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

Thomas Rhines, Jake Fox become Eagle Scouts

eagle pledge-adj2Thomas Rhines (left) and Jake Fox recite the Eagle pledge as they become Eagle Scouts on July 16 at a ceremony by Lincoln Boy Scout Troop 127 at the Codman Farm Barn. Eighty-five friends, family, Scouts and town officials joined in the ceremony and celebration.

For his Eagle project, Thomas created digital trail maps and photographs for the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, enabling trail users to have interactive access through their cell phones and the Google Earth app. Jake’s project was preserving gravestones in the town’s historic Town Hill Cemetery for the Lincoln Cemetery Commission as well as documenting and verifying burial records.

Watch the ceremony via this indexed video on the Town of Lincoln website.

Council on Aging activities in August

bemisDid you enjoy the strawberry social? Come hear more jazz!
August 6 at 2:30 p.m.
Did you hear the Lincoln Traditional Jazz Sextet belting it out while you munched away? Did you like what you heard? Well, there’s more where that came from. The sextet will be back at Bemis on Thursday, Aug 6 at 2:30 to give you their renderings of those tunes and others like them. So come on down, put your feet up or tap them to the music, and hum along. What better way to spend a pleasurable hour on a summer afternoon?

Veterans summer BBQ
August 10 at 12 p.m.
Veterans and their spouses are invited to a special barbecue on Monday, August 10 at 12 p.m. at Bemis Hall featuring a delicious lunch of barbecued pork or chicken. The COA is hoping to create a dynamic veterans community here in Lincoln and would love to see you and your spouse at the barbecue. You must sign up by calling the COA at 781-259-8811 by August 3 so that they will have enough meals. Unfortunately, they will not be able to accommodate those who do not sign up. A $5 donation is requested.

What you need to know about rescuing animals
August 17 at 10 a.m.
Lincoln residents share our backyards, our conservation land, and more with animals who come from the wild or, sometimes, may have been bought as pets but then left on their own for one reason or another. Knowing what to do when you encounter an animal, especially one who may be sick or who is in danger, is essential to your own and the animal’s safety. Find out about the animals you may come across in Lincoln and what to do when you would like to help but do not know how. Daniela Caride, President of the Board of Phinney’s Friends, comes to Bemis Hall on Monday, August 17 at 10 a.m. Caride will also discuss the mission and services of Phinney’s Friends, a Lincoln-based nonprofit dedicated to helping people keep their pets in times of crisis.

Searching Consumer Reports online free
August 20 at 10 a.m.
Consumer Reports has information about products from cars to airlines to cleaners to shoes, food, insurance, and everything in between. Because the Lincoln Public Library has a subscription, any Lincoln resident can search for product reviews from their homes on their computers for free! Get a demonstration of how to do this when Kate Tranquada, one of Lincoln’s reference librarians, comes to Bemis Hall on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 10 a.m.

Is your home safe for your pets?
August 24 at 10 a.m.
Sometimes even the most loving home can be dangerous for pets. Food, plants, medicine, and household chemicals can be toxic. Furniture with sharp edges can cause injuries. Pets can get locked into rooms, dryers, and other places. Buttons and strings can cause choking and more. Find out what you need to know to make sure your home is safe for your pets when Lincoln veterinarian Doug Meade comes to Bemis Hall on Monday, Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. Doug will let you know what to look out for and answer your questions.

—Hold the date: Friday, Sept. 25—
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate
Learn about the U.S. Senate in an interactive and exploratory way on a trip to the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate on Friday, Sept. 25. After a short introduction, folks can independently wander through the museum with a tablet which allows them to engage fully in the democratic process. An issue of the day also enhances the experience. A full-scale replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber and other exhibits are also on view. The Institute opened this past March to rave reviews. Note that this is a self guided tour with quite a bit of walking, but that there are places to sit throughout the building. The tour lasts between an hour to an hour and a half. The bus will leave the Lincoln Mall at 9:30 a.m. and return about 3 p.m. The cost is $15 per person. Lunch is still to be arranged. For more information about the Institute, go to https://www.emkinstitute.org. Signup begins in September.

