THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, NOVEmbEr 8, 2024 Page 15 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good morning, Saugus Today begins a three-day holiday weekend, ending Monday with the celebration of Veterans Day – a day in which we honor all of those Americans who have served in our country’s Armed Forces. Saugus, like most communities across America, will pause to honor and express appreciation to its living and departed veterans. If you are a proud Saugus resident who is very patriotic, and you are free on Monday (Nov. 11) morning, head down to Veterans Park, at the corner of Winter and Central Streets, where the Saugus Veterans Council will host a Veterans Day ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. It will be a simple ceremony with a keynote speaker, some prayers and a gathering of proud hometown veterans. We might see some local World War II U.S. Army reenactors on hand. Retired and active servicemen and women and their families will converge on Veterans Park, which is dedicated to the memory of all Saugus veterans. And at about the same time, there will be a Field of Flags planted on the front lawn outside Saugus Town Hall – courtesy of the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This will mark the Fourth Annual Veterans Day Field of Flags organized by the hometown DAR. Election Nights were always special As I look back on my half-century career as a newspaper reporter/editor, I have some fond memories of covering local elections in various communities where I worked. It was always a fun and exciting night, where everybody in the newsroom had a role, whether it be exit interviews at the polls or going to candidate post-election parties for a quote, or helping to compile charts with the results or monitoring the wire service stories about state and national reThe annual Field of Flags on the Town Hall lawn was put up this week by the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Individuals sponsored flags in memory or in honor of individual veterans. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) sults. Presidential elections, of course, were the most interesting ones to cover. In most of the newsrooms of the daily newspapers where I worked, the paper usually sprang for some pizza – and often a lot more than was necessary. On most election nights, there was plenty to share with the guys (and sometimes girls) in the Sports Department. And if there was anybody still working in the morning, there was no need to go out for breakfast. Thencold pizza went fine with a cup of coffee or a glass of orange juice. Sometimes there would be pizza waiting to be eaten for reporters who walked into the newsroom the day after election night. Believe it or not, I’ve been blamed or credited – depending on one’s perspective – with costing local politicians the election because of stories I wrote during the campaign. When I was a reporter at The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, a Lawrence City Council candidate grabbed me by the lapel and f-bombed me at least 15 times, disparaging me in a not-so-lady-like way and telling me that I was the reason why she lost the election. During my days as a weekly newspaper editor on Nantucket, I wrote an editorial about the selectmen’s race and criticized an incumbent selectwoman for being in a potential conflict of interest situation by dating the town Finance Director. She lost the election by a small margin and blamed me for ruining her political career on the island. While a reporter covering Lake County government in Florida, I had written a series of investigative stories critical of the Sheriff’s Department. The sheriff blamed me for losing the election. The new sheriff was obviously happy about the stories. As far as this year’s election in Saugus, I’m writing this column as some early election results come in. But without a meaningful local election race on the Saugus ballot, there wasn’t much to cover this year. My main focus once the election numbers come in from the Saugus Town Clerk’s Office will be whether former President Donald Trump and the Republicans carry Saugus or whether Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats win the Saugus vote. The frustrating thing is that as I head toward my newspaper deadline the presidential election results may not yet be determined by the time my deadline passes. Stay tuned. MEG’S Christmas Tree Festival begins today The MEG Foundation’s 2024 Christmas Tree Festival will open today (Friday, Nov. 8) from 3-8 p.m. and continue tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 9) from 3 to 8 p.m.; Sunday (Nov. 10) from noon to 5 p.m.; Friday (Nov. 15) from 3 to 8 p.m.; and Sunday (Nov. 16) from 3 to 8 p.m. If you want to see some neat trees and get into the holiday spirit a few weeks early, this is a fun family event that will be hosted at the historic MEG Building at 54-58 Essex St. A new Saugus Advocate deadline There are changes going on in the production process of The Saugus Advocate, the town’s only exclusively Saugus newspaper, which is delivered to locations all over town on Fridays. I won’t bore you with the details, other than to tell you that I have to make adjustments in how I do my job to make sure the paper gets out on time. My deadlines have been moved up. So, if you have an announcement, news item or notice that you want to submit for the Friday paper, it’s best to email it to me at mvoge@comcast.net by Tuesday night. Food Pantry notes The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry will be open today (Friday, Nov. 8) from 9:30-11 a.m. at 50 Essex St. in the basement of Cliftondale Congregational Church. The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry welcomes all neighbors facing food insecurity. If you are able to donate to the food pantry, you can also stop by during those hours or drop donations off at the Saugus Public Library during THE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 16
16 Publizr Home