To the Editor:

I first realized that Maureen Crick Owen is a leader who sets high standards for herself in 2010, when she chaired a subcommittee for the Parks and Recreation Commission. Although Maureen laid out the process, she always remained open to the ideas of the other committee members. She was the leader of the team, but the team was always first. As chair, she could have directed others to do the work, but she took on the mammoth job of writing the final report to the Board of Selectmen herself. It was a model of how all such reports should be written - organized, detailed, fact-based, and clear.

Maureen is an 11th generation Newtowner. Many of her volunteer activities and current professional work honors her family and their connections to Newtown. To respect her father, Jim Crick, who also held the position, Maureen took on the presidency of the Newtown Village Cemetery Association. As a tribute to her mother, Joan, a longtime member of the Borough Board of Burgesses, Maureen is currently serving as clerk of both the Borough of Newtown Zoning Commission and Borough Zoning Board of Appeals. In memory of a nephew, Maureen became a member of the Coalition of Suicide Awareness. Maureen is currently employed as the office administrator of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association, deepening her ties still further to the town she loves.

In continuation of the service of her family to Newtown, Maureen is campaigning as Dan Rosenthal's running mate for the Board of Selectmen. She will bring an active and questioning intelligence, a clear sense of organization, and an ability to work with a wide variety of people to the job. She has my unqualified support.

A note of information for voters. Many assume that the first selectman's running mate is automatically elected. In Newtown, voters can vote for two of the candidates for Board of Selectmen. The person who receives the most votes will be first selectman. The top three vote-getters will serve on the Board of Selectmen. While the first selectman will be able to administer, without his running mate on the board, he may not be able to change policy.

Jan Brookes

38 Hundred Acres Road, Newtown          October 23, 2017