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

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How to talk to kids about the election

Licensed psychologist and Lincoln resident/parent Cris Ratiner will lead a conversation on “How to Talk with Your Children About the Election and Its Aftermath” on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room. Ratiner has worked with parents and families in ordinary times as well as extraordinary times (9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day tsunami). Anyone with questions may email her at crisratinerphd@gmail.com.

Second open space forum on Wednesday

The second community forum for the Open Space and Recreation Plan update takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Donaldson Room. The group is in the final phase of community outreach and goal setting (see the Lincoln Squirrel, July 20, 2016).

‘How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying’

LSB Players, the theater production company of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, presents How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying on November 16, 17, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school’s Kirschner Auditorium. The musical traces the journey of J. Pierrepont Finch as he follows a guide that instructs him on how to rise to the top of the corporate world on charm and cunning alone. This hilarious satire is based on an actual book by Shepherd Mead, and is a clever, tongue-in-cheek send-up of corporate life featuring familiar songs by Frank Loesser like I Believe in You, The Brotherhood of Man and Been A Long Day. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for senior citizens/students. Click here to reserve tickets.

Sheila Katz

Sheila Katz

Talk on Israel/Palestine nonviolence

Sheila H. Katz, Professor of Middle East History at Berklee College, will present “Connecting with the Enemy: A Century of Palestinian-Israeli Joint Nonviolence” on Monday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library. The talk presents the first comprehensive history of grassroots nonviolent alternatives to the lethal collision of the two national movements despite condemnation by their own societies, repetitive diplomatic failures, harsh inequalities, and endemic cycles of violence. Presented by the GRALTA Foundation (Grass Roots Awareness, Learning, Travel and Action), which is also organizing an Israel-Palestine study tour from Jan. 4-14, 2017. For more information, call Steve and Barbara Low at 781-259-1300.

Lincoln seniors invited to dinner next Wednesday

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School warmly invites Lincoln senior citizens to a Thanksgiving dinner at the school on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at noon, complete with performances by the L-S Jazz Band and dancers. Please call the Council on Aging at 781-259-8811 to sign up.

‘Gratitude Trees and Campfire’ at Farrington Nature Linc

Start your Thanksgiving holiday with an evening focused on thankfulness and time spent in nature at Farrington Nature Linc on Wednesday, Nov. 23 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. During the “Gratitude Trees and Campfire” program, families can decorate preserved leaves to create a beautiful gratitude tree to take home, make leaf-inspired table art, listen to stories around the campfire and eat s’mores. Registration is required; call or email Program Director Brianne at brianne@naturelinc.org or 978-764-9186. Suggested donation: $10/person. Farrington Nature Linc is at 295 Cambridge Turnpike (Route 2 eastbound) directly after Gerard’s Farm Stand.

Thanksgiving night contra dance

Lincolnites are invited to a Thanksgiving Night contra dance on Thursday, Nov. 24 from 7-10 p.m. in the Smith School gym featuring musicians Larry Unger and Julie Metcalf, and caller Chris Ricciotti. All ages and abilities are welcome. Tickets are $6 for adults and students, $4 for children 10 and under. Sponsored by the First Parish Church. For more information, call 781-259-0692 or email kwinchell@comcast.net.

 

Santa paws (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Allison Tobia of Wayland and her golden retriever Penny get their photo taken with Santa at Saturday's Paws for the Holidays Festival at the Pierce House hosted by Lincoln-based Phinney's Friends. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

Allison Tobia of Wayland and her golden retriever Penny get their photo taken with Santa at Saturday’s Paws for the Holidays Festival at the Pierce House hosted by Lincoln-based Phinney’s Friends. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

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.

Traffic remedies discussed at State of the Town

stateofthetown2(Editor’s note: there will be more coverage of the State of the Town discussions tomorrow.)

At Saturday’s State of the Town meeting, residents shared their thoughts about speed limits, distracted drivers, dangers for bicyclists and other roadway issues, though there seemed to be more problems than immediate solutions.

Selectman Peter Braun voiced what everyone has noticed: there’s more traffic all over town especially at rush hour, because GPS has revealed commuter shortcuts through town to more people. He and other officials also reminded residents that many issues such as area-wide traffic and making changes to state roads like Routes 117 and 126 are largely out of Lincoln’s control.

Several measures have been tried to slow and reduce traffic, such as speed bumps and updating signage. There were speed bumps on Lincoln Road at one time but there were removed, and their drawbacks—traffic noise from accelerating cars, and safety issues for emergency vehicles and snow plows—outweigh their benefits, said Braun and Chief of Police Kevin Kennedy.

