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

Letter to the editor: Vote in primary on Sept. 9

letter

To the editor:

Yes, primary elections do matter, and the September 9 election in particular will determine leadership in the major statewide offices for several years to come. On September 9, voters will decide which of the candidates will move forward to the General Election on November 4.

For many months, the candidates and their supporters have been working hard all across the Commonwealth to become known to voters and to win votes. They have tried to define positions on the important issues that face the Commonwealth, and to listen to voters. One source of information about the candidates are the video records of candidate forums held earlier this year as sponsored and organized by the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee. These forums featured all candidates for the four major statewide office races including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state treasurer. You can watch videos of these forums on the Lincoln Cable TV website. Under the “All Folders” tab, select “Political.” Further information about most candidates can be found on the Politics1 website at www.politics1.com/ma.htm.

In addition to the four major statewide offices, Democratic candidates for regional races are:

  • State Senate, 3rd Middlesex district — Mike Barrett
  • State Representative, 9th Middlesex district — Tom Stanley
  • Middlesex District Attorney — Marian Ryan and Michael Sullivan

September 9 will be here before we know it. It’s up to us to fulfill the promise of democracy, to become informed, and to VOTE on September 9.

Sincerely,

Gary Davis, Lincoln Democratic Town Committee
20R Indian Camp Lane

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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

News acorns

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Free pops concert with Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra on Saturday

The Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra (LSCO) will open its 2014-15 season with a free pops concert as a part of the Sudbury375 Field Day Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. LSCO Executive Director Sudbury resident William Nicholson will conduct the LSCO, which includes regular members from Sudbury, Lincoln, Concord, Waltham, Lexington, Hudson, Andover, and Stow. This concert will also include musicians from the Concord Orchestra, Wellesley Symphony, Rivers Symphony Orchestra (Weston), Symphony Pro Musica (Hudson), and the Boston Philharmonic.

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A note to readers

Dear Lincoln Squirrel readers,

Due to a death in the family (John S. Waugh, 1929-2014), the Squirrel will not be posting for a period of time, but it will return. Thanks for all your good wishes.

Alice Waugh
Editor, The Lincoln Squirrel

 

 

News acorns

acornVoter registration deadline is Aug. 20

The Massachusetts Democratic and Republican parties will choose their nominees for statewide office in the primary election on Tuesday, September 9. Polls will be open at the Smith School gym from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Massachusetts law permits unenrolled (also known as “Independent”) voters to vote either party’s ballot. The deadline to register to vote or to change your party enrollment is Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Primary election absentee ballots now available

Absentee ballots for the September 9 state primary are available now. A written request is required before receiving the ballot. The ballot may be voted at the Town Clerk’s office or the applicant may request that a ballot be mailed. Massachusetts law does not permit persons to pick up ballots for another person, although it does permit certain family members to initiate a request on behalf of another member. For further information, please call the Town Clerk’s office at 781-259-2607.

Boards looking for new members

The Lincoln Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is seeking new members for open seats on the board. The ZBA is a land use board that interprets and applies the town’s zoning bylaw. It acts on a case-by-case basis on requests for variances, special permits and appeals of decisions by the building inspector, considering the impact on the town and neighborhoods and the requirements of the bylaw. The board, which generally meets one evening a month, has five regular members and three associate members. Click here to download an application or call the Selectmen’s Office at 781-259-2601.

The Lincoln Board of Health is also seeking a new member to fill out the three-year term for a member who has retired. Anyone interested should call Elaine Carroll at 781-259-2614 for further information.

Codman arts and crafts festival coming up

The 32nd annual Codman Fine Arts and Crafts Festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Codman Estate. The event features the work of more than 100 local artisans and features items including wooden furniture and toys, pottery, photography, jewelry, glass, knitted sweaters and throws, children’s clothing, metalware, and folk carvings. Enjoy live music, a food court and first-floor tours of the Codman house. Free to Historic New England members and children under 12; $5 for nonmembers. Purchase tickets online or call 617-994-5900 ext. 5514 for additional information.

Weston Road trees aren’t the only ones getting hit

A closeup of a Farrar Pond pine tree shattered by lightning. Photo couresty Farrar Pond Association.

A closeup of a Farrar Pond pine tree shattered by lightning (click to enlarge). Photo courtesy Farrarpond.org.

In response to the July 30 Lincoln Squirrel article about trees on Weston Road that have been hit by lightning recently, Lincoln resident Alaric Naiman noted that Farrarpond.org’s blog contains some excellent photos of another tall tree that was struck in 2012 and eventually toppled into the street. The tongue-in-cheek title of the September 2012 blog post was “Weeding by Thor.”

School Committee asks House to pass bill on mandates

schoolThe Lincoln School Committee has sent a letter to the state legislature’s Ways and Means Committee in support of a bill that would create a task force to examine the ever-increasing array of statewide educational mandates that Massachusetts school districts are required to follow.

