SALEM — During Monday night's City Council meeting on a proposed housing project at the Salem Mission, two city councilors revealed that they, too, were once homeless.
Councilor-at-large Tom Furey told the packed room that his family spent about six weeks homeless, following a series of financial problems and family tragedies.
"My family collapsed," Furey said.
His father was a leather worker who battled alcoholism and had trouble maintaining jobs, Furey said. He eventually wound up in jail, where he died at the age of 48.
That left Furey's mother to raise him and his five siblings on her own.
The financial hurdles soon became too high, and the family was evicted from their home. With nowhere else to go, Furey and his family spent about six weeks at the city Almshouse, essentially a shelter for the city's homeless, which was on Collins Cove across the street from Bentley School.
"We went to what everyone called the poor farm," Furey said.
Shortly after, Furey's two sisters and three brothers went into foster care in Beverly. Being the youngest, Furey stayed with his mother.
After five years apart, "DSS found us a home and gave us an opportunity to reunite," he said.
Furey, who has since adopted three sons of his own, used the story to explain why he supports the Salem Mission's housing project.
Ward 3 Councilor Jean Pelletier, however, objected to Furey's comments and tried unsuccessfully to convince Chairman Paul Prevey to stop Furey from speaking.
"I was homeless, too, Councilor," Pelletier said. "It's not about homelessness tonight."
Border battle
The Salem-Marblehead rivalry was on full display Monday night.
For example, resident Dave Pelletier offered some free advice for officials at the Salem Mission, regarding their proposal to create 20 housing units for the homeless.
"Feel free to open one in Marblehead," said Pelletier, who lived across from the former Crombie Street shelter.
Pelletier added that Marbleheaders donate money to the shelter "to make themselves feel good while the rest of us feel bad.
"It's just not right," he said. "We've done our share. Salem is not Homeless Mecca. It's not a Tramp-topia."
Ward 7 Councilor Joe O'Keefe seemed to add to the Marblehead ribbing by asking members of the Mission board of directors to stand up, introduce themselves and "tell us where you're from."
Several gave Marblehead addresses.
None of it seemed to sit too well with Cathyann Swindlehurst, a Marblehead resident who owns a business in Salem.
"To come and listen to people assume that I'm working to keep out whatever riffraff people I think are floating over the river toward my pristine home, I take profound objection to that," Swindlehurst said. "... We're not across the river throwing you our homeless people."
Money in the bank
One final note on the Salem Mission — it announced yesterday that it's been awarded $126,000 in grant money for "pre-development costs" associated with its proposed housing project at the former St. Mary's Italian Church.
So far, the Mission has raised $333,500 for the $3 million project.
A wet goodbye
The final weeks of St. Joseph School were made more difficult by all the clouds and rain. They couldn't even release white doves at the closing ceremony last Friday, which would have been a moving symbol of the passing of the city's last Catholic school.
The school tried to plant a tree at Mack Park, but had to postpone the ceremony several times. Finally, the tree got planted, a living symbol of St. Joseph School for years to come.
Although Mayor Kim Driscoll was away and had to miss the ceremony — she was chaperoning a daughter's school trip to Philadelphia — she sent a nice message to be read at the event.
It concluded: "As the seasons of time change, may we continue to visit this tree and watch it grow and mature into something beautiful, much as the school did in each year of its existence here in the city of Salem."
Gorton girl
Seventeen-month-old Camryn Jane Cotter of Salem is a finalist in a national photo contest sponsored by Gorton's of Gloucester.
She's trailing entries from New Jersey, Florida, Indiana and California, but we think she really deserves your consideration. Not only is she the only entry from the North Shore, but she is a huge fan of fish sticks.
In the photo submitted by her parents, Josh and Katelyn Cotter, Camryn is wearing a yellow slicker, just like the Gorton's fisherman, and actually biting a box — that's right, box — of Gorton's lemon pepper battered fish fillets.
"A few weeks ago, we took her down to the docks in Beverly and showed her the boats and fishermen coming in," Camryn's mother wrote to Gorton's. "We would point to the fishermen and say, 'Did they catch fishies?' and she would get very excited.
"That day we came home and pulled out a box of crunchy battered fish fillets and said, 'Where's the fisherman?' and she pointed to the box. So we cooked up a fillet, served it with some ketchup and she ate the whole thing."
(Just for the record, Camryn ate the fish, not the box.)
To vote for Camryn, go to www.gortons.com and look for the Eat Smart Contest. The contest ends July 31.
Diapers and backpacks
A Salem High School student's journey from popular cheerleader to teenage mother is chronicled by film crews and featured online by ABC News "Primetime."
"Primetime" interviewed young women across the country for a special on teen pregnancy, called "Family Secrets."
The Salem student's story didn't make the television broadcast this week, but it is online.
Stephanie, 17, who graduated from Salem High earlier this month, became pregnant as a 15-year-old sophomore. (ABC did not use last names with any of the teen mothers).
Stephanie and her baby, Melanie, are featured in a video, "Teen Mom: Day-in-the-Life," in which she goes about her day and brings Melanie to the Teen Parent Program at Salem High.
"I think a lot of people make the assumption that once you become a parent, you reach this level of maturity, which isn't true," Teen Parent Program director Sue Belski told ABC. "They're still adolescents, and they're just like their peers in terms of not understanding what the real world is. They still need to be parented themselves."
"Be smart," Stephanie cautions other teenage girls. "That one moment is just a moment. A kid is a lifetime."
To see Stephanie's story, visit abcnews.go.com/Primetime and click on "Teen Faces Challenges of Motherhood."
Dog Day
The Northeast Animal Shelter is still buzzing about its biggest adoption day in its 32 years.
On a recent Saturday, 36 dogs and cats found homes.
"We are calling it 'The Day of 36,'" Executive Director Randi Cohen wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "This truly momentous and heartwarming occasion is a powerful reminder of how many more dogs and cats we'll save each year thanks to our new home."
A year ago, the shelter moved to a much larger building on Highland Avenue.
