TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021 Bittersweet Brigade cleans up Salem By Guthrie Scrimgeour the grasses, shrubs and trees that go reddish-brown creeping stems and ITEM STAFF along with those, we’re going to contin- clusters of orange berries, can be ue to lose the native biodiversity. Cut- found along many Salem roadsides, as SALEM — A crew of 16, including ting the bittersweet is part of that.” well as in parks and forests. several city council members, were Bittersweet is an invasive species The group focused on the area hard at work Sunday in front of the in front of Horace Mann (formerly Horace Mann Lab School, clearing native to Asia that can devastate a lo- cal ecosystem if left unregulated. Bowditch) because of the four large the area of invasive bittersweet vines, native cottonwoods that were being which have been killing local cotton- “The bittersweet has the capacity to climb 70 or 80 feet up a tree,” said threatened by the bittersweet. wood trees. The crew, which dubbed itself the Salem resident Chris Burke orga- Burke. “Then it kills the tree by put- ting its foliage over the tree’s foliage. “Bittersweet Brigade,” included City nized the project, along with Richard Councilors Domingo Dominguez and The binds are tight so they pull the Stafford, also of Salem, in hopes of in- Patti Morsillo. branches down to the ground. I hate to creasing the biodiversity of the area. “Everyone brought their own tool and see mature trees pulled down by the “There’s been a real crash of native method,” said Burke. “Charlie Lipson caterpillars, insects and birds in Sa- bittersweet.” lem,” said Burke. “And unless you have The bittersweet plant, made up of BITTERSWEET, A3 Peabody’s GETTING A READ midterm ON MARBLEHEAD inaugural STEVE KRAUSE COMMENTARY delivers East is east, upbeat west is west, message By Anne Marie Tobin and in Lynn ITEM STAFF PEABODY — The City of Peabody kicked off the the twain new year the same way it has for decades — with shall meet the annual Mid-Term In- augural ceremony at City Hey, who wants to have a East doesn’t Hall’s Frank L. Wiggin little fun? I mean, there’s usually Auditorium Monday. not much to be had, is intersect This year, however, the there? west, but it event was far from tradi- We have a president who does so here, tional due to a little thing is so … so … shocked that at the corner called COVID-19. he’s lost his re-election of Western The event — limited to ght that he’s convinced and Eastern City Council members himself that his alternate Avenues in (some of whom participat- reality is the real one. Lynn. ed remotely) and a hand- Our heroes keep fall- ful of city of cials — was ing in droves. Dawn Wells televised live on Peabody (Mary Ann on Gilligan’s PHOTO | JOE BROWN Access TV and also avail- Island); Phil Niekro, one of able via Zoom. seven baseball Hall of Fam- Ward 6 Councilor Mark ers who died in 2020; Ger- J. O’Neill was elected ry Marsden, who sang one president of the council. of the de nitive (and most He gave a shout out to beloved) British Invasion outgoing President Tom ballads of the mid-1960s Rossignoll. (“Ferry Cross the Mersey”). “I’m proud, not only of Everywhere you look, the City Council as a body there’s death. There’s lu- nacy. There are so many but of the way Tom didn’t reasons to shrivel up into skip a beat, which allowed the fetal position and hole us to continue to do our up in your basement. jobs,” said O’Neill, who But then, some welcome was elected to the council absurdity. in 2017. “Without a doubt, I was driving up Eastern I have huge, huge shoes to Avenue in Lynn the other ll. day until I hit the inter- “Although this ceremony section at Western Ave- will be very different from nue. So far, so good. Right? Abbot Library packing plenty into 2021 past years and lacking But wait. In what world its traditional pomp and do east and west inter- By Thor Jourgensen Abbot Library pageantry, this smaller yet important ceremony sect? If “east” points one ITEM STAFF patron Deborah is further evidence of your way and “west” the oppo- Shelkan Remis and MARBLEHEAD — Online events and curbside pickup City leaders continuing site way, they’re not sup- her dog Otter pick schedules proved popular at Abbot Library in 2020, and a their work for Peabody’s posed to intersect. But up the books they schedule packed with programs is ready to roll into this year. residents.” they do here. Sometimes, requested at the mapmakers must throw Faced with COVID-19 public-gathering restrictions and O’Neill urged council library on Monday. their hands up in despair. social-distancing recommendations aimed at stopping the members to “keep an open I suppose a lot of these spread of the virus, the 235 Paradise St. library