To the editor:
I attended the Select Board meeting Monday evening and I was both surprised and saddened by the turn of events.
The Meeting House — which has been under the care and custody of the society since a Town Meeting vote in 1960 — was taken away from them and turned over to the town-appointed Historical Commission.
I wasn’t surprised at the ultimate action, as the Society has been literally locked out of the building (the locks were actually changed to bar the Society from entry) for months without this official vote.
What bothered me was the rudeness displayed by the board. The Society has worked diligently at maintaining this town gem for six decades, all at no cost to the taxpayers. For months now, the town commission has been attacking the Society. In addition to the lockout, all the artifacts donated to the Society over the many years are being held by the commission. They won’t turn them over. Adding insult to injury, the commission has announced that it is also taking over the Society’s chief fundraising event — The Country Store — and calling it their own.
Last Monday, after allowing this type of behavior by one of its appointees, the Select Board would not give the Society even one minute at the meeting to state its case.
In fact, the members of the board would not even look at the many Society members in the audience. After 60 years of service by the Society, I think most would agree it deserved at least 60 seconds at the meeting.
On the sidewalk after the meeting a woman summed it up with a comment to a board member: shameful.
Cathy Slater
Lynnfield
