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

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Covid-19 regional vaccine clinic

There will be a Covid-19 vaccination clinic sponsored by the Town of Lincoln/Great Meadows Regional Public Health Collaborative on Friday, Nov. 18 from 4–7 p.m. in the Brooks gym at the Lincoln School. Primary and booster doses for those 6 months and older will be offered. According to the CDC, everyone 5 years and older should get an updated booster if they have completed their primary series, and if it has been at least two months since their final primary dose or last booster. Register online by clicking here. For assistance, call 978-793-5663 or email duffL@sudbury.ma.us.

Mystery-comedy: “The Alibis”

When eccentric billionaire J. Leslie Arlington is murdered, a clueless detective finds the suspects are all reluctant to admit their alibis… because they were all committing other ridiculous crimes at the time. Written by different playwrights, “The Alibis” features seven characters each telling the story of their absurd alibi in ten-minute plays. “The Alibis” will be performed by middle-school students at the Lincoln School on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. in the Donaldson Auditorium. With a cast of 22 and a crew of 21, more than a quarter of the students in grades 6-8 are involved in the show.

Tickets ($10 for adults, $5 for students/seniors/Lincoln Public Schools employees) will be sold at the door starting 30 minutes before showtime. Cash or check only. Production budgets are entirely funded by ticket proceeds.

Talk on Columbus and Thanksgiving by Claudia Fox Tree 

Claudia Fox Tree

Missing information, inaccurate stories, and stereotypes perpetuate myths about Columbus and Thanksgiving. Lincoln School teacher and social justice activist Claudia Fox Tree, a Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness board member, will give a talk on “Settler-Colonist Ties to Thanksgiving & Columbus: Taking Back the Narrative” on Monday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. She will explore this colonial system through primary sources and examine how language perpetuates invisibility and how we can dismantle oppression to bring accurate counter-narratives to life.

Fox Tree has also taught professional development and social justice courses at the college level for Initiatives for Developing Equity and Achievement for all Students (IDEAS) and presented about decolonizing anti-racism initiatives at national and local conferences. She is currently a doctoral student at Lesley University. Click here to register for the Zoom link. Sponsored by Belmont Against Racism and the public libraries of Belmont, Brookline, Chelmsford, Lincoln, Maynard, Natick, Norwood, Stow, Watertown, Wayland, Wellesley, and Weston.

Holiday Wreath Happy Hour at Codman Farm

Join a wreath-making class in Codman Community Farms greenhouse on Saturday, Nov. 26 from 2–4 p.m. Using fresh evergreen branches, Codman grown dried flowers, seed pods, fruits, and foraged elements, you’ll learn how to design and make an all-natural wreath to decorate your home for the holidays. All course materials and tools provided, plus some delicious treats from our farm and local vendors. Bring a beverage of your choice. Cost: $95; click here to register. Masks optional. Questions? Email jess@codmanfarm.org.

Librarians offer kids’ book gift ideas

Do you need holiday gift book suggestions for the young readers in your life? Join the Lincoln Public Library children’s librarians on Thursday, Dec. 1 at noon as they review their favorite new books of the year as well as some perennial favorites. The event is open to all adults (feel free to share with grandparents and relatives near and far). Email dleopold@minlib.net for the Zoom link.

Program on biodiversity and climate change

The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust will host a virtual program on backyard biodiversity, climate change, and solutions to a looming ecological crisis on Thursday, Dec. 8 from 7­–8:30 p.m. Headlines about global insect declines, the impending extinction of one million species worldwide, and three billion fewer birds in North America are a bleak reality check about how ineffective our current landscape designs have been at protecting the plants and animals that sustain us. The night’s focus will be on how to create backyard biodiversity in Lincoln, connect habitats throughout town, and increase resilience against climate change. A Zoom link will be sent to all participants who register here.

Tallamy is a Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. His award-winning books include Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks.

Flashlight candy cane hunt

Grab your flashlight and search for hundreds of candy canes hidden around Pierce Park on Friday, Dec. 9 from 6–7 p.m. Participants will start off the event by decorating a candy cane bag while music and hot cocoa are available. Then we’ll get our flashlights and head into the park to hunt for candy canes. Keep your eye out because you may even find a special candy cane with a prize-winning ribbon! Bring your own flashlight. Free, but online preregistration with the Parks and Recreation Department is required.

Steve Hoffman

Hoffman tapped as CEO of Rova

Lincoln resident Steve Hoffman has been named CEO of Rova, an on-demand delivery platform that connects drivers to businesses. Hoffman was the initial chair of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission from 2017 to April 2022. He has also served as the CEO of two venture capital-backed technology companies, a Senior Vice President at CSC Index (Computer Science Corp.), and an Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Sapient.

Town counsel slaps down voter roll complaint made by Lincoln resident

The November 8 election in Lincoln went as smoothly as it usually does, though there was one complication beforehand — town officials had to deal with a formal complaint of suspected voter fraud lodged by Todd Pond Road resident Thomas Risser.

In his October 31 complaint, Risser alleged that there were 357 people who were “illegally or incorrectly registered to vote in Lincoln” and provided a list of names and addresses compiled by Stephen J. Stuart based on discrepancies between Lincoln’s voter list and the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address (NCOA) database. (Stuart is president of Stuart Research LLC, a Deland, Fla., company that lists as subsidiaries Stuart Research LLC, a direct mail and marketing company with no apparent website, and NCOA-easy.com, which updates lists of mailing addresses for a fee for organizations that send out bulk mail.) 

