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

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L-S officials to hold coffee, listening sessions

The Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee will be hosting three office hours/listening sessions this week, including one in Lincoln:

  • Thursday, Oct. 25 from 7–8 p.m. — Goodnow Library (second-floor conference room), Sudbury
  • Friday, Oct. 26 from 9–10 a.m. — deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum Cafe, Lincoln
  • Friday, Oct. 26 from 11 a.m.–noon — Karma Coffee, Sudbury

Click here for the full 2018-19 list of dates and times for listening sessions.

L-S Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong will also host a Parent Coffee for parents of current L-S students on Monday, Oct. 29 from 8–9 a.m. in Conference Room A (sign in and get directions at the main office).

St. Anne’s to hold service of remembrance

St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church will mark All Saints Sunday on November 4, remembering those who have died with a special service of remembrance at 5 p.m. The choir will sing Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, accompanied by guest organist David Carrier.  All are welcome.

L-S students commended for PSAT scores

Lincoln residents Irene Terpstra and Colton Volpe are among the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School commended students recognized for their exceptional academic promise by the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program. Nationwide, commended students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2019 competition by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).  

Donate used Lincoln Youth Soccer gear

The First Parish in Lincoln’s Youth Group is collecting used Lincoln Youth Soccer uniforms and gear to send to Ethiopia with Jen Gill and Sylvia Perry when they go to serve as part of a medical team. Collection bins are located on the steps of the Parish House at 14 Bedford Rd. and at the Parks and Recreation office in Hartwell pod A on Ballfield Road. Any used LYS uniforms and gear collected after Sylvia and Jen’s November travel will be sent to an equally deserving soccer program.

 

Letter to the editor: vote no on Question 1

(Editor’s note: Care Dimensions runs the hospice house on Winter Street in Lincoln.)

To the editor:

I am CEO of Care Dimensions, the largest hospice organization in Massachusetts, and a nurse who worked for nearly 30 years in the emergency room and critical care units of a hospital, and I’m voting no on Ballot Question 1.

Like anyone, and most especially as a nursing leader, I have a responsibility and a desire to make sure that the work of nurses is protected and revered. While on the surface this proposed legislation may seem like it would bring benefit for nurses and patients, fixed staffing approaches to meeting the changing needs of patients would have severe consequences without improving care.
Staffing decisions are made by nurses and managers together considering many factors such as the acuity of patients, admission/discharge/transfer activity, availability of support staff, and the capabilities and experience of the nurses. All of these elements would wash away in a pure ratio-only model.
Consider what a nurse would do when a patient condition deteriorates on a floor or a trauma patient arrives in the emergency room where nurses are at their number limit. Fixed ratios decrease access to care and prohibit nurses from using professional judgment in managing care of patients. If the ballot initiative were passed, the fixed ratios would need to be followed “at all times” and steep fines will be applied if violated, even if there were serious outcomes as a result of the lack of access to care.

Question 1 is an important issue to those of us who deliver post-acute care in non-hospital settings. If hospitals are forced to hire nearly 6,000 nurses in just 37 business days to comply with the law, they will have no choice but to pull from organizations like ours. There will be no nurses left out in the community. There is already a dire nursing shortage. Hospitals could hire every nurse in the state and still not have enough. Being left without nurses would be catastrophic for our patients.

We currently employ more than 500 people, the vast majority of whom are nurses. Most of them travel and see patients in their homes. Nationwide, healthcare has moved toward keeping patients out of hospitals, which is what home care, hospice, and community services do. If we can’t recruit nurses, we can’t keep patients safe in their own homes. Question 1 would unwind our progress in transitioning to comfortable, home-oriented community care.

I have another worry about the impact on our community hospitals. One of our nearby community hospitals estimates the impact at over $7.9 million per year and would require the hiring of 48 full-time RNs. This will result in having to make serious decisions regarding programs and the number of patient care units that could remain open. From a personal standpoint, I don’t want my own community hospital to close; that would be damaging and dangerous to communities and patients.

Additionally, many hospice patients are referred from community hospitals, meaning this law would directly impact our work. Patients would hear about hospice and palliative care options even later than they do now, causing hardship for families.

