Scratching our heads over Mayor's abstention vote for Neal leave of absence

The powerful Neal, a former All-League fullback for the Tigers as well as a professional boxer at one point in his career, was dealt a terrific blow by the cowardly hit-and-run driver, rendering him partially paralyzed. Fortunately, some deft surgery restored the feeling in his body, but the pain lingers, and will for several months, if not longer.

The first-term councilmember has been ordered to stay off his feet for most of the day and must adhere to that strict regimen for several months. Told he would forfeit his seat if he continued were to miss several meetings, Neal asked for and was granted a leave of absence at the council’s January 21 meeting.

John Gordon and Willard Rodarmel voted for Neal’s request while Lois Wynne was not present and did not vote. Rodarmel, understandably, is sympathetic to Neal’s request. After all, he suffered a similar set of injuries from a motorcycle crash and he too required a leave of absence.

The surprise was that the mayor, Billy Siegel, didn’t vote for the leave of absence, instead abstaining. While not specifically stating his reasons for his unusual stance, he simply stated: “There are equal reasons to vote for it, and vote against it.”

I and about 26,000 Lemoore citizens would sort of like to know what those reasons are because his non-vote makes no sense whatsoever.

I’m going to jump out on a limb and suggest that perhaps the state law which requires a leave of absence for absent elected officials was designed to get rid of those councilmembers who simply don’t show up for meetings, not for those elected who have suffer serious injuries through no fault of their own, perhaps at the hands of negligent hit-and-run drivers. I think Gordon and Rodarmel understand that; perhaps our mayor doesn’t.