FAIR METHODS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

From the discussions leading up to Edgartown’s decision to stay in the commission there came a nice side effect — a clarification of taxation based on equalized evaluation. If you own a $500,000 house you pay the same amount of actual dollars towards the commission’s services whether you live in Chilmark or Oak Bluffs or any other town. In editorials, news stories, on-line posts, and letters to the editor, many people explained the concept. These people were making the point that Edgartown’s bill from the commission each year was indeed fair. It was larger than the bill to other towns because the property value total in Edgartown was larger than the total in any other town. Outside of Edgartown I don’t recall hearing anyone object to the fairness of this formula — at least with respect to the commission.

Many people glaze over when they hear how costs are assessed, even people who should know. I recently served for four years on the Oak Bluffs finance committee. When a representative from the Regional Transit Authority or the Regional Housing Authority came before us the discussion was usually about whether our assessment was up or down — almost never about the formula that determined the separate assessments for Oak Bluffs and the other towns.

I’m a big fan of Islandwide approaches. We could use more of them. In particular I believe the 2,000-plus children of Martha’s Vineyard would be better served by one school district rather than our current arrangement of two regions and three K-8 town school departments. It’s not just about the cost. Islandwide we have low tax rates compared to the rest of the state, and a large percentage of the tax revenues we raise comes from off-Islanders. Money we spend on schools benefits kids, but it also helps bolster the Island’s winter economy with good jobs. We need wintertime jobs. But we could get more benefit from the people we hire if we were better organized to manage them and help them to develop their abilities. Our current organizational structure is bizarre and wasteful.

Efforts to do things together across town lines often founder on the issue of divvying up the costs. When a town feels it is going to have to pay too much it simply decides to retain the town-based status quo, even when it recognizes the advantage of intertown cooperation. Why risk a change when you might get snookered? That’s where the equalized valuation process comes in handy. It is widely perceived to be fair.

Who pays how much? Which town pays more, or less? Changing a formula will always mean a change in how much a town pays. And the news stories will talk about winners and losers.

When Edgartown voted to stay in the commission we were all winners because we stayed together. The idea of taxing according to equalized evaluation, so well articulated by so many proponents of staying in, helped to make staying in a palatable choice. It seemed fair.

When we sit down next time to talk about doing things together across town lines, assessment according to equalized evaluation is a concept that can be helpful in the negotiations. Thanks to the events in Edgartown and the widespread discussions, this fair method is now more widely understood, and thus more available for us to use.

Peter Palches

Oak Bluffs

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PRINCIPAL DEFENSE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Thank you for the very informative article about the visit from the Brazilian deputy consul to our high school. What an exciting time for the students and the Martha’s Vineyard community. However, I would like to take exception with your paragraph about the absence of the principal and your reasons for tying it to an issue last spring. Unfortunately, I believe that paragraph did a great disservice to all involved and put a false cloud over what was a great event.

First of all, the issue last spring concerning wearing scarves or other materials on graduation gowns was never about a particular group of people; it was about the policy for everyone. Unfortunately some people might want to use that situation to achieve another agenda, but I can assure you that was not Dr. Nixon’s. I have known him since he first started at the school, and I can tell you that this man cares strongly about the educational success of every individual in our school.

This brings me to the second point. Do you ever wonder what a principal does all day? Well, it certainly is not the same as it was 20 years ago. Today we have No Child Left Behind, anti-bullying legislation, state testing, and on and on. Every problem with society today (I am exaggerating here) has to be fixed by a solution from our lawmakers. This explosion of regulations mandates, and initiatives has consumed so much of our time that the real job of educating is slowly being muted. So, my guess is that Dr. Nixon would have much preferred to be at a celebration for our students and school instead of dealing with the avalanche of bureaucratic time consumers. Truly, if your point was to show that Dr. Nixon did not care about this program, why do you think we would have these types of programs in our school or have such a high-profile visitor?

I am hoping that the new owners of the Gazette can focus and expand on the real issues instead of throwing out a few lines of disconnected events that appear only to create controversy. I hope you can be leaders here and help change our country’s journalistic tone from the constant barrage of negativity to objective reporting and reaffirmation of what we can do well.

