Miss Hilde

From Gazette editions of November, 1984:

Provincetown-Boston Airlines resumed limited operations Sunday, two weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration took away its license for major safety violations. The airline expects to be back to its full fall schedule by early next week. Service began at the end of the busy Thnksgiving weekend with a fleet of PBA’s smallest nine-passenger Cessna 402 aircraft. The airline flew its regular schedule to and from the Vineyard, but provided only a single Cessna on each flight.

The rapid resumption of service, unprecedented for an airline of this size stripped of its operating license by the government, represented a strong cooperative effort between PBA and the FAA. “The reason PBA got back in the air so fast is because of the attitude of PBA management and the extra work that the FAA did in helping them get certificated this fast,” said FAA spokesman Jack Barker. Mr. Barker said more than a dozen inspectors assisted the airline at their main headquarters in Naples, Fla. “We are satisfied that PBA is in complete compliance with regulations. All of the problems that were brought up in the revocation have been corrected. What they are doing now is operating a safe airline.”

One of the first passengers back on board for the New York flight was Miss Hilde, this year’s blue ribbon canine at the Agricultural Fair, a shiny-furred dachshund from Manhatten and Vineyard Haven. She showed no sign of tension. Her guardian, Caroline Baun, said she was aware priority was given to regular commuters. “I think they know me because of Miss Hilde,” she said.

About fifty-five members and guests of the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club attended the recent meeting and supped heartily on a meal which was arranged by Fred Sherwood and the committee. It was the second sit-down supper held at the new clubhouse at Dividend Meadows.

The clubhouse itself showed remarkable progress toward completion. The tile ceiling was all in place and the interior walls have been finished with plywood wallboard as a dado and sheetrock as a frieze. Five new members were voted in. They are Augustus Ben David, Augustus Ben David 2nd and Jules Ben David, all of Oak Bluffs, and Stephen E. Gentle and Joseph K. Mitchell, both of Edgartown.

Among all the sensationally pitched voices over television and radio in the churning wake of Tuesday’s voting, one heard a remarkable phrase — “the historic victory of Gerry Studds.” Historic it was in the annals of democracy and what is now the 10th Congressional District. Martha’s Vineyard’s preference for Gerry was not unanimous, and one may note here that unanimity is not a characteristic of democracy, and democracy, based on recognition of the right of diversity of opinion, would be sadly wounded if it were.

But the special relationship between Gerry and the Island towns, dating from his first visits, rose above the oceanic trend of Ronald Reagan and his party. The Vineyard has always been inclined to speak for itself rather than echoing a trend, and this time it contributed mightily to the district victory which shook the halls of Congress and found real attention nationwide.

Gerry has been among us many times, recognizing and representing our interests. In the terms of our common humanity he has earned respect. We voted for his persistent, inquiring statesmanship, his diligence, his attachment to the Island. We and our interests will be served by his aggressive representation in the newly elected Congress.

The Trustees of Reservations are properly concerned about the wear and tear of so many footsteps on the heath land of the Wasque reservation. A current bulletin made the observation, “If the heath land is to survive, Trustees of Reservations must undertake a management program.” One must know the heath land to understand what heath is. Come right down to it, heath is what grows on the heath, and “heath” is one of those world words of the English language free for the borrowing by poets, travelers or exploring walkers on the sands of Wasque. A heath may be a moor or vice versa, a place where “woolly Hudsonia and shrub-like huckleberry rolls like a carpet to Wasque beach, with a thick stand of pine dominating the landscape.”

Shakespeare had his barren heath; Hardy had his native heath; and haven’t we all had a heath of our own recollection, going back to the years when as young explorers we were first finding out about the natural sorceries of the Vineyard? We know what it is that at Wasque must not be allowed to disappear: Sand and its degrees of tawny color, the scraggliness of beach plum bushes and bayberry, the crispness of mosses and the heatherlike patches that stood apart where the scrub oak parted and the sunshine glinted all common and memorable.

Compiled by Cynthia Meisner

library@mvgazette.com