THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, JUly 11, 2025 Page 13 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good morning, Saugus We’re in the dog days of summer, and I can hardly wait for Autumn, when it’s a lot cooler and I can go to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro with my brother to watch the New England Patriots play NFL football. Seriously, I do love tending to my marigold garden during the summer months and also enjoy my one-hour workouts in the backyard, mowing the lawn over a rough terrain with a mechanical Scotts push mower. And I find time to do some fun things, like enjoy a cookout on my charcoal grill or enjoy some serious grilling at my longtime photo buddy David Spink at his home in Cambridge. David, by the way, shares my interest in Saugus, as he once covered the town when he was photographer and reporter at North Shore Sunday. We were former co-workers at the oncegreat, free circulation magazinish tabloid weekly that covered 11 cities and towns on the North Shore, including Saugus. I covered Saugus for five and a half years during my time at North Shore Sunday. David, by the way, reads every issue of The Saugus Advocate. I often consult with him when it comes to deciding which photo is best for our front page. And he will frequently offer a journalistic critique, telling what he liked or didn’t like about the paper while offering some suggestions for future stories. David is a great writer, a super photographer and tremendous friend who shares my passion for local journalism. He’s long retired from the newspaper business and his enjoying his retirement years with his lovely wife Eileen. Any way, some people say I should have retired years ago. But at age 72, I still find great enjoyment putting out this little weekly newspaper. It keeps me busy and keeps my cognitive skills sharp. Funny thing, though, if I were working for a daily newspaper, there’s no way I would be covering Saugus for shouldn’t be.” “Well Bob,” I told him. “That’s the way it is. Some of the folks in this chamber don’t like newspapers.” 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 a photo. SUNDAY’S BEST BET: If you enjoy admiring antique and classic cars while also contributing to a great cause, plan on attending “Moms Cancer Fighting Angels 11th Annual Car Show,” which is set for Sunday (July 13) at the Saugus Middle-High School from 4 to 8 p.m. (Courtesy Photo to The Saugus Advocate). as long as I’ve been The Saugus Advocate editor. It will be 10 years next March. I would have been promoted. As an example, during my 18 years at The (Lawrence) Eagle-Tribune, I enjoyed covering City Hall and the City of Lawrence. But I wound up getting various promotions: to court reporter, education reporter, columnist, investigative reporter and weekend news editor. When you work on a weekly newspaper and decide to stick around, you develop longevity on the beat and develop continuity in the coverage. But on a daily newspaper, editors switch people around to more challenging jobs if they do good work. Also, editors think it’s a good thing to switch beats periodically to keep reporters fresh and reduce the chances of them getting lazy or too close to the people they cover so that their impartiality is compromised. In Saugus, I don’t really have that problem. For one thing, I haven’t developed many friendships. I don’t live in town and I commute 60 miles roundtrip on days that I cover a meeting or do an interview. I could have retired 10 years ago. But when I saw the opening for covering Saugus for Jim Mitchell and Advocate Newspapers, I jumped at the opportunity. And I tell folks I will continue to be The Saugus Advocate editor for as long as my health and/or the newspaper company’s health holds out. Stay tuned One giant “Shout Out” for Bob Palleschi The great thing about being the Editor of The Saugus Advocate for nine-plus years is that I have enough knowledge of the community that I don’t panic when stories collapse. There’s always something to write about. Like this week, I wanted to do a follow-up story on how the first week went for the town after switching to a new company for trash, recycling and hauling services. Unfortunately, I guess folks at Town Hall were on vacation. I spoke with the recycling director who said that I should talk to the town manager. So, I emailed the town manager. But nobody ever got back to me. I guess I can’t really fault town officials on this one because a lot of folks were on summer vacations this week. So, that story can wait for another week. That’s when I shifted gears to tackle a story on how the town will deal with the passing of Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member Bob Palleschi. He served on several boards. It was actually the “Shout Out” I received last week from Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Jeanie Bartolo that got me going on doing some kind of story about Bob. Of course, I’ve known Bob Palleschi almost as long as I covered Saugus. And I always found him to be positive, respectful of others; but very savvy and knowledgable about financial matters, especially municipal finances – and willing to be quoted, although he was a quiet and reserved man. The last time I spoke with Bob was during the final session of Town Meeting this past spring. I mentioned to him that it was kind of disheartening that after covering 10 Town Meeting sessions in Saugus, probably 30 to 40 percent of the 50 members wanted nothing to do with me. And that some would even act with hostility, saying there was no need for their proceedings to be covered by a newspaper reporter. Some have told me very bluntly, “Get out of my way, I don’t have to talk to you.” Bob Palleschi responded by shaking his head and saying “That shouldn’t be. That A Correction for Pola Andrews I don’t like making mistakes. But when it’s truly obvious to me that I made a mistake, I do corrections. In last week’s paper in a story about Pola Andrews receiving an award from the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials, I incorrectly reported that she attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Philadelphia. I made the mistake of punching the academy name in on the internet to find where it was located. But Pola pointed out that she attended Mt. St. Joseph. But it was her high school in Boston – not Philadelphia. Since readers of the article may have gotten the wrong impression that Pola attended a college preparatory school in Philadelphia, we need to set the record straight. Pola Andrews attended high school in Boston – not Philadelphia. I regret the error. Saugus United Parish Food Pantry today The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry has returned to its normal schedule today (Friday, July 11) from 9:30-11am at 50 Essex St. in the basement of Cliftondale Congregational Church. The food pantry welcomes all neighTHE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 15
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