Gazette Chronicle:  From the May 25, 1979 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

Memorial Day weekend. The rush of summer crowds. The traffic. The shoppers. Parents and children. Hope for good weather. Packed cars. Flags raised. Parade routes drawn. Friendly greetings after a winter away. Boats jammed. Airlines filled. Hotels booked.

The hubbub of a new summer season, a season that begins today, a season that will last through Labor Day and into the fall, a season that starts with some uncertainty and much hope.

And the quiet moments this weekend, the first big weekend of the new season.

Those moments will come Monday when the Vineyard community remembers its war dead. Flowers will be cast on Edgartown’s harbor waters. Special commemorative services are planned.

There are new questions about this new season. Will summer visitors from the mainland have enough fuel to reach the Vineyard? Will the high price of gas affect the number of people coming to the Island? What about the uncertainty of the national economy? What about inflation? Is the country headed toward recession?

And that old question, always the same question before any new season, before all the seasons that have gone before. Will the Vineyard prosper this summer? Will it survive the clatter of summer’s onrush with its fragile character intact when the quiet of fall and winter returns?

Whatever the uncertainties about fuel elsewhere in the country, the situation on the Vineyard appears good, at least for the Memorial Day weekend holiday and for the short run thereafter. Jon Ahlbum, president of the local chamber of commerce, had one word for the Vineyard’s level of fuel supply at this point: “excellent.”

Indeed, he expressed optimism about the long-range outlook for adequate fuel supplies for the Vineyard throughout the summer season. He said Island distributors are encouraged by the state’s apparent commitment to support the tourist business within the Commonwealth. Mr. Ahlbum said the state intends to treat tourist areas such as the Cape and Islands as priority regions and to divert gas supplies to these areas from standby reserves.

All stations on the Island, according to Mr. Ahlbum, are now receiving gas at close to the supply levels of Memorial Day weekend a year ago.

He expects all Vineyard gas stations to be open Saturday, better than 50 per cent open Sunday and 80 to 100 per cent in full operation Monday.

About fuel supplies on the Island, Mr. Ahlbum’s message was this: “If the people can get to the Vineyard, we can keep them running here and get them home.”

All the signs of this holiday weekend appear promising.

Noman’s Land may become a major new bombing and gunnery target for the United States Air Force if recent proposals to expand restricted military air space around that island are approved, the Gazette learned this week.

For years Noman’s Land has been used by United States Air National Guard jet aircraft flying practice rocket, bombing and gunnery runs against the island range. Now the air force wants a different military designation for the area. The practice bombing has not generally involved live ordnance in the past. The new proposal will not either.

If approved, the air force proposals would open Noman’s to heavier military use. The proposals would also change the status of large areas of air space to the north, west and south of Noman’s.

Source with knowledge of the air force plan express concern about the possible disruption of private air traffic moving in and ou t of the Vineyard. This would be particularly true, for example, of air traffic moving from the Vineyard area toward the northwest.

The tiny island of Noman’s lies three miles southwest of Squibnocket Pond and within the town borders of Chilmark. It is owned by the United States Navy.

Half of the now uninhabited island is preserved as a wildlife refuge under agreement between the navy and the Federal Bureau of Wildlife Management. The other half is left to the military for target practice.

Until the recent proposals, air force national guard units out of Bradley Field in Connecticut and Barnes Field in Westfield have used Noman’s only as a secondary, back-up bombing and gunnery range. The principal range for these two guard units, the 103rd and 104th fighter groups, is in upstate New York.

What the air force is now proposing is a significant enlargement of the restricted military area surrounding the Noman’s bombing and rocket range. At present restricted military air space around Noman’s is limited to a tight six-mile circle.

Under the new air force proposals that limited restricted area would expand to more than 450 square miles of military air space divided into three separate sectors. Parts of two of three specially designated military sectors run immediately along the Gay Head Shore.

FAA air space experts are now evaluating the air force proposals at air traffic control centers at Boston Center, Otis Air Force Base and Quonset Point.

Compiled by Hilary Wallcox

library@vineyardgazette.com