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Groundhog Day festivities with Ms. G, Mish Michaels

January 20, 2013

Drumlin Farm's resident groundhog, Ms. G.

Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog, Ms. G.

Will we have six more weeks of winter or an early spring? Join us as Ms. G, Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog, gives her forecast for the rest of the winter at Drumlin Farm’s Groundhog Day celebration on Saturday, February 2 from 10 a.m. to 4  p.m. Activities include:

  • Get the up-to-the-minute woodchuck weather forecast from Ms. G at 10:00 as we kick off our celebration.
  • Warm up with a story and snacks by the fire. Make some winter crafts to take home.
  • Meet some more of our resident wildlife and learn about what’s going on in the nature of Massachusetts through the winter months.

In addition to all the fun, come meet one of New England’s favorite meteorologists, Mish Michaels, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, along with several area weather forecasters who will be on site to ring in the day.

Mish and students from Wellesley will soon be submitting a bill to the Massachusetts State Legislature to make Ms. G the official “Groundhog of the Commonwealth.” To encourage these students as they prepare to speak at a public hearing in support of this bill, sign the Ms. G petition and come join us to celebrate all things groundhog on February 2!

Category: agriculture and flora, kids, nature Leave a Comment

School project survey announced

January 18, 2013

By Alice Waugh

How do you really feel about the school building project? The Lincoln School District is surveying town voters to find out what they like and don’t like about the plan that was voted on in November—and what would garner more support for the project.

Registered voters may complete the survey online or fill out a paper version that will be mailed to all Lincoln households, though each voter is asked to fill out only one version. The completion deadline is February 1. Results will be used by the School Committee and School Building Committee (SBC) as they discuss the future of the project. It’s still unclear to what extent the approved plan can be changed while still qualifying for $21 million in state funding, but the town has until February 28 to tell the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) how it plans to proceed.

The survey asks voters what they think are the top three problems and/or benefits of the project. The problems offered on the survey are:

  • Not clear that the existing building has significant structural, systems, and/or educational needs
  • The site design (parking, roads, fields) of proposed project was worse than the existing site
  • The layout of proposed building was worse than the existing building
  • The proposed project tore down the Smith Gym and classrooms built in 1994
  • Not sure the project provided value for Lincoln’s portion of the cost ($29 million)
  • The project would have raised Lincoln’s taxes too much
  • Lincoln needs other non-school community facilities

The survey also asks residents if they agree, disagree, or aren’t sure about these statements:

  • The Lincoln School building has significant systems and repair needs
  • Having a kitchen and cafeteria would benefit the entire Lincoln community
  • If asked again, I would vote for the MSBA-approved project as presented at Town Meeting
  • I would vote for the MSBA-approved project if changes were made to the site design (e.g., parking was less visible; more of center field is preserved; more trees saved)
  • I would vote to spend $29 million on a project that keeps the current (“L-shaped”) layout of the building
  • I would vote to spend MORE than $29 million IF the project keeps the current (“L-shaped”) layout of the building
  • It is acceptable to have students in temporary trailers during construction
  • The school should do minimal repairs as needed and avoid code compliance triggers as long as possible
  • The building should be handicap accessible and brought up to present-day fire & safety codes
  • The Lincoln portion of the MSBA-approved project ($29 million) increased taxes too much

Future meetings

The SBC also announced a change in location for one of the upcoming meetings about the school project. The January 22 meeting to plan the two community charrettes will be held in the Hartwell multipurpose room rather than Reed Gym at 7:30 p.m. Residents are invited to attend one of the two identical charrettes:

    • Sunday, January 27:  1-4 p.m., Hartwell multipurpose room
    • Thursday, January 31:  7-10 p.m., Reed Gym

On Wednesday, February 6, the SBC will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Reed Gym to plan its response to the MSBA, which told town officials in a December 14 letter that the project could retain the promised $21 million in state funding only if the school district “determines as a result of its community outreach that the same project as proposed and approved by the MSBA is the preferred direction.”

Category: government, news, school project*, schools Leave a Comment

Little blue bug keeps pace with its Lincoln owners over the decades

January 17, 2013

Larry and Nancy Zuelke with their Volkswagen Beetle at last summer's antique car show in Lincoln. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

Larry and Nancy Zuelke with their Volkswagen Beetle at last summer’s antique car show at the Codman Estate in Lincoln. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

By Brett Wittenberg

In 1957, Chicago newlyweds Lawrence and Nancy Zuelke headed to Boston so Larry could pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard. The couple packed up their brand-new baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle with all their possessions, including a chair lashed to the roof. The Beetle, a wedding present for themselves, cost around $1,500, about the same price as a motorcycle—“pretty affordable,” said Nancy.

In the year just ended, Larry and Nancy celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary—and their Beetle’s 55th birthday. Two hundred thousand miles, more than three dozen services, and one massive restoration later, neither the Beetle nor the marriage seem any the worse for wear.