Finally, there is only one other state in the nation that has mandated hospital nurse staffing ratios:  California. There is evidence that quality and satisfaction scores have gone down since ratios were introduced there. After 14 years of the ratio rule in California, that state ranks behind Massachusetts in five of six mortality prevention measures and in all of the 11 patient satisfaction categories.

In reality, Massachusetts consistently ranks among the best states in the U.S. on hospital quality and outcome measures. Our state has earned national acclaim from several top-tier ranking systems including the Commonwealth Fund’s State Health System Performance that placed Massachusetts second overall in the nation, versus California’s 14th-place finish.

This law would harm everyone, everywhere, and incapacitate Massachusetts healthcare. I plan to vote no—not because I don’t care about nurses, but because I care very deeply for all of them, wherever they work. I encourage you to examine this issue more closely, and welcome you to join me in voting no on 1 on Nov. 6.

Sincerely,

Patricia Ahern, RN, MBA, FACHE
President and CEO, Care Dimensions

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.

deCordova aims to integrate with Trustees of Reservations

Facing financial straits, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum hopes to save itself by becoming part of the Trustees of Reservations.

Julian deCordova willed his estate and together with income to the town under the condition that it remain a public park and museum. However, the income from the estate, membership/admission fees and other sources has not been enough to sustain the organization, which has relied for years on large gifts from a handful of donors to keep operating. This year’s operating budget shortfall is about $1 million even after several major gifts, John Ravenal, the deCordova’s executive director, said at the October 20 State of the Town Meeting.

When Ravenal took the helm in 2015, he found an institution that was “thriving programmatically” but was “surprised to discover the financial difficulty,” he said. The deCordova has been operating under a “fragile financial model,” with an endowment that covers only 7 percent of operating expenses compared to about 22 percent for most other museums, “and this unstable model has finally collapsed,” he added.

Other possibilities for keeping the deCordova afloat were deemed unrealistic, Ravenal said. Downsizing would cause donors to drop away, so “our revenue would always fall faster than the savings would accrue,” he said. Partnerships with sister institutions wouldn’t work because “their difficulties merely duplicated our own.”

Pending approvals from residents at Town Meeting in March, the deCordova would become a subsidiary of the Trustees, while the town of Lincoln would retain ownership of the land and general oversight as the charitable trustee, according to an FAQ document handed out at the State of the Town.

The mission of the Trustees is to “preserve, for public use and enjoyment, properties of exceptional scenic, historic, cultural, and ecological value in Massachusetts”—properties that include Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich, the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, and World’s End in Hingham.

The integration would allow the deCordova to benefit from the fundraising, marketing, management, and legal resources of the larger Trustees of Reservations, Ravenal said. It will not alter its mission or approach, and no jobs will be lost, as the deCordova’s employees would become employees of the Trustees.

The Trustees aim to raise $15 million (of which $10 million has already been pledged) to fund the integration by adding to the deCordova’s endowment, retiring debt, investing in deferred maintenance, and closing this year’s budget gap.

The town currently does not provide any funding to the deCordova, and that too will not change, Ravenal said. The “only viable solution has actually evolved into a promising opportunity” for the deCordova and the town, since the plan would “reduce risk of an increased financial burden to residents,” he said.

The Board of Selectmen “has to look at the what-if scenario if the deCordova had to shut its doors,” Selectman James Craig said. At a minimum, the town would have to pay for upkeep of the sculpture park grounds and basic maintenance of the building.

Once the agreement is in place, “not a whole lot” will change, said Trustees President and CEO Barbara Erickson. “Our entire goal is to preserve what you know and love and what we deliver today… for us, it’s a win-win.”

School project budget, financing aired at SOTT

A summary of “value engineering” items trimmed to bring the school project back to the approved $93.9 budget (click to enlarge).

Town officials provided updates on the two pending school campus construction projects at the State of the Town meeting on October 20, outlining a series of cuts made to bring the school project under budget and a timeline for the community center.

The detailed construction cost estimate presented to the School Building Committee in September was about $9 million more than the $93.9 million budget approved by voters in June, so the SBC had just weeks to decide what to trim as it prepares for bonding votes at a Special Town Meeting on December 1 and at the ballot box on December 3. The areas where cost estimates rose the most compared to the figures presented in June were site work, which went up by $5.22 million, and temporary modular classrooms, which rose by $2.94 million.