Just days before the Election Day, Town Clerk Valerie Fox scrambled to quickly respond as required by law, consulting with town counsel Lauren Goldberg and convening a meeting of Lincoln’s Board of Registrars of Voters. The three-person board voted unanimously on November 3 to deny, on Goldberg’s advice, Risser’s request to act on his complaint, saying it failed to meet the standard required under state law.

Reached by phone on November 10, Goldberg said that similar complaints were filed by residents in every city and town in the Massachusetts 5th Congressional district — an effort spearheaded by the campaign of Republican Caroline Colarusso, who was challenging incumbent Democrat Rep. Katherine Clark for the seat. Clark won by a margin of 75% to 25%.

A mailing address “may or may not relate to residency — it is not in itself evidence of residency. It doesn’t support the allegation… that’s really not the way election law works,” Goldberg said.

“It does not demonstrate that anybody has moved to another town or state, let alone [that they have] registered to vote somewhere else. All [Risser’s] got is mail is being sent somewhere else,” said Registrar Laura Glynn.

“It’s hard enough to get people to vote. For somebody who wanted to vote twice, it would certainly be a pretty intentional criminal act,” said Registrar Marget Flint.

As Fox explained at the board meeting and Goldberg later confirmed, there is a system in place to make sure people don’t vote twice, vote from a location where they don’t reside, or are mistakenly denied the opportunity to vote. The town sends a census form to every voter by mail once a year to ensure they still live at their Lincoln address. If they don’t return the form or a follow-up postcard two years in a row, or if they don’t vote in two consecutive federal elections, they are designated as inactive on the town’s voter rolls.

If someone moves and does not re-register to vote in another town, they are eligible to vote at their former address’s location for six months. If they do re-register, the new city or town immediately alerts the former town to remove them from their records.

Slightly more than half the names on the list in Risser’s complaint were associated with addresses on Hanscom Air Force Base, where the population shifts frequently as military postings change. 

Providing just a long list of names of people who may or may not be incorrectly registered is also not legally appropriate, Goldberg said. “The data from the NCOA is really evidence of nothing and is not personal to the individual. You can’t complain about 10 people [collectively] or even five. To require someone to come in [for a hearing], there has to be information about an individual, not several hundred or thousand. They have to provide information that a reasonable person would say ‘Hey, there’s enough here that merits looking into something.’”

As a last resort, someone who believes an individual is voting illegally may challenge that person at the polls (or by correspondence if the person voted early or by mail). In that case, both the voter and challenger would have to sign sworn statements and the vote would still be counted, albeit provisionally.

“No one showed up at the polls and challenged any of those voters in any of those towns, and that speaks volumes,” Goldberg said.

“The allegation [Risser] is making is very serious under the election laws… it’s a big deal,” she continued. If a registrar decides that someone may in fact be illegally registered to vote in their town, they are required to have that person served a subpoena served by a sheriff or process server, and both the recipient and the complainant must appear at a hearing before the board with legal counsel, documentation and possibly witnesses, according to state law. “We are relying on the voter under the penalty of perjury. If they illegally vote, that is a crime.”

Fraud opportunities are rampant, Risser says

In a conversation with the Lincoln Squirrel on November 9, Risser said he was not aware that the Board of Registrars had rejected his complaint. The affidavit text “was written by an attorney, and I assumed they were competent in the law and would have met legal standards.”

Risser and his wife Edie (who he said was heavily involved in the regional effort to file voter roll complaints) organized the infamous “voter integrity” event in Bemis Hall last May. The main speaker was Seth Keshel, one of several ex-military men and election deniers who toured the country pushing baseless conspiracy claims.

What was Risser’s motivation in filing the complaint? “Nobody really looks at [voting procedures], and if they did, they would be aghast at the opportunities for fraud,” he said. “No one is doing their duty in terms of the registrars… the law of the land is being systematically violated.”

Asked if he thought any current or former Lincoln residents were being intentionally deceptive about their voting status, he acknowledged, “In our little town, it’s very unlikely because people know each other so well. I’m not worried about throwing off elections in Lincoln; I’m worried about larger cities where people don’t know each other.”

Risser — a U.S. Navy veteran and a cardiologist with the Cambridge Health Alliance — said his operating principle in this case was “think globally, act locally. If it can happen here where we’re supposed to be educated people with a citizenry concerned about government, it can happen anywhere. This is one tiny little step to get every town” to make sure its voting records are correct, he said. 

Asked if he thought the 2020 Presidential election results were valid, Risser said, “I don’t know and I don’t think anyone else knows.” The bigger problem is the vulnerability of voting machines, he claimed. Lincoln uses paper ballots that are electronically scanned. “I’m sure the scanner reads correctly — what it does with the data is another issue. It depends who programmed the bloody thing,: he said. “These machines are incredibly dangerous. You can reprogram so the results read 51 to 49 [percent] or whatever you want them to read. The Chinese know my childhood girlfriend’s first name. Everyone’s getting hacked everywhere. We’re vastly too trusting of a system that’s rather easy for cyber-smart people to overwhelm.”

Risser went on to condemn the supposed ability to vote without being a U.S. citizen (“I’d say we are the laughingstock of the world in that regard,” he said), being able to vote in some cases without being asked to show a legal ID, or people receiving a ballot in the mail without having requesting one. 

