So let me make this even more perfectly clear

Kirby H. has responded that she was sick and didn't want to spread germs. That she did arrive at the forum, shortly after Sybil Barnes (who arrived late), and stood at the back of the room because she was concerned for other people's well-being. In two years, the story will morph into her being the only one who attended the forum, having to run it extemporaneously because Town Clerk Williamson was standing at the back of the room puking her guts out.

How about not coming and exposing a room full of oldsters to fomites from a respiratory illness? How about telling a cub reporter "Hey, I was sick, I don't need the publicity, I was sitting (or standing, who knows how sick someone is when they are certainly not sick enough to avoid engaging in conversation with others at the conclusion of the event, and why do we need young trustees who are constantly ill, talk about a bad sign) in the back sick and probably not your best witness to the events that unfolded, and there were other qualiified trustees in attendance, as well as the mayor, but why don't I take a shot anyway because I love the attention?" Do we need to bury all electric lines and get a warning siren in town? Yes. Will Kirby H. be spearheading any of these efforts? Yeah, right. She will be advocating for trustees getting 100K so they can leave their jobs and diddle away their time crafting elegant responses to why J-1s don't need protection and why business owners don't need parking and why jet engine noise shouldn't bother you while you are fiddling as the town burns down a la Lahaina. But whatever. You've got her, you enjoy her.