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

Letter to the editor: Minuteman district governance at issue

letter

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of letters about Minuteman High School from Sharon Antia, Lincoln’s representative on the Minuteman School Committee. The previous letters were published on January 4 and January 14. She invites readers with questions to email her at Sharon.antia@gmail.com.

To the editor:

On February 23, Lincoln will hold a Special Town Meeting at which we will be asked to vote on two things: whether to approve the amended Minuteman school district’s regional agreement, and whether to withdraw form the Minuteman school district. The new Minuteman regional agreement, which all 16 towns in the district must vote on, has two important changes to the district’s governance.

1) Voting mechanism for school committee members—Under the current structure, each of the 16 towns in the district has one school committee representative, and each representative has one full vote. Some towns send many students and some only send a couple, yet each representative’s vote holds equal value.

With the new amendment, 50 percent of a town’s voting strength will be shared equally among members and 50 percent will be based on that town’s four-year rolling average enrollment. Recognizing that some towns may withdraw from the district and that Lincoln sends only a few students to this high school, it is difficult to determine exactly how this change will impact Lincoln, but it is likely that the value of our vote will be diminished.

At least as important as the actual vote is having a seat at the table and being part of the conversation in the district. As history has shown, we expect that some of our students will want to attend this high school, and the new school will be built in our town. The ability of the Lincoln Planning Board to manage building size, scale, and impact on abutters is constrained by state statute. However, as long as we are part of the district, our representative to the Minuteman School Committee has the ability to question program-driven design such as the proposed new theater.

2) Selection of school committee members—Unlike our K-12 system in which citizens elect school committee members, Minuteman School Committee representatives are appointed by town moderators. One of the proposed amendments will move this appointing power to the Board of Selectmen in each member town (or by the mayor in the case of a city), unless the community provides otherwise by bylaw or charter.

Minuteman School Committee members act, as do K-12 School Committee members, as advocates for public education in their respective schools. Without an election process for a Minuteman School Committee representative, an appointment by the town moderator has provided a balanced alternative to select strong advocates for education.

Minuteman High School has been part of Lincoln’s educational system since its inception in 1971. We have expected its School Committee, just as we expect our K-8 and L-S school committees, to be strong advocates for investments in quality education. This must be part of the conversation as we consider change.

Sincerely,

Sharon Antia, Minuteman School Committee
165 S. Great 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 must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.

Council on Aging activities for February

bemisSeniorSpeak theater performance
February 1 at 12:30 p.m.
Join the SeniorSpeak group for a theatre performance on Monday, Feb. 1 at 12:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The performance is an outgrowth of the work participants were engaged in as they rediscovered their voice as older adults. Drawing upon memories, feelings, and life lessons, participants have created a performance piece that incorporates turning points and events that shaped their lives both as individuals and as a group. The piece uses scenes and music as tools to capture key moments. After the performance, all are invited to join a discussion with the performers about the development of the theatre piece and the insights gained in the process.

Meet with an aide to Congresswoman Clark
February 3 at 1 p.m.
You are invited to Bemis Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. to meet with Anthony Moreschi, Constituent Service Representative for Congresswoman Katherine Clark. He will be available to assist residents with Social Security, Medicare, and MassHealth/Medicaid. You are also welcome to discuss other matters with him that he may be able to help with. [Read more…] about Council on Aging activities for February

By the light of the silvery moon (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Harold McAleer took this photo of the waxing moon over Lincoln. The dot near the center is the Copernicus crater, while the dark circles

Harold McAleer took this photo of the waxing moon over Lincoln. The dot near the center is the Copernicus crater, while the large dark circle above it is Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). Ranging to the right of that are Mare Serenitatus (Sea of Serenity), Mare Tranquillitatus (Sea of Tranquility, where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, though Harold’a camera is not up to the task of revealing the lunar module), Mare Foecunditatus (Sea of Fertility), and (above right) Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). Source: Wikimedia Commons

Ms. G is getting ready to emerge (or not)

Drumlin Farm's resident groundhog, Ms. G.

Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog, Ms. G.

Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary is set to host its annual Groundhog Day event on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Watch Ms. G, the official state groundhog of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as she wakes from her winter hibernation and decides whether or not spring will come early this year.

Drumlin Farm will be open on February 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This special event is free with paid admission ($8 adults and teens; $6 children 2-12 and seniors), and free for Mass Audubon members. The live groundhog forecast starts at 10 a.m., followed by winter activities such as meeting Drumlin’s resident wildlife, exploring wilderness trails, and learning how to identify animal tracks in the snow. Hot cocoa will be provided.

