Mary Oliver
The wind wags its many tails. And in the evening the piled firewood shifts a little, longing to be on its way. —Mary Oliver
October 19, 2007
Plan for Building On the Harbor Stirs Emotion
The Menemsha harborfront, long defined by a history of providing open dock space for working draggers and lobstermen, must be protected, a vocal gathering of Chilmark fishermen told their selectmen early this week. The fishing industry is ailing and the harborfront endangered, they said. “In a few years, there will be no fishermen,” warned Louis…
Playhouse Has Auditions For Family Holiday Show
The Vineyard Playhouse is holding open auditions for Earl Hamner Jr.’s The Homecoming, adapted by Christopher Sergel and directed by M.J. Bruder Munafo. Auditions will be held on Thursday, Oct. 25 and Friday, Oct. 26 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Vineyard Playhouse, 24 Church street in Vineyard Haven.
Vineyard Commission Considers Review Of Joseph G. Moujabber’s Illegal Garage
A key subcommittee of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted unanimously on Monday to recommend that the controversial three-story garage built by Joseph G. Moujabber in Oak Bluffs without a proper permit three years ago should be reviewed by the full commission as a development of regional impact (DRI). The vote by the commission’s land use…
Police Await FBI Tests To Identify Brazilian Man
A body that washed ashore in Edgartown harbor earlier this year is expected to be identified as a Brazilian carpenter who went missing over 18 months ago, state police said this week. State police Sgt. Jeff Stone said investigators believe the body found on a small stretch of beach at the end of Morse street…
West Tisbury
JOHN S. ALLEY 508-693-2950 (alleys@vineyard.net)
Dancing and Darjeeling
Dancing and Darjeeling Belly dance is derived from folk dances and traditions of Middle Eastern and North African cultures. Like any dance form, it is great cardiovascular exercise. Find out more at the Tisbury Senior Center’s Tea and Talk on Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. The Vineyard’s own Belly Dance and Revue will dance and…
Body of Man Overboard Found on West Chop
The body of a Fairhaven man who likely jumped overboard from the New Bedford high-speed ferry to the Vineyard last month was found along a isolated stretch of beach on West Chop Saturday, police said. The body of Walter Tyler, 28, was found around 7:45 a.m. near the West Chop pier along a north facing…
Vineyard Haven Handles More Waste from Boats
The Vineyard Haven harbor’s two pump out boats carried between 12,000 and 15,000 gallons of raw sewage from holding tanks on boats to the town’s sewer system during this past boating season, according to harbor master John (Jay) M. Wilbur 3rd. And as the demand for pump outs increases every year, the town harbor department…
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER 508-645-3378 (slaterjn@comcast.net) The mild weather continues, as Chilmark settles into its quiet pace for the next few months. The sunset crowds at Menemsha are mostly gone but I must say the sunrise on Wednesday morning was one not to miss. I shared it with the crows who were trying to outshout the…
Kids Adorn Arboretum
Kids Adorn Arboretum Polly Hill Arboretum youth educators Betsy Dripps, Gretchen Snyder and volunteer school guides have teamed up with the West Tisbury fifth grade to decorate the arboretum for fall. Using natural materials the students created creatures to adorn the grounds. Perched on walls, peering from branches, and propped on fences these creatures will…
Tilton Sisters’ Market Specializes in Coffee, Spice, Everything Else
Looking for nonstop fun and excitement? Then go to the new Tilton’s Market at the Union Street Mall in Vineyard Haven when the UPS delivery van shows up. The man in brown looked startled last Monday morning as Kathleen and Tania Tilton whooped and hollered at his appearance, and as they opened cartons of teas…
SSA Budget Is Busted by Oil
Rising world oil prices have blown a million dollar hole in the budget of the Steamship Authority and forced the boat line to refigure its budget for a second time. However, governors balked at management’s advice that they should immediately consider fare increases to cover the extra projected cost, opting instead to put off any…
School Lunch
