Boston Shuts Out Chicago 2-0                                                                                                                           

                                    Saugonian Asks for Explanation

                                                         The DiOrio debacle continues

                                                                                           Submitted by Paul J. Zermani

Why has the complete story been keep undercover? Yes, there have been intermittent news articles that scratch the surface of the story, but they never seem to answer some of the more important questions. The former superintendent Langlois when questioned would stop short of any real in- depth explanation by throwing out the “personnel issue” statement, thereby ceasing to elaborate on the story. Like wise for the School committee personnel who also seem to acquiesce once they hear “personnel issue” statement. Shouldn’t the School committee, our voted in governing body, have the right to know? Doesn’t Langlois work for the school committee? Do they know, but refuse to discuss? It seems that school personnel, administrators, elected town officials have adopted a “no ask no tell” policy. Whatever happened to transparency in government?

Don’t the parents of Saugus High School students along with the taxpayers have a right to know the exact reason why DiOrio was put on administrative leave and what was determined by audit? If DiOrio was cleared of any criminal wrong doing, and that seems to be the case as the newspaper articles indicate, then why has he not been reinstated as principal? Why is he working in the admin building and at what capacity? What is his rate of pay? Are the taxpayers footing the bill at a rate of pay commensurate with his current duties or at a principal’s rate?

And what about the administrative leave process? Why has he been allowed to go on leave at full compensation while the matter was investigated? Is his time off charged to him or does it get swept under the rug and when he retires or leaves, he is paid for all unused vacation, sick leave, etc. Why was he allowed to seek other job opportunities while on paid leave?

As stated above, there are quite a few unanswered questions that the residents of Saugus have a right to know. It is incumbent on the school committee to address the issues at hand and let the public know what the real story is.

                    Agganis Special Olympics
                 Honors a Very Special Family

                                                 The Agganis Family at a Special Olympics Game 2007

The Agganis Special Olympics was started in 2006 to honor Steve Agganis for the major contribution he made in building World Series Park in Saugus that has become a premier facility for playing baseball. Creating more opportunity for the youth of Saugus to play baseball was always the goal in building the park and Steve has been a major player in making this happen.

Holding a Special Olympics fundraiser each year is a commitment of World Series Park.
Steve’s son Gerry, who is a special needs young man, was the inspiration for Agganis Special Olympics. Gerry, along with his other sons Nikolas and Kosta, who started playing baseball at the park this year, his wife Rena, his parents, sister and brother, in-laws and extended family have been involved in the event every year. The Agganis family has made the event what it is. In the previous years a total of over $130,000 has been raised.

The 8th Annual Agganis Special Olympics Day will take place Saturday, September 14 from 8:30am to 4pm at World Series Park. In addition to the usual softball tournament there’ll be a flag football tournament. Participating in both will be Special Olympics teams from the area. These are both officially sanctioned Special Olympics events. A Special Needs obstacle course will also be conducted. The opening ceremony will take place at 11:30am and will include a parade of athletes and Olympics celebrities.

The main-stage will come alive starting at 12:30pm with the Senior Tones, featuring Howie “Satchmo” Conley. Tom Rosa & Company, the Brady Academy of Irish Dancing, Beat ConnXtionz Dance Company, Slurred Vision Band and the Sons and Daughters of Alexander the Great Greek Dancers will be performing as well. The whole day will take on a festival atmosphere that will include various booths, costumed characters and a large variety of food and drink. Eddie Palladino, announcer for Boston Celtics games, will once again be the master of ceremonies. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. (The Senior Tones will be performing at Prince Restaurant in Saugus July 18 7:30-9:30pm.)

All funds raised will go to support a Saugus chapter of Special Olympics that will be administered by Special Olympics Massachusetts. This will allow any Special Needs person from Saugus to participate in the many sports activities offered by Special Olympics. The Saugus chapter will also be in partnership with the Saugus Public Schools to refer any Special Needs students to the various programs.

Pledges from businesses and individuals can be made prior to that day and will be acknowledged at the event. Anyone who would like to make a monetary pledge can contact Bob Davis at 781-233-4555. Donation checks should be made payable to Special Olympics Massachusetts and mailed to World Series Park 8 Holden Ave. Saugus, MA 01906.

                       The new walking / bike trail on site of the old railroad bed
 
                                A long-time Saugonian sent this picture along with her comments.

It is a joy to walk.. Much credit to those whose vision and work saw it to fruition.. And continued thanks to those who volunteer to maintain the trail.

A few days ago there was a big tree that was teetering dangerously behind the junior high.. As you can see it was promptly removed by the Department of Public Works  after being reported to the Police.

The Boy Scouts and DPW and many other volunteers deserve credit from the many of us who so enjoy it. Thank you all!

