The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Letter to the editor: say no to MBTA fare increases

February 12, 2019

To the editor:

I object to MBTA fare increases for the following reasons:

Raising MBTA fares in Massachusetts on basically privatized public transportation that is neglected, decrepit, badly needs massive updating, and has already very costly fares unjustly penalizes those who most need public transportation to get to work and is not good for all the people of the Commonwealth. The people know this and are not happy. Even the MBTA estimates that this fare increase will reduce its ridership by 4.8 million riders annually or 1.3 percent, and thus increase the use of carbon-spewing cars and traffic in Boston in general. Why would this be advisable in light of the global climate catastrophe we are now facing?
In light of this impending catastrophe (see this morning’s sequence on DemocracyNow about this in detail), it would certainly be better to start providing public transportation that is not only free but uses renewable energy (solar, wind) as many other countries like China are already doing.
Make public transportation free for all to encourage its use, as Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu recently suggested. This is not a “luxurious” choice; it is not something we cannot afford. We cannot afford to not do it now, if we are to even slightly mitigate the sixth extinction we are in the midst of. There is much to be found via Google about cities that have made public transportation free for all and how much it benefits people and businesses as well as the environment.
True leadership that actually represent the people of the Commonwealth would agree with the following: “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”

Written comments about the MBTA fare proposal will be accepted through February 28. They can be mailed to: MBTA, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116, attention: Fare Proposal Committee. Comments can also be submitted using the MBTA website, by e-mail at fares@mbta.com, or by phone at 617-222-3200, TTY 617-222-5146. The public hearing will be held on February 27 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. in the MBTA Board Room, State Transportation Building, second floor, 10 Park Plaza, Boston.

Raising MBTA fares is not a good decision. Real, concerned, informed, caring leadership would know this.

Sincerely,

Jean Palmer
247 Tower Rd., Lincoln

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Citizens’ petition calls for reexamining state seal

February 11, 2019

Resolution to change seal Petition The Massachusetts state seal is a visual reminder of racism and genocide against Native Americans and should be updated, say supporters of a Town Meeting resolution asking for a state commission to study the seal’s design.

As a result of a citizens’ petition submitted by Christine Damon, residents will be asked at Lincoln’s Annual Town Meeting on March 23 to support creation of the commission. Two identical measures before the state legislature (HD.2968 and SD.1495) call for creating the commission. Lincoln’s legislators, Sen. Michael Barrett and Rep. Thomas Stanley, are co-sponsors.

Four other Massachusetts towns (Gill, Orange, Wendell and New Salem) considered similar measures in 2018, though the results could not be confirmed.

Critics of the state seal take issue with the depiction of a European arm brandishing a broadsword above the head of a Native American, who is holding a bow and arrow pointed down in a gesture of peace.

The seal’s Latin motto, which is usually translated as “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty,” is also ambiguous and could be taken to mean that Native Americans were a threat to peace. The motto “is most out of place when one knows the later fate reserved for the Algonquins who greeted the Pilgrims,” commented one of the respondents to a 2015 survey by a flag expert. Other respondents disagreed, saying the sword is not being used against the Indian but refers to the leading role that Massachusetts played in the American Revolution.

The survey found that comments on the state seal from all Indians polled as well as non-Indians outside Massachusetts were overwhelmingly negative, though 88 percent of comments from non-Indian Massachusetts residents were favorable.

“It is hard to read it all together as anything but a flag designed by and for the colonial conquerors who made the Bay State, the ones who won the land — with a short timeout for Thanksgiving dinner — by all but eradicating the people who got here first,” Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham wrote in 2015.

An earlier version of the seal used by the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1629–1692 was more peaceful but also more condescending, depicting a Native American speaking the words “Come over and help us.”

The issue “reiterates why symbols are important in terms of making people feel represented or the opposite,” Damon said. “It seems like a no-brainer that the state of Massachusetts shouldn’t be upholding symbolism like this.”

The move to reexamine the state seal comes in a time of movements to remove the Confederate battle flag from state flags in the South, as well as monuments celebrating Confederate generals. Next year is also the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival at Plymouth Rock, an event “which gave rise to the long chain of genocidal wars and deliberate policies of cultural destruction against Native Nations of this continent,” the warrant resolution says.

If approved by the legislature, the state commission would investigate features of the seal and motto “which potentially have been unwittingly harmful to or misunderstood by the citizens of the Commonwealth” and “to ensure that they faithfully reflect and embody the historic and contemporary commitments of the Commonwealth to peace, justice, liberty and equality and to spreading the opportunities and advantages of education.”