Changing signage has been somewhat more effective, especially at Five Corners, where stop signs were recently realigned. Sight lines have also been improved at Route 117 and Lincoln Road, but both intersections are still problematic, residents noted.

Reducing speed limits can also have unintended consequences. To change the speed limit on a road, a town must apply to the state, and the new speed limit must be close to the speed at which 85 percent of the motorists already travel on it under normal conditions—something that could actually result in the speed limit going up, Kennedy noted.

“The best way to control speed is volume. It’s one of those double-edged sword things,” Braun said.

When roads are repaved, the shoulder is usually widened a bit, though trees and utility poles often limit how much can be done. But again, there are pros and cons. “Narrower roads serve as effective traffic-calming mechanism but can make it difficult for cyclists,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins said.

Other proposals that were discussed:

Increased enforcement of existing speed limits—this requires hiring more police officers. Braun rhetorically asked if residents would support a Proposition 2½ override to fund such a measure and was met mostly with silence.

Crosswalks—“They can give a false sense of security… we’ve kind of shied away from them,” Braun said.

Roundabouts at difficult intersections—this has been considered, even to the point of having a traffic engineer sketch out some possibilities, but roundabouts are costly, and the town usually doesn’t own enough land adjacent to the intersection to make this feasible, Higgins said.

Restricting access to smaller roads to reduce commuter cut-throughs—one resident objected that “this is a zero-sum game; if you close a road in one place, you increase traffic in another. Don’t change the policy of letting one neighborhood have less traffic than another.”

Other suggestions to improve safety seemed more promising, such as free-standing speed sensors that blink or flash a warning message if approaching drivers are going too fast, or banning cellphone use while driving in Lincoln. Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont already have state laws requiring cell phones in cars to be hands-free, though Massachusetts failed to pass a similar law over the summer.

The town has gotten a Complete Streets state grant to study and identify specific roadway and path improvements, with the chance to apply for a larger grant for any construction projects that can be completed by June 30, 2017. However, even projects that can’t get done in that timeframe can go on a “wish list” to be considered later for town-only funding, Braun noted.

Officials urged everyone to complete a Complete Streets online survey. There will be a presentation and discussion of ideas on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall’s Donaldson Room. Officials also encouraged anyone with comments or suggestions about specific roadway and traffic issues to contact Higgins at higginst@lincolntown.org.

Letter to the editor: Gallagher Tully thanks citizens

letter

To the editor:

It was a great honor and privilege to have my name placed on the ballot. I introduced myself (Stacey Gallagher Tully, candidate for State Representative for the 9th Middlesex District) thousands of times, but it never got old. In fact, it was energizing and refreshing.

Meeting so many great people and families—the hearts of our communities—along the campaign trail was extremely rewarding. I was humbled each and every day by the outpouring of support from so many different corners of the 9th district. Engaging conversations with so many people at their doors, at community events, in local grocery stores—sharing personal stories and ideas and concerns—was the highlight of this campaign.

To my volunteers, an outstanding team of hard workers, you offered and gave of your time, talent and treasure to support this campaign. I want to publicly thank you. You are my heroes and I continue to be inspired by your passion and commitment to better government through conservative principles.

Onward and Upward, Lincoln and Waltham for today is a bright new day. This is not the end, it is just the beginning of my public service in the capacity of a candidate. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”

Sincerely,

Stacey Gallagher Tully
85 Lincoln Road, Waltham

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.

Final election results show Lincoln voted ‘yes’ on Question 2

A more complete (though still unofficial) tally of Lincoln’s election results shows that Lincolnites voted in favor of expanding charter schools—and was one of very few Massachusetts cities and towns to do so.

Preliminary results that were sent to the Squirrel on Tuesday night contained a typographical error in the results for Question 2 that seemed to indicate Lincolnites voted against raising the cap on charter schools. In fact, Lincoln voted by a margin of 1,988–1,768 to raise the cap, and was one of only 15 towns to vote yes. The others were Weston, Wellesley, Dover, Sherborn, Manchester, Mt. Washington, Cohasset, Chatham, Orleans, Nantucket, and four of the five towns on Martha’s Vineyard.

The next-closest margin for a ballot question in Lincoln was the vote of 2,018–1,765 in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana.

The tables below show results by voting precinct, excluding blanks and write-ins. Click here to see a map showing the two Lincoln precincts.

