item staff a year like no other...2020/12/30 · like no other 2020 hindsight: lynn peabody...
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OBITUARIES ..............................A2OPINION ...................................A4POLICE/FIRE .............................A5
LOOK! .......................................A8SPORTS ................................ B1-2COMICS ....................................B4
DIVERSIONS .............................B5CLASSIFIED ........................... B6-7
HIGH 37°LOW 35°PAGE A8
VOL. 142, ISSUE 19$1.50
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
AYEAR LIKENO
OTHER
2020 hindsight:
LYNN
Peabody
COVID-19 engulfed the city
Schools get expansion go-ahead
Changing of the guard
Election was the
hot topic
LYNNFIELD
Revere Salem Saugus
NAHANT
Swampscott
By Thor JourgensenITEM STAFF
LYNN — COVID-19 thrust the city into the state-designat-ed “high-risk” red zone for esca-lating case rates even as local of� cials worked throughout the year to channel state and federal money into small business own-ers’ hands.
Entrepreneurs, in return, reached out to help the commu-nity with sign makers Obed and Maribel Matul preparing school study packets for students ma-rooned at home by spring school closings.
City Councilors and other res-
By Anne Marie TobinITEM STAFF
LYNNFIELD — Residents vot-ed to spend $17 million toward the end of 2020 to expand the two elementary schools to ease burgeoning enrollment; upgrade traf� c patterns/parking and add a new playground/play space at the Summer Street School.
On Dec. 8, the � nal vote at a special election was 1316-648 (67 percent voted in favor). The project will cost taxpayers $205 on average for the next 20 years. The vote came on the heels of a Nov. 21 Special Town Meeting vote to approve the projects.
MARBLEHEAD
By Thor JourgensenITEM STAFF
MARBLEHEAD — School Committee incumbent Jennifer A. Schaeffner’s loss in the June town election spelled an upset on a night that saw Pond Street resident Emily L. Barron win-ning a committee seat and com-mitteewoman Sarah Jane Gold winning reelection.
Board of Selectmen incum-bents Jackie Belf-Becker, Moses Grader, Judith R. Jacobi and James E. Nye won re-election with Jacobi topping the ticket with 3,063 votes and board new-comer David Depew received 2,507 votes.
By Elyse CarmosinoITEM STAFF
NAHANT — An especially heated election in June proved that 2020 was an exciting year for Nahant politics.
Eugene Canty won his seat on the town’s Board of Selectmen by a mere three votes over compet-itor David Walsh, resulting in a recount for what was ultimately declared the closest Board of Se-lectmen race in Nahant history.
“I � gured it would be a close race, not just because of the Northeastern University issue, but because there are other is-sues in town that need to be addressed,” a surprised Walsh
By Guthrie ScrimgeourITEM STAFF
SWAMPSCOTT — All the ani-mosity of this year’s contentious election visited the small town of Swampscott each Thursday in the form of former radio host Dianna Ploss’ pro-Trump “Free-dom Rally.”
The rally, which began in April as a protest against Governor Baker’s COVID-19 restrictions soon morphed into a weekly event where the Trump support-ers and a group of counter-pro-testers would face off on oppos-ing sides of Monument Square.
Notable about the rallies was the racist imagery and language some-times used by Trump supporters.
By Elyse CarmosinoITEM STAFF
SAUGUS — Like all other communities, COVID-19 reared its head in Saugus in a big way, as the town teetered back and forth between red and yellow in Gov. Charlie Baker’s color-coded map that illustrated the danger of the virus spreading.
Its classi� cation as a red town came often enough over the course of the latter half of the year that the schools remained closed — something that hurt even more since the town was all set to open a new Middle-High school that it has spent years planning for before � nally � n-ishing it.
By Guthrie ScrimgeourITEM STAFF
SALEM — It was a quiet Hal-loween season in Salem this year as the city took several measures to dissuade tourism and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Mayor Kim Driscoll prohibited MBTA trains from stopping in Salem on certain days leading up to Halloween and requested that businesses close at 8 p.m. in the weeks leading up to Hallow-een, and made this request man-datory on Halloween night.
They also tripled � nes on Halloween for all violations of COVID-19 protocols around town.
These measures severely limited
By Thor JourgensenITEM STAFF
REVERE — It was a year that saw a bullhorn-toting mayor pa-trol Revere Beach; a movie pal-ace on the brink of going bust and a brash politician trading the City Council for the state Legislature.
COVID-19 case rates in Revere skyrocketed in the pandemic’s � rst week with eight initially re-ported and 140 cases the follow-ing week. People � ocking to Re-vere’s sandy seaside playground on March 28 were greeted by Mayor Brian Arrigo patrolling Revere Beach Boulevard in a city van, working loud and hard to bring the pandemic’s reality
By Anne Marie TobinITEM STAFF
PEABODY — As 2020 draws to a close, about 90 percent of the 221 deaths in the city as of Dec. 28 were persons aged 70 and up with approximately 73 percent in the 80 and up group.
Sadly, while the average age of persons contracting the virus has ranged between about 37 to 43 years since July, the number of deaths among those living in long-term care facilities contin-ues to account for more than 80 percent of all deaths in the city.
Nonetheless, Peabody Health Director Sharon Cameron says there is good reason to feel op-timistic.
Mayor caught
attention
‘There is room for
optimism’
Halloween de� nitely no treat
The town saw red
and yellow
Battlelines on
the beach
INSIDE Three-car crash ties up Lynnway: A2 • Nahant polar plunge canceled: A3 • A SURE thing in Swampscott: A3
LYNN, A6 LYNNFIELD, A5 MARBLEHEAD, A6 NAHANT, A5
SWAMPSCOTT, A5SAUGUS, A5SALEM, A6REVERE, A6PEABODY, A5
ITEM PHOTO | OLIVIA FALCIGNO
Cars lined up for the Salva-tion Army food distribution in Lynn.
ITEM PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Registered nurse Michele Hnath of Peabody received the P� zer vaccine from Tiffany Diaz Bercy.
PHOTO | OLIVIA FALCIGNO
The Showcase Cinemas in Re-vere were sold and may become an Amazon facility.
PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Because of COVID-19, there was a skeleton crew in Salem for Halloween.
PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Saugus High Principal Michael Hashem signs the � nal beam for the Middle-High School.
PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Critics and supporters of Presi-dent Trump gather along Hum-phrey Street in Swampscott.
ITEM PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Shaia Donahue, supports the expansion of Huckleberry Hill and Summer Street schools.
COURTESY PHOTO
Peter Jackson of Marblehead took part in the Moderna vac-cine study.
ITEM PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Susan Solomon protests the planned expansion of North-eastern’s Marine Science Center.
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In loving memory of Mildred and Ed Cahill from Eileen, Ellen, Kate and Ed Cahill, $1,000
In memory of Melissa M. Mon-teiro. Love, Woody, Tyla, Mom, Maddie, Aniyjah, Anthony II and Anthony III, $150
In memory of Julie and Edward Cole from Mary Ellen & Edware Cole, $100
Stephen and Nancy Smith, $500Anonymous, $50In loving memory of Gretchen
Ludwig who is forever young from Sue & Ed Calnan, $100
Anonymous, $25In honor of Joan Demakis and
Stefan Papa Constantinou from Tom & Debbie Demakis, $200
In memory of Michael Duffy. Love, Ma, $40
“There’ll be no tears in heav-en.” In memory of my Mom, Dad & sister, $200
In loving memory of Lillian & John Scully and Ann & George Grafton, $100
In loving memory of Michael C. Kuzmin, Sr. Merry Christmas. Love, Elaine, Michael, Jr and Matthew, $100
In memory of my father Rich-ard Nygren and brothers David & Peter Nygren from Helen Smith, $50
Mr. & Mrs. John Matheson, $100
Anonymous, $25In memory of our Jennifer
“Weedy” Mower with love from Dad, Arlene, Karen and Keith -
XXXXOOOO, $100In memory of Anthony Rizzo,
Jr., $20Maureen Ferrari and Family,
$25In memory of our daughter,
Leanne from Cathy & George Raymond, $50
In memory of our parents, Wil-liam & Alice Raymond, $25
In memory of our parents, Alice & Wilfred Belliveau from Cathy & George Raymond, $25
Fourth Degree Knights of Co-lumbus - Lynn, $100
In memory of Jacky from Na-dia of E., $25
Today’s Total, $2,960Previous Total, $59,724Grand Total, $62,684
By Gayla CawleyITEM STAFF
Lynn reported a large spike in coronavirus cases and an additional death, while new cases were also reported in Re-vere Tuesday.
In Lynn, 171 new cases were reported to bring the city’s caseload to 11,126.
Of that total, 1,821 cas-es are active in Lynn, 154 people have died, and 9,151 have recovered from the virus, according to city data.
