The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 61

Boston nny NOTABLE Tucked away in an industrial park in Woburn is a special i kind of hospital thai restores i beloved, bid bedraggled, com- panions to their original con-' dition. Elane's Doll Hospital brings joy to many of its customers. Page 19. INSIDE Bulletin Board 18,20.21 Business 8, 11 Calendar Dining Out 20. Home Garden 22-23 Opinion ..2 People Places 18-21 Senior Set Sports 24-25 WBiKLY SUNDAY, MAY 7, 1995 arj Seeds sown for farmers market Lowell plans trial run for summer site for I Littletoii By Sharon Britton SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE 0 Farmers markets boom in Atlanta and Baltimore and even in the crowded Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan.

So why not in Lowell? Central Market in Lancaster, Lowell's effort will be the first in-door, year-round fanners market in the state, say planners. Their goal is to create a vibrant market focal point downtown while offering area farmers and producers of specialty foods, a low-cost venue for their products. "Lowell is a city that just won't quit," said Duncan, who believes that Lowell FARMERS MARKET, Page 15 watched people flock to bakers and green grocers set up in market stalls there. "In the center of the city," said Duncan, chairman of the Enterprise Bank and Trust in Lowell, "all the activity seemed to be drawn to the farmers market I remember saying. 'Wow.

This is really It was the life of the city." Duncan, along with members of Lowell's Center City Committee, business district boosters, are convinced that a year-round market could work here. They will get to test their hunch this summer when Lowell opens the Center City Market three days a week in a former fire station on Palmer Street downtown. Modeled after the 106-year-old railroa That's a question that Lowell resident George Duncan has asked himself ever since he visited the English mill city of Halifax about seven years ago and 7 a assailed Town would consider lot, station elsewhere 'pi i i I ft it? -i I "I By Andy Dabilis GLOBE STAFF A ITTLETON Once a week or so, Robert Johnson of Pepperell has a friend drop him off at the Foster Street railroad crossing here so he can get onto an MBTA commuter 1 't f' 7 i if it' uoiii ucauiug iiitu jjuotuii um iio auu tlllg point in Fitchburg. "If there was parking," he said, he'd take the train more often. The problem for commuters is that aside from a narrow, dusty lot which holds about 40 cars along the tracks at the Foster Street crossing, there is no other parking.

The MBTA would like to provide parking for as many as 500 cars, and initially proposed putting a lot into the area around Foster Street, where there are only a few nearby homes. The lot would be an attraction to commuters in towns around Littleton, too, which is why town officials and residents say they don't want a new station and lot at Foster Street, Many say they would not object to finding 4 3 1 another location in Littleton. If v. Jl We re not very receptive to expanding the MBTA at Foster Street," said Paul Tiernan, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. He said the area is too residential and would attract too many cars along the narrow, country road.

"Our focus now is to find a site that would meet the needs of the MBTA and be an asset to the town," he said. "If they're thinking of a regional site at Foster Street, forget it. We're not going alqjig with that," he said. An advisory committee established by the board has been meeting regularly and, developed a list of 10 prospective sites in town, including Foster Street So far, the site that is favored, said advisory committee chairman Alan Peterson, is land ii I GLOBE PHOTO X)HN BOHN A 6-week-old lamb struggles in Paula Cruz's arms as she carries it back to the lamb pen at Sprlngdell Farm in Littleton. Four generations later, still going strong By Diana Brown SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE A lot of families have already gotten out, and now those who are left are going to stay in it and work PAULA CRUZ, Springdett Farm, Littleton near Route 2 which is the current location a state Highway Department garage.

The Foster Street crossing almost abuts the intersection of routes 2 and 495. "We've looked at every possible site along the tracks," he said. The committee members, said town manager Mark Haddad, walked the entire length of the tracks through Littleton trying to find a spot that would be the least disruptive to residents and the environment Tiernan said the state Highway Department site seems the best There are many logistical questions related to that site, but in terms of providing maximum benefits for commuter rail and minimal impact on the town, it rated very highly in our LITTLETON, Page 17 done is be a vet," said Cruz before pulling the lamb's legs. Out came a healthy little lamb, covered with sticky afterbirth that Cruz had to encourage the mother to lick off. "Come on, momma.

There's your baby." Within an hour, the lamb staggered to his feet, wobbling and trembling, as the mother licked his matted white fur. Four generations of the Theodoros family have worked this land. Cruz's grandfather, James Theodoros, came FARMING, Page 14 LITTLETON With her wavy black hair pulled back into a po-nytail, Paula Cruz knelt beside the moaning yearling sheep that braced her back against the hen house to help her push out her first lamb. "Come on, momma," said an encouraging Cruz, who has seen many sheep deliver in her 35 years on her family's farm. She now runs their 30-acre Spring- dell Farm which slopes down rocky Jerry Germain, and 92-year-old uncle, land toward Route 1 19 in Littleton with Tasso Theodoros.

help mainly from her 68-year-old father, The only thing I would have ever Surgeon heals wounds of war By Caroline Louise Cole SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE pital would be willing to waive its $10,000 operating room fee. Cole, who is Jewish, said he didn't ponder the political implications when he considered Shore's request "It isn't something we are asked to do every day," Cole said. "And this case has really energized the doctors and nursing staff here because with today's health care environment what it is, it is nice to be able to do what we are here fon We are a not-for-profit hospital providing medical tare to those who need it" Palestinian youngster operated on at Emerson of ocular prostheses later this month. Ahmed lost his eye a year ago during one of the frequent clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip. Ahmed's need for rehabilitative medical care came to the attention ot Shore through Steve Sosebee, founder of the 5-year-old Palestine Children's Relief Fund he runs out of his Ohio home Shore agreed to provide his services at charge and then, in turn, asked Em erson president Jeffrey Cole if the hos- ONCORD Though 5-year- ffciold Ahmed Abu-Nasser will I I never regain the vision in his left eye, surgery provided by a local ophthalmologist halfway around the world from his home in a Palestinian refugee camp will make his handicap less noticeable.

John Shore, a Concord eye surgeon, restored the shape of Ahmed's injured eye socket during a two-hour operation recently at Emjrson Hospital and prepared it for C'i donated artificial eye Ahmed will receive from a Boston maker SWT PHOTO onore, no new spy pianw ui rci- nam prior to becondodor A A homf flaxes at Emerson Hospital.