An August 26 Lincoln Squirrel article about Naturestage founder Miranda Loud contained inaccurate information about Katy Payne. The article has been updated to include the correction.
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The Groves aims to reinvent itself after bankruptcy sale
The main building at The Groves
In the wake of the recent bankruptcy and sale of The Groves, two officials answered questions about the current state and future of the senior living complex at a Lincoln Council on Aging session this week.
The Groves, which opened three years ago but is at only 59 percent occupancy today, filed for bankruptcy in March 2013 after defaulting on payment of $88.4 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency. According to Senior Housing News, Benchmark Senior Living emerged as the “stalking horse” among numerous potential bidders and received court approval to acquire the property for up to $35 million. The sale was completed in June.
A 2012 analysis commissioned by Masonic Health Systems of Massachusetts (MHS), the previous co-owner of The Groves along with New England Deaconess Association, noted that slow sales were exacerbated by “an inordinate number of cancellations of reservations” and said units were overpriced. For residents who needed more help, the Groves offered discounted services from a visiting nurse association owned and operated by MHS, or a transfer arrangement to the Alzheimer’s care and nursing facilities at Newbury Court in Concord, also at discounted rates.
“While the virtual/in-home care concept was cutting edge, it was possibly ahead of its time, and somewhat beyond many consumers in the market that wanted—or believed they needed—to see ‘bricks and mortar’ long-term care facilities on campus, as is the case at The Grove’s competitors,” the consultant’s report said.
With the planned addition of skilled nursing and memory care facilities, The Groves is changing from an assisted living community to a CCRC (continuing care retirement community) that will offer every level of care on its campus adjacent to Route 2, said Sandra Van Allen-West, regional sales director for Benchmark, which owns 46 other senior living communities in New England, including 21 in Massachusetts.
The town has approved a plan to build those facilities on part of the campus that was originally intended for second-phase construction of more independent living units. The Groves currently includes 168 units in two apartment-style main buildings and 38 cottages.
When they move in, residents will be required to enter into a “life care contract” that guarantees that their monthly fee will not go up if they need to move from their independent living unit to a higher level of care at The Groves, Van Allen-West said. The only competitor in the area that offers a similar arrangement is Brookhaven at Lexington, she added.
“That’s a key component to attract more people,” said Rob Fallon, executive director at The Groves, adding that “we lost a lot of people” who moved out because they began to need more care than The Groves or visiting services could provide.
In another change at The Groves, residents will now be required to purchase a dining plan with at least 30 meals per month, Van Allen-West said.
Depending on the size and style of their unit, Groves residents pay an entrance fee of $450,000 to $900,000. After residents die or move out, up to 90 percent of that fee is refunded once their specific unit is resold or after 10 years, whichever comes first. Incoming residents are more likely to buy a vacated unit rather than one that’s never been occupied because the vacated units (since they were taken first) are the most desirable in terms of view or other features, Fallon said. “My experience in this industry is that the popular ones sell out,” he said.
There’s also a monthly fee of $4,000 to $6,000 per person plus another $1,400 for a second person living in a unit. That fee rises for all residents by 3 to 4 percent a year, though it wouldn’t increase solely if a resident moves to a higher level of care, Van Allen-West said. The “off-the-street” monthly fees for skilled nursing care ranges from $12,000 to $16,000, she added.
With the addition of the new facilities, “I feel very confident that we’ll achieve full occupancy and create a strong waiting list” within two to three years, Fallon said.
Benchmark, although a separate business entity from The Groves, is honoring the contracts of residents who were living there at the time of the ownership transfer, Van Allen-West said. She acknowledged that the refund promise isn’t as iron-clad as a government-backed guarantee, “but it’s very important for us for this project to be successful,” she said. “You have to look at Benchmark as an organization and what it historically provides.”
Attendees at the COA session asked a number of pointed questions, including one from a man who commented on Van Allen-Wests’s comment that Benchmark is listed as one of the Boston Globe’s Top 100 Places to Work.
“I’m appalled at the reputation Benchmark has,” he said, referring to a number of negative comments about the company by Benchmark employees on Indeed.com. “I can’t believe that a company would allow this to happen.”