Revere reported 34 new cases to bring the city’s caseload to 6,667. The city’s death toll is 121, according to the city website.
An additional death
was reported in Lyn-nfield to bring the town’s death toll to 19. The town’s caseload re-mained the same at 659.
Numbers remained the same in Nahant (133 cas-es, six deaths) and were not updated in Marble-head, Peabody, Saugus or Swampscott.
As of Monday, Mar-blehead had 653 cases and 31 deaths, Peabody had 3,907 cases and 228 deaths, and Swampscott had 550 cases and 11 deaths. Saugus (2,138 cases, 48 deaths) has not provided updat-ed numbers since last Thursday.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley
A2 THE DAILY ITEM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
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IN MEMORIAMJOSEPH MODUGNO
1931 ~ DECEMBER 30 ~ 2020Although we gaze sadly at yourempty chair, your fond memorieswill always be here.
Happy birthday, Bappy.Love, your wife Mary, your children,
grandchildren, andgreat-grandchildren
WAKEFIELD - Mary Donigian, 90 years, of Wakefield, formerly of Lynn and Saugus died Friday Dec. 25th at Brightview Senior Living after a brief illness. She was the wife of the late Walter V. Donigian, with whom she shared 65 years of marriage.
Born in Peabody she was the daughter of the late Yegia and Yevniga (Menizigian) Magarian. Mary attended Lynn schools and graduated from Lynn En-glish High School, Class of 1949. Along with her husband Walter she owned and oper-ated Magarian Rug Company on Essex St. in Lynn for over 60 years until they closed the business in 2005. She enjoyed traveling and going on cruises with her family.
Mary is survived by one son Steven and his wife Robin of Wakefield, one daughter Susan Donigian-Smith of Mansfield, five grandchildren Lindsay and her husband Jim Censabella of Milbury, Laura and her hus-band Derek Holland of Dracut, Julia Donigian of Wakefield, Melissa Smith of New York City and Matthew and his wife LeeAnn Smith of Charlotte, NC, two great grandchildren Caden and Parker Censabella, one
neice Amy Guzelian, and one nephew Mark Kizirian. She was also sister of the late Florence Magarian.
Service Information: Pri-vate funeral services were held at the Parker Funeral Home 35 Franklin St. Lynn, burial followed in Pine Grove Cemetery. Please make me-morial donations in Mary’s name to the Children of Armenia Fund 149 5th Ave. Suite 500, New York, NY 10010. Guest book at park-ermemorialfuneralhome.com
Mary Donigian, 901930 - 2020
LYNN, MA - George C. Koutsis, age 99, of Lynn, died peaceful-ly on Thursday, December 24, 2020 at the Phillip’s Manor Nursing Home, following a brief illness. He was the beloved husband of Mary (Bollanis) Koutsis with whom he shared over 71 years of marriage. Born on Christmas Day in Alev-rou, Sparta, Greece, he was the son of the late Athanasios and Sophia (Terzopoulos) Kout-sis. At the age of 12, he im-migrated to the United States with his family. He was raised and educated in Lynn and graduated from Lynn Classical High School in 1940. George enlisted in the United States Navy, proudly serving during World War II and was honorably discharged 1945. He work as a salesman for J.J. Nissen Bakeries in Lynn for many years until his retirement. He was an active member of St. George Greek Orthodox Church and proud member of the Freema-sons, Mount Carmel Lodge A.F. & A.M., Lynn. He enjoyed trav-eling and took many trips over-sees to Greece and many other destinations. He loved garden-ing, dancing and watching and collecting Western Movies. He met his wife Mary at the former Wonderland Ballroom, married in October of 1949 and was a loving father and Papou.
In addition to his wife, George is survived by his lov-ing children, Ellen Dobi and her husband Ernest of Billeri-ca, Arthur Koutsis of Lynn and Steven Koutsis and his wife Maude of Chevy Chase, MD; his adoring grandchildren, Christopher Dobi and his wife Sara, Katherine Dobi, Michael Dobi and Melina Koutsis; his cherished great-grandchil-dren, Amelia and Natalie and his many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews,
great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews. He was the brother of the late Nicholas Koutsis, Mary Antoniou, Pota Poulos and Polly Zobolis.
Service Information: A Pri-vate Funeral Service will be held in St. George Greek Or-thodox Church, Lynn. Burial will be in Pine Grove Ceme-tery, Lynn. Visiting hours will be held on Sunday, January 3, 2021 in the SOLIMINE FU-NERAL HOME, 426 Broadway (Rt. 129), Lynn from 3-5p.m. Relatives and friends are re-spectfully invited to attend and are required to adhere to the guidelines of the CDC, the State of Massachu-setts and the Local Board of Health, which allows up to 25 family and friends in the funeral home at a time and all are required to wear a face covering and practice social distancing. Donations in his memory may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Directions and online guest-book for family and friends to offer condolences at www.solimine.com
George C. Koutsis, 991920 - 2020
Lynn reports a spike of171 new
virus cases
Lynnway crash injures pedestrianBy Thor Jourgensen
and Gayla CawleyITEM STAFF
LYNN — An accident Tuesday afternoon on the Lynnway left a 46-year-old Cambridge man who was waiting for a bus with a serious leg injury, ac-cording to reports.
Police Lt. Michael Kmiec said initial reports from re-sponding of� cers indicated a vehicle pulling out of the lot at 777 Lynnway struck, or was struck, by a vehicle traveling on the road. The vehicle that was struck was shoved back by the impact, hitting a third ve-hicle. One of the two vehi-cles, Kmiec said, struck the man waiting for the bus, and who sustained minor injuries. He was transport-ed to Massachusetts Gen-eral Hospital at about 1:45 p.m., Kmiec said.
State Police spokesman David Procopio said the three vehicles involved in the crash included a 2019 Nissan Altima driven by a 24-year-old Revere man; a 2015 Hyundai Sona-ta, driven by a 72-year-old Danvers man with a 70-year-old Danvers wom-an as a passenger; and a 2000 Chevrolet Impala driven by a 23-year-old
Ashland man.The Danvers man was
taken to Salem Hospital with possible injuries, but all other vehicle occupants had no apparent injuries, Procopio said.
Allisa King of Lynn said she saw the accident’s af-termath and said the man waiting for a bus appeared to have sustained a leg in-jury.
Phil, the 23-year-old in-
volved in the crash who declined to give his last name, said he was stopped at a red light near the Pride Hyundai dealership when he was struck.
“I was sitting at the red light and the next thing you know, two cars hit me from behind,” he said. “I look up and the next you know, I’m getting pushed by the two cars.”
He said the Impala he
was driving was totaled.“It kind of (stinks). Now
I have to get a car,” he add-ed.
The crash backed up Lynnway traf� c but the scene was cleared within the hour. The crash is un-der investigation.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected]. Gayla Caw-ley can be reached at [email protected].
ITEM PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
An ambulance transporting a person injured in a three-car crash, which left a pedestrian waiting for a bus with a serious leg injury, makes its way past the scene in front of Pride Hyundai on the Lynnway on Tues-day afternoon.
MIDDLETON, MA - On Mon-day, December 21, 2020, Frederick J. Dougherty passed away peacefully in his home at the age of 90 in the company of his children. Fred shared 63 years of marriage with his wife Joan who recently passed away.
Fred is survived by four chil-dren Charlotte Inman of Mid-dleton, Frederick Dougherty of Middleton, Trudy Kiley of Ames-bury and Rachel Crosscup of Middleton. Nine grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and neph-ews. The couple was prede-ceased by a daughter Laura.
Fred was raised in Lynn, Massachu-setts-the youngest of 7 children. He was a well-known, popular presence in the town of Middleton where he resided for over 50 years. Fred was honor-ably discharged after faithfully performing his duties in the United States Army during the Korean War where he served in Japan. Using the machinist skills and training he received in the military Fred went on to realize a life-long career as an accomplished machinist. He climbed the ranks at the Pola-roid Corporation from machin-ist to research development and ultimately mechanical engineering. He retired from
Polaroid as an engi-neering supervisor in 1980 and then opened FJ Dougherty Machine, Inc.
Fred enjoyed listen-ing to Baseball on the
radio. And, together, with his wife Joan he never missed a televised Bruins game. “Good, Better, Best. Never Take a Rest. Until the good is better and the better is best”.
At Fred’s request, there will be no services. Donations in his memory may be made to The Middleton Council on Ag-ing, P.O. Box 855, Middleton, MA 01949. Assisting the family is the Mackey Funeral Home. To share a condolence, kindly visit www.mackeyfuneralhome.com.
Frederick J. Dougherty, 90
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By Guthrie Scrimgeour
ITEM STAFF
LYNN — Four Lynn groups have received New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Spatial Justice grants as part of a program designed to support artists imagining and creating more welcoming public spac-es.