Woody Filley

Chappaquiddick

The writer is the technology director at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

PATIENT PRIVACY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

As an employee of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for 28 years, and a recent emergency room patient, I want to reassure the community that your medical privacy is protected. In years past this has been a concern of the Vineyard community. The physical aspect of patient privacy was a priority in the construction of the new hospital. In addition, the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act (HIPPA) ensures your privacy. The only people that knew of my transfer to Massachusetts General Hospital were the staff members directly involved with my care. When I returned to the Island, fellow hospital employees were shocked to learn of my illness. My medical information wasn’t even shared with my coworkers in the laboratory until I informed them directly.

I was very pleased with the collaboration and communication between the two hospitals. The electronic sharing of my medical records tremendously facilitated my recovery. My MVH doctor could immediately read notes written by my MGH doctor.

My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Laursen, Betsy, and Bertha in the emergency room, Cathy in radiology, as well as the Oak Bluff’s ambulance. Patty, Cheryl, and Sandy from Vineyard Nursing Association were very supportive and attentive with my home care. Thanks to Dr. McMahon and her staff, especially Sue and Pam for their continued assistance. Also, I want to thank the wonderful laboratory staff for their technical efficiency and their concern for my well-being.

To all of you in the community that assisted my family during my recent illness, I wish you a healthy and happy New Year.

Mary Edwards

Edgartown

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WREATH SALE SUCCESS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

This is the season to be thankful, so I would like to thank Reliable Market, Espresso Love, Rainy Day and Rickard’s Bakery for supporting The Festival of Wreaths at the Federated Church on Thursday, Dec. 2.

Their contributions helped make our fundraiser for the renovation and upkeep of the Sara Mayhew Parsonage in Edgartown a great success. Also, thanks to all those supporters who purchased wreaths. We sold all 75 and will be contributing $3,500 to the parsonage! Thank you, one and all, for making this first-time event a fun and enjoyable evening.

Alice Goyert

Oak Bluffs

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SHELLFISH VIRTUES

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The longer I work with bivalve shellfish, the more impressed I am with what a remarkable life form they are and what a key role they play in the well-being of both the planet and humankind. One would be hard pressed to design an organism more beneficial or resilient.

In past years I’ve pontificated about archaeological evidence that shellfish provided a major source of nutrition for ancestral human populations, and that modern nutritionists believe shellfish are a perfect food, high in protein, low in fat, with healthy amounts of essential vitamins, minerals and fatty acids. I’ve told you that ecologists confirm their key role in marine food webs and the importance of oyster reefs to maintaining marine biodiversity. Environmentalists are keen to exploit their ecological services to remediate poor water quality and sequester excess global carbon dioxide. Gourmet chefs and “foodies” praise their superior flavor, while futurists concerned with global food shortages recommend them as a sustainable, efficient protein source low on the food chain. An acre of farmed mussels provides over 1,000 times more meat than an acre of pastured beef! Closer to home, in the aftermath of the collapse of the “virtual” economy, they provide a real and honest source of wealth and employment for wild harvesters and local shellfish farmers alike.

It’s pretty obvious that bivalve shellfish have nurtured us from our very beginnings, do now, and are likely to play a part in our future salvation.

Now that we’ve reviewed their benefits, let me tell you a little about their resilience. It, too, is quite remarkable. Bivalve shellfish have been around in an evolving variation on a theme since the Early Cambrian period about 600 million years ago. Now that’s a strong argument for the shelled lifestyle!

Equally important to their persistence is the enormous fecundity inherent in shellfish and oysters in particular. It has been reported that a female oyster can release 60 million eggs over the course of one spawning season. During just one spawning event at our shellfish hatchery this summer, we estimated collecting over 300 million eggs from 23 female oysters! Not to be outdone, the nine male oysters that spawned released easily 10 times that amount of sperm.

Shellfish have a remarkable ability to rebound if a critical mass of brood stock is present and environmental conditions are favorable. The key mission of our shellfish program is to maintain that critical mass of brood stock in the Island ponds. To that end we annually produce millions of seed shellfish for release in the ponds. This year with ideal environmental conditions, our efforts, especially in the Great Ponds, were generously rewarded. Oyster spat collected on almost every hard surface in Tisbury and Edgartown Great Ponds!

The take-home message: There’s a lot more to shellfish than “what’s for dinner?” For a litany of the right reasons, our Island shellfish deserve our appreciation, help and protection. And, if given half a chance, they are more than capable of returning the favor a thousand fold. Please join us in our mission with your tax-deductible contribution.

Rick Karney

Vineyard Haven

The writer is director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group. The group’s address is P.O. Box 1552, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.