Saugus Citizens in Action

Volunteer trash patrol cleaned up another litter-strewn area – its fifth since Nov. 14

By Mark E. Vogler

A volunteer corps of citizens and town officials assisted by Leo Getz and his Junkster Bags crew spent about an hour last Friday in another cleanup of an abandoned homeless camp – this one in a wooded area behind the Target Saugus store parking lot off of Route 1 South.

“Two tents, BBQ pit, lots of tarps and coolers, plastic pallets, chairs – and lots of trash,” said Precinct 2 Town Meeting Member Robert J. Camuso, Sr., who organized the group several weeks ago with Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Anthony Cogliano.

“Overall, we’ve cleaned up five campsite areas around Saugus with a great group of guys who care about the community. When you can get your elected officials to actually put gloves on to work with you, it just shows our community’s character,” he said.

Joining Camuso, Cogliano and Getz and his work crew were Selectmen Jeffrey Cicolini and Frank Federico, Planning Board Chair John O’Brien, Precinct 5 Town Meeting Member Ronald Wallace, Board of Appeals Member Chris Riley, Daniel Arinello and Jim Harrington. “They are great guys making Saugus a better, cleaner place,” Camuso said.

“It was right next to the Fellsway, about 40 feet in, next to the Target parking lot. You wouldn’t even know it was there with the green tents. It blended right in. It took about an hour for everything,” Camuso said.

“We had to cut some branches to get better access to dragging the bags out for the Junkster Bag truck to hoist them up. We filled six bags on this one. We didn’t find much, if any, drug paraphernalia this time. So that’s a good thing, seeing some of the last few cleanups had a lot of spent needles,” he said.

The cleanups have been a weekly event since Camuso and Cogliano organized the first one on Nov. 14 – an abandoned homeless camp at the end of Eustis Road. Camuso said he’s determined to see participation in the group grow, with many cleanups scheduled throughout town over the next year. The volunteers seemed ready to take a break over the holidays.

“Seeing the weather is getting cold and everything is getting locked into the ground to make it a tougher removal to clean up, we might wait until springtime – but who knows,” Camuso said.

“We’ve had a couple last minute cleanups,” he said.

Camuso plans to continue reaching out for help on his “Anything in our town of Saugus Massachusetts” web page. If anyone in the town’s 10 precincts has recommendations for a future cleanup site, Camuso wants to hear from them.

“Selectman Anthony Cogliano has been getting everything together and organized, so he will most likely be the best contact person,” Camuso said.

“Or, go on the social media page ‘Anything in our town of Saugus Massachusetts,’” he said.