Dona T. Apple

It is with high praise that I send this letter in support of Elaine Fiore in her bid for re-election to the Kingston Board of Selectmen. Elaine is a consummate professional who places the town of Kingston and its citizens among her first priorities. Elaine works tirelessly to enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Kingston.

A few of the very important characteristics for a person who is an elected official are the ability to commit time, energy and preparation to meetings. A qualified candidate understands the need to engage in meaningful dialogue as a way of expanding ones’ own knowledge base regarding the many issues facing Kingston. Further, a highly qualified candidate must display the ability to attend to the long term commitment of planning while attending to the immediate needs of the town. Elaine Fiore understands as do all of us that Kingston is a desirable and growing community. Elaine understands that our community must grow its economic base and expand our outdated infrastructure in order to stabilize the tax base for Kingston’s residents. To this end, Elaine has procured three million dollars in grant funding to assist Kingston in expanding our wastewater processing capacity and is continuing to secure additional funding allowing Kingston to update our infrastructure. Elaine Fiore’s commitment to the town of Kingston and its citizens is consistently displayed in her actions and her leadership.

Elaine Fiore is a valued and highly respected citizen of the town of Kingston. In her profession as a business analyst, Elaine brings a high degree of intellectual capital to the Board of Selectmen. It is, therefore, that I heartily and without reservation support Elaine Fiore in her bid for Re-election to the Kingston Board of Selectmen.

Respectfully submitted,

Dona T. Apple, Kingston

Jean Landis Naumann

We have some very important decisions to make in the next few weeks that will affect us now and into the future.

To my fellow Kingston voters,

We have some very important decisions to make in the next few weeks that will affect us now and into the future, including the future of your children and grandchildren.

Kingston needs and deserves forward-thinking leaders who are not afraid to consider new ideas and are willing to take on new challenges. We do not want to wait to tackle our known and anticipated projects while the rest of the world and our neighboring towns move forward with innovative approaches and decisive actions that will garner prosperity and success for them.

Kingston is uniquely situated geographically with three exits off Route 3, with access to properties that could be very attractive to the right companies looking for a welcoming community. Take a look at Kingston’s new Master Plan and you will see the vision of what Kingston can be with commitment and support from the residents as well as our local government.

We need leaders who show up, have enthusiastic ideas to resolve problems, and are willing to put in the time and effort to make Kingston a better place for all of us. It is most important that leaders be knowledgeable and dedicated to following the law. Gut instinct and skirting the legal requirements will only increase our liabilities and will surely result in increased costs and lack of confidence by the voters. Naysayers seldom offer ideas to improve the very issues they are criticizing.

While Town Meeting may seem unduly long and sometimes difficult to follow the procedures, we have the unique opportunity to have our say about every aspect of how our town is run and how we want our tax money used. We are being assured that this Town Meeting will be run more efficiently, since voters have had access to the warrant articles for several weeks preceding the meeting and can come prepared and knowledgeable about the issues to be debated and decided. If you have questions about a particular article, now is the time to ask questions of the appropriate department.

Please exercise your hard-won right to vote on April 27 and again at Town Meeting on May 4 and May 7.

Jean Landis Naumann, Kingston

Sara Altherr

As we approach the 2019 Kingston election on April 27, I’m concerned that Facebook posts and social media have led to increasing division and polarization of voters.

As we approach the 2019 Kingston election on April 27, I’m concerned that Facebook posts and social media have led to increasing division and polarization of voters. Facebook sites, particularly, encourage short, argumentative posts with no back-up. There’s no editor, in the traditional sense, to limit name calling, unsubstantiated accusations and misrepresentation of ideas. Common standards of civility disappear.

This makes coming together as a community nearly impossible.

Now, there are at least three Facebook sites that purport to provide information to Kingston residents, and postings to these sites are pretty much unregulated. Recently, things got so ugly that an administrator of the original Facebook site “Kingston Town Locals” — where residents used to share such useful, community-building information as school delays, lost animals, and weather related losses of electricity — found it necessary to post the following, “If you would like to push an agenda, bash a specific person or feel you can run a better page I invite you to start one, this page is for Kingston residents who can also function and communicate as Adults and care about our town.” Thereupon, new Facebook sites appeared — which continue to allow scurrilous attacks, innuendo, and divisive comments.

As in the larger Facebook world, short, oversimplified summaries of complex ideas are producing a voting public increasingly less patient with getting beyond the surface, more tribal, and uninterested in listening to ideas that don’t fit into their preconceived notions. In my opinion, democracy — and good government — depends on factual information to help us make decisions on how to vote in our elections and at Town Meeting.

Thank heavens for the “Kingston Reporter” (www.wickedlocal/Kingston), where voters can read biographies submitted by the candidates themselves, and for local cable PACTV, which has done one-on-one interviews with candidates and covered “candidates nights” — all of which will be repeated until the election and can be viewed at www.pactv.org.

I urge all Kingston residents to take the time and effort to hear from the candidates themselves, learn about the issues, and judge for themselves who can best bring us together and build a town that can deal with the many challenges ahead.

Sara Altherr, Kingston