JUNE MANNING
508-645-2574
Cranberry Day will be celebrated on Tuesday, Oct. 14. The bogs will be open at 9 a.m. with a picnic lunch at noon. The daytime activities are for tribal members and their families. In the evening, there is a potluck celebration at the tribal building on Black Brook Road for the Vineyard community to participate in. Please bring a dish to share with the other eight people who will be sitting beside you at the table. There is always a large gathering in the evening to celebrate with food, dance and drumming.
From the Vineyard Gazette of Oct. 5, 1934: Cranberry Day was celebrated at the Gay Head bogs with the usual big turn-out of Indians to mark the annual festival. Gay Head residents moved out of their homes on Tuesday and traveled to the wild cranberry bogs where they celebrated Cranberry Day, in all the joyousness that has marked this annual festival since the first Indians discovered the wild berries. As usual, the school was closed and all able-bodied persons went to the bogs riding in cars, oxcarts, and horse-drawn equipages.
Also from the Oct. 5, 1934 edition, Gay Head has 32 who pay more than $30 yearly. With a tax rate of $22.80 a thousand, Gay Head’s total tax levy this year will be $3,408.55. The total valuation put upon all estate, both real and personal, is $145,638.
Thank you to Mark Lovewell and his father John Lovewell, for once again sharing their family estate with the Vineyard Gazette staff last Friday evening. For our annual gathering, we enjoyed dining on lobster and chowder and all that goes into a clam bake on the beach this year next to the family boathouse. Once again, Julia Wells assured us of the lovely harbor scene while Joe Pitt again assured us of another spectacular sunset as we departed. For those of you who enjoyed the bowling alley again, next year we will be having teams! It was great to see Mandy Locke, former writer for the Gazette from 2001 to 2004, who had arrived from her new position in Raleigh, N.C., especially for the memorial service for our late editor and publisher John Walter.
The shore at Wasque was the setting for the service for John Walter. More than 200 people attended the afternoon of memories of a life well-lived. Family and friends from across the country gathered to bid farewell to John, who served as the Vineyard Gazette editor and publisher from 2003 to 2004. What an incredibly amazing life for an incredibly amazing man who so many of us had shared some special time with.
Wednesday, Oct. 15, is the final day to register in order to vote in the national election on Nov. 4. Please call Aquinnah town clerk Carolyn Feltz at 508-645-2304 to schedule an appointment for registration. Please confirm your community of registration and where you may be presently registered. Carolyn has sent out census forms and once they are returned for two years in a row with addressee unknown, you will automatically be removed from the voting list. Please confirm your present correct address, date of birth and party affiliation with Carolyn.
A special town meeting will be held on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. There are only 10 articles on the warrant and your input is greatly needed. A quorum of forty-one voters is required, so please bring your neighbor.
Alpha-90 arrived in Aquinnah Saturday morning amid cheers of the EMTs who will be in charge of the new ambulance. Aquinnah fire chief Walter Delaney was on hand to open his pristine office space above the station for an early morning brunch with heart-healthy omelets prepared by Sloan Hart for the dining pleasure of the EMTs. Walter also presided over the backing into the barn with the new ambulance and to make sure no one hit the stairs. The ambulance has already been used over the weekend for a few emergency calls. Thank you to the Wampanoag tribe for donating the new A-90 and a hearty thank you to all of the EMTs who serve the tri-town community. Reminder – when the issue is brought before town meeting the next time, we are in need of a new barn to house the ambulance for the ease in backing in but also to have a temperature-controlled environment to store the supplies and the ambulance itself.
Due to vital structural repairs at the Aquinnah Public Library, it will be moving to the Aquinnah town hall within the next few weeks. Volunteers are needed for packing and heavy lifting. Please let Aquinnah library director Jennifer Christy know if you would like to sign up by calling 508-645-2314. Over the winter months, the most popular books, DVD’s, magazines, and videos will be available during the transition.
While the library is preparing for their move, the Aquinnah town hall itself is presently undergoing major renovations as well. This week the new ceiling material was installed to improve the acoustics. A new roof has been put on. Jed Smith is renovating the office on the northwest corner for emergency management use. The flooring will be sanded and repaired. By season’s end, the new kitchen will be well worth the wait to bring it all together for all to enjoy.
The deer check station at the tribal building is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for tribal ranger Spencer Booker to weigh in your deer. This week is the start of the tribal archery season. Next week the state archery season begins on Monday.
Get well wishes to Beatrice Silvia who was transferred from Martha’s Vineyard Hospital to Spaulding Rehab in Boston on Tuesday.
Congratulations to USNR Captain Ron MacLaren for his award and plaque for his Navy Reserve Component. On Sept. 22, he received the award in Sparks, Nev. for his Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Forward at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Capt. MacLaren and his group received this National Award for an unprecedented transformation during this past year in addition to performing record-setting volumes in its logistics and customs mission duties. During this entire period, the support group forward excelled in its customs and cargo missions, managing record-setting surges in cargo and personnel that prior rotations had always warned may come, but were only realized during its watch.
Navy Customs processed a total of more than 1.1 million re-deploying personnel and pieces of baggage and in excess of 300,000 pieces of redeployment equipment, while the port group processed and accounted for more than 60,000 pieces of equipment and cargo moving in and out of theater, exceeding the prior year’s throughput by more than 20 per cent. An organizational restructuring was completed, which centralized command and control, eliminated redundancies, and allowed the Navy’s cargo handlers to achieve mission complete. This resulted in a reduction of more than 30 per cent of Navy personnel required in Kuwait and Iraq, which substantially reduced future mobilization requirements to support the new streamlined organization. It also provided for increased and improved logistics support to US Navy units located in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility. The Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Forward GOLF’s accomplishments are recognized with the NDTA Military Unit of the Year Award. This was quite an accomplishment for Captain MacLaren and his group to win this national award.
Happy 16th anniversary wishes to Spencer and Belinda Booker as they celebrate on Oct. 11.
Happy 11th anniversary wishes to Paul and Genie O’Donnell as they celebrate on Oct. 11.
Happy 11th anniversary wishes to Peter and Rita Jeffers as they celebrate on Oct. 14.
Happy 4th anniversary wishes to Shaun MacPhail and Alexandra Taylor as they celebrate on Oct. 16.
Happy Birthday wishes this week to Dr. Norma W. Zack as she enjoys her special day on Oct. 11 and the joys of being a new grandmother. Zachary Smalley will be 14 years old on Saturday. Yvette Eastman will be observing her 96th birthday on Oct. 12. Vineyard comedian Marty Nadler will party on Oct. 13 and it really was a delight to see him with Holly at our Gazette party. Anthony Belain will party on Oct. 13. Aquinnah housing committee chairman Derrill Bazzy will party on Oct. 14. Our beloved Aquinnah highway superintendent Forrest Alley will observe his special day on Oct. 15.
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