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THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021 Page 11 YEAR IN REVIEW | FROM PAGE 10 vision. The town reports 69 new COVID-19 cases. State Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) credits Selectman Corinne Riley for an idea which enabled Saugus to obtain a $50,000 state grant for crosswalk signs at 10 intersections. Four veteran Saugus firefighters are promoted to lieutenant in a ceremony outside Saugus Town Hall: Steve Seracuse, Robert Johnson, Paul Sullivan and Andrew McDermott. Selectmen seek to name the new school athletic complex after Saugus High School athletic and coaching great Christie Serino, Jr. Saugus looks forward to nighttime baseball as the World Series Park Lighting Fund seeks more donations as the project continues. With 63 new COVID-19 cases, Saugus surpasses the 4,000 mark since the pandemic’s outbreak in March of 2020. Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree provides selectmen with a draft copy of a report on ongoing construction and COVID-19-related modification in all Town of Saugus buildings. WIN Waste Innovations leads a contingent of townspeople in trash pickup at Rumney Marsh Reservation. Ninety-two-year-old Lee Dyment, a Norwegian native, continues to bake angel food cakes 60 years after she came to town. The Town reports 59 new COVID-19 cases. The public questions a quartet of candidates left from the 25 who applied for Saugus school superintendent. For the second year in a row, concerns about COVID-19 force the Annual Town Meeting to be held in an online format rather than in person. The removal of building siding at the corner of Central and Denver Streets reveals an antique sign that gets people discussing a once-popular store – Young’s package and liquor store. The Town reports 40 new COVID-19 cases. Two dozen volunteers break ground for a community garden in the backyard of St. John’s Episcopal Church rectory – to help fight food insecurity in Saugus. May The School Committee reaches inside the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to find the next superintendent to lead Saugus Public Schools: Erin McMahon, the senior advisor to Massachusetts Education Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey C. Riley; the committee votes 4-0 to make McMahon the first woman to oversee the town’s public education system. The Town reports 26 new COVID-19 cases. Town Meeting pays tribute to the late and legendary Sachem sports athlete/Coach Christie Serino, Jr., by voting to name the sports complex near the new Saugus Middle-High School in his honor. Board of Selectmen Vice-Chair Corinne Riley proposes “an open house” that would bring the community together. Saugus officials meet with the state legislative delegation to help Saugus on a wide range of issues beyond the town’s control. Saugus needs a third fire station on the town’s west side, a consultant tells the town. Town Meeting members table financial articles for a lack of information after Precinct 10 Member Peter Manoogian questions whether town funds were properly authorized. The Town reports 16 new COVID-19 cases. Popular retired Saugus Principal Anthony A. Struzziero passes away at 95. St. John’s Episcopal Church’s community garden begins to take root. Town officials rave about the improvements to the Saugus sewer system since state environmental officials cracked down on illegal sewage going to the Saugus River; the town has spent close to $25 million in improvements since the selectmen signed an administrative consent order with the state 16 years ago. For the second year in a row, town officials give the graduating seniors of Saugus High School a special tribute – their photos and names displayed on about 50 banners attached to utility poles around Saugus Center and Cliftondale Square. The School Committee nears a contract settlement with the new superintendent, Erin McMahon, to lead Saugus Public Schools. After more than a year of Saugus Town Hall being closed to the public – except by telephone or special appointment – residents will be able to walk into the historic building unannounced. The Town reports 16 new COVID-19 cases. State Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) supports a bill to provide additional unemployment insurance rate relief to Massachusetts businesses. Memorial Day in Saugus honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice – including Medal of Honor recipient Arthur Frederick DeFranzo, a 25-year-old staff sergeant who sacrificed his own life on a battlefield in France in 1944 to save the lives of fellow soldiers. A Win Waste Innovations official tells the Wheelabrator Subcommittee that the ash landfill near its trash-to-energy plant has enough capacity to last another three and a half years, but adds that the company has expansion hopes at the landfill. Selectmen approved an 8.25 percent increase in sewer rates for the 2022 fiscal year, a $29 annual increase for the average residential user. Pioneer Charter School of Science II wins a prestigious Pozen Prize for Innovative Schools from the Boston Foundation. The Town reports 12 new COVID-19 cases. Town Hall reopens to residents who prefer transacting their municipal business in person and not by appointment or over the telephone. Saugus Catholics Collaborative in-person state restrictions are lifted. The Sixth Annual Mom’s Cancer Fighting Angels/TouchA-Truck event draws hundreds while raising $1,000 to benefit the American Cancer Society Relay For Life at Fuddruckers in Saugus. June The legacy of Saugus High School Class of 2021: the first to graduate from the new Saugus Middle-High School Complex and the last to get their diplomas at Stackpole Field. Eighty-two percent of the Saugus High Class of 2021 plan to embark on four-to-two-year college educations after they receive their diplomas. The School Committee ratifies a five-year contract for Erin McMahon – Saugus’s first woman school superintendent. New economical and environmentally