Councilman Jeffrey Beenstock said the incident was "unfortunate for Medford" and was also regrettable for Del Rossi.
"As a parent of a middle-school student, I'm concerned about this incident in light of his role in the 'Defy the Issue' program," he said, referring to the drug and alcohol awareness program held last month at the middle school.
Beenstock said that roughly 2,000 students and parents attended the event, and Del Rossi was one of the main speakers. Beenstock said he was worried about the effect on the students.
I don't know what kinds of things were said at this event, but from my memory of that time of life there was a big tendency for adults to pretend that they never behaved like adults. Certainly there's nothing wrong with trying to convince teens that maybe they should keep away from the booze and drugs, but the problem was that Adult Role Models held up a picture of life that was untrue. You know, a world where all good people were sober and chaste. It was as if drinking was portrayed as adolescent behavior, instead of behavior adolescents shouldn't be doing.