What about the dozens of lawsuits alleging voter fraud that were filed and dismissed after the 2020 election? “Most of those were thrown out based on the formality of standing” to sue, Risser said. However, “it’s true that nothing has been proven conclusively, and that’s gratifying.”

As for former President Donald Trump — the source of much of the current suspicion about voting — “I don’t trust Trump. I think he’s proven himself to be such a narcissist that I’d have to question his motives. He’s a terrible example for our children… the issue is providing a country that our children deserve. We’re not Republicans or Democrats, we’re Americans.

“Whether [Risser and others] intended to make election day difficult or make people worried about going to the polls, it did that. Just the fact that you’re writing about it is evidence of that,” Goldberg said. “He should have given that personal evidence way ahead of time. It’s not possible to serve and have hundreds of hearings. It was very hard for the [town] clerks and completely unnecessary.”

Lincoln celebrates finished school project with ribbon-cutting gala

Officially cutting the ribbon are (left to right) Steve Banak, senior project manager at Consigli Construction; architect Jennifer Soucy of SMMA; K-4 Principal Sarah Collmer; Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall; John MacLachlan, School Committee chair; Keith Fallon, Executive Vice President of EwingCole Architects; and Select Board Chair Jennifer Glass. See more photos below.

Dozens of residents, school and town officials, and design and construction personnel gathered on October 28 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of the newly renovated Lincoln School.

Half of the renovated school has actually been in use since September 2021 but the other half welcomed students and staff at the start of this school year. But the ceremony was a celebration to celebrate the years of planning, meetings, and general hard work (not to mention money) that went into the project which broke ground in June 2020.

The event was just shy of 10 years since Lincolnites first voted on whether to fund a major school project (the first since the Smith and Brooks buildings were linked in 1994). Voters were asked on Nov. 3, 2012 to approve bonding $28 million, supplemented by a promised state grant of $21 million, to demolish the old buildings and replace them with a new, compact $49 million school. The measure passed at a packed Special Town Meeting by a margin of 370-321 (54% to 45%) — but it wasn’t enough, since a two-third majority was required. As a result, the town forfeited the state funding and eventually approved spending $93 million for a combination of major renovations and additions, retaining the L-shaped campus but also resulting in a cafeteria; upgraded and reconfigured learning spaces; improved lighting, air quality, and acoustics; a link to the Brooks gym; and a net-zero energy footprint, among other things. (For a full history, see the School Building Committee website or read some of the 130+ Lincoln Squirrel articles on the topic.)

Among the highlights of the day were displays of items found in time capsules during the demolition associated with the first phase of the project. The time capsules were concealed within an interior wall in the old “link” under a display case in the interior entrance to the old library, in the area which now serves as the book room off the Dining Commons, SBC vice chair Kim Bodnar said.

“We didn’t know in advance that they would be found in that location,” she said.We knew that there were time capsules, but we thought that they were in or under the bell tower off the library, so Consigli used extra care in demolishing the tower. We were all surprised when the time capsules were revealed later in the demolition.”

“I enjoyed reading students’ predictions, hopes, and dreams. Several predicted we would have a real cafeteria [smiley face],” said Select Board Chair Jennifer Glass.

Some of the time capsule items and accompanying explanatory notes written by the students:

  • A new #2 pencil with “DO YOU STILL USE ME?” written along the barrel in red ink
  • A crayon (“A crayon is kind of like a marker but it uses colored wax instead of ink”)
  • Some cards from Magic the Gathering (“It’s a kind of game that boys and girls in the third grade like to play… we trade and collect these cards”)
  • A postage stamp (“I wonder how many cents it is going to be in 25 years. Right now it is worth 32¢”) (Editor’s note: Actually it was worth only 4¢; these G stamps were “makeup” stamps issued in 1994 so people with 29¢ stamps could meet the new letter rate of 32¢. It’s safe to assume that most of today’s second-graders would be baffled by the concept of a postage stamp.)
  • A Pog disc
  • A plastic Lion King figurine
  • A cassette tape of the children’s song “Baby Beluga” by Raffi
  • A photo of a second-grader’s Brownie troop

As the ceremony was going on, students in their classrooms did their own ribbon-cutting for the cameras. Below are some of the dozens of photos from the occasion — click here to see the entire gallery assembled by the School Building Committee.

RC-crowd
RC3-ribbon
RC1-group
RC-capsules
RC-class3-Sajdera
RC-items2
RC-1st-Laughlin
RC-lawler-5th
RC-johnson-7th
RC-class2-sykes

Kalyana “K.T.” Manthappa, 1934-2022

Kalyana T. Mahanthappa ca. 1961.

Kalyana T. Mahanthappa, age 88, of Lincoln, formerly of Boulder, Colo., died peacefully on November 2, 2022. “K.T.,” as he was known to friends and colleagues, was a theoretical physicist and educator who loved travel, art, and classical music, and was a devoted husband and father.

Born in Tumkur, Karnataka (then the state of Mysore), India on May 1, 1934, K.T. grew up in several towns as his family moved in the state to follow his father, a high-ranking civil servant. Showing an early aptitude for math and science, he completed a B.Sc. with honors in Physics from Mysore Univ. (Bangalore) in 1954, followed by graduate studies at Delhi Univ. While working towards his M.Sc., somewhat on a whim, he thought to apply to graduate schools in the U.S. He completed one application, took it to the post office, and — stunned by the cost to mail it — decided to apply to only that one U.S. university. A few months later, he told his father he had been accepted to Harvard and insisted on going.