switched last mind when listening to PHOTO | JOE BROWN things stem from when year to remote borrowing and program scheduling arrange- residents and each other; streets were built and ments for town residents and interlibrary patrons. share your opinions and named, especially by devel- Curbside pickup remains in force going into January, while debate with passion but opers who may have known library staff “review the suitability of resuming the browsing with mutual respect for service,” according to the Abbot website. everyone.” EAST WEST, A3 LIBRARY, A3 INAUGURAL, A3 Richardson Green’s Decking (and dismantling) INSIDE future discussed Local the halls in Swampscott New virus cases, in Lynn eld deaths reported By Alex Ross tree out on the 10th and keeping it out all across North Shore. FOR THE ITEM week to ensure pick-up. A3 “If one day they nish the route early, By Alex Ross right of rst refusal law — SWAMPSCOTT— It’s in with the they can start on another one, and if your FOR THE ITEM the town can either pur- Opinion Christmas lights and out with the Christ- tree is already out, they can just pick it chase the land for conser- mas trees in Swampscott this month. up,” he said. LYNNFIELD — The Se- vation at a price tag of $2.7 A toast of Marblehead past. Though the holidays are over, residents Cresta added that the town feels ob- lect Board moved to take million, or it can assign the future of the Richard- A4 are being encouraged to leave decora- ligated to assist residents in disposing that right to a non-prof- of their trees safely, as dried-out trees son Green parcel under tions on their homes throughout January, it organization, such as Sports while also disposing of their withering can pose a re hazard. He said the town advisement Monday night Essex County Greenbelt. Peabody boys trees, thanks to a town collection service. has worked out an arrangement with following a public hearing Should the town choose to hockey making Beginning the week of Jan. 10, res- JRM Hauling & Recycling to pick up during which residents do neither, the land, locat- the best of limited idents should leave their trees on the the trees in a separate truck from the voiced their opinions on ed between Sagamore Golf usual trash. numbers. B1 curb by 7 a.m. on their speci c trash day. the land. Course, Ipswich River and According to the National Fire Protection Under Massachusetts Gino Cresta, the town’s director of pub- Chapter 61B — the state’s RICHARDSON, A3 lic works, even recommended putting the DISPOSAL, A3 OBITUARIES ..............................A2 LOOK! .......................................A8 DIVERSIONS .............................B5 HIGH 36° VOL. 142, ISSUE 23 OPINION ...................................A4 SPORTS ................................ B1-2 CLASSIFIED ...............................B6 LOW 30° POLICE/FIRE .............................A5 COMICS ....................................B4 BUSINESS ................................B7 PAGE A8 $1.50 A2 THE DAILY ITEM TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021 OBITUARIES New virus cases, Francis G. (Frank) Gilmore, 90 Ralph J. “Jud” Knowlton, 95 1930 - 2020 1925 - 2020 deaths reported SAUGUS - Saugus – Mr. Crisis. Ralph J. “Jud” Knowlton, age Ralph’s hobbies included across North Shore 95, died at the Oosterman stockcar racing, Ham radio op- Rest Home in Melrose erating, camping at Ep- By Gayla Cawley In Saugus, 123 new cas- on Tuesday, Decem- son Valley Campground ITEM STAFF es and three additional ber 29th. He was the in NH with family and deaths have been report- beloved husband of friends; and he was a New coronavirus cases ed since last Thursday Norma M. (D’Eon) member of the Bay- and additional deaths were to bring the town’s total Knowlton with whom state Riders Motorcycle reported in Lynn, Lynn- numbers to 2,441 cases he shared 64 years of Assoc., the Masonic field, Peabody, Saugus and and 51 deaths, according marriage. Temple, and the Veterans of Revere on Monday. to the town website. Born, raised and a life- Foreign War. Marblehead, Nahant, Lynnfield has reported long resident of Saugus, Mr. In addition to his wife, Mr. and Swampscott also re- 21 new cases and an ad- ported an increase in virus Knowlton was the son of the Knowlton is survived by his six ditional death since last cases over the weekend. late Chester A. and Mabel D. children, Patricia Adams, Tim- Thursday, which brings the In Lynn, 73 new cases (Doane) Knowlton. Ralph en- othy Knowlton, Dorothy DiTo- town’s caseload to 713 and and four additional deaths tered the service as a senior masso, Frederick Flamnia, De- its death toll to 20, accord- were reported to bring the at Saugus High School and nise Acampa and Jean Gosling; ing to the town website.