Palmer Faran holds a copy of “Heroine of the Battle Road.”
A newly digitized short play, available royalty-free on a town website, dramatizes the little-known role of Lincoln’s Mary Hartwell in the dramatic events that began the American Revolution.
The idea for the play, Heroine of the Battle Road, came about “because I’ve always been interested in the lives of ordinary people caught up in the events of history—those who fell through the cracks. Ordinary people were an important part of that,” said author and Lincoln resident Palmer Faran.
Mary Hartwell was the wife of Samuel Hartwell, a farmer and a Lincoln Minute Man. On the evening of April 18, 1775, she played a crucial role in passing the word about the British troops marching from Boston. Fast-forward to the early 1990s, when Mary Ann Hales suggested to her friend Faran, a veteran of Houghton Mifflin and American Heritage, that she write something about Mary.
After doing some research with the help of Lincoln town historian Jack MacLean, Faran realized there wasn’t enough material for a biography of Hartwell, so she wrote the story as a short play that could be read and performed in schools. Hales — a librarian and the owner of the Cottage Press in Lincoln — published Heroine of the Battle Road as paperback in 1995. The play was carried by the Minute National Historical Park and by several stores in Concord and Lincoln.
The cover of “Heroine of the Battle Road.”
In 1996, the play was performed at the Lincoln School, “and it was very much a successful community effort,” Faran said. Eventually the book went out of print, and work began on making it available to a larger audience via an online version. Jim Cunningham (like Faran, a Lincoln Historical Society board member, scanned illustrations and formatted the book (retyped by Celina Zanjewski) for the LHS website.
On Patriots’ Day in April, people will once again recall how Paul Revere was captured in Lincoln — but they can also learn how Mary Hartwell was a crucial link in the chain, warning Lincoln Minute Men Captain William Smith about the advancing British as her husband rode off to prepare for the coming fight.
As Mary Hartwell’s grandson George proudly notes in Heroine of the Battle Road, “The Lincoln Minute Men were the first to arrive at Concord and the North Bridge. That was because of Grandma.”
An item about a March 19 book talk and signing with author Amy Bass in the March 6 News Acorns was unclear about admission coat for the event. The event is free and open to all, but a $15 donation is suggested to go toward Birches School financial aid fund. Copies of her book, One Goal: A Coach, A Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together, are $10 when purchased online until March 18 at www.birchesschool.org and will be sold for $15 at the event. The original Acorn and calendar listing have been corrected. Click here for more information.
A bluebird seems to keep watch while some goldfinches grab a bite. Photo by Tricia Deck.
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.
To the editor:
I offer three of my own concerns about the leaf blower bylaw proposal for your consideration. If you share my concerns, I hope you will vote against this bylaw, regardless of its form or substance, at the Town Meeting.
Sincerely,
Seth Rosen
53 Bedford 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.
There will be a community forum on “Preparing for Climate Change in Lincoln” on Monday, April 1 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the Town Office Building.
The forum will present the results of a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness workshop that was held on February 25 by the town of Lincoln with the assistance of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. The workshop brought together town board and committee members, municipal staff, local businesses, and nonprofit organizations to identify how Lincoln may be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as well as the town’s strengths and actions it could take to increase its resilience.
Residents, businesses, and civic organizations are invited to attend and provide their input as part of this ongoing effort to plan for Lincoln’s future. For more information contact Jennifer Burney, Director of Planning and Land Use at 781-259-2610 ext. 8124 or burneyj@lincolntown.org.
Learn how ranked-choice voting could improve the fairness and effectiveness of elections when Jim Henderson, a board member of Voter Choice Massachusetts, leads a session on Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m. in Bemis Hall (rescheduled from January 20). Coffee and tea will be served starting at 2:45. The presentation will include a simulation using the growing array of hopefuls for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2020.
