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

News acorns

Spring wellness clinics for all ages

Lincoln residents of all ages are invited to meet with a nurse through a free town service. Come to get your blood pressure checked, ask questions, or learn about wellness resources. Clinics will be held at the Community Building at Lincoln Woods (50 Wells Road) from 10 a.m. to noon on three Fridays: March 4, April 1, and May 13. These clinics are funded by the Ogden Codman Trust and provided by Emerson Hospital Home Care. For more information, call the Council on Aging at 781-259-8811.

Dawn Kenney

Dawn Kenney

Dawn Kenney at LOMA on March 14

Dawn Kenney and Friends are the featured performers at the next LOMA (Lincoln Open-Mike Acoustic) in the Tarbell Room of the Lincoln Public Library on Monday, March 14 from 7-10 p.m. Dawn brings her love of bluegrass, country, folk and gospel music all woven together to create her own unique genre-defying sound. She has shared the stage at Carnegie Hall with the likes of Sarah McLachlan and Loreena McKennitt and she’s played a showcase in Nashville at the IBMA World of Bluegrass. Her Reverbnation page features some of her songs including One Step Ahead of the Rain.

LOMA is a monthly event. Performers can sign up at the event or email Rich Eilbert at loma3re@gmail.com for a slot. Names of those who signed up by 7:15 are drawn at random. We have a sound system with mikes & instrumental pickups suitable for individuals or small groups.

Conservation Commission seeks members

The Lincoln Conservation Commission seeks volunteers to serve on this seven-member board. Commissioner appointments are made by the Board of Selectmen and the terms are for three years unless the appointment is to fill out a previous commissioner’s term. The time commitment includes an evening meeting every third Wednesday as well as site visits, which are often held on the same day as the meeting and are typically held on weekday mornings. You will also be asked to participate in a Subcommittee or serve as a liaison to another board or organization.

The Conservation Commission’s work is diverse, but much of it is focused on wetlands permitting and open space management. Those with professional skills in reading and understanding construction plans are especially desirable, so a background in fields such as engineering, construction, architecture, or surveying is helpful. Also, those with legal experience or a strong environmental background (such as biology or botany) would help round out the current group of commissioners.

If interested, please submit the Volunteer Application form on the Town of Lincoln website to the Board of Selectmen’s office. Attendance at our meetings prior to appointment is strongly recommended for any interested applicant. See schedules and agendas for upcoming meetings as well as minutes of past meetings on the Conservation Commission web page.

LSF Spelling Bee slated for April 10
The ninth annual Lincoln School Foundation Spelling Bee is coming at light speed to Brooks Auditorium on Sunday, April 10. It is open to​ ALL children in grades 3-6 who reside​ ​in ​Lincoln​ or Hanscom or who attend school at one of the campuses run by the Lincoln Public School district. Each team will compete with other teams at the same grade level only. Kids can form teams of two to three (all must be in the same grade), or LSF has volunteers on standby to assist. Each participant receives a 2016 LSF Spelling Bee t-shirt, water bottle, backpack and snacks.

Registration is $25 and runs from March 1-18. Check-on begins on noon on the day of the event. Entry forms and fees can be found online​ ​​at www.LincolnSchoolFoundation.org, in backpacks and at school.​ E-mail Bee@lincolnscoolfoundation.org for assistance. May the force BEE with you!

Letter to the editor: CMPC report ‘gives us a way out of the logjam’

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Editor’s note: This letter is in response to the February 17 letter to the editor by Peter Sugar headlined “Campus report pays ‘little attention’ to previous work.”

To the editor:

As a resident of this town since 1998, I have come over the years to have an appreciation for the Lincoln Way in all its strengths and weaknesses. Its biggest strength is its inclusiveness and spirit of genuine community engagement. Its weakness is that when compromise is required because we just can’t address everyone’s concerns, the Lincoln Way struggles.

With the school addressing the concerns of every interested group, it resulted in a building that very few of us like—large, sprawling across the landscape, and very expensive. In at least one iteration, internal circulation problems, created by a footprint that addressed everyone’s building footprint concerns, were solved by adding another cafeteria.

What I particularly liked about the Campus Master Planning Committee report is that it distills a very complicated problem to a set of options that each represent a set of tradeoffs. It’s a great approach—it keeps the spirit of the Lincoln Way and gives us a way out of the logjam. I thank all the people who volunteered large amounts of time and energy to the CMPC report and commend them for the approach they took.

Sincerely,

Margaret Olson
17 Boyce Farm 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.

Note to readers about letters to the editor

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Dear readers,

With the aim of keeping the Lincoln Squirrel as local as possible, we have had a policy that letters to the editor must be specific to a Lincoln topic. We are now relaxing that requirement to accept letters on any topic we feel is of interest to the Lincoln community. This means you can send your thoughts about national and international topics of concern, including the Presidential election.

The deadline for receiving letters relating to the March 1 state primary is Friday, Feb. 26 at 11:59 p.m. We look forward to publishing your letters!

Sincerely,

Alice Waugh, editor/publisher of the Lincoln Squirrel
178 Weston 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.

