There’s nothing like attending a selectmen’s meeting to highlight the challenges of democracy. In more than 25 years of covering various board meetings as a reporter, I’ve seen all kinds of public officials: arrogant, brilliant, earnest, clueless, dedicated to the common good, and utterly consumed with their own agenda. A week ago, at the selectmen’s forum on the Municipal Buildings Committee report, I saw two selectmen professing ardent support for the Town Meeting’s right to consider and choose between two competing warrant articles, and then abstaining when it came to making that debate possible. And I saw Marie Sobalvarro, unfazed by the political turmoil, quietly, steadily representing the interests of Harvard’s growing population of senior citizens, and supporting the recommendations of the people who work hard every day, with minimal town support, to provide the services they need.
As a member of the Council on Aging board, I am glad to support Marie’s candidacy for selectman. She is a person who means what she says, and who takes the trouble to know what she’s talking about.
Connie Larrabee
Under Pin Hill Road