CandidatesPrecinct 1Precinct 2Total
PRESIDENT and VP
Clinton and Kaine1,8201,0862,906
Trump and Pence328285613
Johnson and Weld9778175
Stein and Baraka242347
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Katherine Clark1,8481,1663,014
COUNCILLOR
Marilyn Devaney1,6811,0652,746
STATE SENATOR
Michael Barrett1,7221,0972,819
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Thomas Stanley1,3327832,115
Stacey Gallagher Tully6435331,176
SHERIFF
Peter Koutoujian1,7331,0922,825
BALLOT QUESTIONSPrecinct 1Precinct 2Total
QUESTION 1: Additional slot parlor license?
Yes392334726
No1,8321,1282,960
QUESTION 2: Allow up to 12 new charter schools per year?
Yes1,1868021,988
No1,0896791,768
QUESTION 3: Prohibit confinement of farm animals?
Yes1,8411,1803,021
No443304747
QUESTION 4: Legalize recreational marijuana?
Yes1,1868322,018
No1,1066591,765

Letter to the editor: an important conversation about Town Meeting

letter

To the editor:

On Saturday, the town will have an opportunity to come together and hear what is on the minds of town boards and committees, in addition to asking questions and sharing ideas. That is one important conversation.  There is another.

This past summer, an important community conversation was resumed. Every so many years, a new generation of Lincoln looks at itself and asks important questions about our decision making process: Town Meeting. Some clearly feel the format is not conducive to inclusion. Others believe it brings out the best of community participation and decision-making. And, as many have said, democracy is not a spectator sport and requires full participation.

But how do we best achieve that when we have a form of governance crafted in the 18th century that is still serving us in the 21st? Are there ways we can improve access to information, debate and decision-making to expand participation? The Town Moderator, an elected position established in the 18th century, stepped to the plate and took these and other questions to the Board of Selectmen on October 24. The conversation’s focus was to explore how we might improve Town Meeting and decision-making. After some discussion, the Selectmen agreed that having a town-wide conversation about fine-tuning Town Meeting was important and urged the moderator to consider how best to move forward.

Other models for Town Meeting exist so that we need not reinvent the wheel. We have neighbors who debate this issue on a regular basis. Years ago, HATS (Hanscom Area Towns—Lincoln, Lexington, Concord and Bedford) hosted just such a discussion. In attendance were other Town Moderators, representatives of the League of Women Voters, Town Meeting members and others. Many towns have created a guide to Town Meeting for their own communities. Our own Town Clerk has created such a guide: “Welcome to Lincoln! A Guide for New Residents.”  This is being distributed to newcomers and will soon made available online.

But what more can we do? How can we include new ideas, technologies and innovations? What became clear in the meeting between the Selectmen and Town Moderator is a need for the setting of context to open any discussion:

  • What exactly is Town Meeting?
  • Where did it come from and why?
  • What are the state statutes that establish it, and that also dictate how decisions are made?
  • What can and what can’t we do to alter voting and decision-making?
  • And, if we want to make fundamental changes to how we govern ourselves, what would it take to do so?

Once we have established the basic information and “road rules,” we can then begin a discussion of how we might make changes. While no date was set for the Town Moderator to return to the Selectmen to report next steps, it is clear that there is a need, and an important conversation has begun.

Many of us wonder how we, as a clearly divided country, can come together to govern at a national level. But we should not doubt that we can and will come together as a community. It is important to find time to listen and share thoughts this Saturday morning at our annual State of the Town meeting, and also to participate when and where we might find an opportunity to discuss how best to fine-tune Town Meeting, and celebrate the civility that has dominated our ongoing community conversations.

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant 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.

Lincoln voters say yes to Hillary and three ballot questions

Early election results in Lincoln show that Hillary Clinton won by an overwhelming margin of 83% to 17%. Lincolnites also said “yes” to more charter schools, banning confinement for farm animals, and legalizing recreational marijuana while voting against an additional slot parlor in the state. Lincoln was one of only 15 towns to vote yes on the charter schools question.

Incumbent State Rep. Thomas Stanley (D) handily beat independent challenger Stacey Gallagher Tully by a margin of 65% to 35% among Lincoln residents.

Here are unofficial and incomplete results for how Lincoln voted in the 2016 presidential election as of 10:30 p.m. on Election Night from Town Clerk Susan Brooks. Click on a ballot question to see the Boston Globe’s statewide results.