When they bought it in 1957, the car had been available in the U.S. for around a decade, but the Zuelkes’ model had a host of modern improvements: tubeless tires, a new radio, side-view mirrors as standard equipment, and turn signals that turned off automatically. Truly, there had never been a better time to be VW Beetle owner.

After giving 22 years of service, the Beetle was very much in need of an overhaul. Lawrence decided against the typical route of bringing the car to a mechanic, perhaps because he knew what he might be told. Instead, he brought the car to the automotive workshop at Minuteman High School in Lexington, which at that time allowed locals to bring in their cars and use Minuteman’s tools and equipment to perform their own repairs.

Over the next three years, Larry lovingly refurbished that sentimental wedding car. The baby-blue Beetle—now a true classic—was restored in time to present it to Nancy on their silver anniversary in 1982. “It was so good to see it like new again,” Nancy recalled.

Although originally from the Midwest, Larry and Nancy are now Lincolnites through and through. The pair made Lincoln their home in 1961 and raised three children here. Larry put his master’s degree to good use by becoming a landscape architect. Nancy served as Lincoln town clerk for 23 years, helping to ensure that her adopted hometown ran as smoothly as it could.

Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the Zuelkes’ Beetle will have to wait until next year’s antique auto show at the Codman Estate, where they appeared in summer 2012. Lawrence brings the beetle to Lincoln’s classic car show so others can reminisce about a simpler time, or at least enjoy the classic styling of a car whose features are basic by current standards, but which is more striking and beautiful today than it was in 1957.

Brett Wittenberg is a resident of Lexington, Mass.

Category: features Leave a Comment

How do you make a blog?

January 16, 2013

Blogs are a great way to share your news, thoughts, ideas, writings, photos, artwork, and more—and blogging is easier than you might think. The Lincoln Council on Aging invites you this Friday to come hear Alice Waugh, editor/reporter/publisher of the Lincoln Squirrel, explain how you can easily start your own blog for free—whether it’s just a page of text or featuring pictures, videos and links. Even if you’re not sure whether blogging is for you, come on down and see what it’s all about!

When: Friday, January 16 at 10:00 a.m.

Where: Bemis Hall

Category: features, seniors Leave a Comment

Residents ask for more financial, community use considerations in school project

January 15, 2013

By Alice Waugh

Heeding the School Building Committee’s call for more public input on what the school building project should look like, dozens attended a January 9 SBC workshop and asked for a building that considered the needs of the broader community and was closely connected to its surrounding natural environment.

The workshop’s goal was to reexamine the guiding principles and evaluation criteria that were used in developing the school project. Residents broke into groups and contributed ideas that were then written on poster paper hung on the walls of Reed Gym.

The SBC will decide on a final consolidated set of criteria at its January 22 meeting.

[Read more…] about Residents ask for more financial, community use considerations in school project

Category: government, news, school project*, schools Leave a Comment

School, LEAP beefing up security

January 14, 2013

The Lincoln After-school Extended-day Program (LEAP) has begun keepings its door locked at times, and this week the Lincoln Schools will announce measures to increase security in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

When the children are indoors doing homework or other activities, LEAP visitors must now ring a doorbell and be admitted by a staff member. The door will not be locked when children are playing outside under staff supervision, said Susan Callum, program administrator at LEAP, adding that the locked-door policy was put in place after discussions with the Lincoln Police Department.

It’s a minor inconvenience to ring the bell and wait at the door rather than walk right in as before, “I think the parents understand,” Callum said, adding that eventually she hopes to replace the doorbell with a keypad system.

Many other Boston-area school districts have increased their security measures since the tragedy in Newton, Conn., when a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children and six staff members on December 14, 2012.

Lincoln School District officials and staff have also been meeting with Lincoln police to review security procedures at the Lincoln and Hanscom schools, Superintendent Becky McFall said on Friday. At the Lincoln School, all teachers must wear a visible plastic badge. Visitors are required to sign in at the office and wear a paper name badge, though this policy is not always strictly enforced.

Each teacher has a quick-reference “flip book” crisis manual of procedures to follow in the event of a school evacuation, lockdown, bomb threat, suspicious package or other potential danger, McFall said. There will be an afternoon of additional training for teachers and staff as well as more frequent lockdown drills while school is in session, she added.

The School Committee discussed the issue in executive session at its January 19 meeting, McFall said. She plans to send a letter to parents this week outlining what security measures are already in place, as well as any new steps to tighten security, McFall said.

Category: kids, news, schools Leave a Comment

Déjà vu?

January 11, 2013

From the editor:

I had an oddly sad feeling when I picked up my Lincoln Journal yesterday and saw that the only “pure Lincoln” story was a piece about the transfer station swap table that I wrote back in July 2012. This was a “tryout” story the editor had assigned me to see if I could be a freelancer for the paper, though it was never published and I more or less forgot about it. Obviously they still had it, and they apparently ran it  at a time when this was their only available Lincoln story. (As an aside, I did end up writing several stories for the Lincoln Journal; they’re reposted chronologically here in the Lincoln Squirrel starting in October 2012.)