                                                  AGENDA
                                        Saugus Board of Selectmen
                                        June 18, 2013 at 7:30 PM
            Town Hall Auditorium, 298 Central Street, Saugus, MA

1. Call to order.
2.) Invited Guests: Hannaford’s Employees
3.) Approval of minutes: May 30; and June 4, 2013
4.) Citizen’s Forum.
5.) Continued hearings: 7:40PM SAHAR Corporation, 173 Main Street for S-2 (From 6/4/13)
Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt, 114 Broadway

7:40 PM Correction to notice printed on: 5/16 & 5/23/13 Saugus Advertiser
SAHAR Corporation d/b/a Auto Excellence Group, for Special Permit (S-2) to allow storage of vehicles for sale, to be located at 173 Main Street. Application is also made for Class II Auto Dealer’s License.


7:50 PM J. Pace & Son Downtown, Inc. d/b/a Rosaria’s, 190 Main Street, Unit B, Joseph Pace, manager, for change in description of licensed premises / alteration by reducing interior seating and including outside seating.


Correspondence
1.) Annual review of Selectmen’s schedule of fees.
2.) Town Clerk re: request for appointment of Poll Workers.
3.) Appointment of Veterans’ Graves Officer.
4.) Town Manager re: information technology agreement between Saugus & Melrose.
5.) Board proposal to change the name of the Cable Commission to the Saugus Cable Advisory Board.
6.) Saugus Youth Soccer re: request for banner.
7.) Selectmen’s proposed meeting schedule.
8.) Ms. Budrose re: land donation of 23 Rear Oak Point Road.
9.) Sully C’s, 168 Broadway re: request to extend hours of operation on Entertainment License.


Manager’s Report
Member’s Motions
Citizen’s Forum

                 A Tree Overshadows Civil War Memorial

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Saugus Board of Selectmen are accepting applications for appointment of Board of Directors for Saugus’ television cable station. These are volunteer / non paid positions for Saugus residents. Those interested may submit letter of interest / resume no later than July 1, 2013 to:

Saugus Board of Selectmen

Saugus Town Hall

298 Central Street, Saugus, MA -01906

                                                                          by Wendy Reed, Clerk BOS

Saugus Fans Love the Bruins

                               Saugus Historical Society Strawberry Festival June 15

                                    What is so rare as a day in June? Then if ever, come...Strawberries!!

On Saturday, June 15 the Saugus Historical Society will hold its annualStrawberry Festival. There will be a craft, plant, and bric-a-brac fair from 8 AM - 2 PM on the Roby School Lawn (facing Main Street) and the grounds of the American Legion Hall beside it (fronting on Taylor Street). See the work of local crafters and find bargains on yard sale items! You will be sure to find some wonderful things. Booklets, historic maps, Saugus postcards, "Welcome to Saugus" magnets, and many more local gifts and souvenirs will be for sale. Many local organizations will be participating, including the Saugus Garden club and the American Legion post.

An artist will be present to paint you or your child on the spot. There will be a silent auction featuring an Underground Railroad wall quilt made by renowned Saugus quilter Marjorie Berkowitch - supporting documents for the quilt include the legends and symbolism surrounding the Underground Railroad squares.

Our delicious old-fashioned Strawberry Shortcake will be served from 10 AM - 2 PM inside the Legion Hall at 44 Taylor Street. The price remains at $4.00 per shortcake. Hot dogs, chips, and soda will also be available.

Across the street at 30 Main Street, there will be an open house at the Saugus Historical Society. The exhibit, "Saugus in the Civil War" will be open, and Len Hart will have his Model A on display as well as his lantern and bottle collection. Visitors will also be able to view Jack Packer's diorama of the Saugus Ironworks.

The event will be held rain or shine.

                                 Saugonian Donald Junkins Pens 'Buster's Book'
 

                                                                                     By Tom Sheehan

Because of our resent Memorial Day Celebration, I have to mention the book compiled by Donald Junkins, a Lynnhurst boy from way back. who compiled Buster’s Book, about all the messages from family and the combat zone between his brother (and others) that went via the mail during the great wars.

Buster’s Book is on Amazon.com as a soft cover and as a Kindle book, and I wrote a review of it that says, “Here is part of our history you’ll not read elsewhere: from Ground Zero, from the warrior’s place in the middle of combat to the hearths at home that bred our warriors. This is a family story of the first order that you will not read elsewhere. Take a month to read it, take two months. Digest it. Know first-hand the midst of combat and the hearth at home where worries are constant interfaces with each day of separation. Junkins, a master poet, a master story teller, becomes a master editor as a compiler of war’s episodes where they inevitably change life.

He brings the vital experiences of Buster’s Book to these pages, from both ends of our wars, with all the emotions from combat zones to kitchen anguish. I have been at both ends. This is an enormous piece of history and all the historians, all the veterans, and all those who carried on at home, for all their wars, ought to read. Here is the basic richness of family life. Junkins’ introduction, as well as his wife’s, is one of the warmest I have read, broad history at the family level, our core, right where history shakes itself loose from fiction and becomes us at our best.

 

A Letter from a Soldier

                                                                       Sunday, November 3, 1917

Somewhere in France

Dear Mother and Father:

Well, dear folks, this is Sunday in France, and I wonder what you all are doing at home now. How I would like to see all your dear faces once more. How is Harold getting on? Keep that little fellow in good health until I return. How I miss him- in fact, all of you!