PRESIDENT# VotesBallot Q: YesBallot Q: No
Hillary Clinton2,906——
Donald Trump613——
Gary Johnsonunknown——
Jill Stein unknown——
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Katherine Clarkunknown——
COUNCILLOR
Marilyn Devaneyunknown——
STATE SENATOR
Michael Barrettunknown——
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Thomas Stanley2,215——
Stacey Gallagher Tully1,176——
SHERIFF
Peter Koutoujianunknown——
BALLOT QUESTIONS (yes/no)
QUESTION 1: Additional slot parlor license?—726 (20%)2,960 (80%)
QUESTION 2: Allow up to 12 new charter schools per year?—1,988 (53%)1,768 (47%)
QUESTION 3: Prohibit confinement of farm animals?—3,021 (80%)747 (20%)
QUESTION 4: Legalize recreational marijuana?—2,018 (53%)1,765 (47%)

Middlesex DA offers tips on avoiding theft and scams

Middlesex County District Attorney speaks to the Lincoln Council on Aging.

Middlesex County District Attorney speaks to the Lincoln Council on Aging.

Hang onto your purse in the supermarket, move your garbage cans, and don’t fall for the “grandparents scam” were some of the bits of advice offered by Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan at a Council on Aging crime prevention talk.

Ryan, who headed the DA’s Elder and Disabled Persons Protection Unit for 20 years, described at the September 23 session some of the ways that senior and others are sometimes victimized by criminals. The #1 way that people over 60 have money stolen, she said, is by leaving a purse in their shopping cart—and most victims don’t even know it until the store’s security personnel, who saw the theft on surveillance cameras, chases down the thief and retrieves the bag.

Other crime prevention tips offered by Ryan:

  • Move your trash cans inside your garage or far away from windows. They make an easy stepladder for thieves to break in through a high window.
  • Don’t open the door to strangers, even if they don’t seem dangerous, such as a woman saying her car has broken down or whose child needs a bathroom. While you’re keeping an eye on the person after you left the door open, an accomplice could very well be ransacking the front room.
  • Don’t leave your car door unlocked while you’re loading groceries in the back. It takes just a moment for someone to grab your purse off the front seat.
  • Keep tabs on your medication. Pharmacy workers with addictions may leave your bottle of painkillers a few pills short or substitute a different medication, so count your pills and know what they’re supposed to look like. Also, if you’re having a real estate open house, don’t leave prescription medicines unlocked in your medicine cabinet.

Ryan also offered some detailed advice on financial safety for seniors. Over one recent six-week period, her office handled cases in which over $1 million had been stolen, “and it’s largely people you know using perfectly legal means to take money from you,” she said.

Joint bank accounts and powers of attorney are prime avenues for theft. Seniors sometimes put a relative or trusted friend on their bank account to help pay bills, but that other person “legally owns all the money in the account even if they haven’t contributed any of it,” Ryan said. “There’s no obligation to use that money for you.”

If you want to give someone access to your funds while you’re hospitalized or away for the winter, put into the account only the amount of money you think will be needed for that period of time, rather than your entire checking account.

“Even if the person was very trustworthy at the time you put them on the account, life changes—there could be a lost job or a bad divorce,” Ryan said. “We’d be wealthy if we had a dollar for every time someone said, ‘I was only going to borrow once. Mom wouldn’t mind if just this month I paid my mortgage and then I’ll be back on my feet next month.’ But they’re never back on their feet and the money never goes back.”

Giving someone power of attorney works much the same way. “When you give someone your power of attorney, you have legally made them you—you have cloned yourself. So anything you could do to your property, they are completely free to do,” Ryan said. The solution: include a time or dollar limit to the power of attorney, and don’t give the power to multiple people.

Guard your personal information closely, Ryan said. Phone scammers often claim they’re from the bank and lost your account number, or they’re from the IRS and need to collect on unpaid taxes, or you missed jury duty but can clear it up by paying a fine.

By using information that’s readily available on social media, a scammer might call to tell you your grandson who’s away at college was arrested last night and asked if she could send bail money. It sounds because they know the grandson’s name and what college he attends, “so you stay on the phone because they’re giving you information that’s true,” she said.

Whenever someone asks for payment or financial information, “never give that information over the phone,” Ryan said. Also, although scammers may sound helpful, “they’re always rushing you. Take a minute, step back and think about it.”

Sometimes victims eventually realize they’re been deceived but are reluctant to report it. “People just get embedded in these stories and are really unable to accept how badly they’re in on this, and embarrassed to go to the police,” Ryan said.

This also applies to people who knock on your door offering to do a job for you and then demand an excessive fee. Victims may be frightened and hand over a check, but Ryan urged them to call the police immediately, even if it’s after the fact.

“Even if you think you’ve done something you shouldn’t have done, jump in and stop it,” she said. “Go to the police and let us warn everyone else.”