“As we reckon with com-plex histories and continued legacies of racism and white supremacy culture, we refo-cused our public art grant-making towards spatial justice,” said Kim Szeto the NEFA public art program director. “Public art has the ability and responsibility to creatively engage import-ant and timely conversa-tions, bring healing to space and place, and foster public imagination for a more just version of what is possible.”
Lynn Museum/Lyn-nArts, in collaboration with the Creative Collec-tive, received a Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grant for $5,000.
Lynn Museum/LynnArts and Creative Collective are working with three Lynn black, indigenous and peo-ple of color (BIPOC) artists to facilitate a series of con-versations about some of the struggles that minori-ty artists face.
“Lack of representa-tion, lack of opportunity, financial resources,” said Doneeca Thurston, the Di-rector at Lynn Museum/LynnArts. “We’re really trying to figure out what the barriers are when it comes to BIPOC artists in the area.”
They also plan to create a database of BIPOC art-ists in the North Shore.
“There’s a lot of great art and artists in Lynn but we don’t necessarily know who they are and where they reside,” said Thur-ston. “Part of this grant is to highlight the artists in the Lynn community and find an opportunity to showcase their work.”
Lynn artists Tara Agaba
and Estrella Diaz also re-ceived a Collective Imagi-nation for Spatial Justice grant to support a project exploring the concept of rest.
Cinda Danh and Mi-chael Aghahowa were awarded a Public Art for Spatial Justice grant of $10,000.
“We are thrilled to have re-ceived the NEFA Public Art for Spatial Justice grant. We feel honored to repre-sent our community by us-ing our art as a catalyst for change. What makes Lynn beautiful is it’s residents and it’s rich history,” wrote Danh and Aghahowa.
The pair, both born and raised in Lynn, will be working in collaboration with Ernie’s Harvest Time and Food Project employ-ees to create a wraparound mural at the Ernie’s build-ing.
“Ernie’s is a part of that history and this mural is highlighting exactly that. We are community mem-bers, supporting a small business, (who are) work-ing in conjunction with The Food Project that sup-plies our community with a healthy and accessible food system. This is a mu-ral for Lynn by Lynn.”
Raw Art Works also re-ceived a $10,000 Public Art for Spatial Justice grant to support a project called “Love Letters to Lynn,” in which young artists will exchange letters and con-vert these conversations into a public arts display.
Additionally, the City of Salem received a $5,000 grant to educate the commu-nity about Charlotte Forten — a poet, educator, abolition-ist, and the first black wom-an to graduate from Salem State University.
In total, NEFA provided $264,000 in grants to 33 artists around the region.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020 THE DAILY ITEM A3
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Lynn artists receive New England
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By Gayla Cawley ITEM STAFF
LYNN — Some neigh-bors are not pleased that the Procopio Companies gave four large trees the axe to make room for their planned residential devel-opment in Central Square.
One Lynn resident, Soraya Cacici, claims that the Central Square trees were removed before proper public notice was provided by the city and development team, the Procopio Companies.
Cacici said the trees were taken down by the city’s Department of Pub-lic Works Wednesday, Dec. 16, at the request of the Procopio Companies for a residential development that will be built in Cen-tral Square.
“To say that I am abso-lutely appalled that zero community outreach was done in advance by either Procopio or the city is an un-derstatement,” said Cacici. “On top of that, public notice was not properly followed.”
However, Michael Pro-copio, vice-president of the Procopio Companies, said his company followed the rules, which include filing for permission with the Planning Board, attend-ing the scheduled public hearing on Dec. 8, and receiving permission to remove the trees at that same meeting.
“From our perspective, we followed the rules,” said Procopio. “There was a public hearing, no one spoke in opposition, and we were given approval to remove them. They will be replaced.”
According to the public notice for the Dec. 8 Plan-ning Board meeting, a tree hearing was scheduled regarding the application of Kevin Procopio, of the Procopio Companies, “for approval to remove four public shade trees on 40 Central Ave. and two public shade trees from 510 Wash-ington St. in Lynn, Mass.
“The trees will be re-placed upon completion of the proposed development of this property and com-pletion of the building,” the notice said.
Cacici said she takes is-sue with what she called a lack of proper notice and the language of the notice itself, which she said should have specified the size and type of trees that would be dis-cussed at the public hearing.
“These were not small shade trees,” said Cacici. “They were big, glorious, old, healthy trees — the only ones in our blighted neighborhood of this size.
We are unlikely to see this kind of growth in our life-times, even with the new trees that Procopio intends to plant post-construction.”
She added, “These trees posed zero hazard to the public, only an inconve-nience to Procopio’s new development, which they should have figured out a way to work around.
“I am sick to my stomach that the tree warden and city approved this. It’s dis-gusting.”
In addition, Cacici claims that public notices were not posted at least seven days before the tree hear-ing that was scheduled to be held during the Dec. 8 Planning Board meeting. If neighbors had been no-tified, she said residents of the neighborhood would have likely spoken in oppo-sition during the meeting.
“I live just one block away and walk by those trees almost daily, so I, for one, certainly would have spo-ken out in opposition at the meeting and encouraged my neighbors to do the same,” said Cacici. “Expecting a small legal notice in the pa-per and on the city’s website to do an effective job of bring-ing this to the community’s attention is not good enough.
“What a gross oversight of public process,” she said, noting that two city coun-cilors, including Dianna Chakoutis, the ward coun-cilor for the downtown, told her that the City Council was not aware of the planned tree removal.
Chakoutis said she did happen to miss the notice, but noted that it was adver-tised in The Item and the development team followed the legal process, such as going through the tree war-den and DPW before the
trees were removed. Neighbors have been
concerned that they were not notified that the trees were coming down, said Chakoutis, noting that residents have questioned why the developers were cutting down healthy trees when there are not many trees in downtown Lynn.
Chakoutis said she has spoken with Michael Pro-copio about the issue, but plans to speak further with the Procopios follow-ing the Jan. 1 holiday.
“We are getting to the bot-tom of it,” said Chakoutis. “It was done legally. I am going to work with them once they’re back from va-cation and see exactly what they’re going to do with the trees once they’re done with the project.”
Procopio said the trees were removed because there was no way to protect them during construction. The development team plans to build a 10-sto-ry building at 40 Central Square, which will include more than 300 units and a restaurant and retail on the first floor.
Construction of the $110 million development, which will front Central
Square and Washington Street, is expected to begin this spring and be com-pleted within 26 months from the start date.
Procopio said he knows that neighbors are “all up in arms” about the tree remov-al, but he said the devel-opment team has “tried to smooth over what” it could.
For example, Procopio said the development team has offered to reimburse peo-ple whose cars were towed during the tree removal pro-cess, and has promised to do better in terms of communi-cation with neighbors in the future.
“We never like taking trees if we don’t have to — especially those ones, as they were really nice and old growth — but in this case, there just wasn’t a viable option to preserve them,” said Procopio.
“We try hard to be good neighbors, and in this case, the communication seems to have fallen apart. We prom-ised we could do better about keeping them informed and not just (being) reliant on the public notices.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley
Lynn neighbors throw shade on tree removal
S.U.R.E. book club celebrates diversityBy GuthrieScrimgeour
ITEM STAFF
SWAMPSCOTT — This year, the Swampscott Unites Respects and Em-braces Diversity Commit-tee (SURE) has partnered with the Swampscott Li-brary to launch One Top-ic, One Town, a year-long reading group focused on dismantling racism and cel-ebrating diversity.
Community members and SURE members have read five books as part of the program. They include “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” by Ibram X. Kendi; “Just Mercy,” by Bryan Stevenson; “Home-going,” by Yaa Gyasi; “Un-derground Railroad,” by Colson Whitehead; and “Roll of Thunder, Hear Me Cry,” by Mildred Taylor.
“Diversity doesn’t just mean color,” says Keli Khatib, co-chair and co-founder of SURE, an or-ganization created in 2016 to acknowledge all aspects of human diversity.
“People look at Swamp-scott and see mostly white faces. And they often say there’s no diversity. And that isn’t true. Diversity means age, abilities, where you’re from, socio-economic status.”
Khatib embodies this com-plicated view of diversity. She is from West Virginia, her husband is from Syria, and her family is Muslim.
“It’s important to me to
be involved in this because my children are Mus-lim,” said Khatib. She ex-plained that her children had experienced prejudice due to people’s lack of un-derstanding about Islam.
SURE, which includes members from a variety of religions, cultures and eth-nicities, works to address these prejudices through education and cultural exchange programs like their book club.
A book discussion oc-curred Nov. 25, where readers shared their take-aways on “Just Mercy,” a non-fiction book which explores the racial dimen-sion to the death penalty through the experiences of a young lawyer.
Margaret Somer, a SURE member who co-founded the organization with Khatib, is participating in the book group. She was especially
moved by Kendi’s “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” a 2019 book that discusses concepts of racism and proposes solu-tions for anti-racist actions and systemic changes.