Letter to the editor: ban e-cigarette sales at Town Meeting

February 10, 2019

To the editor:

The 2019 8th-grade Warrant Article Group. Left to right): Andrew Craig, Aleco Buendia, Isaiah Jones, Emily Appleby, and David Christenfeld (click to enlarge).

This year the 8th-grade Warrant Article Group (WAG), which consists of Emily Appleby, Aleco Buendia, David Christenfeld, Andrew Craig and Isaiah Jones, would like to ask Lincoln voters to support our proposition to ban the sale of e-cigarettes in town.

We had hoped to ban all cigarettes, but after we took a survey and talked with Donelan’s, we concluded that the town would not support such a total ban. We compromised, and now want to ban any future sales of e-cigarettes because there is a growing use among teenagers. Currently no one sells e-cigarettes in town.

To get our petition onto the warrant, we each collected ten signatures and will now take our idea to Town Meeting. We have learned a lot about town government while working on our citizens’ petition. We hope you will attend Town Meeting which is where we will discuss this more and ask for your vote.

Sincerely,

David Christenfeld
50 Old Winter St., Lincoln

Corrections

February 8, 2019

In the February 6 story headlined “Magic Garden gets ready to welcome Ducklings and Explorers,” Magic Garden co-founder Barbara Low’s name was misspelled.

In the February 5 story headlined “Who’s running for town office in March,” Town Clerk candidate Valerie Clerk’s name was inadvertently omitted from the list.

Both errors have been corrected in the original stories.

Letter to the editor: Picker running for library trustee

February 7, 2019

To the editor:

I am running for the open seat of Lincoln Library Trustee with a three-year term and I respectfully ask for your vote at the March 2019 town elections.

The Lincoln Library is an esteemed, well patronized, core institution in our town that provides valuable services across all age groups. It is served by a highly professional, competent, and experienced staff. It is one of the centerpieces of our community. If elected, as a trustee I would focus on working with the other trustees and staff to help establish priorities for library spending, collections, programs, facilities, staffing, and new initiatives. This needs to be done within constraints such as budget, space, and staffing.

I believe that it is very important for the library to maintain a good and current understanding of what services the people of Lincoln would like it to provide in this rapidly changing world. I would also work with the team to look at collaborations with other town boards and non-government organizations in town to look for new opportunities and to strengthen existing collaborations.

I look forward to your support on election day.

Sincerely,

Dennis Picker
58 Page Rd., Lincoln

Magic Garden gets ready to welcome Ducklings and Explorers

February 6, 2019

Magic Garden staff along with two of its founders get ready to open the new rooms. Left to right: assistant director Susan Scalisi, director Lori Leo, founding parents Barbara Low and Mary Jo Haggerty, Little Duckling teachers Karen Puglielli and Michele Landurand, and Little Explorer teachers Linda Pham, and Ligaya Ferguson. Click to enlarge, and see more photos below.

The sunny rooms are gleaming with brand-new toys, books, cribs, and tiny chairs—all ready for little children next month and a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 3:30 p.m.

Staff from the Magic Garden Children’s Center are busy preparing for the March 1 opening of two new rooms in a satellite location at the First Parish in Lincoln’s parish house on Bedford Road. For the first time, Magic Garden will care for babies age 2–15 months in its Little Ducklings room, as well as adding a Little Explorers room for toddlers age 15–24 months. Until now, the youngest kids at Magic Garden’s main Hartwell facility were 15 months old.

Two longtime teachers from the Hartwell facility—Michele Landurand, a pre-K teacher in the Starburst room for 27 years, and Karen Puglielli, a teacher in the Moonbeam room for 25 years—will staff the new rooms, along with two teacher aides.

Magic Garden has two rooms of its own in the parish house and will share two other rooms with the church’s education program. The renovations maximize the space with folding and sliding doors, and a wide exterior door was put in place of a window in case of emergency, when teachers will put the infants in one or two wheeled cribs and roll them outside.

One of the shared rooms has a wall-height bulletin board on wheels that can be swung back and forth 180 degrees for use by either set of children. Margit Griffith, the education director at First Parish, will lead Magic Garden’s music class, and there are also plans afoot to involve seniors (“grandfriends”) from the Council on Aging across the street.

Click images below to see larger versions. Photos by Alice Waugh.