Letter to the editor: Minuteman vote is not about building project or school quality

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To the editor,

On February 23, our town will come together to discuss and vote on the future of career and technical (“vo-tech”) education in Lincoln. We will hear reports from the selectman-appointed Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG) and Lincoln’s Minuteman High School School Committee Representative, Sharon Antia. Regular reports from Ms. Antia have appeared in the local press. The work of the VEOWG is available on the Lincoln town website.

[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: Minuteman vote is not about building project or school quality

Letter to the editor: FinCom supports Minuteman withdrawal

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To the editor:

At Special Town Meeting on Tuesday night, Lincoln will reconsider the nature of our continued involvement in the Minuteman school district. The Finance Committee encourages voters of the town to attend the meeting and consider this important question.

Minuteman has served several generations of our students admirably, providing an excellent vocational education for six Lincoln students, on average, over the last decade. The question in front of the town is not about eliminating that educational opportunity but is instead about the costs and risks of remaining a member town in the school district that guarantees and governs Minuteman.

[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: FinCom supports Minuteman withdrawal

Property news

House-1Land transactions for January 2016
  • 15 Oak Meadow Rd. — George Speen, trustee, to Anne Niemi for $685,000 (January 8)
  • 64 Birchwood Lane — James Reider, trustee, to William Glynn and Anna Lombroso for $604,000 (January 11)
  • 32B Indian Camp Lane  — Erik Phillips to Patrick McCusker and Tracy Steele for $367,000 (January 12)
  • 121 Tower Rd. — Trinity Group LLC to Chad Sears and Thomas McMennamin for $1,500,000 (January 15)
  • 34 Old Winter St. — David Ries to Christopher and Susan Murphy for $815,000 (January 22)
  • 0 Lexington Rd. — Alice DeNormandie to Zeis Lincoln One LLC for $800,000 (January 25)
  • 14 Winter St. — Samson Munn to Zachary and Kim Morris for $1,425,000 (January 29)
Zoning Board of Appeals hearings

The Zoning Board of the Appeals will hold a public hearing on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Office Building to hear and to act on the following petitions under the zoning bylaws:

  • Christina Van Vleck and David Nydam, 2 Lewis St., for a special permit to construct alterations and make landscape improvements to a non-conforming structure on a non-conforming lot in a B-2 Business District, to use the premises for both business and residential uses, and to reduce the applicable parking requirement.
  • Adrian and Jennifer Fretland, 8 Pine Ridge Rd., for a special permit to construct a new garage and kitchen addition to a non-conforming structure.
  • Harold Engstrom, 27 Old Farm Rd., for a special permit to construct a shed on a non-conforming lot and/or structure.

News acorns

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The cover of the new book by Lincoln authors Lucretia Giese and Henry B. Hoover Jr.

Reading and dancing to “The Nightingale”

The Lincoln Public Library will host a reading of “The Nightingale” by Hans Christian Andersen on Saturday, March 5 at 11 a.m. accompanied by dancers from the Commonwealth Ballet Company acting out some of the parts while in their rich and colorful costumes. All ages. Free of charge.

Book event on architect Henry Hoover

Come to a presentation by Lincoln residents Lucretia Hoover Giese and Henry B. Hoover Jr. on Saturday, March 12 from 3-5 p.m. in the Tarbell Room of the Lincoln Public Library. Giese and Hoover are the authors of the recent book Breaking Ground: Henry B. Hoover, New England Modern Architect (University Press of New England), which chronicles the life and work of Henry B. Hoover. The authors will discuss their father’s work in the area and his many contributions to the field of modern architecture. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. [Read more…] about News acorns

Letter to the editor: campus report pays “little attention” to previous work

letter

To the editor:

I have read the report as published in the Squirrel recently as well as having had a chance to read the full report. Unfortunately I cannot agree with the characterization that the report is as well conceived as has been indicated.

I have been a member of the SBAC (School Building Advisory Committee) II. We of the committee worked many hours to follow up on the earlier work of the SBAC I committee to ensure that all of the town’s concerns were fully addressed, coming up with a series of charrettes as well as a detailed report of our own which then was incorporated in our consultant Dore & Whittier’s work and which the Lincoln School Committee fully supported. Therefore I am distressed that the CMPC report pays little if any attention to the work that has gone before and thus it cannot but be biased in its direction. The best work through many years of numerous town committees has been to look at the full picture—this is called the Lincoln Way by many—and it is the only way to arrive at a measured conclusion inclusive of all the various citizen inputs.

Sincerely,

Peter C. Sugar
133 Chestnut Circle

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 Dems to caucus for state convention

democrat_donkey_logoThe Lincoln Democratic Town Committee (LDTC) caucus for election of delegates and alternates to the June 4 Massachusetts Democratic State Convention will take place on Saturday, Feb. 20 starting at 9:30 a.m. in Bemis Hall. All Lincoln registered Democrats can attend, vote, and be elected; membership in the LDTC is not a prerequisite.

The Lincoln Presidential Candidate Forum scheduled for the same day has been cancelled, but Lincoln residents are welcome to attend a forum in Weston on February 20 starting at 2 p.m. in the Weston Community Center (20 Alphabet Lane). Guest speakers will be State Senator Michael Barrett; former attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley, speaking for Hillary Clinton; and State Senator Jamie Eldridge, speaking for Brnie Sanders.

For more information about either event, please contact Gary Davis at 781-259-0318 or garyddavis04@gmail.com.