“There will always be people who are unhappy or disgruntled,” Van Allen-West responded. “There is a platform for them to have a conversation and get their issues addressed.”
The bankruptcy and sale to Benchmark “is good news for The Groves, the residents and the town,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins said at the June 17 Board of Selectmen meeting. “It’s our leading taxpayer in town,” generating about $750,000 in tax revenue in 2013, and if the facility fills up,”we could see annual taxes to the town almost double,” he said.
Lincoln vet makes a practice of house calls
Dr. Betsy Johnson with her dog Lucy. Photo / Alice Waugh
By Brett Wittenberg
When they see the vet, many dogs cower, cats hide, birds screech and bang against their cages—but not when they see Dr. Betsy Johnson. Armed with a can of Cheez Whiz, catnip, and a stethoscope, she’s been healing Lincoln pets for 25 years in the setting where they’re most at ease: their own homes.
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Water main break suspected but not found
An unexpected drop in the level of water in a town-owned water tank prompted automated notifications on Thursday to Lincoln residents about a water main break, but it turned out there was no break, and the cause of the sudden surge in water use was never found.
Sudbury trying to evict Camuti from town-owned affordable housing
Sudbury housing officials are trying to evict William Camuti, who has been charged in connection with the death of Stephen Rakes, from his Sudbury affordable-housing unit, and he has been investigated in the past by Sudbury police, the MetroWest Daily News reports.
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Sudbury man arrested in connection with Rakes death
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Lincoln Police Chief Kevin Mooney announced on Friday that William Camuti, 69, of Sudbury was arrested in connection with the death of Stephen Rakes, whose body was found off Mill Street in Lincoln on July 17.
Camuti pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, misleading police, and unlawful disposition of human remains. Although the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet determined the cause of Rakes’ death, Ryan said at a press conference and a press release that Camuti, a longtime business associate of Rakes, poisoned Rakes by putting potassium potassium cyanide in his iced coffee on the afternoon of July 16 when the two men met in Waltham.
Rakes and Camuti were involved in various business deals and Camuti owed money to Rakes, an investigation by Lincoln Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office revealed. Based on evidence gathered by investigators, Camuti and Rakes spoke by phone on July 16 and Camuti requested a meeting to discuss a potential investment property in Wilmington. However, the deal did not in fact exist.
Camuti and Rakes allegedly met around 1:45 p.m. at a McDonald’s in Waltham., where Camuti purchased two iced coffees and allegedly mixed one of them with two teaspoons of potassium cyanide. He gave the laced drink to the victim, who drank from it. Camuti then drove around Waltham, Woburn, Burlington and Lincoln for several hours with the victim in the vehicle and eventually dumped the body in the wooded area in Lincoln where it was found the next day.
Surveillance video showed Rakes leaving the Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse the afternoon of July 16, where he had been regularly attending the racketeering trial of reputed gangster James “Whitey” Bulger. Rakes appeared to be wearing the same clothing when his body was found with no identification, keys or cell phone at 1:30 p.m. on July 17.
The poisoning was apparently unrelated to the Bulger case of reputed gangster Bulger, although Rakes’ body was found just one day after he learned he would not be called to testify, the Associated Press noted.
Friday’s Boston Globe said that according to a Lincoln Police Department report, Camuti told investigators in two separate interviews that he met with Rakes in the parking lot of the McDonald’s to discuss a potential real estate deal, but that he left directly after the meeting and did not see Rakes again. However, the GPS from Camuti’s car showed that on the night of July 16, he drove to the area of 90 Mill St. in Lincoln, “where he disposed of the body,” the police report said. Lincoln police and State Police executed a series of search warrants for Camuti’s home, vehicle, cellphone, and car GPS unit, according to the Globe article about the police report.
At Friday’s press conference, Ryan said there was evidence Camuti had sought information online about acquiring cyanide, the Globe reported.
The incident remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Lincoln Police. Officials are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests from the autopsy on Rakes. Camuti will probably be charged with murder if the tests show that Rakes died of cyanide poisoning.