With M.Sc. in hand, he boarded a Norwegian freighter in Kozhikode (known then as Calicut) destined for New York with only a few passengers. He survived the voyage subsisting as a Hindu vegetarian on “stinky cheese” eaten at the captain’s table, squeaked through the Suez Canal just weeks before it closed due to the Second Arab-Israeli War, and finally arrived in Cambridge in 1956. K.T. was fortunate to have as his mentor and thesis advisor, the future Nobel laureate Julian Schwinger, and he was awarded a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics by Harvard University in 1961. 

His professional career thereafter focused on “grand unification theories, fermion mixings, and masses including charge fermions and neutrinos”, and his appointments spanned fellowships and faculty positions at UCLA, UPenn, the Inst. for Advanced Study (Princeton), and from 1966 onward, the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder, where he became full Professor in 1970 until retirement in 2014. In addition, were sabbatical fellowships at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste), Cambridge University, and Imperial College London. Among recognitions received, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1969.

Beyond his own research and teaching, for 25 years, K.T. took great pride in organizing, securing funding for, and leading the annual Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (“TASI”) in Boulder — an international gathering of scholars for lectures and workshops, a “rite of passage for most theoretical physicists in the US” as described by one of his former graduate students. Further to his academic legacy over 50 years, K.T. taught hundreds of undergraduates, trained, and mentored more than 20 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and published over 140 research papers in respected journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters.

Beyond a life in physics, K.T. loved travel. With his family, he enjoyed hiking in his beloved foothills of Boulder, exploring National Parks throughout the American West, and sought out art and culture during sabbatical years in Europe. His globe-trotting via research conferences and workshops took him to over 30 countries over the years before finally moving to Lincoln in 2015. Throughout, he remained close to his roots through philanthropic support of educational and community service institutions in Karnataka.

K.T. is survived by his wife of 61 years, Prameela; his three sons, Nagesh and his wife Valentine Talland of Cambridge, Rudresh and his wife Pooja Bakri of Montclair, N.J., and Mahesh and his wife Kara Burrow of Edina, Minn.; and four grandchildren, Tara Talland, Talin, Freya, and Asha. Donations in his memory may be made to the Boulder County Parks & Open Space Foundation or to the National Park Foundation.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later time; for additional information or to leave condolences, please visit his memorial page maintained by the Dee Funeral Home.

Lincoln votes strongly Democratic in 2022 midterms

Editor’s note: This story was updated on November 9 at 1:50 p.m.

In keeping with its longtime political leanings, Lincoln voted decisively in favor of Democratic candidates for statewide office and U.S. Representative in the 2022 midterms, according to unofficial results on the evening of November 8.

All four ballot questions passed in Lincoln. Statewide, Questions 1, 2, and 4 were approved while Question 3 was defeated.

For the first time in recent memory, residents in Lincoln’s two voting precincts had different choices for state representative. Due to redistricting after the 2020 census, the new Massachusetts state House maps split Lincoln between two districts along the town’s voting precinct line: the 13th Middlesex (Precinct 1, in the western part of town) and the 14th Norfolk (eastern Lincoln). District-wide, State Rep. Carmine Gentile (D) ran unopposed for reelection in the 13th Middlesex, while Alice Peisch (D) beat David Rolde (Green/Rainbow) in the 14th Norfolk by a margin of 89% to 11%. Tom Stanley, Lincoln’s longtime state representative, no longer represents any part of the town.

The precinct line within Lincoln did not change because the population distribution within town did not shift enough to warrant an adjustment. State Sen. Michael Barrett (who ran for reelection unopposed in the 9th Middlesex) ran uncontested for reelection and still represents Lincoln.

Precinct #1 Precinct #2Total% of votes
in race*
GOVERNOR /
LT. GOVERNOR
Healey & Driscoll (D)1,6749332,60781%
Diehl & Allen (R)31224055214%
Reed & Everett (L)2723502%
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Andrea Campbell (D)1,6659192,58480%
James McMahon (R)33026459419%
SECRETARY OF STATE
William Galvin (D)1,6629392,60181%
Rayla Campbell (R)27621348915%
Juan Sanchez (G/R)66361023%
TREASURER
Deborah Goldberg (D)1,6929352,62786%
Cristina Crawford (L)22918241114%
AUDITOR
Anthony Amore (R)42330773024%
Diana DiZoglio (D)1,3967602,15670%
Gloria Caballero-Roca (G/R)62431053%
Dominic Giannone (W)181028<1%
Daniel Riek (L)4222642%
REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
Katherine Clark (D)1,6619292,59082%
Caroline Colarusso (R)32124056118%
COUNCILLOR
Marilyn Devaney (D)1,5798962,47599%
STATE SENATOR
Michael Barrett (D)1666,9332,599100%
STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Precinct 1
Carmine Gentile (D)1,636—1,636100%
STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Precinct 2
Alice Peisch (D)—91991992%
David Rolde (G/R)—77778%
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Marian Ryan (D)1,6399242,563100%
SHERIFF
Peter Koutoujian (D)1,6439362,579100%
QUESTION #1
(millionaires' tax)
Yes1,1646421,80658%
No7975171,31442%
QUESTION #2
(dental insurance)
Yes1,5389012,43980%
No38123962020%
QUESTION #3
(alcohol sales)
Yes1,0455941,63955%
No8225131,33545%
QUESTION #4
(driver's license eligibility)
Yes1,5048482,35275%
No45931877725%

* Totals do not always add up to 100% because write-in and blank ballots are not included.

