Gadfly Makes Absence Felt at Laguna Council Meeting

The City Council meeting was just too quiet.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, council gadfly Alan Adams wasn’t there Tuesday night to harangue city officials about the budget or services for seniors. Before what would have been the 79-year-old’s 397th consecutive council meeting, officials learned that Adams had been seriously injured in a car accident on Monday.

To keep Adams’ amazing attendance streak intact, the council unanimously granted a proclamation of “honorary attendance.”

“I was deeply saddened when I heard,” said Councilman Robert F. Gentry, who has withstood his share of scoldings from Adams in his 12 years on the dais. “Mr. Adams is a fixture at City Hall and part of our culture and how we do business.”

Adams, a retired businessman, has also gained local fame for wearing the same blue T-shirt to meetings. The shirt proclaims in white letters: “I’m not a tourist, I live here.”

On Wednesday, Adams was still in critical condition in the intensive-care ward of Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

“I’m really concerned about him,” Gentry said. “Some people see him as a gadfly . . . and some see him as an angry activist. But I see him as a committed citizen with sincere beliefs.”