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

News acorns

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.

News acorns

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.

School group to tackle final project cost cuts this week

The School Building Committee plans to finish trimming the school project to get it under budget this week as it also awaits final information about potential savings on things like temporary classrooms and site work.

The current estimate for construction is $84.98 million, but the construction portion of the budget approved by residents in June is $76.01 million, meaning a total of almost $10 million needs to be cut or found from some other source. In its first two “value engineering” meetings, the SBC approved net reductions of just over $900,000.

The SBC meets on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room in a week full of meetings on the school project, including a multi-board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 18. On Tuesday, the Finance Committee will meet to discuss cash flow estimates and bond strategies, solar arrays for the school using capital expenditures vs. a power purchase agreement for the school’s solar array, and the use of debt stabilization funds.

At the October 10 SBC meeting, John Snell, chair of the Green Energy Committee, outlined a combination of construction incentives and energy credits for using green energy sources that could save $400,000–$1 million in the first year, with credits of $208,000–$444,000 annually over 20 years ($4.1 million to $8.9 million total).

The SBC last week also approved several more cost reductions from a list of “value engineering” items provided by architects. The cuts approved in two meetings thus far total $1.05 million:

  • Reseeding rather than sodding playing fields — $141,836
  • Not replacing some existing bookshelves, cabinets, interior doors and markerboards (5 items total) — $511,440
  • Changing floor materials in the learning/dining commons and toilet rooms from porcelain and ceramic to linoleum and epoxy, respectively — $239,514
  • Eliminating a sun shade/canopy and PV array for the new Reed gym link — $68,245
  • Electrical and plumbing items — $90,000

However, the SBC also approved an additional expenditure of $150,000 for a slightly redesigned learning commons/media center/third grade wing, so the net savings thus far are $901,035.

Still undetermined as far as exact dollar amounts are potential savings on temporary classrooms that were budgeted at $3.68 million, photovoltaic direct costs budgeted at $3 million, auditorium work (some of which might be paid for with other funds since that space is also used for Town Meetings), and some portion of the site work (roads and paths, curbs, drainage, landscaping, etc.). A total of $4.98 million could be cut if the only site work done is code-mandated work and repairs after construction.

Finding affordable temporary classrooms (which come with big expenses in addition to their leasing and moving costs) is difficult. “Locally there’s high demand. We have a lot of schools in the area whose enrollment is bursting,” Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall said. School officials even looked at the possibility of busing Lincoln School children to the existing modular classrooms at Hanscom to save on the cost of moving and installing modular classrooms on Ballfield Road, but then every Lincoln School parent would need a pass to get onto the Air Force base, and Hanscom probably has plans for the modular classroom site anyway.

Now that it’s combed through the value-engineering list for items with relatively low dollar values, the SBC will have to discuss cutting some of the bigger-ticket line items. These include:

  • Eliminating all work in the auditorium except code upgrades, sprinklers and HVAC — $1.59 million
  • Eliminating the media center wing and making the learning/dining commons space also accommodate the media center — $1.26 million
  • Eliminating the link to the Reed gym — $1.17 million
  • Keeping preK in the main Hartwell building — $1.01 million
  • Eliminating the third-grade hub space — $210,000

Though not a true savings, officials could also move the $1.06 million cost for furniture and equipment out of the construction budget and into the school’s operating budget.

Clarification

An October 8 News Acorn about the Joseph Warren-Soley Masonic Lodge noted that the lodge had raised $17,000 for charity. That was the amount awarded at a recent charity night, not the total for the entire year. The article has bene updated to reflect this correction.

Letter to the editor: Hanscom/Lincoln rapport is exceptional

To the editor:

Colonel Chad Ellsworth, the recently appointed commander of the 66th Air Base Group at Hanscom Air Force Base, reaffirmed the criticality of excellent relationships with Lincoln and the three other towns with ties to the base during his Change in Command ceremony. While representing our town at the ceremony with colleague Board of Selectmen member Jennifer Glass, I was struck by how frequently this theme of base/town relations was mentioned.

This theme was noted by the ceremony’s facilitator, Col. Ellsworth, and Lt. Gen. Robert McMurry during their formal remarks. Outgoing base commander Col. Roman Hund mentioned what surprised him most about his time at the base in a Hanscom News article—it was not the work done on base, but the community partnerships.

“At many of the bases I have been in my career, the installations have not been as active in the local community or with local groups as they are here,” he said. “The rapport we have with our local communities is among the best I have seen in my Air Force career.” More than once, I heard that other bases are looking to learn from Hanscom and emulate its close ties with state and local governments and businesses.

Jennifer and I had a few moments to talk with Col. Ellsworth, Col. Hund, and their families after the ceremony, and both described their appreciation for how Lincoln has supported the base, citing our connections with schools and public safety, among others. Ms. Ellsworth and Ms. Hund both spoke appreciatively of their experience with the schools, and thanked us for the town’s support.

Lincoln’s connections to Hanscom are deep. Everyone living on the base resides within our town’s borders. Our public school administration runs the base’s schools, under contract with the Department of Defense. Our Conservation Department influences building projects within the border to protect natural resources. Our Police Department answers emergency calls in the base’s residential neighborhoods.