“We want to educate our-selves and the communi-ty,” she said. “Slavery was a founding piece of the American economy, and unfortunately the theme of racism has continued throughout history.”
Somer got involved in the creation of the group when she became distubed by ris-ing levels of prejudice and racial hostility nationwide in 2016. She was particu-larly bothered by instances of anti-semetic slogans be-ing written in Swampscott and Marblehead.
Somer, who has been in-volved in the Civil Rights struggle since the 1970s, said that she “felt like we needed to form a group to come to-
gether to embrace diversity.” In the wake of the social
unrest sparked by George Floyd’s May 25 murder, SURE has found that their work understanding racial and cultural differences has become even more im-portant. A number of their members go Black Lives Matter protest in response to the Trump rally in Mon-ument Square each week.
SURE is also working with the Swampscott Po-lice Department to present a discussion on these is-sues. They hope to broad-cast the conversation between community mem-bers and police on local TV or on the web in January.
“We wanted to ask them what they thought about everything going on in the country, and what Swamp-scott is doing about it,” said Khatib.
They specifically want to avoid antagonizing the po-lice, opting instead to foster a greater level of understand-ing between police depart-ments and the community.
“You have groups and in-dividuals who do horrible things, and people feel like it reflects on everyone,” said Somer. “But it doesn’t.”
Going forward, SURE plans to partner with other local organizations to con-tinue to show the value of a diverse and united com-munity, and to show the town that, as Somer said, “it’s good to be different.”
COURTESY PHOTO
S.U.R.E members, from left, Pastor Ian Holland, Carolina Velasquez, co-chair Keli Khatib, Sue Burgess, and Ralph Edwards stand on the land behind Swampscott Town Hall.
No polar plunging in Nahant this year
By Guthrie Scrimgeour
ITEM STAFF
NAHANT — Short Beach will feel oddly emp-ty Friday, as the annu-al New Year’s Day Polar Plunge has been canceled due to COVID-19 con-cerns.The Sonia and the Capano families decided not to run the event after 13 years of hosting it.
“We look forward to it all year — it’ll be sad that it isn’t happening,” said George Sonia, a co-orga-nizer. “This will be the first time I don’t jump in 14 years.”
Sonia decided not to hold the event back in September, the two fam-ilies usually begin plan-ning it. Generally, the event involves hundreds of people who brave the freezing water off the Na-hant coast.
“It’s just not safe enough for everybody,” said Sonia. “It wasn’t even in ques-tion.”
Five years ago, the fam-ilies introduced a char-itable component to the plunge, referring to the event as the “Freezin’ for a Reason” Polar Plunge Fundraiser.
Sonia says what initially began as a fun and differ-ent way to ring in the new year eventually morphed into something much more.
“Maybe five years ago, we had the idea to turn it
over into a fundraiser for different charities every year,” Sonia said. “Over the past five years we’ve raised $60,000 or $70,000 for local charities. I feel bad for everybody — the people we raise money for, and the people that plunge with us.”
The empty beach will be a stark contrast to last year’s fundraiser, when more than 200 communi-ty members gathered on Short Beach to take a dip in frigid ocean waters.
Last year, money raised from t-shirt sales — and from raffles held during the after party at Rolly’s Tavern in Lynn — went to support the educational nonprofit, Camp Rotary.
More than $10,000 was raised to support Camp Rotary, a Boxford-based camp that provides kids ages 7 through 15 with a traditional American overnight camp experi-ence.
The year prior, proceeds went to a scholarship fund in memory of family friend Kelly Martin, who was CEO of Bridgewell. Sonia says the event was able to raise $22,000 for the scholarship through its t-shirt sales and from prizes raffled off during the plunge’s after-party at Rolly’s Tavern in Lynn. Sonia hopes to bring the fundraiser back next year, when the virus will hope-fully have died down.
ITEM PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK
A pedestrian walks past a freshly-cut tree along Central Square in Lynn which were cleared by Procopio Companies to make room for a pro-posed new high-rise development.
A Procopio Companies branded Bobcat rests near freshly-cut trees at the site of their prop-erty in Central Square in Lynn.
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A4 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
OPINIONHold the middlemen accountable
EDITORIAL
TO SUBMIT YOUR LETTERS, PLEASE MAIL TO THE DAILY ITEM, P.O. BOX 5, LYNN, MA 01903 OR EMAIL TO [email protected]
COVID-19 has exposed a variety of inadequacies in America’s healthcare sys-tem that leave our most vul-nerable populations at risk.
First and foremost is the cost of prescription medica-tions, a significant barrier to high-quality care for seniors living on fixed incomes and those who have lost jobs or seen wages decline. As such, it is critical for the incoming Biden Administration to pri-oritize lowering drug prices.
And while it may be tempt-ing to ignore the policies of the current administration, ongoing efforts to rein in drug middlemen, primarily Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), have proven effec-tive and must remain a cor-nerstone of President-elect Biden’s healthcare agenda.
PBMs deny consumers low prices and greater choice through complicated kickback schemes, and pol-icymakers must work to re-strict these arrangements that prevent patients from being able to afford the medicines they need.
Although President Trump’s team has faced plenty of criticism for its var-ious drug pricing initiatives, the administration was ef-fective in shining a light on all actors throughout the drug distribution system.
Previous thinking as-sumed that manufac-turers (drug producers) and pharmacies (drug distributors) received all the dollars, but a broader scrutiny showed that tre-mendous sums of money go to middlemen, who take large cuts for simply facili-tating financial payments.
And this amount has sky-rocketed even more recently because the PBM market lacks the three essential elements of competition — choice, transparency and minimal conflicts of interest.
Rebates, discounts and other price concessions from manufacturers have more
than doubled over a sev-en-year period — up from $74 billion in 2012 to approx-imately $175 billion in 2019.
Despite this astounding leap, co-pays, coinsurance and deductibles all contin-ue to rise. PBMs are pock-eting an increasing share of rebates, while charging customers higher prices for drugs than what they pay retail pharmacies for dispensing them.
Simply put, PBMs are pocketing a huge portion of rebates intended for pa-tients.
Study after study has shown that PBMs’ hidden drug rebate schemes inflate drug costs and deny pa-tients necessary treatments. For example, if the list price of a drug were $450 in 2019, and the PBM negotiated a 60 percent discount with an admin fee of 4 percent, the medication would be re-duced to just $160.
However, the average pa-tient on a high-deductible plan still paid 243 percent of the true net cost last year since the payer collected money from the prescription but paid nothing to offset the patient’s costs. Now take this scenario and apply it to 2020, where more consum-ers than ever are struggling to afford their medicines. You end up with a record number of patients left out to dry, while PBMs continue to rake it in.
Last month, the current administration finalized its rebate rule for Medicare Part D drug plans. This rule excludes rebates on prescrip-tion drugs issued by manu-facturers to PBMs and Medi-care Part D plans from safe harbor protection under the anti-kickback statute.
The rule creates a new safe harbor, protecting discounts that are intend-ed for patients at the point of sale. In essence, it en-sures that discounts on prescription medications
provided by manufactur-ers to PBMs are actually passed along to customers and reduces their out-of-pocket costs.
Patients will see far more savings at the phar-macy counter, and the ability of PBMs to coerce manufacturers into rais-ing list prices to finance large rebates disappears.
Access to medications has become increasingly difficult for older Ameri-cans and those struggling with disabilities or chronic conditions. Insurers and PBMs have been the prime culprits of this conundrum.
The market’s lack of com-petition and a skewed in-centive structure empower middlemen to use hidden rebate schemes to choose which drugs insurers and employers cover, forcing manufacturers to raise list prices to offer larger rebates.
Ultimately, consumers, especially those without coverage, end up paying more just to pad the pock-ets of middlemen.
In 2018, the White House Council of Economic Ad-visors said it best: “Three PBMs account for 85 per-cent of the market, which allows them to exercise un-due market power against manufacturers and against the health plans and bene-ficiaries they are supposed to be representing, thus generating outsized profits for themselves.”
This leaves policymak-ers with a straightforward remedy. Middlemen must not be allowed to pocket consumer rebates by taking advantage of market power and a lack of transparency. In 2021, decision-makers must implement this rule and continue their work to close the loopholes that per-mit these rebate schemes.
David Balto is the former policy director of the Federal Trade Commission. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
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DAVID BALTO
Don’t give in to the couch!
Editorial from the Chicago Tribune editorial board
These days, people watch movies on their
iPhones, their tablets and laptops, and of course in the cozy confines of their living rooms — nestled in couches underneath warm quilts, a spot of wine within reach.
Before the pandemic, moviegoers went to local theaters like CinemaSalem and a slew of megaplexes including the Showcase Cinemas in Revere.
Even in pre-COVID days, however, the siren call of the couch and a movie on Net-flix had become increasingly irresistible.