Featured activities:

  • Learn the forecast for spring’s arrival from our woodchuck weather expert
  • Visit with more of our resident wildlife and farm animals, and explore the trails
  • Attend special nature and farm programs
  • Make some winter crafts to take home

Former WBZ-TV weather personality Mish Michaels will be on hand to share the story of the Wellesley school students who joined Mass Audubon in submitting the bill to the Massachusetts state legislature to declare Ms. G the official state groundhog. The bill was successfully enacted into law and signed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on July 31, 2014.

Upcoming public hearings

meetingPlanning Board

  • Public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. to review the following proposed changes to the Lincoln Zoning By-Law: amend Sec. 6.1 and Sec. 6.2 to add parties permitted to farm by right, add agricultural uses permitted by right on parcels less than five acres, and to clarify agricultural uses requiring a special permit on parcels containing less than five acres, substantially as on file with the Town Clerk.
  • Public hearings on Tuesday, Feb. 9 to review applications for Site Plan Review:
    • 7 p.m. — Mark Deck, 30 Silver Hill Road, proposes to tear down an existing house and construct a new house.
    • 7:20 p.m. — Randall Briggs, 31 Morningside Lane, proposes to renovate and expand an existing house.
    • 7:45 p.m. — Rick Kelleher, 91 Weston Road, proposes to tear down an existing house and construct a new house.

Conservation Commission

Public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7:45 p.m in response to a Request for Determination of Applicability by George Seeley for a replacement septic system within the 100-foot buffer zone at 212 Concord Road.

Learn about gun laws and Town Meeting resolution

gunResidents are invited to learn about gun safety and a pending Lincoln Town Meeting resolution advocating a national gun safety law on Saturday, Jan. 23 starting with a reception at 9:30 a.m. in Bemis Hall.

Lincoln Police Chief Kevin Kennedy and Sgt. Paul Westlund will speak at 10 a.m. about gun law differences in neighboring states and how they impact Massachusetts residents. They will also discuss safe practices for handling guns in homes, particularly where children are present.

At 11 a.m., there will be a discussion of a draft Town Meeting resolution on “A Petition to the U.S. Congress to Adopt a Uniform National Gun Safety Law Applying Equally to All States.”

Light refreshments will be provided. The event is sponsored by the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee. For more information, email garyddavis04@gmail.com.

New solar installation at Lincoln Woods

The newly installed solar array in Far Meadow.

The newly installed solar array in Far Meadow.

A “solar farm” is nearing completion at Far Meadow on property owned by Lincoln Woods, and if the good weather holds, it should be producing non-polluting electricity by the end of February.

Four hundred solar panels have been installed and the electrical connections are currently being made. You can see the installation by walking out the dirt road parallel to the railroad tracks from the commuter parking lot. Once it’s on line, the project is expected produce 112 kW of electricity. The average Massachusetts home used about 615 kWh of electricity per month in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Additional collectors are being installed on the flat-roofed Lincoln Woods units themselves. Their completion will depend on other work being done to bring Lincoln Woods in compliance with state refunding requirements.

The Far Meadow site is a relatively small installation and is expected to have minimal impact on the conservation land and meadow habitat which it abuts, according to Conservation Commission co-chair Peter von Mertens.

The town is looking into the idea of creating a larger solar site atop the old landfill tat could produce somewhere from 650 kW to 980 kW of electricity. Lincoln’s Green Energy Technology Committee presented information on this at the State of the Town meeting in November 2015.

Letter to the editor: rebuttals on leaf blower issue

letter

Editor’s note: this letter is in response to a letter published on January 12.

To the editor:

Michael Coppock’s questions and complaints about the Leaf Blower Study Group’s activities answer themselves, by and large. He notes the cost of the flyers mentioned in his letter (January 12, 2016) came from the Selectmen’s printing budget. Simply put, this expenditure, authorized by elected officials and/or persons appointed by them, reflected the interest of the town’s governing bodies in a subject that addresses both quality of life and health issues affecting Lincoln residents. The extent to which leaf-blower emissions and noise are seen as a public health problem is reflected by the existence of hundreds of local laws, ordinances and regulations regarding use of these machines in counties, cities, towns, and villages across the land and around the world. To be sure, these measures have proved difficult to enforce, for a number of reasons—but that does not diminish the public’s interest or the nature of the problem or the Board of Health’s responsibility to address it.

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