After three weeks of painstakingly combing through a list of more than 100 construction items, the SBC got the project under budget. Members actually trimmed more than $9 million because they also added two items: $870,000 for an upgraded HVAC system and $150,000 for a slightly redesigned center of the building.

The biggest savings will come from site work. The SBC lopped $3.9 million from that category by cutting back on granite curbs and repaving and foregoing new plantings, sod for the ballfield, and new playground equipment. Officials expect to save $1.68 million by negotiating less expensive temporary classrooms.

To save another $2.5 million, the town will hire a third-party firm to install the solar equipment rather than paying for and owning it as part of the project. Lincoln would then enter into a power purchase agreement where it would buy electricity, thus shifting much of the financial burden from the construction budget to the operating budget. On the bright side, this also means that enough solar equipment can be installed to make the school “net zero” in terms of energy use.

The final borrowing amount that the town will vote on in December hasn’t been determined yet, because other sources of funding have to be nailed down. Those sources include the following (with current balances in parentheses):

  • The debt stabilization fund ($5.5 million). This fund has been accumulating for years in anticipation of the school project, though the Finance Committee may recommend retaining some of it for the Community Center project
  • Free cash (about $1 million). This is a relatively large amount because the town recently received a large building permit fee.
  • Community Preservation Act funds (about $600,000 not otherwise designated). These funds can be used to outdoor recreational things like athletic fields and playgrounds.
  • The cable revolving fund ($226,000) from the annual license fee to support local cable access. This fund balance increases by about $80,000 a year and Town Administrator Tim Higgins will recommend that the Board of Selectmen “commit the lion’s share of that money” to applicable parts of the school project such as audiovisual work in the Brooks auditorium, he said at an October 18 multiboard meeting.

The town considered using Chapter 90 state funds for roadway improvements to Ballfield Road as part of the school project but decided it would be unwise to divert that money from regular road maintenance around town.

  • Click here for the State of the Town presentations by the School Building Committee and Finance Committee

Estimated property tax increases as a result of the school borrowing (click to enlarge).

The precise tax impacts of the borrowing won’t be known until the final borrowing amount and bond interest rate are known. “It’ll be less than the 20 percent people had in their minds due to the tranching, but it won’t be a lot less,” Finance Committee chair Jim Hutchinson said. “Tranching” means splitting up the borrowing into two or more loans over a period of time rather than borrowing the full amount in a single loan. Earlier FinCom figures indicated tax increases of 19 to 21 percent. The median tax bill in fiscal 2018 was $13,566.

The town also expects to borrow roughly another $20 million in 2024 to build the community center, which will bring the town’s debt service levels back up to 2019 levels. The most recent estimates for that project range from $15.3 million to $16.2 million depending on which design is selected.

”The school project is the biggest need for the town,” Selectman James Dwyer said at the State of the Town meeting, adding that work on the community center will not begin until the school is “substantially complete.” However, a community center building committee could be formed as soon as 2021, he said. There has been talk of forming a “Friends of…” group to solicit private donations for one or both campus projects, but this hasn’t yet moved beyond the discussion phase.

There will be two community workshops on the project on Thursday, November 1 at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. in the Reed Gym. Officials have until November 17 to nail down a final bonding amount for the December 1 and December 3 votes. If approved, architects will require about 12 months to complete detailed drawings before the start of construction, which is expected to take up to three years in two phases.

Marijuana business ban passes at Special Town Meeting

Residents took the first step to ban marijuana-based businesses in Lincoln, at least for now, as residents approved a full ban at the October 18 Special Town Meeting.

Because Lincoln residents voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana in the 2016 state election, a two-thirds majority was required to enact the ban. The vote total according to a standing count was 73 percent in favor (140 votes) vs. 27 percent against (53 votes). However, a simple majority must also approve the ban at the town election in March 2019.  

Before the vote on the ban, a large majority of residents approved extending the current moratorium on marijuana businesses until June 30, 2019.