Police log for Oct. 30–Nov. 6, 2022

October 30

South Great Road (11:13 a.m.) — Caller reported a slight odor of natural gas outside. The Fire Department responded and confirmed. National Grid was notified.

Lewis Street (1:43 p.m.) — Party came to the station regarding a civil matter. An officer spoke to the party and advised them to seek their remedy at civil court.

South Great Road (3:13 p.m.) — Two-car crash near Mt. Misery. Police and Fire Departments responded; no injuries, one vehicle was towed.

October 31

Airport Road (1:31 a.m.) — Hanscom Security Forces reported that a vehicle crashed into the gates and left the scene. Officers responded; the operator was summonsed for leaving the scene of a crash, negligent operation, and speeding.

Hanscom Drive (8:14 a.m.) — MassPort Fire asked an engine to respond for an Alert 2 for an incoming plane having a mechanical issue. The Fire Department was cancelled while enroute.

Arnold Street, Hanscom AFB (10:05 a.m.) — Hanscom Security Forces reported they recovered a stolen vehicle on base. Officers responded and found that it was a civil matter. The vehicle was towed and the owner was contacted.

Beaver Pond Road (10:32 a.m.) — A resident called regarding a water problem on their property. The Water Department was notified.

Browning Lane (11:38 a.m.) — Caller asked to speak to an officer regarding a vehicle speeding in the neighborhood. An officer responded and spoke to the party.

Old Sudbury Road (2:51 p.m.) — Wayland Police Department reported someone called them reporting the gates at Old Sudbury were stuck down with no train coming by. An officer responded and the gates were up. Work crews are working on the rail line.

November 1

South Great Road (6:45 a.m.) — Caller reported that the railroad gates were stuck down. While still on the phone, they reported that a train was passing, response cancelled.

South Great Road (7:55 a.m.) — Report received that the railroad gates were stuck down at the crossing. An officer responded and found that the gates were up.

Lincoln Road (8:22 a.m.) — Two-car crash near Route 117 intersection. No injuries, one vehicle towed.

South Great Road (7:33 a.m.) — Caller reported smoke in the area of Lincoln Rd and Route 117. The Fire Department responded and determined it was fog in Drumlin Field.

November 2

Old Sudbury Road (11:05 a.m.) — Several callers reported the railroad gates were stuck down at the crossing. The gates were down due to work crew, according to the MBTA.

Deerhaven Road (4:01 p.m.) — Caller reported that a dog charged at them while walking on Deerhaven. An officer responded and found out the name of the dog owner.
The information was given to the Animal Control officer, who is following up.

Giles Road (8:20 p.m.) — Caller reported a delivery driver parked on their lawn while making a delivery and that a minor dispute resulted. An officer checked the area but was unable to locate the delivery driver.

Lincoln Road (10:23 p.m.) — Family member requested a well-being check on a resident whom they hadn’t been able to get in touch with. An officer responded and made contact with the resident and delivered the message to call the family member.

November 3

Cambridge Turnpike westbound (3:13 a.m.) — Caller reported striking a deer near Bedford Road. An officer responded and located the deer. The vehicle was no long on scene. State Police were notified.

Tower Road (8:34 a.m.) — Caller reported the railroad gates were stuck down at the crossing. An officer responded and a work crew was on scene.

Boyce Farm Road (5:46 p.m.) — Party came to the station to speak to an officer regarding a civil matter. An officer spoke to the party and gave them their legal options.

November 4

Sandy Pond Road (9:04 a.m.) — Caller reported receiving a pamphlet in the mail that was bothersome. An officer spoke to the resident and followed up with the party who sent the pamphlet and advised them that the resident did not wish to receive any other correspondence.

Conant Road (9:51 a.m.) — Report of a carbon monoxide alarm going off. The Fire Department responded and found it was a problem with the system; no CO found. The homeowner will contact their alarm company.

Ridge Road (10:07 a.m.) — Party came to the station concerned about their neighbor. An officer spoke to the party and will follow up.

Lincoln Road (11:20 a.m.) — Concord Court send court paperwork to be delivered to a resident. The resident pick up the paperwork at the station.

Lincoln Road (11:45 a.m.) — A party came to the station to drop off items for their child who is in foster care.

Lincoln Road (11:50 a.m.) — Resident called the station and appeared to be confused during the conversation. An officer responded to check on their well-being.

Autumn Lane (12:35 p.m.) — Party came to follow up with an officer regarding an incident that was previously reported on Deerhaven Road. An officer spoke to the resident.

November 5

South Great Road (2:07 a.m.) — An officer stopped a vehicle on Route 117 and after an investigation arrested Luis Alvarado, 25, of Maynard for OUI–liquor and marked lane violation. He was later bailed to appear in Concord District Court.

Care Dimensions, Winter Street (7:43 a.m.) — Caller reported a water problem inside the building and they couldn’t turn the water off. Fire Department responded and turned the water off. A plumbing company was en route to handle.

Donelan’s Supermarket t(8:40 a.m.) — Party came to the station to report they lost their wallet last night in or around Donelan’s. No one had as yet turned in the wallet.

Teddy Bear Club, Concord Road (8:53 a.m.) — Caller reported landscapers using a leaf blower before 9 a.m. An officer responded and the crew was not using the leaf blower at that time. An officer followed up with the owner of the property to speak to the landscaping crew.

