew it would be an explosive meeting when the crowd that had assembled at the city auditorium sort of divided into groups. There was an extra policeman on duty. And a written copy of the rules of order for speakers at the meeting was handed out at the door.

On the south side of the seating area was the mayor with his wife and what looked like city workers. You did not need to guess why the group in the middle had assembled. They each were wearing a peel off sticker which had printed on it: FRIEND OF THE MAYOR. And then the group on the north side was more of a hodge podge but not an empty seat was available. These were the people who were in support of shelter director and opposed to the actions of mayor Andy Betterton. All had problems with Betterton and his handling of the situation at the shelter and a multitude of situations pertaining to the city. A couple of people were even wearing small homemade sign that read: FRIEND OF THE NEW MAYOR.

I am going to assume everyone reading this is aware of the situation at the shelter and the mayor placing the director Cheryl Jones on administrative leave supposedly because she allowed a van to take animals to a rescue organization in Wisconsin. That is one “story” that is floating anyway. I will admit, I saw her interview on the Huntsville television stations and it seemed she was blaming the dust up on social media and a volunteer. She praised the mayor. Some are saying she gave these interviews to save her job but somehow that just rubs me the wrong way. And as I said, it seems like there is a lot of speculation.

I am not a regular volunteer at the Florence Lauderdale Animal Shelter, so I really do not know exactly what is going on. I volunteered more often at the shelter when it was at the location on Dr. Hicks Blvd but that was years ago. There does seem to always be drama around volunteers and the operation of shelters and there seems to be at the current and at the former locations. I really try to not get involved with the hierarchy of volunteers. I just want to walk some dogs.

The tone was set in the meeting by the very first speaker being Andy Betterton himself. He talked of his respect for the first amendment and people have the right to criticize but he said that he had been unfairly targeted on social media and took offense at his family being mentioned. At this, all I could think of was the saying: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” Andy was in for an earful.

David Carson lambasted the mayor for his hypocrisy. He pointed out that the mayor had disabled comments on the live stream of the council meeting on the City of Florence Facebook page. He also said that for the money the mayor and council had appropriated to UNA, thousands of animals lives could be saved.

Another speaker stated he did not know Andy Betterton or his wife personally, but they made themselves public figures when they decided to be the “First family” of Florence and if they could not “take the heat, they should get out of the kitchen."

There were several speakers giving their opinion on the actions of the mayor regarding the director of the shelter. The overriding message was they just wanted to be able to transport animals to a rescue so none would be killed.

Things were about to end, and then Mrs. Sandra Betterton got up and went to the podium. She may be a retired elementary school teacher, but she was admonished twice from the dais by council president Kaytrina Simmons for using offensive language. This was in violation of the policy for decorum and use of foul language from the public. This is posted in the code of Florence, Alabama.

That sort of sums up the meeting. It was sad in many ways and embarrassing for the city in many other. As for the conduct of Mayor Andy Betterton and his wife - the “First Lady” Sandra? I long for the days of the dignity of Bobby and Sarah Irons and the grace of Steve and Susie Holt.