In an earlier town survey sponsored by the Marijuana Study Committee that garnered 408 responses, 61 percent supported a full ban. Of the 39 percent who did not, 85 percent supported allowing marijuana cultivation in town and 70 percent were in favor of allowing retail sales of marijuana products. In the 2016 state vote, 53 percent of the 3,783 Lincoln residents who cast ballots residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana.

The Agricultural Commission voted in August to support commercial cultivation of marijuana in Lincoln. However, the Planning Board and the Board of Selectmen both unanimously recommended that residents approve the full ban. If the town were to allow commercial marijuana cultivation, it would be in keeping with the town’s agricultural character, the committee noted. However, the town would not gain any revenue, whereas if retail establishments were allowed, the town could reap up to 3 percent of gross sales.

  • Click here for FAQs on commercial marijuana in Lincoln (handout from the State of the Town meeting)

Town officials did not have any estimates on either the amount of revenue that retail sales might bring in, nor the cost of additional police time that could be incurred. Police Chief Kevin Kennedy noted that because sales of marijuana is still illegal federally, products must be paid for with cash, potentially increasing the risk of robbery. Marijuana establishments can hire private guards, but they can’t be armed, he said.

Selectmen noted on Saturday that the full ban can be reserved in the future, but once legalized, marijuana businesses could not be banned later. Bedford, Weston, Concord, Sudbury, and Lexington have already approved full commercial bans. Wayland has done so at the ballot box but not at Town Meeting, while Waltham’s vote is still pending.

Owing to its low population density and location, “Lincoln is a most unattractive town in which to put a retail establishment” said Lincoln resident and cannabis operator/educator Jean Welsh, who was a panelist at a public forum on the issue in May. However, existing medical marijuana cultivation facilities in Massachusetts “are extremely secure; we have regulated them to the hilt,” she said. There are 30 dispensaries and about a dozen medical marijuana farms in the Commonwealth, “and we’re just not having issues,” she said.

Saying that alcohol is more dangerous than pot, Welsh wondered if the town ought to ban growing hops, which are used to make beer. For adults, marijuana “just isn’t that dangerous, folks, and I think in five to ten years you’re going to be buying it at Whole Foods anyway.”

The ban does not affect personal, noncommercial growing and possession of recreational marijuana, Selectman James Craig pointed out. Massachusetts law allows residents 21 and older to use the drug and have up to one ounce on their person (up to 10 ounces in their homes). Households with one adult over 21 can also grow up to six marijuana plants, or 12 plants if there are two adults in the household.

The Lincoln move has no effect on potential home delivery of marijuana products. The state Cannabis Control Commission does not currently allow home delivery of cannabis for recreational use, but it is considering allowing small Massachusetts-based marijuana retailers to make in-state home deliveries.

A few residents spoke against instituting the full ban. Given the restrictions on lot size for cultivation and on public visibility of the marijuana plants, “It doesn’t seem like it’s going to change the landscape very much,” said Sharon Antia. “Let’s just do it.”

Two medical professionals voiced warnings about marijuana’s effects on teenage brains. In treating teenagers and young adults having their first psychotic break, “marijuana is the single most important factor I have seen over the years,” said Rakesh Kharmacharya, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a clinician at McLean Hospital.

But such information is missing the point of the Town Meeting vote, said Ben Wells. “This isn’t a vote to ban adult use. That genie is out of the bottle. I’m concerned about teen use [of marijuana], but that’s not what’s on the ballot today. I’d hate to see us punish our farmers and entrepreneurs to send a message,” he said.

Peter Braun argued in favor of the full ban. “I’m informed by the wisdom of our surrounding towns,” he said, adding that “we need to see how it plays out” in towns that do allow marijuana businesses.

Letter to the editor: questions over reasoning behind proposed marijuana ban

To the editor:

A number of years ago, Lincoln spent more than a few Town Meetings discussing liquor in Lincoln. It certainly existed and was consumed. But it was not sold here, either for consumption elsewhere or in restaurants. Some thought to change that would forever change the character of the town for the worse. Some thought it would reflect reality and offer change for the better. But nowhere in the debates did we have to consider whether or not alcohol was bad for kids. It was accepted that alcohol (and tobacco) where not healthy for growing minds and bodies. The debate was about how the presence of alcohol sales and in restaurant consumption would affect our community.