Deer Run Road (9:01 a.m.) — A family member requested a well-being check on a resident. An officer responded and everything was fine. An officer waited for the arrival of a family member.

MassPort Civil Terminal (9:40 a.m.) — MassPort Fire requested an engine for an Alert 1 with a plane incoming with a problem. The Fire Department response was subsequently cancelled.

South Great Road (5:30 p.m.) — Caller reported their fire alarm was going off. Fire Department responded and found no hazard; it was a problem with the system. Homeowner will contact the alarm company.

Silver Hill Road (11:39 p.m.) — Caller reported two people walking their dog near their property that’s for sale and felt it was suspicious. An officer located the parties, who had stopped their vehicle and taken their dog for a walk.

November 6

Lincoln Road (9:05 a.m.) — Caller reported a suspicious vehicle in their neighbor’s driveway. The caller then cancelled the response as it was a driving school vehicle.

Conant Road (9:16 a.m.) — Caller reported they were walking their dog on the road when another dog charged at them. No one was harmed but they wanted us to be aware. The Animal Control officer was advised.

Hanscom AFB Vandenberg Gate (4:36 p.m.) — Hanscom Security Forces asked an officer to respond to the station regarding a civil matter involving two civilians. An officer responded and the reporting party had already left before to the officers arrival. Hanscom Security Forces had already advised the individual that they needed to go to Concord District Court to seek a civil remedy.

Judith Balogh dies at age 92

Judith Balogh

Judith Olga Györgypály Balogh, M.D., 92, of Lincoln, MA passed away on October 30, 2022. Judith had celebrated 67 years of marriage to Károly Balogh, M.D.

Dr. Balogh was born in Budapest, Hungary. The daughter of the director of the largest flour mill in Hungary, Judith, an only child, was raised to be an independent person. In her youth, shortly before World War II impacted Hungary, her family moved to their farm in the countryside in an attempt to be spared the ravages of war in the city.

In 1954, Judith graduated from Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest. As a medical student she was an extern in the Department of Physiology and was the coauthor of a publication on renal function in shock. She met Károly Balogh when they were both medical students, and they were married in January 1955. After her compulsory military service, she started her training in psychiatry at the National Institute of Neurology and Psychiatry in Budapest.

Shortly after the October 1956 Soviet invasion, Judith and Károly escaped the communist occupation by fleeing separately to Austria. Successfully reuniting in Vienna, the young doctor couple traveled to the United States on an International Rescue Committee chartered flight. The pilot tilted the plane to show the Hungarians the Statue of Liberty. They entered the U.S. through Camp Kilmer, NJ, and received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and posting at the Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. After a year in New Orleans, Judith and Károly packed their VW bug and moved to Boston. They first lived in Boston, then moved to Cambridge and started a family. They settled in 1971 in Lincoln, where they raised their children and have lived since.

In 1962, Dr. Judith Balogh completed her training as chief resident in psychiatry at Boston City Hospital, then was on the staff of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center as a child and adolescent psychiatrist. For ten years, she served as chief of Pediatric Psychiatry at Cambridge City Hospital. Judith marveled at the resilience of children faced with harsh and stressful situations. As part of her psychiatric training, Judith underwent psychoanalysis with the renowned psychiatrist Helene Deutsch, M.D., the last member of Freud’s original Viennese School of Psychoanalysts.

Judith took great joy in helping her patients and seeing them flourish after treatment. As a young psychiatrist in Budapest, she treated a young woman with schizophrenia, remaining by her side during the patient’s shock therapy. The patient was cured. Many of Judith’s patients remained in touch with her, decades after their treatment.

Judith and Károly had three children, Adam, Peter, and Anna. Judith made raising her family a priority. Judith and Károly have three grandchildren, Charlotte, Eva, and Alexander. Judith and Károly shared their athletic passions and love of the outdoors with their children, including skiing as regular season ticket holders for many years at Pleasant Mountain in Maine. Since her childhood, Judith excelled in ice skating and won several competitions in gymnastics.

In addition to music, art and culture in general, Judith was passionate about collecting and reading books and newspaper articles on a multitude of subjects, and she filled stacks of notebooks with her own thoughts, analysis, and story ideas. Growing up as a practical person during the uncertain times of World War II and Soviet occupation of her native country, Judith chose medicine, but had times been different, admitted she likely would have pursued a literary career.

Anyone who met Judith remembers her Hungarian accent, kindness, energy, directness, courage and wisdom. She is oftentimes remembered for her youthful exploits. Notably, as a two-year old, when her mother took an afternoon nap after a large Sunday meal, Judith would use her thumb and forefinger to pry open the eyes of her sleeping mother. A lively five-year-old child, Judith would intentionally skate through the joined arms of couples. As a 14-year old on her family’s farm during the war when the farm’s horses were requisitioned by the occupying German soldiers, she had to present the horses at the collection point. After the German veterinarian examined the horses, Judith simply drove off with Flóra and Fácán (Flora and Pheasant).

Soon came the Soviet occupying soldiers. Judith, along with many of the village females, were hidden in haylofts to avoid rape. When she spotted a Soviet soldier taking Flóra, she ran out of hiding, grabbed the bridle of the horse on which the soldier sat, and pulled him off. Fortunately she was not shot or raped. At her first encounter with a Soviet soldier she was puzzled when he reached down to take her pulse. Thus she lost her wristwatch but saved Flóra a second time and survived to tell the story. At a tense point in the war when the Soviets were entering the village, some Germans were still present at the other end. Had the Soviets realized this, the entire village would have been killed for hiding them. Judith ran through the thick mud of the village to tell the Germans to leave, saving the village. She was interviewed as part of the Hungarian 1956 Memory Project. 

