Published in the Susquehanna County Independent, Montrose, PA
May 31, 2000

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Anderson in the hot seat
By Joan Griffith

     It was apparent from the beginning that Judge Seamans was needed at Pa. SPCA’s May 24 Open Meeting regarding  local shelter manager Elizabeth Anderson.
     It was a trial of fire as volatile audience members made accusation after accusation against Anderson.
     A condescending Erik Hendricks, Pa. SPCA Executive Director, was unable to control the angry participants, but that didn’t keep him from trying in vain. He was totally unprepared.
     No rules of order were established and the meeting quickly turned into a shouting match verging on a slug fest.
     Hendricks had promised, as advertised, that he and members of Pa. SPCA Board would be present to hear complaints. No one was present from the Pa. SPCA Board except for Hendricks himself. Marsha Yoselson, local representative to the Pa. SPCA board; Elizabeth Anderson, and Clay Hulsizer, Danville Humane Society shelter manager made up the panel.
     Issues covering two years of complaints lodged against Anderson were passionately presented by the audience numbering almost 100.
     Those who thought they would finally have their day in court, left very disappointed.
     The mood of the evening was hostile at best. Questions filled the air, while each side interrupted or made rude comments during the discussion. A pounding of a judge’s gavel would have been welcome to establish some kind of order in this kangaroo court.
     Hendricks opened the proceedings with a half hour presentation patting the Pa. SPCA on the back for rescuing the ailing Susquehanna County Humane Society. He finished his speech with a plea for future local financial support and endowments which brought the first of many bursts of chuckles, snickers and outright laughter from the audience.
     While no one has ever objected to the Pa. SPCA and its plans for the county Humane Society, hundreds have objected to local manager Elizabeth Anderson kept on by the SPCA when they took over in

 1998. A group of concerned citizens has lobbied to remove Anderson for two years including presenting a petition, signed by 800 people, to Hendricks pleading for the removal of Anderson. It was clear there was no dispute with the SPCA, just a complete loss of confidence in Anderson.
     Finally Hendricks addressed the issue of the evening - Elizabeth Anderson. From there it went downhill fast, his pat response to all questions implyed that everybody must be lying except Anderson.
     One frustrated plea shouted from the audience was: “Why won’t you listen to us?
     Photos of abused animals were shown, and eye witness accounts were sometimes tearfully presented regarding abuse allegedly committed by Anderson.
     An arrogant Anderson, who was unable to make eye-contact with anyone, made angry, unsuccessful attempts to answer the many accusations made against her.
     She blamed her staff for a lot of the alleged abuse and said she couldn’t watch over them night and day.
     Montrose Borough Council President, Joel Maxi, went directly to the front of the room and addressed Hendricks, saying, "there is a problem here, and you sit here and defend her [Anderson]”. He asked Hendricks to look aroundthe room and see how many well-respected citizens were there attesting to that fact. After Maxi’s fiery statements, he left the meeting leaving no opportunity for Hendricks to respond to him.
     His exit established a pattern, other groups of disheartened people left as if in silent protest against a meeting that was obviously going nowhere. They came to be listened to and get questions answered, as promised, and it was perfectly clear that was not going to happen.
     Passions flared once again as the remaining diehards narrowed down to two sides - one pro-Anderson and one anti-Anderson. The tempestuous attacks flared into the audience and the threat of physical assault was muttered from a shelter employee.
     At this point, the meeting ended, at least for me. I left in utter disgust.

 
 
Opinion: put your money where your mouth is
By Joan Griffith
     At the Pa. SPCA's May 24 Open Meeting, Executive Director Erik Hendricks, ended the two and a half hour meeting by saying he will no longer pay attention to 'Letters to the Editors' in the local newspaper nor will he listen to any phone calls regarding manager Elizabeth Anderson.
     Quoting Hendricks, "In her time with us, Elizabeth has made some mistakes, about 25 or 30, but she's also made 'about a 1,000' good decisions."
     One has to wonder if that translates to 25 or 30 dead or maimed animals at the hands of Anderson.
     He also berated 'the local newspaper' [The Susquehanna County Independent] for printing all of those ridiculous letters to the editor. In his opinion, most of them were nonsense. He recommended that people visit the shelter for themselves and form their own opinions, which they do, but he doesn't like it when they disagree with his opinion.
     In a two year period, 63 people signed letters to the Independent voicing concerns about Elizabeth Anderson. Do the math, that's a lot of opinions on one issue. In the 184 year history of our paper, no other subiect has so enraged the public.		      Erik Hendricks, Elizabeth Anderson, and local board member Marsha Yoselson met last year with the Independent's general manager and editor to ask the Independent to stop printing 'those inflammatory letters' against Anderson. He also used the opportunity to inform us of how grateful we should be to the Pa. SPCA for all they were doing for this community. During that meeting, Hendricks inferred that we [the Independent] were using the issues at the shelter to sell newspapers and alluded to a possible law suit against the Independent.
     The Independent answered with an emphatic "no" to Hendricks request and explained that a local newspaper has a responsibility to present both sides of an issue which we have done.
     The Susquehanna County Independent welcomes 'Letters to the Editor' and will continue to encourage the public to exercise their freedom of speech and, in turn, we will continue to exercise freedom of the press, even though Hendricks refuses to listen.
     All that Hendricks did at this Open Meeting was to close all avenues for a resolution to accusations against Anderson.
    Soon fund-raising will begin for the local shelter, and when Hendricks listens for the coins to fall into the coffer, he will hear the same thing he heard May 24 -- nothing.