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News acorns

February 5, 2019

Talk on education in the age of AI

Charles Fadel

“Educating Our Children in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” will be the subject of a talk on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at the First Parish Church in Lincoln. The guest speaker is futurist, education expert, author and inventor Charles Fadel, who is convinced that “AI and biotech are about to redefine what it means to be human, and that the overarching goals of a modern education should be to nurture wise, versatile ‘Renaissance’ humans who have learned how to learn.” The Adult Education Committee at the First Parish is hosting this program, which is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged to ensure seating. For more information, contact Mary Helen Lorenz at mhelen@rcn.com.

See movies on Amazon, dragonflies

Movie night at the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust will feature “Wild Amazon” on Monday, Feb. 11 and “Skyhunter: World of the Dragonfly” on Thursday, March 14 at 7:30. Both movies start at 7:30 p.m. in the LLCT office at the Lincoln mall and are free.

“Wild Amazon” (45 minutes) filmed by Nat Geo Wild reveals dense forest concealing a hidden world of unusual wildlife and extraordinary stories of adaptation and survival—but human impact on this natural world has already dramatically altered it. Dragonflies existed 90 million years before the first dinosaurs hatched and are still found all over the world. “Skyhunter” (50 minutes) follows these predatory monster-larvae as they hover over ponds and pools. Their dazzling metallic colors and unique ways of flying are captured in slow-motion photography, and their journey in time is documented using remarkably realistic CGI animation.

Artists talk and kids’ vacation activities at deCordova

The deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park offers “Art for February Vacation” on Wednesday–Friday, Feb. 20–22 from 1–3 p.m. (drop-in). Stack, balance, knot, knit, and string sculptures together, inspired by the range of work included in “Sheila Pepe: Hot Mess Formalism.” Designed for families with children ages 5–12, but all are welcome. Free with admission or membership.

Exhibiting artist Sheila Pepe will give an artist’s talk on Thursday, Feb. 28 from 6:30–7:30 p.m. From ancient Rome to feminism to her personal biography, Pepe weaves together many far reaching subjects through her expansive fiber art installations and multimedia works. Free admission; registration requested.

DCR seeks comments on Walden Pond renovations

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation invites area residents to comment on alternatives for renovation of the Walden Pond State Reservation bathhouse and universally accessible connections between the Route 126 crosswalk, the bathhouse, and main beach. Click here to view a January 30 presentation. Comments may be submitted online through Friday, Feb. 15 or in writing to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Office of Public Outreach, 251 Causeway St., 6th floor, Boston, MA 02114.

Domestic violence group offers volunteer training

The Domestic Violence Services Network, Inc. (DVSN) is holding its next Volunteer Advocate Training program at the Concord Police Department from March 12–30. This 40-hour training session is provided at no cost to attendees and is being held on evenings and Saturdays. Classes will be Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30–9:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m–3 p.m. on March 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, and 30.

Once trained, DVSN’s volunteer advocates provide direct service over the phone, at the Concord District Court, and at Emerson Hospital to people affected by domestic violence. The training is designed to familiarize the volunteers with the many aspects of domestic violence and give them the skills necessary to provide confidential and appropriate services to DVSN’s clients. Those interested should call 978-318-3421 or e-mail to dvvap@concordma.gov. Applications are due by March 4.

Who’s running for town office in March

February 5, 2019

Here is a list of those who have filed appears with the Town Clerk to run for office in the March 25 election. Click here for links to the web pages for these boards and committees, which list current members. Candidates have until February 20 to withdraw in time to have their name not appear on the ballot.

Board or Committee	Openings/terms	Candidates
Board of Assessors	One (3 years)	Laura Sander*
Board of Health	One (3 years)	Steven Kanner*
Board of Selectmen	One (3 years)	James Craig*
Cemetery Commission	One (3 years)	Conrad Todd*
Commissioners of Trust Funds	One (3 years)	Douglas B. Harding*
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park Trustees	One (4 years)	Linda Hammett Ory*
Housing Commission	One (3 years)	Keith Gilbert*
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee	Two (3 years)	Kevin J. Matthews,* Cara Endyke-Doran
	One (1 year)	Candace Miller*
Parks and Recreation Committee	One (3 years)	Anita Spieth
Planning Board	Two (3 years)	Margaret Olson,* Stephen Gladstone*
School Committee (PreK-8)	One (3 years)	Trintje Gnazzo**
	One (2 years)	Susan Taylor
	One (1 year)	Adam Hogue**
Town Clerk	One (3 years)	Valerie Fox**
Trustees of Bemis	One (3 years)	Sara Mattes*
Trustees of Lincoln Library	One (3 years)	Dennis Picker
Water Commission	One (3 years)	Heather Ring

* incumbent running for reelection

** previously appointed to fill vacancies in 2018 (Trintje Gnazzo replaced Jena Salon and Adam Hogue replaced Alvin Schmertzler; Valerie Fox replaced Susan Brooks)

Town Meeting article list approved

February 3, 2019

The Board of Selectmen has approved the following articles for the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 23. They’re scheduled to vote to sign the warrant with descriptions of each article on February 11. Keep reading the Lincoln Squirrel for more in-depth coverage of these items in the coming days and weeks.

