THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, OCTObEr 16, 2026 Page 13 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good morning, Saugus Hope you had a safe, healthy and happy holiday weekend. I took a mini vacation up in Amherst, Mass., at a charming Airbnb looking out at a farm. It was UMass Homecoming weekend. But I chose to spend it with a handful of fellow alumni from the UMass Class of 1974. I called it a well-needed “chilling out weekend” to recharge my batteries, and I asked my friends not to bother me, as I devoted my time to not worrying about deadlines and other demands of putting out a weekly newspaper. In case you haven’t noticed, there have been a few new bylines cropping up in The Saugus Advocate recently: Aidan DeLange, Siena Gleason and Alex Burns. They are three students from the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program who have been assigned to research, report and write stories for The Advocate under a special partnership between the newspaper and the school. This marks the third consecutive semester that I have worked with students from the BU newsroom. This semester is special, because I get to work with three talented, energetic and ambitious students who are eager to get experience. I will have them through the first week of December when their 14-week course ends. It doesn’t make my work week shorter, because I try to develop story ideas for each of the three students and provide them with local contacts in Saugus government. Their assignments are approved and their stories are edited by an elite team of BU journalism professors that includes Shraddha Chakradhar, Deputy Editor, BU Newsroom, and Meghan Irons, who I worked with earlier this year. Meghan is an award-winning Boston journalist and former investigative reporter for The Boston Globe who did some great work as a member of The Globe’s “Spotlight Team.” To say she’s an accomplished newspaper journalist would be an understatement. These days, she teaches a class called “Reporting in Depth” WEDDING ANNIVERSARY STROLL: Arlene and Eugene Decareau were strolling to the Hammersmith Family Restaurant to sip coffee together and celebrate their 74th Wedding Anniversary on Monday (Oct. 12). Only one-tenth of a percent of married couples ever reach 70 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Happy Anniversary! (Photo courtesy of Joanie Allbee) and mentors students. Shraddha has an extensive background as a science journalist and Editor in the Boston area. During the course of my half-century-plus newspaper journalism career, I have worked with a number of journalism students looking for some firsthand experience and news clips. Given the excellent support and guidance that these students are receiving from BU, I am confident that they will do an excellent job. And I will do whatever I can to share my journalism experience and knowledge of Saugus to help prepare them for their respective professional careers. And yes, these kids are a confident and capable group. They are not too young for the challenge and they deserve the opportunity. I remember that back when I was a 19-year-old junior at UMass-Amherst, I had the opportunity to work as a parttime reporter for The Springfield Union (Mass.) newspaper on weekends, working out of the Northampton bureau. I was able to break a number of frontpage stories and feature articles while finishing my college education. Getting the experience and gathering news clips made my job easier when I graduated from UMass-Amherst. And I expect these three journalism students will benefit as well during their 14 weeks helping to cover Saugus. Saugus United Parish Food Pantry The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry will be open today (Friday, Oct. 16) from 9:30-11 a.m. at 50 Essex St. in the basement of Cliftondale Congregational Church. The food pantry welcomes all neighbors facing food insecurity on Friday mornings. Volunteers are also welcome. Please call the Food Pantry Office at 781-233-2663 or go to the website cliftondalecc.org for details. Basketball continues to be popular Chris Howe from the Saugus Youth Basketball Program reLOOKING BACK: The Decareaus’ Oct. 12, 1952, wedding was held at 7 p.m. on a Friday in Cliftondale United Methodist Church so they could enjoy a long weekend together. Arlene, one of two children, is a 1951 Saugus High School graduate. She played the clarinet as a member of the school’s marching band. Eugene, one of nine children, is a member of the Saugus High Class of 1948. He starred for three years on the school’s football team. They lived in the same neighborhood but didn’t meet until Eugene was in the service. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate) ports that the interest in town for basketball among young kids continues to thrive. “We are releasing our signups next week and the league looks like it will be our biggest one yet,” Howe told The Saugus Advocate this week. “Last year we had over 400 kids in the program between Girls, Boys, and Kindergarten leagues. Right now, we are just under the 100 mark, 98 kids across the program. This was just in 3 days since opening registration!” There’s still plenty of time to register. The deadline is Nov. 14. This week’s “Shout Outs” We received two this week from our readers: The first came from loyal Advocate reader Nancy Sayles: “Fritz White and his energetic team at St. John’s Church, certainly deserve a huge ‘shoutout’ for all their work producing a delicious Roast Beef dinner, last Saturday evening. They worked for days to prepare a restaurant style meal that included homemade roast beef, roasted potatoes, green beans amandine, a huge salad, a roll, and for dessert, homemade apple crisp. This year they added homemade eggplant as an alternative, which was equally delicious. A dining area was set up for two seatings, but we ordered our meals (ahead), to go. Everything we needed was neatly packed and came to us, steaming hot. This team worked very hard and produced a wonderful meal that anyone could enjoy. This is a meal that should not be missed NEXT year! Great job everyone! Thank you.” We received this one from Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Jeanie Bartolo, who contributed the idea for a “Shout Outs” section in this column several years ago and continues to be a prolific contributor: “This ‘Shout Out’ is for the Saugus Senior Center and the Saugus High School Seniors collaborating together for Seniors Helping Seniors Day last Saturday. The young Seniors went to two elSOUNDS | SEE PAGE 14
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