Charter School Monday, Oct. 22: Macaroni casserole with meat or vegetarian, sliced oranges and milk. Tuesday, Oct. 23: Mexican chicken or vegetable soup, tortilla chips, salsa con Queso, fruit smoothie and milk. Wednesday, Oct. 24: Sandwiches (ham and cheese, egg salad or veggie burger with cheese), sweet potato fries, pineapple and milk. Thursday, Oct. 25:…
Derby Love Story, Smiths Leave Headquarters to Fish Together
When Martha Smith and her then-boyfriend Charlie began dating 15 years ago, they spent a lot of time at the annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby headquarters at the foot of Main street in Edgartown. She ran the derby headquarters, two hours in the morning and two hours at night, and coordinated the…
Clear Weeds, Waters with State Funds
West Tisbury private landowners bordering Mill Brook may be eligible for a state program that offers to pay 75 per cent of costs associated with cleaning the environment on their property as water flows through on its way into Mill Pond. Chuck Hodgkinson, space needs committee chairman for West Tisbury, has recommended the Landowner Incentive…
Superior Court Judge Hears Arguments In Ancient Way Tree-Cutting Dispute
Middle Line Road is not much of a road. But it’s a heck of a legal problem, as quickly became evident when the controversy over its 270-year history and uncertainty over its future use landed in the Dukes County superior court in Edgartown this week. The essence of the case is simple enough. The Hall…
Vineyard Gardener
By Lynne Irons How about that Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Nice to know he is still getting the popular vote. I listened to his acceptance speech. He told an African proverb. “If you want to go somewhere quickly, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”
Best Job, Bar None: Youngest Brewer Takes Over Tradition at Offshore Ale
Theo Epstein is a walking American dream. Growing up nearly within earshot of Fenway Park, he played, studied and dreamed baseball before the Boston Red Sox hired him as their general manager in 2002. At 28, he was the youngest general manager in the history of Major League Baseball and the envy of little boys…
Mill Pond Plan Set for Special Meeting
West Tisbury selectmen last week decided to race the bureaucratic clock to clean up the Mill Pond. Selectmen will file for funding approval by the Oct. 31 deadline and will place a warrant article before a special town meeting to be called next month in order to begin construction work late next summer, if voters…
Schilcher Triplets Come of Age: Proof That Three’s Not a Crowd
When they were born 25 years ago, identical triplets Alexander, Nicholas and Duncan Schilcher became instant Island celebrities. Their birthday parties were front page news, and the Gazette chronicled their development as toddlers. But years passed and the triplets grew up, relatively out of the public eye. So here is the news update on the…
Fuel-Guzzling Ferry Fares
Fuel-Guzzling Ferry Fares Rarely has the Vineyard paid such close attention to the price of crude oil as in recent weeks. Through the eyes of the Steamship Authority, which has been preparing its final budget for the coming year, Islanders have watched the price of oil climb from seventy dollars a barrel to eighty, topping…
Burning Earth Makes Searing Tale
THE DAY THE EARTH CAVED IN: An American Mining Tragedy. By Joan Quigley. Random House. 2007. Hardcover. 223 pages.
Before he began sinking into the ground, 12-year-old Todd Domboski noticed a wisp of smoke floating from the ground “like a smoldering match buried under damp leaves.” In Centralia, Pennsylvania, where an abandoned coal…
Footballers Take Tough Loss, Regroup for Super Bowl Shot
The couldashouldawoulda’s are a week old now but the fact is the Vineyarders are still in the mix for a league title and a trip to their eighth Super Bowl despite a frustrating 8-6 loss to Blue Hills Regional Vocational Technical High School last Friday night. That’s the way another coach in the Mayflower League…
Community Services Nod To Daybreak Businesses
The Daybreak Clubhouse of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services has announced the awarding of certificates of appreciation to the following Island businesses and business leaders: the Martha’s Vineyard Times, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, the Morning Glory Farms, Murdick’s Fudge, and Murdick’s Fudge General Manager Michael J. McCourt.