Will that siren call win out, even after the pandemic? Maybe. Like other movie lovers, we’re trying to wrap our heads around Warner Bros. Pictures’ decision to stream all of its releases in 2021 on Warner-owned HBO Max at the same time they play in theaters.
After a month, streaming will stop, though movies will cycle back into HBO Max and other streaming vehicles once in-terest in a given release at theaters drops.
Knowing that COVID-19 likely will force reduced capacity at movie houses through much or all of 2021, the stu-dio took a bottom-line approach toward getting through another pandemic-chal-lenged year.
But Toby Emmerich, the studio’s chair-man, was vague about whether the hy-brid model would become the company’s new norm once the health crisis was over. “We have to see what happens,” Emmerich told The New York Times. “We’re not predicting much of anything beyond next year.”
Understandably, the decision sent a shud-der through owners of megaplex chains and movie houses, and especially during holiday breaks when moviegoing is tradition.
North Shore residents learned in June about CinemaSalem’s closing and news broke in October that the Showcase Cin-emas site is reportedly a future location for Amazon. The Squire Road theater’s days as a movie destination and week-end flea market site are numbered.
Until the pandemic eases, it’s saf-er to keep microwave popcorn stocked and watch your favorite flicks at home. During the pandemic, you can even sup-port cinema icons like the Music Box by renting their releases online.
But with vaccine distribution under-way, we can imagine what post-pandemic movie viewing will look like. Will it in-clude a wholesale shift in movie-watch-ing from theater to living room, on a scale that threatens the future of cinemas?
We hope not.There’s no substitute for watching a
movie inside a cavernous room packed with people bursting into laughter in unison when Jim Carrey’s face contorts, or gasping collectively when the great white clamps its jaws around Quint’s torso. The scent of theater popcorn, the previews, even the sticky floor — it’s all part of that movie house dynamic you can’t replicate at home.
So don’t give in to the couch. We know it’s a siren song, and its pull is powerful. The pause button is a wonderful thing; the kitchen and a fridge full of leftovers are just a few feet away; and your dog, cat or guinea pig can hop on your lap as you settle into movie night.
But you can’t re-create in your living room the movie theater popcorn with a few pumps of warm butter and shaker salt. Fountain soda is much tastier at the movies. And that wide wondrous screen? All of that, we hope, is more than enough to keep the movie theater expe-rience alive and thriving.
Much-need mental health progressRarely do five pieces of
legislation on a single top-ic pass a chamber of Con-gress — especially when that topic is sensitive or often stigmatized, as men-tal health and suicide are.
Even more rarely is such a comprehensive set of poli-cies introduced and co-spon-sored by a group of lawmak-ers that cross the political and ideological spectrum.
And yet that is exactly what happened this fall, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed five groundbreaking bills focused on mental health and suicide prevention: the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act; the HERO Act; the Suicide Prevention Lifeline Improvement Act; the Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act; and the Suicide Prevention Act.
This flurry of legislation promises to help improve and save the lives of people in need. It supports imple-mentation of a three-digit national suicide prevention hotline number; establishes new surveillance mecha-nisms to understand suicide and mental health issues among first responders; and dedicates funding to suicide prevention data, prevention, and crisis programs.
Designation of 9-8-8 as the future National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is particularly historic. This legislation — which not only passed the House and the Senate, and was just signed into law by President Trump — will create an easy way for any person in crisis to access services, removing barriers to life-saving support.
The immense personal toll of suicide has brought people together around this issue.
These bills couldn’t come at a more important time,
when so many Americans are experiencing emo-tional and psychological distress. But if we are to prevent adverse mental health outcomes from growing, we must treat this legislative progress not as an end result, but as a greater toolkit for long-term, equitable change.
The mental health impacts of COVID-19 are significant.
A recent CDC study ze-roing in on the pandemic period of June 2020 re-vealed that more than 40 percent of U.S. adults have faced at least one type of serious mental health challenge as a result of COVID-19. About one in four young adults (ages 18-24) have recently con-templated taking their own life.
About 13 percent of adults indicate they “started or in-creased substance use to cope with pandemic-related stress or emotions.”
America is hurting.Unfortunately, ending
the pandemic does not au-tomatically end the mental anguish it has unleashed. We know from past di-sasters — including wars, terror attacks, natural di-sasters, and past disease outbreaks — that the ef-fects of large-scale, destabi-lizing events often outlast the disaster itself by de-cades.
Moreover, while Ameri-ca may be collectively and universally experiencing a large-scale traumat-ic event, its impacts are not equally distributed. People of color suffer dis-proportionately from the pandemic, which includes psychological challenges.
The previously noted CDC report found that suicidal ideation is higher
in black and Hispanic re-spondents, and Hispanics are more likely to suffer from symptoms of anxiety and depression than other groups.
By addressing the sys-tematic inequalities that drive the disproportionate-ly high cases of COVID-19 among minorities in the U.S., we can also help ad-dress the underlying dis-parities in mental health.
Policymakers recognized this when they required that the legislation estab-lishing the 9-8-8 hotline ensure that suicide pre-vention and crisis services be specially designed to serve high-risk popula-tions, including LGBTQ youth, minorities, and peo-ple in rural communities.
The rare extent of bi-parti-san and broad-based support underlying these bills instills hope in our country’s capac-ity to unite around pressing issues at an urgent time.
The technology, data, sys-tems, and programs out-lined in Congress’ approach can offer a fuller toolbox for addressing the growing burden of emotional and psychological suffering.
Now we must press on to-gether to achieve the rarest and most important next step: using those tools to build a long-term and eq-uitable infrastructure that serves the mental health needs of all Americans.
Anyone who is having thoughts of suicide can get help by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK [8255]).
Mikelle Moore is senior vice-president and chief community health officer of Intermountain Health-care. She wrote this for In-sideSources.com.
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As the year ended, the School Committee was poised to decide on the di-rection schools would take in the coming year — about whether to remain 100 per-cent remote or two adopt a hybrid system. School De-partment Chairman Dr. Da-vid DeRuosi and the School Committee decided in Au-gust to remain remote.
Also this year, a de-cade-long battle was re-solved when the Saugus Board of Selectmen unan-imously voted to turn Kasabuski rink over to the state in July.
The long-awaited news came after a selectmen meeting during which the Board voted 4-0 to accept a mutual agreement end-ing a lease and sublease between the town, the De-partment of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the rink’s operators, Nathaniel Maniff and John Curley.
— Even amidst a year of
bad news and bleak head-lines, Saugus’ iconic Kow-loon still found a way to brighten a few days in 2020.
Last spring, owner Bob-by Wong announced plans to turn his restaurant’s parking lot into a car hop with outdoor food service, live entertainment, and a big-screen TV for drive-in movies as part of an effort to make his popular Route 1 haunt a COVID-friendly space for diners.
In a May 13 interview with The Item, Wong said the idea had actually been a long time in the making, but when state-mandated social distancing guide-lines remained in effect throughout the warmer months, summer 2020 seemed like a perfect time to finally implement the fun project.
Although Wong’s plan was borne from the necessi-ty of devising creative din-ing solutions during the era of social distancing, Kow-loon’s retro setup this year may have reminded some longtime patrons of an-
other beloved dinner joint that ruled over the Route 1 restaurant scene through-out the ‘50s and ‘60s.
— Earlier in December, DeRuosi announced his retirement effective at the end of the school year. He was first appointed to the position in 2016.
— The town’s finances re-mained stable and solid in 2020, achieving its second straight high bond rating. And at year’s end, Crab-tree said the town had a surplus of $4.2 million.
— COVID forced can-cellation of the annual tree-lighting ceremony in Saugus Center, but the town decided to hold the Santa Claus parade Christmas Eve.
— It continued to be a tough year for World Series Park, with two vandalism cases reported in 2020.
— In October, a rally de-signed to show support for the police turned tense as counterprotesters showed up as well.
— Construction began at the Belmonte School
to make the necessary re-pairs for conversion of the former middle school to an upper elementary building for Grades 2 through 5.
— The Public Works building was dedicated to the late director Joseph Attubato in September. Attubato had spent five de-cades working for the DPW.
— The Massachusetts Department of Environ-mental Protection (Mass DEP) has approved a scope of work submitted by Wheelabrator Saugus to complete an acoustical study that will assess lev-els of noise pollution emit-ted by the plant.
— The town lost several lu-minary figures over the year, including former Selectman Steve Horlick, Selectman and Town Meeting member Dick Barry, Selectman, Town Meeting Member and activ-ist Arthur Gustafson and popular basketball coach Mark Bertrand, who died tragically in an accident on his property two weeks be-fore Christmas.
One rally featured a Con-federate flag, and pro-Trump ralliers sometimes disparaged unarmed Black people like Breonna Taylor who were killed by police.
The rally also once drew a protest actor who wore Ku Klux Klan robes one week and blackface anoth-er. The man was not asso-ciated with either side.