This is not a snarky attack on the Journal, which is in the same fix as thousands of other newspapers bedeviled by free Internet sites for news and advertising, as well as rising printing and distribution costs. Having worked for several small newspapers myself, I truly sympathize with what’s left of their staff in the wake of acquisitions and cutbacks. Sadly, this just shows that the product eventually suffers when you cut too much. The news business is still looking for a new business model that works for them and for readers, but trying to maintain the status quo isn’t working, though I have no knowledge about the situation at Lincoln Journal other than the fact that for some time now, they have not had a full-time editor or writer, but have had to share those resources with sister newspapers in the area.

I started the Lincoln Squirrel because I like doing local journalism and I thought Lincoln could use some additional coverage. I view myself as fortunate that I don’t depend on income from a newspaper or a website to pay my bills, and I feel downcast for the newspaper employees who are doing the best they can with insufficient resources and the readers who aren’t getting the coverage they need.

Any far-reaching suggestions on how to fix the news problem? Your comments are welcome. Meanwhile, here’s some more background and food for thought:

  • Staff and readers suffer in the local newspaper squeeze
  • Can local newspapers collaborate with blogs?
  • Are dying newspapers too big to fail? Can online start-ups stop the gap?

Category: news 1 Comment

Crucial meetings on school project begin Wednesday

January 7, 2013

The School Building Committee this week kicks off a series of meetings to ratchet up communication between residents and the SBC about what the school project should look like—or whether it should go forward under the current scenario at all.

The SBC is trying to regroup after the project failed to garner a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting on November 3. Members are treading a fine line, trying to learn what changes in the project will garner enough resident support while also knowing that if the town comes back with a “different project” than what the Massachusetts School Building Authority previously approved, a promised $21 million MSBA grant is off the table and the town must start the process from the start. Still to be determined is the extent of resident-supported tweaks to the plan, if any, that the MSBA will accept without considering the project to be “different.”

The town has until February 28 to inform the MSBA of how it wants to proceed.

The SBC will host a “Guiding Principles and Evaluation Criteria Workshop” on Wednesday, January 9 from 7-10 p.m. in Reed Gym. “Two years ago, the SBC reached out to the community to develop a set of guiding principles and criteria that were used to develop the school building project. Are they still the right criteria? Are there others that should be added? We need as many people as possible to participate in the upcoming series of meetings. The workshop on January 9th is an opportunity to review the educational and other criteria that were used to develop the school building project,” the SBC said an email to Lincoln School parents and others.

The SBC email also included these details about the meetings:

Wednesday, January 9
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND EVALUATION CRITERIA WORKSHOP

Wednesday, January 16
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
CONSIDERING SITE AND DESIGN CONCERNS AND IDEAS
The SBC is soliciting site and design ideas from the public. If members of the community have ideas that require presentation time, please contact the School Committee at schoolcomm@lincnet.org by January 11 (date extended). There will also be an opportunity for the public to generate ideas and to discuss ideas that have been raised.

Tuesday, January 22
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
PLAN FOR COMMUNITY CHARRETTES
Using the guiding principles and evaluation criteria from the January 9 meeting, evaluate several scenarios. To reach as many citizens as possible, the same event will be offered at two different times.

Community charrettes—two identical sessions to evaluate several scenarios:

  • Sunday, January 27
    1-4 p.m., Reed Gym
  • Thursday, January 31
    7-10 p.m., Reed Gym

Information from the two events will be compiled by the SBC in order to determine its response to the MSBA.

Wednesday, February 6
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
PLANNING THE RESPONSE TO THE MSBA

Category: government, news, school project*, schools Leave a Comment

Lincoln welcomes the new year at First Day

January 5, 2013

Lincolnites had a great time socializing and enjoying the music of Weston’s Ancient Mariners at the annual First Day celebration hosted by the Pierce House Committee on the afternoon of January 1, 2013. Harold McAleer took photos and created this slide show on YouTube — see how many people you can recognize…

Here’s a video of the band doing “Flat Foot“…

Harold also stepped up to the mike to sing “Million-Dollar Baby” and “It Had to Be You.” Go to his YouTube channel to browse his full collection.

Category: arts, features, seniors Leave a Comment

Happy new year!

January 3, 2013

Happy 2013 from the Lincoln Squirrel! I hope everyone behaved themselves on New Year’s Eve, unlike my friend here…

 

Do you have some random squirrelly video, picture or text you’d like to submit? I’ll post stuff like this from time to time, and you can find them in the “just for fun” category. Shoot me an email at lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. And don’t forget to “like” the Squirrel on Facebook to get updates in your Facebook news stream:

https://www.facebook.com/LincolnSquirrel

Category: news Leave a Comment

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