Darius Theriault passes away in motorcycle accident

Darius Theriault

Darius Theriault

Darius Theriault, 27, died on July 4 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Shrewsbury. He is the son of Richard and Vita Theriault and brother of Minty Theriault, all of Lincoln. Darius grew up in Lincoln and played soccer, Pop Warner football and hockey in town programs. He graduated from Austin Preparatory School, attended Saint Anselm College and was finishing his degree at Framingham State University. Donations in his memory may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project.

The following article ran on July 7 in the MetroWest Daily News and is reprinted with permission.

[Read more…] about Darius Theriault passes away in motorcycle accident

Environmental Club at L-S wins national award

Christy Goldfuss, Managing Director of White House Council on Environmental Quality, Eleanor Burke, L-S Environmental Club Advisor, PEYA awardees Michael Bader (’14) and Grace Chin (’15) and U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

Christy Goldfuss, Managing Director of White House Council on Environmental Quality, Eleanor Burke, L-S Environmental Club Advisor, PEYA awardees Michael Bader (’14) and Grace Chin (’15) and U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

The Environmental Club at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School traveled to Washington, D.C., last month to receive the  2014 President’s Environmental Youth Award.

The club, which includes Lincoln residents ​Clara Cousins and Savannah Snell along with Sudbury residents Michael Bader, Brianna Bisson and Grace Chin, received the award for their efforts to bring awareness of climate change to the 1,600 students at L-S and to promote the use of reusable water bottles and recycling. The group raised money to purchase two purified water fountain refilling stations for the school with the goal of decreasing and eliminating the sale and use of one-use plastic water bottles and reducing overall plastic waste at the school.

The group started off its project with a waste audit to measure the plastic waste from the school cafeteria. Next they held a water taste test. The results showed that water from water fountains can taste just as good as water from one-use bottles as long as the temperature of the water is held constant.

The group then embarked on fundraising to purchase the water bottle refilling stations. Members partnered with Next Step Living to recruit local residents to conduct home energy audits, each of which nets $10 for the school. In this manner, the club has raised more than $2,600 to date to fund the purchase of the stations.

Through this project, Environmental Club members learned that they have the power to make a difference at the local school level and also to teach fellow students about the power of individual local action to make a difference on a town-wide and ultimately global level, since community members who’ve taken the home energy audit have learned strategies and improvements to reduce their own carbon footprints.

News acorns – 7/27/15

Events for kids at the Lincoln Public Library

This week at the Lincoln Public Library:

  • Sciencetellers
    Wednesday, July 29 from 4-5 p.m.
    Storytelling and hands-on science experiments combined for a fun theatrical learning experience. Recommended for ages 4 and up.
  • ICA Animal Paradise Sculptures
    Thursday, August 6 from 4-5 p.m.
    Make a shelter for a toy animal supplied by the Institute of Contemporary Art and take it all home. This hands-on activity is for ages 4-10. Materials are supplied; please sign up in advance by calling 781-259-8465.
Beware of IRS scam

The Lincoln Police would like everyone to know that a number of residents have received calls from people who say that they are from the IRS calling because the resident owes back taxes. This is a scam. The IRS only corresponds by U.S. mail. For more information, please call the Lincoln Police Department at 781-259-8113.

Watch video from antique auto show

Lincoln resident Harold McAleer shot some video of the annual Antique Auto Show at the Codman Estate on July 17. If you can’t see the video frames below, click for an overview of the show or a jazzy musical interlude.

 

 

40 percent of Lincoln ticks tested positive for Lyme in ’14

deertickBy Alice Waugh

Forty percent of ticks submitted by Lincoln residents for testing in 2014 came back positive for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease—but some also carried bacteria that cause lesser-known tick-borne diseases.