It’s hard to believe how passionate those debates were, and how divided we were. Today, we have the sale of alcohol in Lincoln. Adults have purchased and enjoyed cocktails, wine and beer in a Lincoln restaurant. We host a vintner and have vineyards dotting hillsides. And alcohol is regulated to ensure it does not fall into the hands of underage children at the point of sale.

So it is puzzling to me that we cannot trust ourselves to be equally successful in regulating aspects of marijuana production and sale, without a change in bylaws that create a broadly worded ban that may have unintended consequences. And as to the growing, I am curious to know why our existing bylaws will not be effective to regulate the size and operation of any potential marijuana farm, if it is to exist in a large greenhouse, as they do. We have setback requirements and lighting bylaws. And do we not have some potential for regulation of water usage?

Also, while greenhouses, large and small, have been part of Lincoln’s agricultural legacy, few exist today, in part because of these very bylaws. In fact, there are few parcels large enough to accommodate a commercial operation. And those parcels are primarily owned by the town and managed by our Conservation Commission. What other parcels are there that could host such a grow operations and be outside our direct control? Are we reacting to a problem that does not currently and may never exist?

Finally, is there a danger to create a bylaw expressly designed to ban a particular form of agriculture? As a previous submission to LincolnTalk argued, cattle pose an environmental and dietary health threat. Might they be next? Would we be setting a precedent to begin to selectively ban specific agricultural activities?

We must also remember that a majority of us voted at the ballot box to make both medicinal and recreational marijuana legal in the Commonwealth, though a more recent town survey expressed a contradictory opinion. Should we respect the will of the voter in the ballot box, creating a legally binding law, or opinions expressed in a nonbinding survey? Do the current proposed bylaws under consideration work to thwart the will of the voters, as expressed at the ballot? This is also the debate at the state level, where elected and appointed officials have been at odds with the expressed will of the people.

It is ironic that we are having this debate as our neighbors to the north, known for their common sense, civility and safe communities, have legalized marijuana throughout the country. What do they know that we don’t? Are we rewinding and replaying the debate over alcohol? Is it necessary? Have we not learned anything in the last 10+ years? Is this a sensible thing to do?

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant 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.

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Halloween-themed events for kids

  • Dance in costume to children’s songs and Halloween favorites at two Halloween dance parties on Saturday, Oct. 20 and Wednesday, Oct. 31, both at 11 a.m. in the Lincoln Public Library. For ages 6 and under. No registration required.
  • Kids and car owners are invited to the Parks and Recreation Department’s annual Trunk or Treat in the Brooks parking lot on Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 5–6 p.m. Decorate your trunk or back of your car and pass out candy or toys, or have fun games for the kids. Car owners may register at www.lincolnrec.com or in the PRD office. Kids don’t need to register—just show up in costume
  • Come enjoy a fun live-action game event, “Escape from the Creepy Crypt,” led by gamemaster Matt Donle from Wicked Fun Games in two sessions on Monday, Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. For ages 10+. Registration required; email dleopold@minlib.netor call 781-259-8465 x4.

Wildflower Society expert to speak

New England Wildflower Society propagator and stock bed grower Dan Jaffe will give a talk titled “Weeds!” on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in Bemis Hall. Sponsored by the Lincoln Garden Club.

“Cat’s Play” on the screen

The Lincoln Public Library Film Society will screen Cat’s Play (1974) on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. It’s a heartbreaking story of two unmarried sisters who cast wistful glances back at their lives while still believing in hope and love. In Hungarian with English subtitles. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Blues musicians play Bemis

Sax Gordon Beadle and Toni Lynn Washington

All ages are invited to a free concert by renowned blues vocalist Toni Lynn Washington and acclaimed saxophonist Sax Gordon Beadle on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. at Bemis Hall. The performance is the second annual Ronna Cooper Memorial Concert (a gift from Margo Cooper in celebration of her mother’s life) and is sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging. Washington has received the Boston Blues Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and seven Blues Music Award nominations, and released five CDs. Beadle has performed around the world and won numerous awards. The Duke Robillard rhythm section (Bruce Bears on keyboard, Jesse Williams on bass, and Mark Teixeira on drums) will play backup. For more information, call the Council on Aging at (781) 259-8811.