friendly patrol cruisers hit the streets of Saugus. Northeast Metro Tech selects a construction manager for the $317.5 million school project planned for Wakefield. Town Meeting Member Robert Camuso Sr. pleads with selectmen to address the problem of unruly kids riding into oncoming traffic “before somebody gets hurt or killed.” DAV Commander Charlie DiMare gets to watch a Memorial Day ceremony from his hospital room – via video. Young and old honor veterans’ graves with flags for Memorial Day. World War II veteran Lenny Atkinson receives the Saugus High School diploma he didn’t get 78 years ago – when he answered the call to serve his country; he receives a standing ovation as he tips his cap to the 167 Saugus High School graduates during the school’s 150th Commencement exercises – the last graduation ceremony to be held at Stackpole Field. Atkinson, 98, was supposed to be a member of the Saugus High Class of 1943, but he quit school to join the U.S. Navy and serve his country in World War II. Graduation is a joyful affair for Nicholas Austin DiVola, who almost lost his dad to the deadly Coronavirus last year, but Robert DiVola was there with his family to celebrate his son’s success. Outgoing Superintendent David DeRuosi, Jr. gets an interim superintendent’s job in New Hampshire after retiring from Saugus. Annual Town Meeting approves a new budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year that begins July 1. A Somerville man is held without bail after being charged in connection with a fatal head-on collision in Saugus that killed a 19-year-old Lynn woman; police say that William Leger, 35, robbed a convenience store and then drove a stolen vehicle at a high rate of speed the wrong way on Route 107 before the crash that killed Ashley Forward. Saugus selectmen convene in person for the first time after 15 months of hooking up via Zoom videoconferencing to conduct business. Michael Hashem steps down as Saugus High School Principal to become a math teacher again. Brendon Sullivan, the school district’s executive director of curriculum, instruction and accountability, succeeds Hashem as High School Principal. Saugus firefighters Jonathan Crombie and Nicholas Landry graduate from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. COVID-19 cases are on a dramatic decline – only four new cases over the past 10 days. Marc Tuxbury, 48, of Saugus, dies of fatal injuries he received when his car rear ends a transit van in Newburyport. Selectmen tell town resident Margaret O’Neil Lankow they plan to check out her concerns about heavy trucks crossing through Saugus neighborhoods. The School Committee passes a revised budget that makes free allday kindergarten possible. The Cliftondale Revitalization Committee schedules a public forum to get citizen comments on what the town can do to improve “The Square.” WIN Waste Innovations, along with Saugus Public Schools, present “Unsung Hero Awards” to lead school nurse Sandra Moynihan and Whitsons Food Service General Manager Jamie Osgood for their efforts to take care of students and families during the pandemic. More than 250 strawberry shortcakes are sold during the Annual Strawberry Festival. Town Meeting Member Christopher Riley asks selectmen to take action against the 7-Eleven convenience store on Lincoln Avenue for nuisance issues hurting the neighborhood. Saugus distances itself from the pandemic – only three new COVID-19 cases reported during the past week. July Retired architect/engineer Steve Rich offers a new vision for revitalizing Cliftondale Square – get rid of the rotary. Town Meeting Member Joe Vecchione, the chair of the Cliftondale Square Revitalization Committee, shares survey results on what Saugus residents think. Family and friends of the late Richard “Dick” Barry – one of the town’s most beloved public officials – join with Saugus officials and civic leaders for the renaming of the Saugus Senior Center in his honor. Nicole Benton of Saugus is one of four area residents charged by federal agents with producing and trafficking fentanyl. The “Roll to DC” Committee gets a $7,500 donation from WIN Waste Innovations and a commitment for another $7,500 to help pay to send several area veterans to Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2022. State Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) supports legislation that will provide Saugus with $638,779 in road and bridge funding for Fiscal Year 2022. Saugus and Revere will receive an additional $800,000 from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for Route 1 improvements. Saugus nears COVID-19 perfection – only one new case reported. Town officials are considering the rundown site of the former Ballard School as an ideal spot for a dog walk area and also a community garden; the five-person study committee created by a Town Meeting vote schedules a public hearing. Confirmed COVID-19 cases are down to zero – for the first time in 16 months. Saugus DAV Commander Charles R. “Charlie” DiMare, Jr. passes at 89. Saugus resident Tony Barrie – the renowned leader of the Tony Barrie Band – is still making music as he turns 100. Saugus Ironworks staff rescues a snapper from harm’s way. A house blaze that killed two Saugus residents was electrical, a fire probe determines. The deaths of Louis Gallo, 78, and his sister, Rosemarie Naples, 80, were the first fatal fire deaths in Saugus since 2011 when two people died in separate house fires. “Ballard Gardens” is unveiled; neighbors share a green vision of what the old Ballard School grounds could look like several years from now. A WIN Waste Innovations official credits a new silencer system with keeping the noise level down in a recent turbine shutdown. Saugus Catholics Collaborative’s new pastor, Father Jason “Jay” Makos, discusses being “a priest in recovery from alcoholism,” his tattoo, his Boston terrier and first impressions of Saugus. A public health nurse warns peoYEAR IN REVIEW | SEE PAGE 12

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