Potassium cyanide resembles sugar and dissolves easily in water, according to Wikipedia. When inhaled, cyanide can cause death in minutes, but when ingested, the time elapsed before death depends on factors including dosage and the acidity and amount of food in the victim’s stomach. Ingesting cyanide causes nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and irritation or corrosion of the lining of the esophagus and stomach, followed by headache, confusion, anxiety, dizziness, weakness, difficulty breathing and loss of consciousness, coma and death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
The truck stops here
Lincoln Police at the scene where a delivery truck got stuck across Weston Road Friday night.
A section of Weston Road near Moccasin Hill Road was closed for about an hour on Friday night (August 2) when an appliance delivery truck rolled down the driveway at 172 Weston Road and got wedged into a utility pole on the opposite side of the road.
The truck was unable to back up the sloped driveway under its own power and had to be winched free by Waltham Towing, according to Lincoln Police Sgt. Paul Westlund. There were no injuries and the pole was not damaged, he said.
Rakes may have been poisoned; how body got to Lincoln still unknown
Steven Rakes, whose body was found in Lincoln on July 17, may have been poisoned, according to a report by Fox-25 News in Boston.
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Weekend train service remains until Sept. 7
The MBTA commuter rail Lincoln stop, which was expected to be closed on weekends through November, will now be available until September 7.
The weekend service suspension between Fitchburg and South Acton that began in June will continue through August 24, with full Saturday/Sunday service over the Labor Day weekend.. However, new efficiencies in the construction schedule will allow for weekend service to be maintained between North Station and South Acton through Labor Day Weekend.
Starting on September 7, the work will extend to Brandeis/Roberts, which means the South Acton, West Concord, Concord, Lincoln, and Kendal Green stations will be closed from September 7 to November 17. Trains between Brandeis/Roberts and North Station will operate on the normal weekend schedule. Weekday service is not affected.
For more information, see the MBTA project website, email FitchburgProject@MBTA.com, or call the MBTA Fitchburg Project Hotline at 617-721-7506.
Roadside LaRouche advocates try to win support
The LaRouche movement kiosk outside the Lincoln mall on Tuesday morning.
Alan Demers (left) and Ian Brinkley are supporters of the LaRouche movement.
By Alice Waugh
Waving and smiling at passersby in front of a poster depicting President Obama with a Hitler-style mustache, two supporters of Lyndon Larouche’s policies set up at kiosk at the side of the road next to the Lincoln mall this morning hoping to win support.
Ian Brinkley, 23, and Alan Demers, 27, both of Quincy, set up signs on Lincoln Road calling for Obama’s impeachment and advocating re-passage of the Glass-Steagall Act. They’ve done this in Lincoln before, as well as other area towns. “We go all over the place,” Brinkley said.
The two men were hoping to win support for LaRouchePAC.com, a group headed by eight-time presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. Among other positions, the group decries Wall Street as “fascist” and is pushing for reintroduction of the Glass-Steagall Act, a 1933 law that limited affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms. Major provisions of the law were repealed in 1999, a fact which some critics blame for the financial crisis in the late 2000s, but there are now bills pending in the House and Senate to restore those laws.
One of the flyers he handed out alleged that JP Morgan was behind an unsuccessful armed coup in 1934. Another flyer about the Glass-Steagall Act claims that the British monarchy is trying to control the world’s political economy and wants to reduce the population of the planet from seven billion to one billion.
The LaRouche movement is a fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “who always put the people before the bankers,” Brinkley said.
Asked what he objected to about Obama, Brinkley decried the current “police state” where “every single phone call, email and text message is monitored by the NSA, which is not exactly in line with our Constitution.” He also criticized bailouts “from Detroit to Cyprus” and said Obama is guilty of treason for allegedly arming Al Quaeda in Saudi Arabia and “covering up” the role of the Saudis in 9/11. Asked if he believed Al Quaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks, Brinkley said, “That’s kind of like asking if Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the assassination of JFK… it’s not an easy answer.”
Brinkley, who said his group does not support any particular political candidate for office, said people in Lincoln have been “receptive.” Reactions in town “have ranged from ‘I love what you’re doing, you guys are my heroes’ to ‘get out of here’ and rose,” he said.
“Do you want to help get rid of Obama today?” he cheerfully asked a passerby.
“Absolutely not,” the man replied.
“Not even a tiny bit?”
“He’s the best thing we’ve had,” the man said as walked away.