In this recent Bedford Citizen article, Dr. Anne Kiessling presented data from testing gathered by the Middlesex Tick Task Force, a group of public health staff members and residents from 32 Massachusetts towns including Lincoln that was formed in September 2012 to confront public health issues posed by tick-borne diseases. A statewide Community Innovation Challenge Grant provided free testing of approximately 100 ticks in each of the 32 towns last summer.

Lincoln residents submitted 113 ticks for testing in 2014, and 40 percent of those insects were positive for Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Nine percent of the tested ticks were also positive for Babesia microti, which can cause babesiosis, and 3 percent carried Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which can cause anaplasmosis. Babesiosis can results in flu-like symptoms or anemia, since it infects the red blood cells, but it may also cause no symptoms at all. Anaplasmosis symptoms vary, but it can be a serious illness that requires hospitalization.

The 2014 testing also showed that 38 percent of Lincoln ticks carried Borrelia myamotoi. Patients with this newly emerging disease (first reported in the Northeast in 2013) can have symptoms similar to those of Lyme disease (fever, headache and muscle aches) but do not have a bull’s-eye rash. Anaplasmosis likewise does not cause a rash, but patients with this disease may have a rash anyway because they are also infected with Lyme disease at the same time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here are data on the four most common tick-borne bacteria gathered by the Tick-Borne Disease Network over the period from 2006-2014:

Time period: 2006-2014 B. burgdorferi A. phagocytophilum B. microti B. myamoti
Massachusetts 29.9% 4.5% 4.4% 3.3%
Lincoln 39.5% 6.9% 6.9% 10.7%

Tick-borne diseases are estimated to be underreported by a factor of 10 due to lack of good surveillance methods because persons with symptoms of a tick-borne disease are usually prescribed medication before they actually test positive for the infection, according to the Bedford Citizen article.

Although the state grant for free tick testing has expired, Massachusetts residents may still send any species of tick for testing at a cost of $50 apiece to the Tick Borne Disease Network.

Obituaries – 7/18/15

Joanna Crawford, 89 (died July 1) – instrumental in social justice work with the Martin Luther King Action Project at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. “How many Habitat trips, Food Bank expeditions, homeless shelter dinners, alternative service vacations did she make possible? Innumerable. She believed in service and in an education that took us out of our ‘comfort zones.’ She paid her rent to the planet,” former L-S history teacher Bill Schechter wrote in a Facebook post on the day of her death.

Robert Sutherland

Robert Sutherland

Ann Janes

Ann Janes

Robert Sutherland, 80 (died June 26) – won the Lincoln Council on Aging’s Man of the Year Award in 2013.

Ann Janes, 85 (died June 13) – author of historical works, longtime member of St. Joseph’s Church and Lincoln Public Library volunteer.

Marian Cook, 88 (died December 3, 2014) – mother of Peter, John and Catherine Cook.

Letter to the editor: be on the lookout for the Lindentree robin

letter

To the editor:

At the end of one of the June rains, I found a very “dead” little juvenile robin in our storm drain—except that he wasn’t, as I discovered when fishing him out. I dried him off, scraped off the unseemly gob of blood and something smooshing together the toes on his right foot, and took care of him. He willingly survived and became a personality at the farm for adults and children alike as they fed him worms, stepping around him as he hopped on the ground doing robin-like things. He was named Albert.

On the night of July 3, several days into his adolescent freedom stage, he disappeared, and we hoped he wasn’t part of someone else’s meal. However, I received a call from our neighbors several days later describing the visit of a robin who landed on their guest’s head, causing consternation and entertainment as he stayed for awhile. And then he moved on—so we are hoping that he’s appeared elsewhere in Lincoln.

Albert’s habits may change as he grows older and more birdlike; however, he is prone to landing on heads and shoulders and seemed to be comfortable with people.  If he visits you, we all here at Lindentree Farm would love to know where he has been—sort of tracking him. He has deformed toes on one foot and slightly bent ones on the other where one of them has healed up. Please drop us a line at lindentreecsa@gmail.com if you should happen to see him. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Moira Donnell (co-owner, Lindentree Farm)
10 Old Concord Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.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.

