The recent article In the Plymouth Independent about Select Board member [Harry] Helm stating that Bill Keohan, chair of the Community Preservation Committee, had made an “egregious mistake” calls to mind an earlier article when Select Board member John Mahoney called Keohan a “pathological liar.” Phones were ringing off the hook the next day. Outraged supporters of the work Bill has done for more than 20 years came up during the time when the chair of the Select Board wanted my seat [on the CPC] and others in town knew it and decided to come to the meeting where I would present my credentials. I was vice chair of the CPC. The room was crowded. I read a few words describing myself. Others were not allowed to speak. I didn’t feel there was much I could do about it. The issue seemed more to be about getting Keohan to move along than about me. But I realize now that I should have said or written something. When we lived in El Salvador and things were getting bad, the State Department declared all non-essential personnel must leave the country. And I left.
Joan H. Bartlett
Bartlett is a former member of the Community Preservation Committee.