Mightier than an oak
Former County Executive Dale Anderson knew how to work things to his benefit, including getting rid of a tree that hampered his golf game.
Former County Executive Donald Hutchinson during the Dec. 4 meeting of the county Revenue Authority board told the tale of a bout between a 150-year-old oak tree on the grounds of the Rocky Point Golf Course then-County Executive Anderson in the 1970s.
Anderson, who was elected county executive in 1966, wanted a golf course on the east side of the county and was responsible for having Rocky Point built in the early ’70s on the site of two farms at the bottom of the Back River Neck peninsula, according to Hutchinson.
“Anderson went down and played the course a couple of times before it opened because he was a golfer and he loved the game,” Hutchinson explained.
It was on the 10th hole, considered at the time to be the signature hole on the course, that Anderson and the tree crossed paths.
“Right in front 120 yards (ahead), was this enormous big beautiful oak tree that had been on the farm for years,” Hutchinson said. “And Anderson got up in his first two rounds of golf, on the 10th hole, and both times hit the ball square in the middle of the oak tree.”
“And this is Dale Anderson, who was a relatively vulgar guy and he said ‘You guys have to cut that S-O-B down,’” Hutchinson said, cleaning up Anderson’s saltier language.
The designers of the course argued in favor of saving the tree saying it was “the most beautiful tree” and part of what made the hole special.
Anderson vowed that the tree would be gone.
“That Sunday an oak tree that was 150-years old was struck down the middle by lightning split in half and came down. And Dale Anderson was forever found guilty of destruction of that oak tree,” Hutchinson said.
It wasn’t the only thing for which Anderson was guilty. He resigned his office in 1974 before the end of his second term and convicted that same year of extortion, conspiracy and tax evasion.