Issue-oriented

The scribbles, according to his mother, Betsey Dyer, began just before Obar’s first birthday, an indication her son was destined to communicate.

By first grade, Obar wrote so many full-length stories his parents bound them into books they have saved in a large plastic container. He wrote a novel in second grade he called “The Assassinator,’’ about the Queen of England visiting the United States and being pursued by a killer.

At 9, he put out The Lewis Ave. Times, a neighborhood newspaper about residents of the leafy side street where the Obars live, with popular features on their pets.

At 12, he moved on to produce bigger publications, including eventually The Walpole Gazette, a weekly newspaper he printed from his home and distributed to subscribers both around town and at the Johnson Middle School where he was a student.

Later came a cable TV show. And a blog.

And today, at 16, to no one’s surprise, Obar is also a popular radio host on WDIS-AM 1170 in Norfolk, where he conducts a live talk show Saturdays at 4 p.m. His website, SamObar.com, also contains his blog.

“I don’t know what other kids do, but this is just what I do,’’ the high school junior said during a recent interview in his family’s cozy, historic home, an 1880s structure that according to Obar was built as a rooming house for local mill workers.

Dyer is the first to assert that the media quest her son has pursued is all his own.

“We haven’t forced him into anything,’’ she said. Dyer is a biology professor at Wheaton College; her husband, Robert Obar, is a protein chemist at Harvard Medical School. Sam’s sister, Alice, is a sophomore at Mount Holyoke College. The family also has a friendly French hunting dog named Jenny.

Like his earliest writings, the young man’s ideas are individual, and personal. “I’m really passionate about issues,’’ said Obar, who is on the Student Council at school.

Does he ever run out of questions?

Never, he said. “Usually, I have too many questions to ask, and we have to schedule another interview.’’

Over time, Obar has drawn an impressive range of local and national political luminaries, including new US Senator Scott Brown, former governor Paul Cellucci, US Representative Barney Frank, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker, and Walpole Town Administrator Michael Boynton, among many others.

He said some of his most stirring interviews so far have been with Boynton, with whom he discusses town procedures and policies, and spars over Boynton’s residency in another town.

Obar is resolute in his position on that issue: “I think the town administrator should live in Walpole,’’ he said.

As for Frank, the two have never met, yet the outspoken politician, notorious for taking others very vocally to task, has been a guest three times already.

In a call from Washington, Frank said he is impressed with what Obar has accomplished. “I admire him. He’s very thoughtful, he does what he does well, and he doesn’t try to play ‘gotcha’ like others in the media. He deserves serious consideration,’’ Frank said.

WDIS station manager Dan Collier said people are always impressed with Obar’s intellect and maturity when they meet him.

“He’s definitely an over-achiever and can be quite controversial,’’ Collier said. “People being interviewed always quickly forget how young he is.’’

While he pursues his avocation, Obar still takes some honors classes, has a part-time job at the Walpole Public Library, and volunteers on the town’s Historical Commission, where he holds the record as the panel’s youngest appointed member.

Walpole selectmen chairman Christopher Timson said Obar’s background and initiative persuaded the board to set precedent and give him a chance at appointed office.

“While you might not necessarily put a kid of his tender years into that kind of position, he stood out,’’ Timson said.

The rest of the time, Obar says he tries to conduct a normal social life. Among his recent achievements: getting his driver’s license.

Somehow, he says, everything that has to be done gets done, with plenty of time left over for fun.

Recently, for example, Obar and his father embarked on something they called the Norfolk County Library Marathon, in which they not only visited all 28 county libraries in one day, they also placed a calling card in the same book in every library except where the book was out, in which case they placed the card in the one filed next to it.

Offering no hints at the title, or the meaning of the quest, Obar said it is up to patrons to figure it out.

“This is what he does for fun,’’ said Dyer, smiling and rolling her eyes. She obviously enjoys her son’s ideas and expeditions.

“As a much younger kid, he always wanted to go to School Committee meetings,’’ she said. “And selectmen’s meetings. Town Meetings.’’

Dyer said her son is a “wonderful, responsible, and independent’’ young man who is single-minded in his ambitions. “If I want to know something about politics? I go to him.’’

When he finishes college, said Obar, he hopes to go into political public relations. For now, he edits the high school newspaper, works on a book about local history, and tries to make a difference in any way he can.

For example, Obar opposes a movement by some in town to continue using the Confederate flag as the Rebels sports teams’ standard. People don’t like change, he says, but he finds it insulting and unseemly.

School Superintendent Lincoln Lynch said the School Committee discontinued use of the Confederate flag in 1980, but some town residents have continued to display it near school fields. In fact, one neighbor hangs the flag on a fence near where school sports are played, requiring the committee to authorize an announcement before each activity to clarify the district’s position, he said.

“That person has a private right to expression, but we do that so students and visitors don’t misinterpret it,’’ he said.

As for Obar, Lynch characterizes him as a bright, young man “who approaches all he does with a thoughtful knowledge of the issues.’’

“He’s active and respectful,’’ Lynch said. “And he’s a fantastic student. I have the utmost respect for him.’’

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.