“The issue is not with a specific mandate—it’s that there have been so many coming down at once,” said committee chair Jennifer Glass. “Many have very good aims, but having to do them all at once means it’s difficult to do everything well and with the energy each initiative deserves. Also, over the years mandates get added, but none get taken away. This bill is designed to take a look at them all and analyze what’s redundant or meaningless or even contradictory.”

The letter from the School Committee is reprinted below.

An open letter to the members of the Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means:

On July 23, 2014, the Lincoln School Committee voted to join MASS [the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents], MASC [the Massachusetts Association of School Committees] and MASBO [the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials] in voicing its strong support for Bill H.3722. H.3722 is a bill establishing an education mandate task force designed to examine and make sense of the extraordinary number of mandates school districts are required to adhere to each year. In addition to passing the bill, the School Committee urges the appointment of active school employees (district and building administrators and classroom teachers) to such a task force.

As a committee, we fully appreciate the excellent intentions of many of the mandates, and support those that focus on ensuring all students are in high-quality learning environments. However, there are well over 100 mandated regulations and administrative reporting requirements that currently overwhelm school staff, divert necessary resources, and distract attention from our schools’ primary mission: preparing students to succeed in a rapidly changing, highly competitive global economy. This work is difficult to manage for all districts, and even more onerous for small districts, such as ours, that operate with a small team of administrators and support personnel.

On top of the current requirements, right now there are more than 20 education-related bills before the House Ways and Means Committee. All but one of them, H.3722, advocate imposing additional regulations. Unless there is a task force to holistically examine education regulations, districts will be placed in the unfortunate position of treating these regulations as mere compliance exercises, negating any positive impact they were intended to have.

As outlined in the bill, H.3722 proposes establishing an eleven-member task force that, over the course of a year, would inventory all existing regulations and then recommend measures to streamline, consolidate, or eliminate specific mandates and/or reporting requirements that are outdated, duplicative, or inconsistent with current laws, regulations and practices.

We would deeply appreciate your efforts to champion H.3722 and bring it to a vote. Thank you for your continued support of all the students and educators of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Sincerely,

The Lincoln School Committee:

Jennifer Glass, chair
Tom Sander, vice chair
Preditta Cedeno, METCO representative
Tim Christenfeld, member
Al Schmertzler, member
Jena Salon, member

Group to host agricultural fair in Lincoln

The Lincoln Agricultural Commission is organizing the first-ever Lincoln Agricultural Day on Saturday, Sept. 20 and invites residents to “show and tell” as well as visit. The event is designed to be a showcase for the diverse range of agricultural endeavors ongoing in Lincoln today, from fruits and vegetables to alpaca wool and herbalism. In addition to local vendors, there will be informative displays on pollinators, soil and other farm-related items.

The event takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. alongside the Farmer’s Market in the parking lot in front of the Lincoln Mall. If you’re interested in selling produce or have a farm-related skill or expertise you’d like to share at the event, please email lynne@stonegategardens.com to secure your space and become part of the celebration. There are no fees for vendors and participants.

Lincoln Police warn citizens of phone scams

police logoThe following is a notice from Lt. Sean Kennedy of the Lincoln Police Department.

We would like to notify the community that we have received numerous citizen complaints over the past few months of several different telephone scams. These citizen complaints are not unique to Lincoln, as neighboring communities are fielding similar complaints. Several of these scams are specifically targeting the elderly community. Some of the scams that we and neighboring police departments have learned about include:

  1. A person calls reporting that they’re calling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and are demanding that money for back taxes be paid immediately by wire transferring money from their bank account. In some cases the scammers are telling citizens that they have warrants out for their arrest and the money needs to be paid or they’re going to be arrested. The scammers are using “spoofed” phone numbers which allows them to use a computer program in which they can select a specific phone number. The scammer usually chooses a local number which appears on the citizen’s caller ID. The citizen assumes it’s a local number and it’s a legitimate phone call. In one case the scam caller spoofed a local government phone number.
  1. A person calls reporting that they’re calling from out of the country and their grandchild has been arrested and is sitting in a foreign jail, or they’ve been involved in a motor vehicle crash. In order to get out of jail or out of the country, they need money wire transferred or cash needs to be sent immediately via overnight mail to a specific address.

It’s important to know that the IRS and other government entities will never call citizens directly demanding money. They will send their correspondence through the mail. The most important thing to remember is: DO NOT provide any personal information to anyone over the phone such as your Social Security number, bank account number, credit card number or date of birth.

If you’re offered a “deal” over the phone or through the mail that seems too good to be true, it is. All these deals require the citizen to provide personal information. If you have provided your personal information, immediately notify the bank or the credit card company. You also want to do a credit check of your personal information using one of the credit monitoring companies (Equifax, TransUnion or Experian). It’s also a good idea to put a fraud alert on your credit.

Please call the Lincoln Police Department and report any suspicious calls of this nature.