There will be a public forum on the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum/The Trustees of Reservations integration plan on Wednesday, March 13 from 7–9 p.m. in the Town Office Building. Representatives of the town, deCordova, and the Trustees will offer a status report, including a preview of the bylaw amendments that will be voted on at the Annual Town Meeting on March 23.
Amy Bass, author of One Goal: A Coach, A Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together, will give a talk and book-signing on Tuesday, March 19 from 7–8:30 p.n. on Brooks auditorium. The book tells the story of how the Lewiston, Maine community and its newly arrived Somali immigrants came together on the soccer field to capture the first state soccer championship in city history.
Click here for more information about this event, which is presented by the Birches School in sponsorship with the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the Parks & Recreation Department, and Lincoln Youth Soccer. Proceeds will benefit the financial aid fund at the Birches School.The event is free and open to all, but a $15 donation is suggested to go toward Birches School financial aid fund. Copies of the book are $10 when purchased online until March 18 at www.birchesschool.org and will be sold for $15 at the event.
The Magic Garden Children’s Center invites Lincoln seniors to volunteer in their new Music Together classes with infants and toddlers aged 2 months to almost 3 years old on Tuesday mornings from 9:30–10:30 a.m. in the Stone Church. Volunteers will assist the children as they enjoy the music and activities. Please contact Lori at Magic Garden at 781-259-8161 for more information, or call the Council on Aging at 781-259-8811 to volunteer.
To the editor:
Our Massachusetts legislators have filed two bills to adopt ranked choice voting (RCV). It may be coming soon, here and around the country. Come join us at Bemis Hall this Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m. to hear Jim Henderson of Voter Choice Massachusetts and cast your votes in a simulated RCV election.
There are many good reasons to adopt this procedure. Most importantly, it enables a more sophisticated and accurate measure of the will of the people, ensuring that the candidate elected enjoys the support of at least 50 percent of the voters.
If we continue to allow the election of candidates that receive the support of only 40 percent or less of the voters, we are discouraging citizen participation and denying their policy and personal principles. In this time, when there are more candidates presenting more points of view than the traditional two parties can champion, we should encourage a robust, new democratic process.
There are practical reasons as well, since ranked choice voting eliminates the need for runoff elections. What an excellent result, when we can simultaneously better reflect the will of the people and conclude the election on time, without additional expense and distraction from the work we need to do.
The bills filed in our legislature are S.414 and H.719, which would establish RCV in state and federal elections, excluding the presidential election, and S.420 and H.635, which would make it easier for cities and towns to adopt RCV for local elections. Our state representative, Tom Stanley, has supported all of them. Our state senator, Mike Barrett, has supported the state and federal elections bills. You can click on the bill numbers for details, and also take a look at Voter Choice MA’s Take Action page for more information.
We hope to see you Sunday!
Sincerely,
Peter Pease (40 Huckleberry Hill) and Barbara Slayter (7 Trapelo Rd.)
Co-chairs, Lincoln Democratic Town Committee
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.
Dominick “Jim” Arena
Dominick “Jim” Arena of Hudson, police and fire chief in Lincoln from 1976–1994, died on March 3 at age 89. He began his career with the Massachusetts State Police in Walpole and later served as the chief of police in Essex Junction, Vt., Edgartown, Mass., and Lincoln, where he also served as the fire chief. Calling hours and funeral starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 9 at the Tighe Hamilton Regional Funeral Home (50 Central St., Hudson). Click here for full obituary.
Following suggestions at a February 28 public forum, the Leaf Blower Study Committee has drafted amendments to its proposed bylaw such as expanded fall and spring periods when gas-powered machines can be used.
The group this week presented a revised draft to the Board of Selectmen that would add a couple of weeks in March and December, would also allow electric and battery-powered leaf blowers to be used year-round and would grant a grace period in the fall before the bylaw is enforced. “Additional changes are under consideration as well,” said committee chair Jamie Banks.