Program looks at Lincoln and World War I

The Lincoln Historical Society will present “Lincoln and the Armistice: A Centennial Celebration of the End of WWI” on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. in Bemis Hall. This event, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, recalls the celebration held in Lincoln when the war ended 100 years ago. The program, which looks at Lincoln’s role in WWI and the impact that the war had on the town, will include biographical sketches of Lincoln’s World War I veterans, the awarding of service medals, and a discussion of life on the home front highlighting the role of Lincoln and New England women. There will also be a display of World War I artifacts, tastings of period foods, and renditions of patriotic songs from the period.

“Once Upon a Mattress” at L-S

The LSB Players, the theater performance company of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, will present Once Upon a Mattress, the musical based on The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Anderson, in the L-S Kirshner Auditorium on Wednesday through Saturday, Nov. 14–17 at 7:30 p.m. Directed by Carly Evans, music-directed by Michael Bunting, and conducted by Tom Grandprey. Tickets (15 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens) may be reserved by e-mailing LSBtickets@gmail.com.

Birches School celebrates new home

A view of the Birches School from the east. See more photos below.

The Birches School is hosting a community open house for the general public on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 1–3 p.m. to see its new home—the renovated Bedford Road property of the late computer executive An Wang and his wife Lorraine.

The school bought the Wang property in 2016 in concert with the Rural Land Foundation, which then sold four of the 16 acres to the town for use as an athletic field and conservation land. Over the summer, faculty and staff moved into the new building from their original quarters in the First Parish’s stone church.

The move has allowed the school to add a seventh and eighth grade and the space for enrollment of up to about 95 (it has a permit for another addition in front). The Birches opened in 2012 with just five students in grades K-2. The school began looking for a new home when it reached maximum capacity of 49 students more than two years ago and was pleased to find one just up the road.

“We couldn’t realize our nature-based mission almost anywhere else in greater Boston, then-head of school Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis said in 2016.

“It goes without saying that this physical building and also the grounds have been intentionally designed to maximize our mission as a nature-based school,” said Bonnie Ricci, who became head of school in March 2018. The original picture windows stayed and provide natural light for the nature lab and science/tech/art room.

“It feels fresh and airy and spacious and welcoming,” Ricci said. “But we also made a commitment to keep as much of the existing historical house as possible.” This can be seen in one of the entryways, which is clearly the home’s former foyer, with a chandelier and carved banister at the bottom of a staircase.

The building had its beginnings as a mid-century Cape house, and “every time Dr. Wang had a success, he would add a bit on,” Ricci said. A building with nine different elevations had to be made compliant with disability and fire codes, and a 1970s addition had to be torn down because it was no longer structurally sound.

Outside, a swimming pool was filled in and is now occupied with outdoor classroom seating in the form of a circle of stumps from unhealthy trees that were cut down. The geology of the area dictated another feature: huge boulders that were uncovered during excavation were moved into another circle in the woods, a bit like Stonehenge writ small.

Ricci declined to say what the project cost but said the project “benefited from the incredible generosity of friends and supporters of the school … we’re grateful to be in this space and also to Lincoln and the partnerships with Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, Parks and Recreation, neighbors and town officials. They’ve been absolutely lovely every step of the way.”

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”104″ gal_title=”Birches”]

Letter to the editor: vote yes on Question 2

To the editor:

It’s been said many times that law making in a democracy is a lot like making sausage. So why, then, do we have indigestion? All of us! No matter if you eat your sausage plain, or with peppers and onions; or whether you vote Republican, Democrat or independent—we need a bottle of Tums by our side while watching the news.

Chefs will tell you that what makes a good sausage is a balance of meat, fat, and spice. No one flavor should dominate. When corporations are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns, the mixture has too much fat. I urge you to vote YES on 2 and restore balance to our democracy.

A YES vote on Question 2 will add Massachusetts to the growing list of red and blue states calling for a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and a permanent ban on corporate spending in politics. No more weak campaign finance laws, no more ill-advised Supreme Court decisions—just the will of people to get big money out of government. Keep the flavor of fairness in this sausage of democracy! Vote YES on 2.

Sincerely,

Julie Brogan
88 Old Sudbury Rd.

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.

