THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MArCH 3, 2023 Page 15 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good Morning, Saugus! As this week’s deadline approached early yesterday (Thursday, March 2), I was approaching the end of my seventh year as editor of The Saugus Advocate. I turned 70 last December, and I’m at an age where the vast majority of my journalism peers from the college class of 1974 have long since retired or gotten out of the newspaper business. We’re also at a point in history where many prominent and well-respected newspapers throughout the country have either cut back to publishing fewer days a week or shut down their presses and have gone totally online. Many good newspapers throughout the country have gone out of business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. And, of course, the growth of the Internet had already put some newspapers out of business. I’m now in my 51st year of journalism. And I’m at the point whether the changing technology, the economy or health issues will determine the end of my journalism career. It’s about this time every year since I began working for Publisher Jim Mitchell and Advocate Newspapers, Inc. that I decide whether I will go at least one more year. This year’s decision was fairly easy. I’m in pretty good health to the point I could walk five miles on any given day and also work 50plus hours a week, putting out this weekly newspaper. This is also a town election year in Saugus. And I have already made the commitment to moderate the 10part series of public forums, titled “Saugus Over Coffee,” a project that is being cosponsored by The Saugus Advocate and the Saugus Public Library. In each of the monthly forums, which are being filmed and broadcast by SaugusTV, we spotlight all 10 of the town precincts, giving —Cont est— CONTEST SKETCH OF THE WEEK residents and the five Town Meeting members in each precinct an opportunity to talk about what makes their precinct special and the top issues facing the people in the respective precincts. So, I will be good – God willing – at least through the duration of “Saugus Over Coffee” and until the Town Elections in November. And then next March, I will decide whether to go another year. Of course, it’s possible that circumstances beyond my control – the economy and the overall business environment affecting all newspapers – will determine when I have to call it a career in newspapering. The Saugus Advertiser was our weekly competitor up until last May, when it essentially ceased to exist (it merged with the Melrose Free Press and Observer to become the Free Press & Advertiser). The Advocate continues to hang in there as the town’s free weekly newspaper. And it’s a credit to the Mitchell family that the paper continues to publish in a very tough, not-so-friendly newspaper environment. At a time when communities are losing daily newspapers, it’s also a blessing to the people of Saugus that they have an exclusive community newspaper that’s still kicking and ticking. I’m inspired to keep going as long as my health holds up. I’m also motivated to continue serving Saugus Advocate readers as long as I can, because I believe the people of this town deserve a newspaper. Right now, they are fortunate enough to have a weekly newspaper that covers Saugus exclusively and a daily newspaper, The Lynn Daily Item, which has a reporter covering Saugus. I have spent more than a GUESS WHO GOT SKETCHED! Got an idea who was sketched this week? If you do, please email your name, address and the answer to mvoge@comcast.net or leave a phone message at 978-683-7773. Anyone who answers correctly between now and Tuesday at noon qualifies to have their name put in a green Boston Red Sox hat with a chance to be selected as the winner of a $10 gift certificate, compliments of JIMMY’S STEER HOUSE at 114 Broadway (Rt. 1 North) in Saugus. (Courtesy illustration to The Saugus Advocate by a Saugonian who goes by the name of “The Sketch Artist”) dozen years reporting and writing stories in Saugus. I spent five and a half years during the late 1980s and early 1990s covering Saugus for North Shore Sunday, when the magazine-style alternative weekly with a 110,000 free circulation covered 11 cities and towns on the North Shore. North Shore Sunday was considered a “must read” in those days because of its investigations. I worked on a few of them in Saugus. More on that on another day. I had a great rapport with then-Town Manager Norm Hansen. On his final day of work, he treated me to lunch at The Hilltop. He knew I wouldn’t accept the meal while he was still employed, because of the optics of the situation: Reporters shouldn’t be treated to meals by public officials. So Norm waited til he was a civilian. And then he treated me to a lobster pie. Saugus over coffee “All of us here were elected by default.” Precinct 2 Town Meeting Member Joe Vecchione must have raised a few eyebrows with that comment during the Feb.13 taping of “Saugus Over Coffee” by SaugusTV. I know that a few people who were in attendance that night in the Community Room of the Saugus Public Library were a little upset, because they feel that lack of interest in a political race shouldn’t reflect them. But Vecchione did make a sobering point about the lack of interest in Saugus residents running for a seat on the 50-member Town Meeting, which serves the important function of the town’s Legislature. Town Meeting has the responsibility for voting on various zoning ordinances in addition to approving the town’s municipal budget. But Precinct 2 wasn’t the only precinct in Saugus where a paucity of candidates assured that everyone on the ballot would be elected. Precincts 1, 3, 6 and 7 also only had just five candidates running for the five seats. In half of the town’s 10 precincts, there was no alternative for Town Meeting candidates. One of my hopes in developing the “Saugus Over Coffee” forums was that they just might spur interest in each of the respective precincts, influencing new candidates to get involved. The town needs new blood. And Town Meeting seats often serve as a springboard for civic and politically minded residents who want to run for the Board of Selectmen or School Committee one day. Hopefully, at minimum, each of the forums stirs interest among citizens who are then motivated to bring new and important issues forward which affect residents in their precincts. Stay tuned for more information as “Saugus Over Coffee” continues. Here is the remaining schedule: Precinct 3 – March 13 Precinct 4 – April 17 Precinct 5 – May 8 Precinct 6 – June 12 Precinct 7 – July 10 Precinct 8 – Aug. 14 Precinct 9 – Sept. 11 Precinct 10 – Oct. 23 Please check with The Saugus Advocate or library for any changes in dates. Residents can check the programming guide on the station’s website (www.saugustv.org) for dates and times. A video of the forum will also be available for viewing on the station’s vimeo page within a day or two after the event: www.vimeo. com/saugustelevision. Maple Sugarin’ at Breakheart Experience the process of maple sugarin’ – from tapping a tree to sampling maple syrup – on Saturday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Breakheart Reservation. Go to the Christopher P. Dunne Visitor Center (177 Forest St., Saugus). This program is cosponsored by the state Department of Natural Resources and the Friends of Breakheart Reservation. Enjoy some refreshments inside the Visitor Center for a $5.00 donation to the Friends of Breakheart Reservation ($20 for family of 5-6) and then join us for a free tour of the maple sugarin’ process. Tour includes: History of maple sugaring, tree identification & tapping, wood splitting and the evaporator! For more information, please call 781-233-0834. The Breakheart/Benjamin Newhall Johnson legacy On Wednesday, March 8, the Saugus Historical Society will hold a program on Breakheart Reservation and the Legacy of Benjamin Newhall Johnson. It will be held at 30 Main St., the headquarters of the Saugus Historical Society and Saugus Cable Television. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. and light refreshments will be served. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. The team of experts on Johnson and Breakheart will include Brett Power, head ranger of Breakheart Reservation; Doug Heath and Alison Simcox, who count among their books “Breakheart Reservation” and “Murder at THE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 16
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