With these connections, Lincoln helps Hanscom to achieve its mission to acquire critical systems for the Air Force and sister services such as radar, communication and intelligence systems; command and operations centers; network infrastructure; and cyber defense. The ripple effect is real: across New England and Upstate New York, Hanscom’s economic impact was reported to be about $6 billion in 2017, according to Colonel Hund.

Sincerely,

Selectman Jonathan Dwyer
14 Beaver Pond 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.

Running of the dogs? (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Toby, an Anatolian shepherd who lives with and protects the chickens of Codman Community Farms, gallops through the enclosure. Photo by Eli Newell.

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

Corrections

  • Due to a typographical error, the ending time for the open forum portion of the October 20 State of  the Town Meeting was listed incorrectly in the Lincoln Squirrel. It runs from 12–12:30 p.m., not 2:30. The agenda in the original post and subsequent correction have bene corrected.
  • The October 10 article headlined “Sales of dolls, antiques providing big share of MCC budget” incorrectly stated that the MCC fundraising had enabled a group of METCO students to go to Lincoln Summer Day Camp for free. They actually have to pay a minimal fee comprising a small fraction of the actual cost. The original article has been corrected.

News acorns

Scarecrow Classic steps off this Sunday

More than 550 participants are expected to join the LLCT for the sixth Annual Scarecrow Classic on Sunday, Oct. 14. The race kicks off at 9:30 a.m. on Codman Road by the fire station and runs along Lincoln’s scenic roads, fields, and trails.

After the race, there will be a raffle with prizes, live music, cider donuts, seasonal soup, and prizes for the top three runners in each age category. Raffle tickets can be purchased in advance at the LLCT offices, from LLCT trustees, or on October 14 before the race. Online registration is open through Friday, Oct. 12 and same-day registration is available starting at 8 a.m. Visit scarecrowclassic5k.com for the route map and online registration.

In keeping with conservation principles, participants are asked to bring a refillable water bottle (they can place it at the finish line ahead of time). There will be a hydration station and limited emergency water supplies for those without a water bottle. All utensils, cups, bowls, and napkins will be 100% compostable.

Diaper drive headed by Lincoln residents seeks donations

Residents are urged to drop off disposable diapers at the Lincoln Public Library for the Metro-Boston Diaper Drive, which runs through Sunday, Oct. 21. Diapers will be donated to the Somerville WIC office, which serves Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Watertown, Belmont, Bedford, Lexington, and Lincoln. Donors may also purchase diapers from these Amazon or Target registries and having them sent directly to the WIC office.

The diaper drive began six years ago after Kerstin Sinkevicius (now of Lincoln) and Aimee Mills of Somerville read an article detailing how difficult it was for financially challenged families to afford diapers. Neither WIC nor SNAP benefits cover the cost of diapers. Two years ago, Kim Jalet of Lincoln replaced Mills as co-coordinator. A full list of collection points can be found at mbdiapers.org.

The Metro-Boston Diaper Drive was formerly called the Somerville Moms’ Diaper Drive, but “we changed the name this year to the Metro-Boston Diaper Drive because it has grown far beyond the original scope of Somerville now that we have 31 collection points in eight towns,” said Jalet said. A full list of collection points can be found at mbdiapers.org. Last year, the event donated more than 22,000 diapers. This year, organizers hope to donate at least 30,000 diapers.

College planning seminar at L-S

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School Adult Ed is offering a college planning seminar for parents of ninth- and tenth-graders on Thursday, Oct. 25 from 7–9 p.m. in the L-S lecture hall. Tuition is $20/family and pre-registration at www.lsrhs.net/sites/adulted/ is required. Todd Richman, founder of Achieve Admissions, and Annika Noren, co-founder of InspireDo LLC, will address how colleges evaluate applicants, academic planning during high school, extracurricular and summer activities, considerations for student-athletes, when to take standardized tests, and why sophomore year is important to financial aid. 

Tales of the Night at Drumlin

Put on your favorite costume, grab a flashlight, and come to Tales of the Night, Drumlin Farm’s  family-friendly Halloween tradition, on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 25 and 26 from 6:30–9 p.m. Visitors will have the chance to:

  • Explore the farm at night, lit by a display of over 100 jack-o-lanterns
  • Meet some of the nocturnal wildlife of Massachusetts
  • Enjoy treats, “spider cider,” and “witches’ brew” at the ghoulish graveyard
  • Step into a story on the Nursery Rhyme Trail to meet your favorite characters
  • Venture out into the fields for a haunted hayride full of spooky surprises (7–8:30 p.m.)

Tickets ($15 for Mass Audubon members, $17 for nonmembers) must be purchased in advance—no admission at the gate. Purchase tickets online or register by phone at 781-259-2206.

Amelia Earhart events at library

Actor Sheryl Faye returns to the Lincoln Public Library to portray aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. As attendees learn how Earhart follows her dream with an indomitable spirit, her story will inspire them to pursue their own budding interests and passions. Local historian and Medford Public Library Director Barbara Kerr will discuss Earhart’s Boston-area connections on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Both events are free and open to all.

Seminar covers Hindu period in India history

The next seminar in the India Discovery Project (IDP) covering the Hindu period (500–1500 AD) is on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. The seminar is an all-day event with slide presentations, lectures and music; lunch and tea will be provided. Presenters will include Lincoln resident and IDP President Bijoy Misra. The public online registration fee is $25, but Lincoln residents can get a $5 discount by sending a check to the India Discovery Center, 180 Bedford Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773.