Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9504030068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Perhaps the genteel, 17-year reign of former mayor Noel Taylor had led people to forget, but Mayor David Bowers' brief walkout March 13 wasn't the first time the city's leading politician sparked a few fireworks at City Council meetings.
Let us take you back to 1960, when then-Mayor Willis "Wick" Anderson presided over a meeting where the hotly contested issue was the city's proposed donation of land at Fishburn Park for a new hospital.
More than 200 people turned out for a council meeting Nov. 14, 1960, to watch a dozen speakers blister the proposal.
Anderson, then 32 and the youngest mayor in Roanoke's history, hadn't taken a position on it. But the rhetorical arrows slung that night clearly troubled him.
"This is my first and last term on City Council," an exasperated Anderson declared during a brief lull in the meeting. "You can quote me on that. I mean it."
Anderson's term ended in 1962, and his vow lasted for 30 years. Then, in 1992, city Republicans persuaded him to run for the office Taylor was vacating. In the general election, he was beaten by then-Councilman Bowers.
by CNB