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Two events on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The GRALTA Foundation is sponsoring two upcoming events at the Lincoln Public Library. On Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., there will be a video presentation by Israeli Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman, who will who explain and analyze the impact of a new law that declares Israel as “the Nation-State of the Jewish people.” Touma-Sliman heads the Knesset’s Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. She founded the Women Against Violence Association and is the former editor in chief of Al-Ittihad newspaper.

On Sunday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m., there will be a screening of Voices Across the Divide followed by a discussion of the film and other topics by co-director Alice Rothchild.The film is a documentary and oral history project exploring the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through rarely heard personal stories. Rothchild is a physician, author, and filmmaker who has focused her interest in human rights and social justice on the Israel/Palestine conflict since 1997. For more information, contact Steve Low at 781-259-1300 or steve.low@gordianconcepts.com.

Exhibit, presentation focus on World War I posters

The Lincoln Public Library will host two events and an exhibition as part of “America at War: Patriotic Posters of WWI” to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

On Sunday, Oct. 28 at 1:15 p.m., join a reception with Lincoln residents George Seeley and Jenifer Burkett-Picke, who will be exhibiting a selection of original posters from their extensive collection of World War I posters advertising the need for full national participation in the war effort. The exhibit will be changed in mid-month to more fully illustrate America’s total commitment to the war through shipbuilding and military recruitment (October 28–November 13), and then bond drives and food conservation efforts (November 14–25).

Seeley will give a multimedia presentation on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 1:15 p.m. of original World War I-era posters and songs and a discussion of how these represented a much different mood and spirit in the America of a century ago than one could ever imagine today. Though actively involved in the fighting for just two years, America produced more war posters in that time than all the other combatants combined. These colorful large-scaled prints are by many of the best-known lithographers from that era such as James Montgomery Flagg , Howard Chandler Christy, and Charles Livingston Bull.

Lincoln musicians perform in upcoming concerts

There will be two concerts featuring Lincoln musicians at Bemis Hall in coming weeks. On Sunday, Oct. 28, members of Rhapsody will offer a piano recital at 3 p.m. in Bemis Hall in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Rhapsody was formed in 2003 by a few visionary amateur pianists including Lincoln’s Ken Hurd who sought a venue in which to perform for each other, both to grow musically and to share their musical journey with others.  It has since grown to 18 people from the Boston metropolitan area, and this is the ninth annual concert on Bemis Hall’s restored Steinway. The program will feature selections from Albeniz, Brahms, Celentano, Grenados, Grieg, Guastavino, Liszt, Mozart, Piazzolla, Scarlatti, Scriabin, and Schumann. 

The Sonic Liberation Players featuring Lincoln pianist and composer Trevor Berens will play on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Last season, SLP performed a U.S. premiere, a commission and five Boston premieres. SLP plays uncommonly heard works and commission new works that investigate the area between “academic/intellectual” and “pop-influenced classical. “At the November 18 concert—inspired in equal parts by gardens, birds, and music—they’ll present two more Boston premieres, Nachtlied by Dean Harold and Dreamgarden by Ian Wilson, as well as Canticle of the Birds by John Luther Adams, Ryoanji by John Cage and Birds in Warped Time 2 by Somei Satoh. Tickets are $15 at the door.

Thanksgiving pie sales aid FELS and local charities

FELS (the Foundation for Educators at L-S) is sponsoring its annual Thanksgiving pie sale featuring gourmet apple, pumpkin, pecan and chocolate pies baked by Joyce’s Pies of Leominster. Pies are $19 each. Order for your family or donate to a listed local organization or charity; one donation of $19 can benefit two organizations. Proceeds fund enrichment grants for L-S faculty and staff. Order online at www.felsgrant.org by Friday, Nov. 9 and will be available on November 20.

Paws for the Holidays

Daniela Caride (center), president of Phinney’s Friends, and companions at Paws for the Holidays.

Pets and their humans are invited to the Paws for the Holidays festival on Sunday, Nov. 11 from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Pierce House. There will be baked goods, live music, arts and crafts, Santa pictures with the whole family (human and canine), activities for children, a silent auction, Thanksgiving baskets, a pet yard sale and more. All proceeds go to Phinney’s Friends, a Lincoln-based organization that helps low-income and chronically ill people keep their pets.