Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, June 19, 2020 THE SOUNDS OF SAUGUS By Mark Vogler H ere are a few tidbits that you might want to know about this week in Saugus. A super “Shout-Out” for the Vitale family We didn’t receive any nominations this week for “An Extra Shout-Out,” for some unheralded Saugus resident who deserves to be recognized. So, this week it’s an editor’s choice. With yesterday (Thursday, June 18) marking the 35th anniversary of the death of Saugus Police Officer Harold L. Vitale in the line of duty, it struck me as the right time to recognize members of the late patrolman’s family for all they’ve done to keep his memory alive. We also commend members of the Vitale family for providing generous financial support to college-bound high school graduates in Saugus and other communities who are considering careers in law enforcement. During my time as editor of The Saugus Advocate, I have been to several presentations of the scholarship in memory of Officer Vitale and was impressed. I got to interview many of the student recipients, their families – and, of course, members of Officer Vitale’s family. It was a nice ceremony that was held at Officer Vitale Memorial Park on Ballard Street. What a great way to honor the memory of a well-regarded and appreciated Saugus officer who died way too soon. It also struck me as a great way to inspire young people to pursue law enforcement careers. Not to mention the good will and pride that the event instills in the community. It’s one of those great Saugus events cancelled because of the Coronavirus this year. Even so, I got an email shortly before deadline yesterday from Officer Vitale’s brother, Les, who is also president of the Officer Harold L. Vitale Memorial Fund, Inc. Here’s the email: “Good afternoon recipients and other officials. “I wanted to let you all know that I will be heading down to the Officer Vitale Park on Ballard St in Saugus within the next hour. It is my understanding that some members of the Saugus Police Dept began a vigil last night and again today driving by in respect of the anniversary date of Harold’s line of duty death. “Today is the Anniversary of Harold’s Line of Duty death and our family traditionally has displayed a Memorial Police Banner at the Park that includes over 300 names of Fallen MA officers killed in the line of duty. Despite the pandemic we feel it important to continue that tradition and we will display the banner today for a period of time out of a somber respect to honor all of the lives lost. “If you care to join or visit, feel free. I/we are prepared to do so safely and with social distance. I will have a camera in hand to take some photos of the Park. Please DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED to attend, but you are more than welcome.” The spirit of Harold L. Vitale lives on. Want to “Shout-Out” a fellow Saugonian? This is an opportunity for our paper’s readers to single out – in a brief mention – remarkable acts or achievements by Saugus residents or an act of kindness or a nice gesture. Just send an email (mvoge@comcast.net) with a mention in the subject line of “An Extra Shout-Out.” No more than a paragraph; anything longer might lend itself to a story and/or photo. Some bad Tuesday night vibes I have to admit, I don’t enjoy these “Zoom” meetings of the Saugus Board of Selectmen. It’s bad enough that you have to punch in a combination of 50 some odd letters, numerals and punctuation symbols to navigate to a special website and then punch in 11 more numbers for the Zoom Meeting ID and, finally, six more numerals for a password. A few times after doing all of that typing, I’m still unable to view the Saugus version of “Hollywood Squares.” Happy to say things worked smoothly the last two weeks after being locked out of a previous meeting. Can’t say that it was a fun night Tuesday night. I was troubled by what I observed to be one of the least civil selectmen’s meetings I have observed in years. As things turned out, the decision of several selectmen to chime in during the “Citizen’s Comments” period at the end of the meeting was a bad look. I’ve seen enough of these meetings to know that selectmen usually don’t participate in these sessions, because they’ve got their own “member’s comments” session. Over the course of four HONORING A FALLEN SAUGUS OFFICER: The sculpture and monument paying tribute to the late Saugus Police Officer Harold Vitale, who was killed in the line of duty 35 years ago yesterday. (Saugus Advocate file photo by Mark E. Vogler) and a half years, I’ve even seen selectmen tell citizens that they couldn’t and wouldn’t respond to “Citizen’s Comments” unless the citizen requested and was approved to be on the agenda. So, it struck me as bad form on Tuesday night when they ganged up on a citizen