Her adventurous nature never subsided. Well into her fifties, when her car broke down and a young male motorcycle rider offered her a ride to the nearest gas station, ever the sportslady, she thought nothing of getting on the back of the motorbike.

A graveside service for family and local friends was held on Friday, November 4th at the Lincoln Cemetery. A Celebration of Life for the family and friends will be held at a future date.

The Balogh family wishes to acknowledge their gratitude to the staff at the Waltham Crossing Benchmark facility and Caring Hospice Services where Judith spent her final days in their compassionate care.

In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring the memory of Dr. Judith G. Balogh with a donation to the BrightFocus Foundation’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research fund (22512 Gateway Center Drive, Clarksburg, MD 20871); Special Olympics (512 Forest St., Marlborough, MA 01752); or, Reach Out and Read (89 South St., Suite. 201, Boston, MA 02111).

Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. Readers are invited to leave a note on her online tribute wall.

News acorns

FELS Thanksgiving pies on offer

FELS, the Foundation for Educators at Lincoln-Sudbury, www.FELSGrant.org, is offering its Thanksgiving pie sale again this year after a four-year hiatus. Pies baked by The Hyve will be sold through Friday, Nov. 11. Pickup will be available at the high school and the Lincoln Council on Aging on Tuesday, Nov. 22 from 3–6 p.m. Pies can also be gifted to staff and faculty at L-S and will be delivered by FELS Board members. For more details, go to www.FELSGrant.org. Pies can also be purchased for donation to the food pantries in Lincoln and Sudbury and the fire and police departments in both towns. Those who are traveling and can’t buy a pie may donate to FELS, a non-profit organization that awards enrichment grants to L-S faculty and staff to pursue their professional and personal interests and passions.

Family portrait fundraiser for food pantry

On Saturday, Nov. 12, Lincoln photographer Corey Nimmer will host a family portrait fundraiser at Flint Farm, where 100% of proceeds will be go directly to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lincoln and Weston, which operates the local food pantry and provides financial support to families in need. Sessions will be about 5 minutes each. To participate, click here to book a time slot; when it’s time to pay, just select “Cheque” as your payment method. The suggested donation is $75, but any amount goes a long way toward helping your neighbors this holiday season, and you can either bring a check made out to the St. Vincent de Paul Society or click here to make an online donation.

See “Seussical” at L-S

Tickets are now on sale for the LSB Players’ production of “Seussical,” with shows on Thursday to Saturday, Nov. 17–19 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m.  This bright and energetic musical combines several well-known Dr. Seuss characters to tell the story of Horton the Elephant and his fierce determination to protect the land of the Whos, despite the scorn and disbelief of his fellow jungle folk. This show explores hope, identity, inclusivity, and the importance of having that “one true friend in the universe who believes in you.” Directed and choreographed by Carly Evans, music directed by Michael Bunting, and conducted by Tom Grandprey, and performed in the Kirshner Auditorium at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. Click here to buy tickets. Please pick up your reserved, prepaid tickets at the will-call table on the night of the performance. 

Donate gift cards and items for food pantry clients

SVdP board member Alpheen Menachery and her grandchildren with Turkey Tins they’re donating.

Because of high inflation, Thanksgiving will be more difficult than usual for many of the clients of St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lincoln and Weston, which operates the shared food pantry, and its distributor is unable to supply turkeys this year. As a result, the food pantry is asking for donations of $25 gift cards from grocery stores (preferably Donelan’s) and/or items that will go into “Turkey Tin” food baskets. They expect about 130 families will receive the baskets and gift cards. To find out more and to sign up to donate, click here. Questions? Call 781-899-2611 x4 or email svdplincolnweston@gmail.com.

Substitute teachers needed

Lincoln Public Schools need full and half-day substitute teachers at a variety of grade levels in Lincoln and Hanscom Air Force Base. For more information, click here, email Kerry Parrella at kparrella@lincnet.org, or call 508-958-6872.

Another Lincolnite firefighter hired

Michael Goldblatt, Lincoln’s newest call firefighter.

Michael Goldblatt was one of 22 recruits to graduate from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s Call/Volunteer Recruit Firefighter Training Program on November 1. The program delivers a standard recruit training curriculum, meeting national standards, on nights and weekends. Recruits learn to respond to all types of emergencies including gas leaks, chemical spills, drug overdoses, and trapped people as well as fires. Goldblatt was initially hired in Lincoln as an EMT and had to finish this training before he was allowed to ride on a fire truck or enter a structure fire (the Fire Department has three career firefighters and one per diem call firefighter at night to make up a shift of four.) He’s the third Lincoln-raised candidate who’s been hired in Lincoln as a call firefighter in the last three years. The other were Ronnie Row (who was hired three years ago but left for a job in Maynard) and Tom Blair.

Skittish Lincolnites report more issues at railroad crossing

A photo taken by Abigail Adams on November 2 of a train (an engine pulling a car filed with ballast) slowly moving toward the Tower Road crossing.

Railroad crossing problems continue in Lincoln as multiple residents reported this week that gates were stuck down and even a non-passenger train approaching when the gates were up — though Keolis and MBTA officials said this was related to ongoing track work and there was no danger.