NOTE: Articles 27–33 are proposed zoning bylaw changes and thus require a two-thirds majority to pass.

#	Article
	STANDARD TOWN MEETING ARTICLES
1	Election ballot:
2	Vote for committees, and other elected officers
3	Accept reports of town committees and officers
4	Set salaries of elected officials
5	Hear a report on property tax relief
6	Senior tax work-off program: vote to renew
7	Veterans tax work-off program: vote to renew
	OPERATING BUDGET
8	Town operating budget
	CAPITAL ARTICLES
9	Cash capital expenditures (detailed project list will appear in motions)
	COMMUNITY PRESERVATION
10	Community Preservation Fund (CPA) (detailed list will appear in motions)
11	Community Preservation Fund (CPA) (athletic fields)
	ROUTINE BUILDING MAINTENANCE
12	Annual classroom maintenance: $45,000
13	Town buildings maintenance: $111,363
14	Library maintenance: $50,000
	OTHER APPROPRIATIONS
15	Debt stabilization fund: appropriation to increase fund balance
16	OPEB trust fund (Town of Lincoln): appropriation to increase fund balance
17	OPEB trust fund (LSRHS): appropriation to increase fund balance
18	State roadway funds (chapter 90): annual vote to accept state highway grant
19	Lincoln school budget supplement: SpEd Medicaid reimbursement
20	Annual Bright Light Award
21	Revolving funds: annual vote to reauthorize existing revolving accounts
22	Cable television revolving fund: required annual appropriation
23	Transfer from cemetery perpetual care and/or sale of lots
24	Water Department: authorize bond for capital improvements to the water treatment plant (detailed list in motions)
25	Water Department: vote to appropriate and transfer to support the FY19 budget
26	Free cash article: annual article to balance budget/reduce tax rate
	GENERAL AND ZONING BY-LAWS
27	Section 13.6.3(a) solar energy systems general standards bylaw amendment
28	Section 4.1(c) non-conforming lots amendment: regarding land takings
29	Section 4.1(e) non-conforming use or structure amendment
30	Create parking benefit district
31	DeCordova: amend bylaw governance
32	Historic district bylaw amendment: Modernist homes
33	Demo delay bylaw amendment
34	Proposed general bylaw: use of leaf blowers
	CITIZENS' PETITIONS
35	Proposed general bylaw: ban on e-cigarette sales
36	Resolution in support of changing the state flag and seal of Massachusetts

Outdoor events at Farrington Nature Linc

January 31, 2019

Farrington Nature Linc (295 Cambridge Turnpike, Lincoln) is hosting the following family-friendly events:

Owl Prowl
Saturday, Feb. 9 — 4–6 p.m.
Have you ever seen or heard an owl in the woods? Join Farrington Nature Linc and Eyes on Owls for a live owl program in conjunction with an outdoor Owl Prowl.

Naturalist Marcia Wilson of Eyes on Owls will introduce the audience to owls found in New England and as well other parts of the world. Then we will head outside for a guided walk around Farrington’s property where will we do some “owling” (learning about owl calls and keeping our eyes out for owls). $10 per person, $20 for a family of four — click here for tickets.

Galileo Star Party
Saturday, April 13 — 7–9:30 p.m.
Do you want to learn more about the stars? Have you ever used a telescope to stargaze? Ever wanted to know more about the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei? See an evening performance by talented and professional actor Mike Francis as Galileo — perfect for all ages to learn about astronomy. Afterward, outside to our fire circle, we’ll have s’mores, and we’ll also set up and use telescopes, courtesy of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, to stargaze. Free; click here to register.

Fairy Festival
Saturday, May 4 — 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Calling all fairies, elves, gnomes, and other magical creatures! Farrington is hosting its annual Fairy Festival on May 4. We will feature our Fairy Post Office where you can write to the fairies and they will write back. Join one of our guided hikes through our enchanted woods to meet the Fairy Queen, make a fairy house in our pine forest, and create and take home three small fairy crafts. $20 for each adult/child pair — click here for tickets.