who made some critical remarks. They should have just let the citizen vent and allow citizen feedback until every citizen who wanted to talk had their chance. At a time where Saugus needs all the help it can get to solve a multitude of problems generated by COVID-19, there’s no need for time allotted for citizen discussion to turn into a contentious debate between citizens and selectmen who disagree with their comments. Granted, nobody likes to be on the receiving end of critical comments. But unless a citizen accuses you of high crimes and misdemeanors, it is usually best to sit back and listen to a citizen’s gripes. After all, we do live in a democracy. A soldier’s reckless tweet You may have heard on the radio recently or read on the Internet or in a newspaper story of how a National Guardsman got disciplined for allegedly making a senseless and highly inflammatory, obscenity-laced comment in a tweet. Let’s clean it up a little bit instead of quoting it directly – words to the effect that he was looking forward to shooting people who were protesting police brutality and racial injustice. These are the kinds of comments that could spark a riot, especially if the guardsman was scheduled to be a part of the crowd control for such a protest. In this week’s “The Advocate Asks,” I asked Staff Sgt. Wesley Santos about the comments. He confirmed an unfortunate incident of that nature happening. And it was actually a guardsman from Saugus, who was identified by name on social media – although news accounts of the incident including quotes from the National Guard do not name the soldier. Because the National Guard hasn’t publicly named him and he hasn’t been officially charged with a crime, we decided it would be best to refer to the incident without mentioning the individual’s name or quoting his profane text. It’s not a good look for the National Guard, the soldier or his hometown as the comments were hurtful, offensive and unbecoming of somebody who is licensed to carry a gun. One more week of Grab-N-Go meals Julie Cicolini, a member of the Board of Directors for Healthy Students-Healthy Saugus (HS2), wants to make sure people in the community are aware that the program will be ending for the summer months soon. “Healthy Students-Healthy Saugus would like to inform the Town that the last day for Grab-N-Go meals and HS2 bags will be on Monday June 22nd. This coincides with the end of the school year. “We understand that families will continue to need supplemental food service. The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry is available to assist. “The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry assists anyone in need as a regular client, once in a while or one time emergency assistance. “They are located at the Cliftondale Congressional Church, 50 Essex Street. “Anyone can come during regular business hours on Fridays 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM to register. If anyone feels they may not qualify, but are experiencing financial strain, they still may apply for temporary assistance. “Massachusetts also provides funds to families that qualify for free or reduced school meals. For more information on the Pandemic EBT program (P-EBT) benefits, please visit www.map-ebt.org. “If you need any assistance with locating a food service this summer please email hs2information@gmail.com or go to the Healthy StudentsHealthy Saugus Facebook page.” Food drop-off tomorrow “The Town of Saugus, organized by the Board of Selectmen, has scheduled a second drop-off food and necessities drive to benefit the Saugus Senior Center and the Saugus Food Pantry, tomorrow (Saturday, June 20) from 10 a.m. to noon at the Saugus Senior Center, 466 Central St. “All items are appreciated but items that are most needed are small individual boxes of cereal as well as full size boxes of cereal, oatmeal, canned fruit, bread, canned tuna fish, soup, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, toilet paper, sanitizer, shelf stable milk, snacks/crackers, peanut butter, jelly, canned vegetables, canned spaghetti sauce, pasta and macaroni and cheese.” Food Pantry still open The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry will continue to remain open on Fridays between 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. despite concerns over the Coronavirus. But they have made adjustments to protect their core of volunteers and the needy people who receive the food. “For the protection of our volunteers & clients, and to limit personal contact & crowding/gathering, the food pantry has been distributing prebagged groceries,” says Wendy Reed, Clerk of the Saugus Board of Selectmen, who also oversees the operation of the SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 15
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