LincolnTalk was abuzz Tuesday and Wednesday with emails from Lincolnites who sat in their cars for extended periods at crossings where the gates were down but a train never came. Resident Abigail Adams had the opposite experience as she was approaching the Tower Road crossing on Wednesday.

“As I was nearing the gate (but still at a distance), I saw the gate going up and the red lights turning off, so I assumed a train had just passed,” she told the Lincoln Squirrel. “As I got closer, I saw a train moving out of the corner of my eye so I immediately stopped and honked the horn and starting waving at the oncoming car to stop. They too realized what was happening and stopped their car. The train was coming at a lesser speed than normal. I think the conductor realized the gates were not down, and someone got off the train, looked up at the gates and then stood on the side of the tracks to block cars from crossing, and then the train proceeded to move across the road.

“After the main part of the train was across the road and about two carriers as well, the lights came on and the gates went down,” she continued. “Once the train was gone and lights and gates off and up, I went across. I had to re-cross about 12 minutes later and there were then three Keolis trucks there upon my return looking over the situation.”

The Lincoln Squirrel sent Adams’s photo of the train to Keolis officials. “There is nothing in the photo to indicate that there was any safety risk to anyone or that standard safety procedures weren’t followed,” responded Keolis spokesperson Alana Westwater.

“Most of you have probably experienced the frustration of sitting at the railroad crossing with the arms down for what feels like hours, only of the arms to go up with either no train passing, or the arms never go up and people have to drive around the arms to get to the other side, or you give up and find another way that doesn’t involve crossing the railroad tracks,” resident Liz Lieblich wrote on November 1. “I feel like 85% of the time, the arms (when they come down), have problems.”

Lieblich said she called the phone number posted at the crossing (800-449-6393) and explained that the crossing has had issues for some time, though especially this week. This causes traffic to build up on Tower Road and 117, making turns onto 117 from Tower ever more difficult and dangerous. She quoted the person as saying that “the crossing mechanisms at Tower Road differ from most others and it’s the most problematic of the crossings.” They also said that trains were being required to slow down and stop at the crossing because something was wrong with the gates,

“His suggestion was to always call and report an issue so that the problem becomes elevated — to what end, I don’t know,” she said.

“I’ve experienced the delays and two close calls, both on Tower Road,” another resident wrote on LincolnTalk. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to trust the tracks even when they’re repaired!”

The issues are especially worrisome in light of an incident last April when, due to an error on the part of a maintenance worker, a train came through the Route 177 crossing at almost full speed and narrowly missed hitting the car of a Lincoln resident who got her car off the tracks just in time. 

Town officials who contacted the MBTA in response to this week’s listserv posts were told that the MBTA is doing track maintenance along the Fitchburg line and is working in Lincoln this week. “When maintenance activities are taking place in close proximity to a crossing, the MBTA’s protocol is to take that particular crossing out of service,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins reported in an email to LincolnTalk. In that situation, the MBTA tower/dispatch center tells all approaching trains to come to a complete stop before reaching the crossing. “A train crew member then exits the train and walks alongside until the train has safely cleared the crossing. We have been told that this is standard operating procedure,” he said.

“However, we have also received reports of gates going up and coming immediately back down as vehicles are proceeding through a crossing, nearly coming down on top of the passing vehicle,” Higgins continued. “We have also reported this concern to the MBTA. We urge residents not to proceed through a crossing while the lights are flashing, even if the gates are in the upright position.”

Lincoln Police Lt. Sean Kennedy was more reassuring in another email to LincolnTalk earlier on November 2 after speaking to an MBTA construction supervisor and the track supervisor for the Lincoln area

“First and foremost, the track supervisor said there is no safety concern with the Tower Road crossing. The signal at that crossing is working properly, as are all of our crossings,” Kennedy wrote. The Tower Road crossing had had a problem in the past that required trains to stop, but it was resolved, he said.

“The reason why the gates are remaining down for an extended period of time is due to the ongoing construction which requires a speed restriction for the trains,” he continued. “As explained to me, the signaling [mechanism] which trips the crossing is approximately 4,000 feet before the crossing. Under normal operations, when a train is traveling at 70mph in that area, the signaling [mechanism] trips the crossing gates to come down. Due to the speed restriction, the trains are now traveling at 25-30mph and therefore the gates are down more than twice as [long as] usual.

An October 26 panoramic photo by Alaric Naiman of construction equipment on the tracks next to the Donelan’s parking lot (click to enlarge).

“From time to time, the construction crews working on the tracks will move equipment towards a crossing, which will in turn trip the signaling which causes the gates to come down and then go back up when a train isn’t in the area,” Kennedy said.

In an email to the Lincoln Squirrel on Thursday, Keolis spokesperson Alana Westwater confirmed that railroad ties and ballast (the rocky bed under the rails and ties) are being replaced as part of routine track maintenance.

“During construction, at impacted crossings, people in town will notice that we have put some additional safety measures in place that will change crossing operations temporarily. Crossings that are not impacted by construction will see normal operations,” she wrote. “Some of the changes may mean that crossing gates are down longer as trains reduce speed, or that trains adopt a ‘stop and protect’ procedure where the crew stops the train and walks it through the crossings in lieu of the crossing gates being activated. All these changes are designed to keep drivers, pedestrians, construction crews, train crews and passengers safe.”

Westwater said construction will be finished by December 2 “unless impacted by weather or other unforeseen circumstances” and that commuter rail passengers “may experience some minor delays.” She encouraged them to subscribe to T alerts and follow @MBTA_CR schedule information.