Dear Editor:

I understand that Marty Klein is running for first selectman in Killingworth.
I met Marty and his wife, Barbara, some years back when they came to Hartford as VISTA volunteers.

They came to help organize community gardens in low-income neighborhoods, but it wasn't long before they were intensely engaged in the workings of each community.

Marty was tireless, and I might say relentless, pursuing what he needed to make the gardens work. I can still remember the day that the UPS truck brought boxes of gardening tools donated by Ames Tools at Marty's request. Even Martha Stewart was fair game when Marty was trying to provide for his gardeners.

I've never met anyone more intolerant of government waste or resources directed toward ineffective "solutions." He was a proponent of efficient, effective organization and of exceptional effort on everyone's part.

Marty's business skills and work ethic, developed on the farm, provided a wonderful counterpoint to the "non-profit mode" of my organization.

I don't know who Marty is running against, but I have no qualms about supporting Marty's candidacy for first selectman. The people of Killingworth would do well to have him working for them.

Jack N. Hale
Executive Director
Knox Parks Foundation
Hartford, CT