SAUGUS – Though the newspaper delivery issue for White Hen Pantry has been resolved until the next Board of Selectmen meeting, Selectman Stephen Horlick still plans to tackle it head on.Police cracked down on the White Hen last weekend after a complaint was lodged regarding deliveries made to the store prior to 7 a.m. Town bylaw prohibits deliveries to establishments after 10 p.m. or before 7 a.m.White Hen, along with a dozen other stores, receives newspaper deliveries prior to 7 a.m. to accommodate their early bird patrons.Although the deliveries violate the bylaw, town officials acknowledge a manpower shortage prevents it from being readily enforced, unless someone files a complaint.White Hen’s issue should be resolved when Manager John Rogalski appears before the selectmen requesting a waiver, which must be debated during a public hearing with abutters invited to weigh in.Horlick said he would like to eliminate that step.He argues that if the board grants the Hamilton Street White Hen an extension of hours, it will have to grant one for every establishment that sells papers.”They each would have to be put on the agenda, it would take the board at least a whole two minutes for them to say OK and extend the hours, then the next one would come up,” he said. “Plus it would cost them $50 each.”Horlick said the entire issue could be streamlined if Town Meeting would agree to amend the bylaw to simply make newspaper deliveries exempt from the bylaw.Since the papers are generally delivered in station wagons, SUVs or vans, Horlick said it’s not as if a tractor trailer truck is waking up the neighbors.”If you change the delivery hours for one you have to do it for all, but if you put it in the bylaws as an exemption, it saves time,” he said. “It’s why we should still put it in (Town Meeting) as a bylaw change. I will take it up at the next board meeting.”