One week, Hadley school went remote due to the concerns about the effects of the protests on stu-dents.
Even after Presi-dent-elect Joe Biden’s No-vember victory, the event has not died down — in fact, the vitriol has only intensified.
Ploss has continued to hold her standouts, which now often contest the re-sults of the election.
The rallies have recent-ly begun to draw a coali-tion of anti-Trump activ-ists from Boston and the South Shore, who take a more contentious tone with the Trump support-ers.
Most recently, there were several instances of arrests at the protests.
Three Trump supporters were charged with assault Saturday.
On Dec. 12, a count-er-protestor was charged with assault and battery on a person 60 years or older, after he was accused of striking a Trump sup-porter who threw water on him.
The accusation has been cast in doubt by Jean-Jacques’ legal team, who claim that he was only at-tempting to grab the wa-ter bottle from the elderly woman’s hand.
The Board of Selectmen
released a statement this November condemning the protests.
“These protesters’ presence in Swampscott serves only to increase our community’s resolve and commitment to becoming a more accepting, inclu-sive, and loving communi-ty that will work tireless-ly to conquer the hate and fear these protestors rep-resent,” they wrote.
“These protesters may be speaking from Swamp-scott, but they do not, and will never, speak for Swampscott.”
Some other stories in-cluded:
— A petition to recall Select Board Member Don Hause for comments he made about the BLM movement failed when they were unable to gain enough signatures.
— Swampscott police and fire unions voted to leave the civil service sys-tem, in a move that Town administrator Sean Fitz-gerald hopes will increase the diversity of the organi-zations.
— The town decided on a site for a new district-wide school building at the site of the old Stanley school.
— New partner in an-ti-racism Tamy-Feé Me-neide, began facilitating conversations about race and privilege.
— An incident in Vinnin Square over the summer in which a black woman was verbally harassed in the parking lot of a bank resulted in several pro-tests that extended into Lynn.
— Newman’s Bakery, long a fixture on Hum-phrey Street, closed its doors in September. Fam-ily member Deborah Newman opened up “The Baker’s Daughter” further down the street.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020 THE DAILY ITEM A5
All address information, particu-larly arrests, reflect police records. In the event of a perceived inac-curacy, it is the sole responsibility of the concerned party to contact the relevant police department and have the department issue a no-tice of correction to the Daily Item. Corrections or clarifications will not be made without express notice of change from the arresting police department.
LYNN
Arrests
Christina Cano-Whitcomb, 23, of 23 Rabbit Road, Salisbury, was arrested and charged with nighttime break-ing and entering for a felony, malicious wanton property defacement, and disorderly conduct at 7:01 p.m. Monday.
Oswald Silva, 31, of 135 Merida St., Springfield, was arrested and charged with malicious wanton property defacement, daytime break-ing and entering for a felony, and Class B drug possession at 9:41 a.m. Tuesday.
Talya Taveras, 24, of 11 Howard St., was arrested and charged with nighttime break-ing and entering for a felony, malicious wanton property defacement, larceny from a building, and disorderly con-duct at 7:07 p.m. Monday.
Michael Thompson, 55, of 820 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, was arrested and charged with drug possession with intent to distribute at 8:13 p.m. Monday.
Accidents
A report of a motor vehicle crash at 4:08 p.m. Monday at
Adams and Chestnut streets; at 4:37 p.m. Monday at Lynn Liquor Mart at 825 Boston St.; at 5:19 p.m. Monday at Stop & Shop at 35 Washing-ton St.; at 8:10 p.m. Monday at 423 Boston St.
A report of a motor vehicle crash with personal injury at 8:31 p.m. Monday at Liberty and Willow streets.
Breaking and Entering
A report of a breaking and entering at 6:27 p.m. Monday at 454 Essex St.; at 1:47 a.m. Tuesday at 454 Essex St.
Theft
A report of a larceny at 8:52 p.m. Monday at 4 Kingsley Terrace; at 11:50 p.m. Mon-day at 230 Woodland North.
A report of a motor vehicle theft at 10:05 p.m. Monday at 48 Union St.
MARBLEHEAD
Complaints
An individual reported at 10:31 a.m. Monday that someone has been throwing nips into their yard over the past few weeks.
SWAMPSCOTT
Fraud
A caller reported a con or scam at 531 Humphrey St. at 5:15 p.m. Monday.
Accident
A caller reported at 5:33 p.m. Monday that a dog had been hit by a car on 1 Fish-erman’s Beach East Ingalls Terrace.
POLICE/FIRE
Other stories spanning the year:
— Four days after secur-ing the licenses it need-ed to open an American pub-style restaurant on 160 Moulton Drive — site of the former Bali Hai restaurant — develop-ers Matthew and David Palumbo switched gears, thanks to Land Court rul-ing that the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) had improperly denied their application for a special permit to build an apartment complex.
The decision opens the door for the brothers to proceed with a 23-unit complex on the 1.4 acre site.
— The Massachusetts Department of Environ-mental Protection (Mass-DEP) issued a “Do Not Use Order” to a Lowell
Street business for Bos-ton Clear Water LLC. The order states that “Boston Clear Water, LLC, owns and operates Pocahontas Spring Water, a public wa-ter supply (PWS) with a place of business of busi-ness at 165 Lowell St.”
— Police Chief David J. Breen announced his re-tirement in October to an outpouring of accolades and gratitude for his de-cades of service.
— September saw the town hire its second new assessing manager in less than two years — Mer-edith Stone — and local athlete Matt Filipe signed a contract with the Boston Bruins.
— On Sept. 9, after cruising through the sum-mer banking on hybrid learning, the district did a 180 and switched to re-mote only after discovery of two cases among school-age kids in 12 days.
Easy first-day opening, but the second day was a disaster as 17,000 hacks caused a near-total break-down in internet connec-tivity.
— The School Commit-tee in July picked Kristen Vogel of Swampscott to be the town’s new superin-tendent of schools, taking over for Jane Tremblay, who retired.
— The Meeting House, a town central gathering point, shut down for the year in June. Lynnfield High School held a drive-through graduation on June 5 for 153 graduates.
— June also saw a Black Lives Matter rally held on the Common with Lynn-field High juniors Maddie Mahan and Finn Matting-ly, along with 2019 grad-uate David Blake at the center of the effort.
Breen estimated that the number of peaceful protesters topped 600,
much to the delight of the organizers.
— In April, St. John’s Prep and Boston College graduate Jake Burt signed with the New England Patriots. On a more som-ber note, COVID-19 cast a shadow over the town with four local deaths in less than a week, includ-ing Steven and Earl Rich-ard, father and son who died five days apart.
— The losses came a month after the CARES Act provided a much-need-ed $31million in relief to 306 Lynnfield-based busi-nesses to shore up about 2,600 jobs.
— The year began on pos-itive notes with Linda Em-erson hiring as town clerk and residents turning out in droves to support the second annual Think of Michael Trivia Night. The event raised more than $110,000 for addiction treatment efforts.
Lynnfield schools get expansion go-aheadLYNNFIELDFrom A1
The election was the hot topicNAHANTFrom A1
said in June of the 657 to 654 vote. “I can’t say I ex-pected it to be the closest in history.”
Both candidates ex-pressed strong views on Northeastern’s future ex-pansion plans, perhaps one of the most conten-tious issues of Nahant’s election season, with en-vironmentally-minded Canty stating he would “embrace the opportunity to sit down with represen-tatives from NU” to dis-
cuss the university’s goals and also to question why the school feels “destroy-ing parts of an area zoned as a Natural Resource District helps to promote sustainability.”
On the other hand, Walsh expressed that he felt it was necessary for the town to work together with the school.
In other 2020 town news:— Long-time town his-
torian Gerald Butler announced in January that his new book, “Na-hauntus,” would most likely be his final work.
— In April, the state Attorney General’s office rejected two local zoning amendment changes.
— The owners of Nahant Country Club announced plans in late May to be-gin selling ice cream un-der the name Tudor Ice Cream as a way to bring some smiles during the pandemic.
— Town Democrats mo-bilized in June to cam-paign for candidates run-ning for statewide office and congressional seats in other states.
— September saw Chee-
rio the duck inducted with pomp and circumstance into the Nahant Historical Society.
— Nahant residents were on edge in October with multiple reports of coyotes roaming the town.
— COVID-19 tightened its grip on the town in No-vember with officials clos-ing Town Hall out of an abundance of caution.
— The annual Christ-mas parade was canceled due to COVID-19 con-cerns, and the New Year’s Day polar plunge was also scrapped.
‘There is room for optimism’PEABODYFrom A1
“Early on, part of what con-tributed to the outbreak in these facilities was that PPE was not widely avail-able and they did not have adequate testing capaci-ties,” she said. “A lot of staff also worked multiple facil-ities or also did home care, which increased the chanc-es for exposure. Right now, however, that has changed, and also now that these residents are prioritized for the vaccine, we are hoping that they will all be vaccinated as we head into January, so yes, there is room for optimism.”
