More Rain On Woburn's Halloween Parade

WOBURN, MA -- Lindsey Keane, who was barred from marching in Sunday's Woburn Halloween parade, said she has not received an apology that the parade's sponsors promised in a statement Saturday. The Woburn Lions Club had denied the request of Lindsey Keane to march in the parade with a banner commemorating her 15-month-old son, Noah, whose August 2016 death was ruled a homicide. On Saturday the club said it planned to reach out to Keane and her family and apologize for the "regretful" way the decision had been conveyed to her.

But on Monday, Keane told Woburn Patch she had still not been directly contacted by the Lions, which have sponsored the annual Woburn Halloween Parade in each of its 63 years. Keane said while the club did try to set up a meeting through an intermediary, they have not directly contacted her or apologized.

In a statement emailed to Woburn Patch Monday, the club's board of directors conceded as much:

"We reached out to Ms. Keane via an intermediary on Thursday night offering to meet with her to discuss this matter in person. She respectfully declined a meeting at that time. We respected her decision," the club said in its email. "We remain available to meet with her at her convenience to explain our decision and to offer our sincerest apologies for how that decision was conveyed."

Keane provided Woburn Patch with copies of emails she had exchanged with Bryan Murphy, the parade chairman, explaining the group's decision and reiterating points he had raised in prior phone conversation with Keane, as well as emails from the intermidiary trying to set up the meeting with the Lions Club officials. In the earlier emails, Murphy said the Lions Club did not want to become involved with "any political or otherwise adversarial topic or issue in any way, shape or form," and the club would monitor floats and groups participating in the parade as the Lions Club had heard Keane had contacted other groups to see if she could march with them.

"We are VERY protective of our rather expensive event...and will not have you or people associated with you to join in with others displaying posters etc. on a topic that we have clearly told you we do not want going down our parade route," Murphy reportedly wrote. "You have many other locations, events or places to air your issue/topic, we just do not want this associated with this parade or Lion Club."

While the Middlesex District Attorney's office ruled Noah Larson's August 2016 death a homicide in May, the office has yet to file charges in the case. Larson was found unresponsive in the care of a babysitter who was watching Noah and his twin sister and was rushed to a hospital, where he died three days later from traumatic brain injuries. Keane and Paul Larson, the child's father, have been vocal about the failure by the District Attorney's office to file charges in the case.

The babysitter was a friend of Keane's and was paid $65 a day to watch the children. A report from the Department of Children and Families said both children had head injuries that could have been as much as a week old at the time Noah Larson was rushed to the hospital.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Middlsex District Attorney's Office said the investigation is ongoing.

"The investigation into how and when these injuries were inflicted and who did it remains active and ongoing," Elizabeth Vlock said in an email. "We continue to be in contact with the family and their attorneys as we pursue this investigation."

Keane said she refused the offer to meet through the intermediary because she was told Murphy would be present.

"They reached out through yes an intermediary because they said that Brian and I did not 'mesh' and that Brian is sometimes 'gruff'," Keane said Monday. "There was no mention of an apology anywhere and there was actually plenty of mention of excusing the behavior of Mr. Murphy."

News reports and social media posts claiming that the Lions Club denied Keane's request because the babysitter's father, uncle and grandfather are members of the Woburn Lions proved to be unfounded. The babysitter's father told Woburn Patch Monday that while his father had been a Lions club member in Indiana before he died in February, no one in the family is or has ever been a member of the Woburn Lions. The rumor apparently stems from an online post the babysitter's aunt, who lives in Indiana, made showing off her father's Lion's Club pins.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).