BUY LOCAL

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I thank you for printing the interview with Cronig’s owner Steve Bernier. He, like Paul Revere, is sounding an important wakeup call.

One solution to the food problem, similar to that which we’re trying to apply to the energy problem, is to localize production.

But to be successful, both the food and energy solutions must incorporate major conservation and efficiency improvements. With foods, we must eat those that are basic and nutritious, grow them without petrochemicals and locally recycle scraps, manures, etc.

I encourage the Gazette to offer weekly tips on ways that individuals can help implement energy and food solutions. And let’s remind selectmen, county officials and congressmen that they need to be effective leaders and role models.

Chris Fried

Vineyard Haven

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AIR ANGELS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette,

Thank you for calling attention to the Angel Flight pilots who give so selflessly of their time and money. As a patient currently using their services I don’t know what I would do without them and I can’t thank them enough!

Blue Cullen

Chilmark

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WRONG ACCENT

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

In Friday’s Gazette review of the Vineyard Playhouse’s production of End Days, (End Days: Wacky Comedy Works Wildly Well), the reviewer suggests that my performance as Stephen Hawking could benefit from the use of “crisp British syllables of [Hawking’s] Oxford background that we’ve come to associate with the brilliant cosmologist almost as much as his wheelchair.”

Mr. Hawking’s synthetic voice software does not and has never spoken in a British accent. Despite his Oxford education and British nationality, he uses a voice synthesizer that speaks with an American accent. Why? Mr. Hawking says it is because “this synthesizer is by far the best I have heard . . . it varies the intonation . . . The only trouble is that it gives me an American accent.” (Stephen Hawking, My Experience with ALS, hawking.org.uk).

Both acting and journalism are fields which require, perhaps not as much as astrophysics, a little bit of research.

Ryan Shams

Vineyard Haven

DOUBLE PLAY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Your story of the Seward twins warmed my heart. However, you didn’t mention that they were both great baseball players too. I can still remember them as teenagers coming to the Chilmark Community Center with bats on their shoulders and smiles on their faces — quietly. They would bang out base hits and field flawlessly. I knew Dave better than Doug, but they were both a joy to watch honing their baseball skill at Toomey’s field. I’m glad they’re doing well and wonder if they would like to come down to our Sunday softball games at Peaked Hill stadium. I betcha they’re still supreme baseball players.

Bill Edison

Menemsha

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MEMORABLE NIGHT

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

On Thursday July 17 a group of wonderful caring people joined us at our home in Chilmark to raise money for Compassionate Care ALS, a nonprofit organization that helps people who are diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Dilly was diagnosed with ALS last year and discovered the wonderful folks at CCALS shortly after. Vineyard Night for CCALS was conceived as our way of trying to thank them and, because of the volunteer organizers, Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish, the auction item donors, the Rothschild family who let us use their land for parking and the wonderful people who bought tickets and bid on the items, we had a wonderfully successful night.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this one of the most memorable nights of our lives. We know that the CCALS organization is also very grateful to everyone involved. Their work with ALS patients is so difficult and you all helped to make it easier. Some people who could not make the party have indicated they would like to know how they can make a donation; go to the Web site ccals.org or mail a check to Compassionate Care ALS, PO Box 1052, West Falmouth, MA 02574.

We are so grateful to all of you.

Dilly, Barbara, Kara, Marisa

and Dylan Walsh

Chilmark

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ISLAND ISSUES

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Though not new, the following issues need to be fixed:

• Cell towers: This summer I have noticed that cellular coverage has been greatly diminished, especially up-Island. One very important use of a cell phone is for emergency communication. After a fund-raiser party the other evening, I witnessed a severe auto accident on Middle Road. I could not make a call to report that emergency without driving to the top of a hill. We need to immediately allow additional cell towers, if for no other reason than to save lives.

• Bike paths: Chilmark has resisted bike paths for years. Either we need to stop bicycle traffic, which is counterproductive, or install bike paths. I see so many innocent families on bicycles, especially with children, at the mercy of fast-moving cars. I feel a child’s life is more valuable than scenery, or saving a tree.

• Monster homes: Massive homes might create jobs, but the Island must consider the utility drain on the Island for the next 100 years. Think of the electricity or other natural resources a 10,000-square-foot home uses all winter when the owner is not even present. We will some day pay for that.

• Electric cars: The Island is a perfect place for a plug-in electric car. Very few of us need a range of more than 75 miles a day. The Island needs to give incentives for all of us to invest in nonpolluting electric cars. Solar or wind-powered battery charging stations are the future.

Just some thoughts, and have a happy summer.

Paul D. Adler

West Tisbury

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LAMBERT’S COVE WORK

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I am writing first to publicly thank the West Tisbury highway department, Jesse Oliver and his able assistant for the wonderful job done of clearing the road sides of brush and growth. Lambert’s Cove Road looks beautiful, with all the stone walls once again exposed. Safety for walkers, bikers and drivers has been improved. Thank you, gentlemen.

Secondly, I’d like to disagree with the decision of the West Tisbury selectmen and police chief to remove the No Parking signs across from Lambert’s Cove Beach. For years this parking situation has been a tragedy waiting to happen. Parking on this shoulder should never have been allowed to take place. As a resident of Lambert’s Cove Road who has to traverse this section daily, I sincerely hope the selectmen will not wait until September to revisit this issue. I urge them to leave the signs up for safety.

Finally, I was deeply upset to read about the rude and unprofessional firing of staff and volunteers at the Martha’s Vineyard Boys’ and Girls’ Club Second Hand Store. Until the board members Joseph Forte and Kelly Hess and any others unnamed as yet resign, I will withhold my annual contribution to the club. This is Edgartown, not corporate America.

Nancy-Alyce Abbott

West Tisbury