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Page 10 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, February 28, 2020 At the Saugus Public Library Walking with dinosaurs The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Here are a few tidbits that you might want to know about this week in Saugus. A most amazing woman If you ever get the chance to meet Valerie Haven – who dines periodically at the Hammersmith Family Restaurant on Central Street in Saugus – go over and introduce yourself. You will find her to be a most impressive person who will make your day. She’s been blind for more than half of her life. But she didn’t let it get in the way of enjoying life, being an active person and a force of good in the world. I had the privilege of spendPREHISTORIC TIMES AT THE LIBRARY: Bob Lisauis, also known as Dinoman, gave children an entertaining and educational presentation about dinosaurs during vacation week at the Saugus Public Library. He brought a group of inflatable dinosaurs into the Community Room. (Courtesy photos to The Saugus Advocate by Amy Melton, head of the Children’s Department at the Saugus Public Library) S augus Public School students got to take a trip back in time to the Mesozoic era during their recent school vacation week. Dinoman visited the Saugus Public Library on Feb. 20. Dinoman is Bob Lisauis of Warren, Vermont. He performs all over the country, coast to coast. During his one-hour show, Dinoman taught the kids a great deal about dinosaurs, the age of the earth, how it is divided into eras, how fossils are formed, dinosaur behavior and the newest fi nds. He even managed to entertain parents and caregivers alike in the process, bringing out large, infl atable dinosaurs that thrilled everyone. ing a couple of hours with her this week at her Malden home. She is an enthusiastic member of the Saugus Lions Club who preferred to join the service organization in this town rather than the one in Malden. She tells me she would rather be going to Lions Club meetings in Saugus than Malden because of the way she was recruited by Eugene Decareau, who has been a member of the Saugus Lions for more than half a century. Eugene met Valerie while dining at the Hammersmith a couple of years ago. A friendship developed. And that led to Eugene sponsoring Valerie as a new member last year. When I heard about Valerie making a trip to India early this year, I knew she would make a great interview for our weekly feature “The Advocate Asks” – especially after hearing that the Lions Club planned to have her give a talk about her India trip at a Lions Club meeting set for March 18, 6 p.m. at Prince Pizzeria. I asked Eugene to see if she would be interested in doing a newspaper interview (in case I couldn’t get to the Lions Club meeting). She agreed wholeheartedly, so we did the interview on Tuesday, which is published in this week’s edition. In short, here is a lady who radiates goodness and kindness. She’s retired but is still on a mission to help other people with disabilities like herself. She is a very savvy, high-tech and fi ercely independent woman who approaches each day with courage, confi dence and compassion. And as I interviewed her, I noticed she frequently fl ashes an incredible smile that tells the world she is at peace with herself and her circumstances in life – and not bitter about having lost her eyesight back in her 30s. The Lions Club is a national service organization whose major cause is to improve the lives of the visually impaired and to prevent avoidable blindness. Given her own blindness, her past background in working with disabilities, including blindness and the vision-impaired and some of her current projects, Valerie is a great ambassador and asset of the Saugus Lions Club. Looking forward to another year of reporting With this week’s edition, I have completed four years as editor of The Saugus Advocate. Since I began working for Advocate Newspapers in late February 2016, I’ve decided at the end of each year whether to go one more year. Last year was a challenging year for me after activating power of attorney and health care proxy documents to assist my brother, who developed some health issues and is now in an assisted living residence in Swansea. Advocating for a family member is a full-time job in itself, and particularly challenging for me, as my brother lives in Southeastern Massachusetts. But I still fi nd the work for a weekly newspaper covering a small town quite stimulating and rewarding. I still get a kick out shooting photos, interviewing people, tracking down leads, researching and writing stories and putting out a paper that is, hopefully, a force of good in the town I cover. At age 67, I could be fully retired by now. But the work at The Saugus Advocate keeps me busy and my mind sharp. I know that someday I will have to retire, for health reasons or if I have reached a point where I no longer fi nd the work rewarding and not worth the time commitment, or if I fi nd that my reporting and writing skills have declined signifi cantly to the point where the paper would be better served with somebody new. Sometime this year, I will have reached a decade of writing stories about Saugus. During 1987-92, I reported on Saugus for North Shore: Sunday, which was then a well-regarded alternative and magazinestyle tabloid weekly newspaper which boasted a 110,000 circulation while covering 11 cities and towns on the North Shore – including Saugus. So, if you add up my past experience at North Shore: Sunday with my time at The Saugus Advocate, sometime in late August I will have reached a decade of covering Saugus. So, here’s a toast to at least one more year. I look forward to covering my fi fth consecutive Saugus Annual Town Meeting, the opening of the new Saugus Middle-High School, another Books in Bloom exhibit at the Saugus Public Library, another Founders Day celebration and another Christmas Tree Lighting celebration at Saugus Center. A chance for residents to author Articles Citizens of Saugus who are interested in submitting Articles to be included on the Warrant for this year’s May 4 Annual Town Meeting still have plenty of time. The Saugus Board of Selectmen have announced they will close the Annual Town Meeting Warrant at their April 7 regular meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the second fl oor auditorium at Town Hall. Anyone who may have an Article they want to be inserted in the Annual Town Meeting Warrant may submit the Article with appropriate number of signatures to the Selectmen’s Offi ce or may bring it to the April 7 meeting. For more information you may contact the Selectmen’s Offi ce at (781) 231-4124 or wreed@saugusma.gov. A “shout-out” for Rep. RoseLee Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Jeanie Bartolo, a frequent contributor to our “shout-out” section of this column, off ered this week’s recommendation: “Shout Out to State Representative Roselee Vincent. “I was sad to see that Roselee Vincent who represents Precincts 3 and 10 in Saugus as well as Revere and Lynn is not going to run for re-election. For those who know her, Roselee fought on important issues that improves the quality of life for the people she serves. She never gave up on any issue. Although I do not live in her precinct I always admired her commitment. Enjoy your retirement Roselee, you earned it. You will be missed.” The second “shout-out” Jeanie offered a second “shout-out.” “Shout Out to the town’s citizens who spoke at (Tuesday night’s) Citizens Input Session meeting and to the Board of Selectmen for calling this session. Almost twenty people spoke, myself included, on a host town issues from a new fi re station to street sweeping. All who spoke did a great job of expressing their concerns and the Selectmen did a great of listening to all us.” SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 19

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