COVID-19 dominated Pea-body news in 2020 with Mi-chelle Hnath, a 42 year-old nurse becoming one of the first 15 frontline workers to be vaccinated on Dec. 16.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt announced shortly before Christmas that he had test-ed positive for the virus.
Almost 1,000 Peabody businesses received $109 million in aid to shore up 11,000 local jobs. The loans ranged from $800 to
$6.3 million with the aver-age loan being $113,429.
In other city news:— At Peabody High School,
a special needs teacher’s po-lice memorial located in the hallway outside his class-room sparked controversy.
— In November, Citi-zens Inn Executive Di-rector Corey Jackson was elected president of the Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce. Beth Amico stepped up as the Cham-ber’s Executive Director, succeeding Julie Daigle.
— Also in November, Sally Kerans was elected state representative for
the 13th Essex district, part of which includes West Peabody, succeeding Ted Speliotis.
— One of Peabody High’s most accomplished grad-uates — Dr. Ruth Shoer Rappaport — left what is believed to be the largest gift ever to the school dis-trict. Rappaport, who died in Philadelphia April 28 at the age of 83, left a $935,000 bequest in her will.
— Residents in South Peabody breathed a sigh of relief in October after the Peabody Municipal Light Plant reached an agreement with Verizon.
Under the agreement, Verizon agreed to abandon its plans to install large-scale cell antenna towers in favor of using wireless communication devices on existing utility poles.
— The first day of Au-gust was a banner day for the district, as, following a three-month postpone-ment, Peabody High held graduation exercises.
— On May 7, Hemi-sphere Development ob-tained site approval for the 133-unit 40B housing development it is planning to build on King Street on the site of the former J.B. Thomas Hospital.
— The city got bad news in early February when the Massachusetts State Building Authority denied the district’s request for funding for improvements to Peabody High and the West, South and Center elementary schools.
— The year began with Allyson Danforth sworn in as the new city clerk, succeeding Tim Spanos, whose service to the city spanned 43 years.
The town saw red and yellowSAUGUSFrom A1
Battle lines on the beach
in SwampscottSWAMPSCOTTTFrom A1
PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Registered nurse Michele Hnath received the first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
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In a year dominated by COVID-19, Marblehead rallied to combat the vi-rus.
When Peter Jackson received a call in July asking him to participate in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial, the Marble-head resident didn’t hes-itate.
An executive for a sub-sidiary of healthcare giant Johnson & John-son, Jackson (who was not speaking on behalf of his company) said he had no qualms about jumping headfirst into the biotech giant’s vac-cine race, the local tri-als for which would take place right at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The Marblehead Arts Association in November launched a nationwide search — not for any-thing specific, but simply for art.
“In this COVID-19 pandemic that has been a part of our existence
since March, the MAA, like most entities, has had to struggle and be creative in its efforts not only to raise funds for its projects, but to do projects that people can see. After all, art is a shared experience,” said executive director Patti Baker.
In other town news:— A programmable
LED sign — located on Ocean Avenue near De-vereux Beach — was presumably hacked in August to prominently display the words “God is Gay” to passing motor-ists.
— The annual Christ-mas Walk focused on festive events and shop-ping opportunities was held but without Santa Claus arriving on a lob-ster boat.
— Police Officer Tim-othy Tufts resigned in mid December after be-ing put on paid adminis-trative leave for alleged-ly scratching a swastika into the paint of another officer’s personal vehi-cle.
By Alex RossFOR THE ITEM
SAUGUS— Saugus public schools will move to a hybrid learning mod-el Jan. 19 after a unani-mous vote by the School Committee Tuesday eve-ning. This comes after the board’s October decision to postpone the in-person re-turn of students until Jan. 4 at the earliest.
“It can’t happen on Jan. 4,” said Chairman Thom-as Whittredge during Tuesday’s meeting. “We
have to give parents time.”
Vice Chair Ryan Fisher agreed the first week back from the holiday break was too soon.
“Based on what hap-pened with the spike after Thanksgiving, I was wor-ried about the Jan. 4 date with it being after Christ-mas and New Year’s,” he said.
Fisher also said that, while the Committee had previously hoped COVID-19 conditions would improve and make
their decision to bring stu-dents back into the build-ings an easier one, that is clearly no longer the case.
“COVID is not going to get better,” he said. “It’s going to ride itself out. So, now we have to pick a hard date and push ahead.”
The scheduled hybrid start date of Jan. 19 coin-cides with the date Super-intendent Dr. David DeRu-osi must have the revised schedules into the state. He says he and attorney Howard Greenspan have
already begun the work to readjust the schedules.
DeRuosi is also busy planning an orientation to help the school commu-nity adjust to the hybrid learning shift. Under the new model, students will be divided into cohorts, much like other districts across the state, and each cohort will attend school in-person two days per week.
Parents can still choose to keep their children home under the remote learning model, which has
been in place since the pandemic began. Follow-ing the summer recess, Saugus educators began teaching classes remotely from inside school build-ings on Sept. 16.
As of Friday, Saugus has reported a total of 2,138 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 48 deaths ac-cording to their Health Department. According to an update posted to the town’s website, Saugus has partnered with the state, Fallon Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
and the Square One Mall in order to downgrade their “High Risk” red COVID-19 status by ex-panding testing sites.
“We’re a strange situa-tion,” Fisher said of Sau-gus. “We’re a small town next to big cities and we have that Route 1 corridor, so we’ve been in the red zone for a while.”
Still, Whittredge re-mains optimistic about the Committee’s decision.
“I’m pretty excited about this,” he said. “I think it’s time.”
By Jay Reeves and Kim Chandler
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With its dozen intensive care beds already full, Cullman Regional Medi-cal Center began looking desperately for options as more and more COVID-19 patients showed up.
Ten beds normally used for less severe cases were transformed into intensive care rooms, with extra IV machines brought in. Video monitors were set up to en-able the staff to keep watch over patients whenever a nurse had to scurry away to care for someone else.
The patch did the job — for the time being, at least.
“We’re kind of like a bath-tub that’s filling up with water and the drain is blocked,” the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. William Smith, said last week.
Alabama, long one of the unhealthiest and most impoverished states in America, has emerged as one of the nation’s most alarming coronavirus hot spots.
Its hospitals are in cri-sis as the virus rages out of control in a region with high rates of obesity, high blood pressure and other conditions that can make COVID-19 even more dangerous, where access to health care was lim-ited even before the out-break, and where public resistance to masks and other precautions is stub-born.
The virus has killed more than 335,000 people across the U.S., including over 4,700 in Alabama.
Places such as California and Tennessee have also been hit especially hard in recent weeks.
At Cullman Regional, a midsize hospital that serves an agricultural area 55 miles north of Bir-mingham, the intensive care unit as of last week was at 180 percent of ca-pacity, the highest in the state. Other hospitals are also struggling to keep up with the crush of people sickened by the virus.
While a typical patient might need ICU treat-ment for two or three days, Smith said, COVID-19 patients often stay two or three weeks, causing the caseload to build up.
Alabama ranked sixth
on the list of states with the most new cases per capita over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University. Al-abama’s latest average positivity rate — the per-centage of tests coming back positive for the virus — is almost 40 percent, one of the highest figures in the country. And the state is seeing an average of 46 deaths per day, up from 30 on Dec. 14.
While ICUs nationwide were at 78 percent capac-ity during the week of Dec. 18-24, Alabama’s were 91 percent full, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Depart-ment. As of last week, 15 Alabama hospitals had
intensive care units that were at or above capacity, and the ICUs at six more hospitals were at least 96 percent full.
On Tuesday, 2,804 peo-ple were in Alabama hos-pitals with COVID-19, the highest total since the pandemic began.
Experts worry the strain will only increase after the holidays because of new infections linked to travel and gatherings of family and friends.
“I think we are in dire shape. I really do,” said Dr. Don Williamson, head of the Alabama Hospital Association. “I fear our Christmas surge is going to be much worse than the Thanksgiving surge.”
A6 THE DAILY ITEM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
PHOTO | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nurses and medical staff make their way through the seventh floor COVID-19 unit at East Alabama Medical Center Thursday.
‘Like a bathtub filling up’: Alabama is slammed by the virus
COVID-19 engulfed the city of Lynn
idents in May mobilized a food collection at the Salvation Army on Frank-lin Street to feed resi-dents who lost jobs and income. Lynn entered the COVID case rate red zone in the fall and 2020’s end brought rise holiday case rates and a depressing winter sports cancellation.
Other major stories in-cluded:
— An era ended in Jan-uary with the Porthole
Restaurant’s demolition.— The city unveiled a
$100 million Pickering Middle School replace-ment plan on Feb. 10.