Fall Classic Ends
Fall Classic Ends A junior angler won the 19-foot Boston Whaler. A fisherman whose name has been well known on the leader board through the years won the 2008 Chevy Silverado truck. A husband and wife team who are weighmasters retired. A controversy flared up and just as quickly died down, offering an eye-opening educational…
House Making You Sick? Find Out at Chilmark Talk
Environmental medicine specialist Dr. Lisa Nagy will discuss the causes, symptoms, complications and treatments for chemical sensitivity at the Chilmark Public Library on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m. Her talk, Environmental Health: The Controversial Connection between Chronic Lyme, Depresssion, and Alcoholism and living in a moldy home, is free, open to all and sponsored…
Restored 1936 Motorcycle Travels to Canary Islands
Bill and Lynne Macomber have just returned from Hershey, Pa., where they were vendors at an Antique Automobile Club of America flea market, along with about 10,000 other vendors. The annual event is the largest such gathering in the world and is attended by people from all over the globe. In the back of their…
County Charter Study Group Meets to Narrow Options
The Dukes County charter study commission will meet Thursday, Oct. 25, at 5 p.m. in the Oak Bluffs Senior Center to begin discussing specific options for county governance, and possible functions and services of a future county government. The public is invited to attend. Seven possible options are under consideration. The charter commission expects to…
A Season for Islanders
A Season for Islanders As the last ripples of summer settle, Islanders come into their own again, our own rhythms no longer so dependent on tending to the visitors. Now we can stay up late watching the whole nine innings, or more. Now we can take time to savor the juicy flesh of the Island’s…
Make Your Own History: Museum Offers Workshop
Learn more about your family, your community and the Island around us: explore methods of conducting oral history interviews in a workshop at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, 59 School street in Edgartown. The first meeting will be on Saturday, Nov. 3, from 1 to 4 p.m., with a follow-up meeting at a time to be…
Award-Winning Farming Film Debuts on MVTV
How to Save the World last month won the award for best nonbroadcast film at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, an international event where other winners came from the BBC, Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. Tonight, the awardwinning documentary about biodynamic farming will be broadcast — premiering on MVTV. The filmmakers were on…
Letters to the Editor
STAY DRY Editors, Vineyard Gazette: We are writing to express our strong conviction regarding the so-called beer and wine issue in Vineyard Haven. Our conviction grows out of a good many years of experience and observation in a considerable number of communities where we have been associated.
Weekend Gourmands Gallop Into Edgartown For Successful Inaugural Harvest Festival
It was past Columbus Day, yet the sidewalks of Edgartown were bustling, the restaurants packed, the weekend offering cheese seminars, cocktail hour and dinner parties. It was the first annual Martha’s Vineyard Harvest Festival, organized by the Edgartown Board of Trade to celebrate food and wine, and to bolster this end of the shoulder season.
Orionid Meteor Shower
A gibbous moon will interfere with this weeks Orionid meteor shower. The best part of the shower is this weekend, after midnight. The moon’s brilliance will interfere, so only the brightest of meteors can be seen.
Remembering Virginia: Letters to the Editor
REMEMBERING VIRGINIA Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
The Fishermen
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL THE MOST IMPORTANT FISH IN THE SEA, by H. Bruce Franklin. Island Press / Shearwater Books, Washington, 2007, 266 pages.
Eleven years ago, a group of Island fishermen went to Sandwich to attend a public hearing on the management of striped bass. We all sat in an overcrowded auditorium…
Chappy
Margaret Knight 508 627-8894 (margaret02539@yahoo.com) Some of the Chappaquiddick trees and vines have changed colors and given the island a look of fall. The bright red Virginia creeper seems suspended on a sea of green, up in the tops of the trees, or else contrasts nicely with the dark brown trunk where it climbs a…
Gazette Chronicle: Dedication, Deconsecration
Dedication, Deconsecration From the following editions of the Vineyard Gazette:
Marbled Orb Weaver
There are some things that I would expect a youngster to bring home from preschool. Among these would be drawings to hang up on the fridge, simple arts and crafts projects, and even perhaps a cold caught from another child. What I wouldn’t expect is what Hunter Meader brought home to his family — a…
Oak Bluffs
HOLLY NADLER 508-693-3880 (sunporch@vineyard.net)
A Teacher Who Never Hid From His Students
John Morelli died Wednesday at his home in Chilmark, just a few short miles from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School where he taught English for nearly half his life. He loved the drive to work each morning, past the West Tisbury Congregational Church, Alley’s General Store and the Mill Pond, especially during this time…
Hawks Galore
Gay Head or Aquinnah has the Vineyard birders enraptured watching the movement of large numbers of raptors in the last two weeks. To steal the words of Pete Dunne, David Sibley and Clay Sutton from their book Hawks in Flight, bird watchers in Gay Head observed a collection of wind masters (buteos), artful dodgers (accipters),…
East Chop
RICK HERRICK 508-693-8065 (herricklr@verizon.net) Every time I see John Breckenridge jog by our house I think of stopping him to say thanks for something else he has done to improve our community. His latest efforts have involved Lincoln and Prospect Parks. Recently these parks received topsoil fill, and were seeded with a drought resistant fescue.…
Untangling the Island’s Social Knots
Anthropologists call them social nodes — the places where a community’s social cement is stirred, where folks get to know each other during the spontaneous expression of life’s routine. Our churches, libraries and town halls serve this purpose, of course, but so do more informal locations like our parks, walkways, forest trails, beaches and general…
Miles Take No Toll on Walkers Remembering Alzheimer’s Needs
Fifty-two walkers completed the Island’s eighth annual, four-mile Miles of Memories Alzheimer’s Walk on Sunday, Oct. 14. The fastest participants were Lara Uva and Donna Leon, who completed the walk in just over an hour. Willy Binks ran the race and came in first. The slowest walker actually rolled across the finish line: Florence Bruder…
Hello, Peyton Lee
Hello, Peyton Lee Meghan Montesion and Robert Tabares of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Peyton Lee Tabares, born on Oct. 14 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Peyton weighed 9 pounds at birth.