Warren, I hope is still working and doing his bit to help the family out in their hard struggle to keep things going while this Great War continues. Let us all hope and pray that some day it will end, and then enjoy all the joy and happiness that remain in this world.

News is very scarce over here, and I would appreciate any amount of news you could give about the happenings in and around Everett and Boston. If possible, send the Everett Herald and a Boston paper as often as possible, but don’t put yourself at any extra expense, as I know you need every cent you earn.

Tobacco is another want over here. I have been without it for almost two weeks now so send any amount of it and I will see that you don’t lose anything by it, also reading matter such as magazines and any kind of literature.

Give my regards to Mr. Greenwood of the bible class. We have one Y.M.C.A. here which is doing wonderful work for all the boys over here. My best regards to all of your friends and tell them that I am in the best of health, not having been sick once since leaving Westfield. Of course I have had minor things such as colds and headaches, sore feet, but nothing to speak of.

One more word about the Y.M.C.A. If it wasn’t for them at the present time we would have one hard time getting along in the way of amusements.

Well, how are you, mother? Gee whiz! How I miss you, your warm suppers and the many words of consolation I used to get from you. I can see your peaches and all your preserves on the shelves in the cellar but what is the use of thinking those things – they make you homesick, so amen to those thoughts.

I want to get a letter individually from you all. I hope you haven’t forgotten me. In the first two loads of mail I didn’t receive one letter from any of you, and you can bet I felt pretty blue at the time, hearing all the other names called off and nothing for E.M. Rowe.

Well, I’ll stop now, as I’ve got a cramp in my neck. With love and thoughts always of you all I remain,

Your loving son, Edwin M. Rowe, Co M, 104^th Regiment, A.E.F.

Memorial Day Parade - May 25, 2013

The Saugus Veterans Council, under the direction of Commander Steve Castinetti, paid tribute to and honored all veterans who served in the Military with a Memorial Service at Riverside Cemetery and a Memorial Ceremony at Saugus Town Hall.

 Despite the disappointing weather, many Saugonians and others attended both the services and parade on Saturday to honor those who served and gave their lives so that we can live in freedom.  Public officials in attendance were State Representative Donald Wong, Selectmen Michael Serino, Debra Panetta, Steve Horlick and Julie Mitchell. Also School Committee members Wendy Reed, Corinne Riley and Rick Doucette.  Pastor Bob LeRoe offered both the Invocation and Benediction at the town hall ceremony.
 
Commander Castinetti welcomed everyone. thanked all who contributed to the efforts and read off the names of former veterans who passed recently.  The late Cpl John (Jack) Penney's name was inadvertently left off the list.   

Saugus Veterans Council Commander Steve Castinetti with Logistics Officer Rick Fail

Saugus Police and Fire Departments

Saugus Military Families

Saugus Town Manager Scott Crabtree

Graves Registration Officer Randy Briand with troops

Saugus Lions Club - Charlie Thomas and Mike Murphy

Saugus Girl Scouts

Saugus Boy Scouts

The Fist Congregational Church hosted a breakfast for Norm, a parishioner and Grand Marshall

Finance Officer Frank Manning, Keynote Speaker LCDR Stephen R. Harris,  Grand Marshall Norman Hansen, Operations Officer Arthur Grabowski, and Town Manager Scott Crabtree, and Soloist Victoria Rose Johnson

Soldier and Long Time Saugonian Larry Goyette - World War II

Soloist Victoria Rose Johnson

Taps

Some Familiar Faces of Past Memorial Days

Jack Penney, Fred Quinlan and Ray Defranzo

George Trahan Post 210 and VFW Life Member Mr. Gillis

Mario Fanti and Martha Coombs Fanti

Former Saugus Resident Publishes Novel about Nicaragua

The Good Adventurers, a novel by former Saugus resident Sandra George set in 1991 Nicaragua, tells the story of three courageous women – two from Massachusetts and one Nicaraguan - who forge ahead with life and love within the aftermath of post-war Nicaragua where the cruelty of war and want has impacted their lives.   A blend of fact and fiction, it is based on the experiences of Ms. George, who has traveled and lived in Nicaragua for over 25 years during which time she has witnessed compassion and courage in response to incredible hardships and violence. In 1992 she and her husband were captured and threatened by insurgent bandits near Nicaragua’s border with Honduras.

Published by Open Door Publishers, The Good Adventurers is available or can be ordered at area bookstores.  It is also available in paperback and eBook through the website thegoodadventurers.com, through opendoorpublishers.com and on Amazon.com where it has received excellent reviews.  Ms. George’s Saugus roots extend to her grandparents, the Smith family who lived on Farrington Avenue after they immigrated to the U.S. from Nova Scotia.  A number of relatives still live in Saugus.   Ms. George is currently available for book readings and or signings and can be contacted at thegoodadventurers@gmail.com. 

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