Town Meeting last night lasted a record 50 minutes, and voters approved both Article 6 (Memorial Pool renovations) and Article 7 (Design fees for Pickleball Courts) without one dissenting presentation. If the Owl were to describe her reaction to the night, she would have to use one of her favorite words: gobsmacked.

Article 6 (Memorial Pool) was presented thoroughly with cool diagrams and fun water toy photos by Eric Rosenthal, Chair of the Recreation Commission. In 10 minutes, a new life was shown for our pool, one that will start in two weeks, when work begins hopefully not interfering with rush hour dropoffs of the kidlets. Incipit vita nova. Passed by majority.

Article 7 (Pickleball Court Design) was presented by Melissa Crocker, chair of the Recreation Master Plan Steering Committee. Melissa spoke for ten minutes of the benefits of pickleball, and refuted arguments that had been brought against the courts. When she finished her presentation and the moderator asked if anyone else wished to speak, a familiar figure made her way to the center microphone…

…This is absolutely when your favorite soap opera would break away on a commercial break. …. and then….

I am not sure about the rest of the town, but after eight years living here, and knowing some of our town’s residents as I do, I was pretty sure that Isabella Jancourtz was about to speak against the proposal. And then she proceeded to give the most emotional and beautiful speech about, well, you’ll have to watch it to know it–it is almost too personal to communicate here. You could hear a pin drop there in the High School Auditorium. Riveted. In favor of the courts, she was. And not one person could get up after that speech, in favor or against. Show stopper.

The vote was not unanimous but carried the article.

Article 8 was passed over. And the meeting closed at 7:50 pm and we all went out to the parking lot dazed.

For actual objective content, you’ll need to look at the Weston Media Center recording when it appears here. I do not yet have final numbers on how many voters showed up, but it was enough.

And now to move on to posting about next week’s International Day of Peace event.

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