Aquinnah
JUNE MANNING 508-645-2574 (lthslnks@gis.net)
Sophomores Speak Out: Polling Their Classmates for Opinions
Editors’ Note: This marks the second year for the Gazette to sponsor Sophomores Speak Out, a special current events feature written by the sophomore students in Elaine Cawley Weintraub’s global studies class at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Sophomores Speak Out will appear regularly on the Commentary Page throughout the school year.
It’s a Jungle in Edgartown: Selectmen Run With Panthers
Barbara Prada, the Edgartown animal control officer, has been fielding some strange calls this summer. So when she submitted her quarterly report to the Edgartown selectmen on Monday, the board had a few questions ready. Selectmen: “Are you trying to kid us here?” Ms. Prada: “No, someone actually called.” Selectmen: “Was it a mountain lion?”…
Welcome Gabriel
Welcome Gabriel Solimar S.S. Arado and Marcos S. Arado of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a son, Gabriel Soares Arado, born on Oct. 11 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Gabriel weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces at birth.
Vineyard Haven
NANCY GARDELLA 508-693-3308 (vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip. Day Max. Min. Inches. Fº Fº Oct. 12 66 56 Trace Oct. 13 68 37 Trace Oct. 14 62 41 .00 Oct. 15 62 39 .00 Oct. 16 62 42 .00 Oct. 17 61 41 .00 Oct. 18 72 44 .00
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 65º F.
Accident Sees Car End Up on Trailer
A motorist traveling outbound on Main street in Edgartown crashed into a landscaping truck yesterday, driving up and over a trailer attached to the truck, damaging both vehicles. Nancy Ambrose, 75, was driving her 1997 Toyota Rav4 northbound on Upper Main street when she rear-ended a truck from Anthony’s Landscaping in front of the Martha’s…
Marco Antonio Arrives
Marco Antonio Arrives Maria Almeida and Marco of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a son, Marco Antonio de Almeida de Filho, born on Oct. 14 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Marco weighed 8 pounds, 7.6 ounces at birth.
Abu Ghraib Film Screens
Abu Ghraib Film Screens The documentary Ghosts of Abu Ghraib will screen for free on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center at 130 Center street in Vineyard Haven. Join Adnan Sabeh, the Rev. Alden Besse, Father Michael Nagle, Rabbi Brian Walt, and fellow community members for an open and…
Oct. 12: Mist in the Morning
Friday, Oct. 12: Mist in the morning. Anglers gather at the end of the Big Bridge jetty on the last full day of the derby. Choppy seas off East Chop. Saturday, Oct. 13: Cool morning. Thick dew on the pumpkins at Morning Glory Farm. Cool over the Lagoon Pond. Golf enthusiasts gather at Farm Neck…
Hospice Honors Polly Brown at Saturday Breakfast
In marking its 10th anniversary, the Spirit of the Vineyard award fittingly will be presented to its founder, Polly Brown, at a breakfast in her honor at the Up-Island Council on Aging in the Howes House in West Tisbury on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 8 a.m. Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard established the Spirit of the…
Derby Ends With Records All Around
An eye-popping derby to be sure but no eyes popped wider than junior angler Chris Morris’s when his key sprung open the padlock that awarded him the 19-foot Boston Whaler complete with a 115-horsepower Mercury motor and a trailer last Sunday at the 2007 62nd annual striped bass and bluefish derby awards ceremony at Outerland.…