News acorns – 7/13/15

peckSpecial screening Tuesday of “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Join us on Tuesday, July 14 at 2:30 p.m in the Lincoln Public Library’s Tarbell Room for a special showing of the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning role. July 14 is also the release date for Harper Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman (actually written before To Kill A Mockingbird) where we’re introduced to Scout Finch as a young woman. The library has ordered copies in various formats. We know there’s a waiting list for the book, and we will be adding more copies as demand dictates.

First Parish hosts Tibetan-themed events
The First Parish Church will host two public events in Lincoln:
  • Geshe Dondup Tsering, a renowned Tibetan monk and Doctor of Buddhist Philosophy who teaches Jhamtse groups, will give a talk on Sunday, July 26 at 10 a.m. at the church. The topic is “Living with Compassion in a Difficult World.” The presentation will include an introduction to meditation and a short meditation session.
  • On Monday, July 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall, there will be a screening of the award-winning documentary Tashi and the Monk (click here to view trailer). This 40-minute film features a Tibetan monk’s journey to rescue orphaned and neglected children and the transformation of a troubled young girl who joins the Gatsai community he founded. The film tells a universal story of how the power of love and compassion gives rise to healing.Geshe Dondup Tsering will be available for questions following the film. A link to the film’s trailer.

 

Wesley Towne Frost, 1926–2015

Wes in the Quetico wes2(Editor’s note: The Lincoln Squirrel usually posts links to obituaries on other websites when available, but this was written expressly for the Squirrel by the widow and son of Mr. Frost.)

Longtime Lincoln resident Wesley Towne Frost died June 1, 2015 at Emerson Hospital in Concord at the age of 89 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Wes was born on March 4, 1926 in Norwich, Conn., and spent most of his childhood in Putnam, Conn. As a young man, he trapped coyotes and panned for gold in Alaska. Later, he logged in Vermont with cross-cut saws and chainsaws, riding stacks of logs out of the woods with a surfer’s balance while driving a team of work horses. He also took part in the back-to-the-land movement started by Scott and Helen Nearing in Jamaica, Vt. (Helen Nearing later wrote Living the Good Life about the community they founded in Jamaica.) Eventually, Wes bought 100 acres of land there.

While blacksmithing candlesticks at the American Youth Hostel headquarters in Northfield, Mass., and biking around New England, Wes met October (Toby) Cullum, whom he later wed. They had two sons, and they stayed happily married for the next sixty years.

In the 1960s, Wes went back to school while supporting his young family by working in a metallurgy lab, earning a BSEd, an MAT in history, and a CAGS in adult education at Boston University. He also travelled to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and the Sudan on a summer Fulbright during this time. In 1964, he got a job as a teacher at the Pollard Junior High School in Needham, and the family moved to Lincoln. He taught there for 21 years, innovating programs in history, social studies, and anthropology.

Wes and Toby joined the Cambridge Friends Meeting (Quakers) during the early years in Lincoln. An organic gardener and nature lover, Wes became a founder of Lincoln’s recycling program. He was also active with the Democratic Town Committee and a member of librarian Jeanne Bracken’s “The Write Stuff” group for would-be writers.

Wes is survived by his wife, Toby (October Frost); his brother Quentin Frost (and wife Cecile); his sons Arlo Piers Frost (and wife Stephanie) and Rainer Lindon Cullum Frost (and wife Martha); and his grandchildren Brendan Whitney Frost, Riordan Piers Frost, Andrew Cullum Frost (and wife Jeanine, and their daughter, Wes’s great-granddaughter Arabella Dorthea Frost), Annette Shelden Frost, Katharine (Kate) Russell Frost, and Henry Dykema Frost.

A remembrance service celebrating Wes’s life will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 20 at the Pierce House at 17 Weston Road in Lincoln (click here for directions). Donations in Wes’s memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association and the Audubon Society.