— A fatal Feb. 24 shoot-ing on Jones Terrace marked the city’s first murder in 2020. A po-lice-involved shooting fol-lowing a Revere robbery on Nov. 2 left a Somerville man dead and a Lynn man was shot to death on Dec. 26 on Washington Street.
— Former City Council-or and School Committee member, community activ-
ist and Lynn Community Health Center benefac-tor Deborah Smith Walsh died March 27.
— George Floyd’s mur-der sparked Lynn police reform protests and a summer’s-worth of meet-ings between reform ad-vocates and City Council members culminating in the council passing reform suggestions in October onto Mayor Thomas M. McGee. Money to pay for police body cameras was budgeted by year’s end.
— On August 11, Good
Samaritans Jose Toro and Jeff Hurley risked expo-sure to COVID to save the life of a woman who col-lapsed on Union Street.
— The topsy-turvy school years triggered by the pandemic prompted public school administra-tors in November to seek suspension of the MCAS state comprehensive as-sessment test.
— On Dec. 11, Cal’s News, a long-time local Lottery agent, finally sold its first $1 million winning ticket.
LYNNFrom A1
Changing of the guardMARBLEHEADFrom A1
Revere mayor to residents: Attention, attention, this is not a normal year
REVEREFrom A1
home to his city.“A lot of people were act-
ing like it was a normal day,” he said. “These are not normal times. In my mind, drastic times call for drastic measures.”
Arrigo’s public warnings proved to be the first in many steps the city took to combat the pandemic’s spread. As of three days before the year’s end, Re-vere had logged 6,634 COVID-19 cases and the virus had claimed 121 lives to date in 2020.
Other significant Revere stories in 2020 included:
— Elected to the Revere City Council at the age of 19, Jessica Giannino beat
fellow Democrat Joe Grav-ellese in the 16th Suffolk Massachusetts House Dis-trict’s September primary and ran unopposed in the November final election.
A city native who devel-oped a taste for politics as a college student govern-ment participant, Gianni-no will be sworn in next month to represent part of Revere, Chelsea and Saugus in the Legislature. She is the third woman in a row to represent the 16th in the State House.
— Long-established lo-cal business owner Genn-aro Angiulo ran into legal trouble in October when he was charged with en-gaging in an under-the-ta-ble payroll fraud scheme that defrauded the gov-
ernment of more than $3.3 million.
For tax years 2014 through at least 2017, An-giulo allegedly paid a por-tion of the wages to em-ployees of his company, GJ Towing, in cash “under the table.” In doing so, Angui-lo did not collect, account for or pay over to the IRS required withholding and FICA taxes, the U.S. At-torney’s District of Mas-sachusetts office stated on Oct. 1.
— Also in October, tech-nology-driven changes in the entertainment indus-try and Amazon’s domi-nance in the product de-livery market appeared to doom the Showcase Cin-ema complex on Squire Road.
Published reports stat-ed that cinema site owner NorthBridge is likely to lease the 22.5-acre, Squire Road property to Amazon, making the site Amazon’s second in Revere.
Arrigo praised the po-tential deal as a local job creator. Showcase owner National Amusements, Inc. confirmed the compa-ny had “signed an agree-ment for the potential sale” of its site.
*December began on a tragic local note with a four-alarm Thornton Street fire that killed a local resident and injured two other people. Red Cross workers helped pro-vide housing and other help for fire survivors.
Halloween was definitely no treatSALEMFrom A1
the number of tourists in the city in the weeks leading up to Halloween night.
The result was a Hallow-een in downtown Salem that, while still crowded, was nothing compared to the festivities of recent years.
Businesses and workers reliant on tourism strug-gled with these changes and with the effects of COVID-19 in general. Several Salem business-es including Gulu-Gulu Cafe, The Derby, Olde Main Street Pub were forced to hibernate for the winter.
Yet these restrictions seem to have been key in preventing a post-Hallow-een COVID-19 spike.
In the two weeks lead-ing up to Dec. 1, Salem reported a daily inci-dence rate of 45.9 cases per 100,000 residents, at 3.78 percent positiv-ity, and is considered a yellow community—numbers that were sig-nificantly lower than surrounding communi-ties.
Other major stories in-cluded:
— The city launched the
Salem Skipper rideshare service, which offers af-fordable rides through Salem.
— Facing budget short-falls, and potential loss of students due to COVID-19, Salem State President John Keenan furloughed staff and fac-ulty to the dismay of the faculty union, who de-cried the actions as ille-gal.
— Two arrests were made at two separate gatherings involving Salem State University students this Septem-ber, validating months of concerns from Salem Police about the effect of the return of SSU stu-dents on the spread of COVID-19.
— After 33 years of ser-vice with the Salem police department, Police Chief Mary Butler announced her retirement from the force.
— Following a commu-nity protest, Capt. Kate Stephens was demoted two levels to the rank of sergeant as a result of an unauthorized post on the department’s offi-cial Twitter account that questioned BLM protests and insulted Governor Baker.
Saugus schools to move to a hybrid learning model
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BOSTON (AP) — With a thumbs up and a round of applause from staff, Air Force veteran Robert Au-coin on Tuesday became the first resident of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts to get vac-cinated against the coro-navirus.
“Great, great, leading the way,” Aucoin, 78, said through his Snoopy mask after getting the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
Aucoin, who has lived at the state-run home since 2018, served from 1961 to 1965 and worked as the control tower operator at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina during his service, according to the state Executive Office of Health and Human Ser-vices.
The state has made it a priority to get the resi-dents of both the Holyoke facility and the Chelsea Soldier’s Home vaccinated after the coronavirus tore through both facilities for veterans who require long-term care in the spring.
Staff vaccinations also started Tuesday.
“Administering vaccines to our frontline health care workers and now some of our most vul-nerable residents in the Soldiers’ Home provides relief and hope that there
are brighter days ahead for all,” Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement.
The Holyoke home had one of the country’s dead-liest virus outbreaks at a long-term care facility. Seventy-six residents died after contracting the virus in the spring and a 77th died earlier this month.
More than 30 residents of the Chelsea home died after contracting the dis-ease.
An investigation into the Holyoke outbreak by a formal federal prosecu-tor hired by Gov. Charlie Baker found that manage-ment at the home made several “utterly baffling” decisions that helped the disease run rampant.
Two former top admin-istrators have pleaded not guilty to criminal negli-gence charges connected to the deaths.
In Chelsea, World War II veteran Dominic Pitella, 94, was the first resident to be vaccinated.
Pitella, a former cor-poral and cook with the 559th Air Service Group, served in the Pacific The-ater during World War II. He has lived at the home since 2018, according to state officials.
“I’m hopeful this will help everybody,” Pitella said in a statement.
The field hospital set up in the DCU Center in Worcester has treated 161 COVID-19 patients in 22 days, just one patient shy of the total treated in the six weeks the facility was open in the spring, offi-
cials said.“What we are seeing is
that the second wave is much more impactful than the first wave this past spring,” Peter Lancette, director of the field hos-pital’s operations and the facility’s assistant chief
nursing officer, told The Telegram & Gazette for a story Monday. “We contin-ue to stay ahead of the pa-tient volume but are brac-ing for a potential drastic increase in cases due to holiday travel.”
The field hospital that
operated from April 9 un-til May 28 treated 162 pa-tients, Lancette said.
A UMass Memorial Medical Center spokes-person said Monday there were 38 patients in the facility.
Massachusetts starts vaccinating veterans
PHOTO | ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Air Force Veteran Robert Aucoin, 78, arrives at the main lobby inside Soldiers’ Home in Holy-oke for his COVID-19 vaccine .
By William J. KoleASSOCIATED PRESS
A statue of Abraham Lincoln with a freed slave appearing to kneel at his feet — optics that drew objections amid a nation-al reckoning with racial injustice — has been re-moved from its perch in downtown Boston.
Workers removed the Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Eman-cipation Group and the Freedman’s Memorial, early Tuesday from a park just off Boston Common where it had stood since 1879.
City officials had agreed in late June to take down the memorial after com-plaints and a bitter de-bate over the design. Mayor Marty Walsh ac-knowledged at the time that the statue made res-idents and visitors alike “uncomfortable.”
The bronze statue is a copy of a monument that was erected in Washing-ton, D.C., three years earlier. The copy was in-
stalled in Boston because the city was home to the statue’s white creator, Thomas Ball.
It was created to cele-brate the freeing of slaves in America and was based on Archer Alexander, a Black man who escaped slavery, helped the Union Army and was the last man recaptured under the Fugitive Slave Act.
But while some saw the shirtless man rising to his feet while shaking off the broken shackles on his wrists, others perceived him as kneeling before Lincoln, his white eman-cipator.
Freed Black donors paid for the original in Wash-ington; white politician and circus showman Mo-ses Kimball financed the copy in Boston. Th