Under the original bylaw proposal, leaf blowers of any kind could not be used from December 16 through April 14. All types would be permitted during certain hours of the day in the fall and spring (October 1 through December 15, and April 15 through May 31). From June 1 to September 30, one electric or battery-powered leaf blower per lot could be used at a time.
The committee first proposed rules limiting leaf blower use in 2014 but “got shot down pretty substantially” after a public forum (the measure was ultimately passed over at Town Meeting that year), so “we went back to the drawing board” in terms of education around the issue, committee vice chair John Koenig said.
Over the past five years, the Rural Land Foundation (RLF), which owns the Lincoln Mall property, no longer allows its landscaping contractors to use gas-powered leaf blowers except during fall and spring cleanup, which is more or less in keeping with what the bylaw proposes. The same is true for workers on town-owned properties including cemeteries, roadsides, Bemis Hall, the library, the Lincoln School, and Pierce Park, said Dan Pereira, who handles the town mowing and maintenance contract in his capacity as director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Some were skeptical when the change was first proposed, “but we really never looked back,” he said.
Under the bylaw, gas-powered machines could be used even at normally prohibited times for special events and circumstances with permission of the building inspector, committee members emphasized. Such situations could include clearing lawn debris after the recent wind storm, before a wedding on a resident’s property, or at the start of the academic year on the Lincoln School campus.
But some residents at the forum bristled at the idea of any limits on using their gas-powered leaf blowers. “A lot of people are trying to do the right thing” by buying hybrid vehicles and installing solar panels, “but instead you feel somehow compelled to take the extra step and ban it,” said Mark Deck. He suggested first instituting voluntary guidelines without penalties.
“I really believe you would make more headway with a carrot than a stick. I fear if you take the stick to Town Meeting, you’ll just get shot down again,” he said.
Committee chair Jamie Banks replied that the group, working with the Board of Health, sent letters with guidelines for responsible gas-powered leaf blower use, especially on paved surfaces in South Lincoln, “but it hasn’t worked” with property owners and managers except the RLF.
Part of the problem town-wide is that property owners often aren’t home when their lawn maintenance crews appear during the day with their machines. “People go to work and their contractors come in, so they’re not victimized by the noise they way their neighbors might be,” Banks said. “It’s very hard to build consensus on a problem that a lot of people aren’t exposed to.”
Lincoln’s rural character makes the bylaw impractical, said resident Cricket Kerrebrock. “The towns that have approved this are high-density towns, not two-acre zoning. It’s a density than virtually doesn’t exist in this town except around the mall.”
Resident Len Darling noted that he and others use their gas-powered leaf blowers in the summer to blow grass clippings off his patio, which would not be allowed under the proposed bylaw.
“What you’re saying is ‘go buy an electric one’,” Deck said.
However, electric and battery-powered leaf blowers have improved dramatically in recent years in terms of power, battery life and price, and are quite adequate for that sort of light-duty work, said George Carrette, owner of EcoQuiet Lawn Care in Concord, which uses only electric and manual tools to clear debris. The Conservation Commission also now uses only battery-powered chainsaws for trail maintenance, ConComm chair Peter von Mertens noted.
Electric leaf blowers have other advantages over the gas-powered versions: they last longer, require little or no maintenance, don’t require gasoline and oil, can use the same batteries as other machines such as chainsaws, and are easier to start, noted resident Alex Chatfield.
Restricting use of gas-powered leaf blowers to certain times of year for the sake of public health is comparable to restrictions on outdoor fires, he added. “Libertarian arguments have been around for decades to object to environmental laws. It would be great to live in a world where everyone is sensitive to the environment and impacts on their neighbors and don’t do stuff that’s harmful.”
“There are a lot of people who would like to see no leaf blowers ever, and at the other extreme, no regulation at all,” said committee member Robin Wilkerson. “Over five years we’ve tried to hammer something together that accommodates as many people as possible. We feel like this is a very liberal interpretation of what people can do.”
