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
November 30, 2007
Ban Striped Bass Catch Method, Island Fishermen Tell the State
Two leading Island recreational fishing organizations have called on the state Division of Marine Fisheries to end the controversial practice known as yo-yoing, which laces bait fish with lead that ends up in the bellies of striped bass.
Tree of Lights Arises Amid Construction
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Auxiliary will mark the 24th anniversary of its tree of lights fundraiser to benefit Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Each December for over two decades, the great pine located in front of the hospital was lit with hundreds of red and white lights, each donated by an individual in honor or in memory…
A Linotype Man to the End
A Linotype Man to the End Jonathan Sawyer, whose unexpected death Nov. 21 was reported in last Friday’s Gazette, was for twenty years a mainstay of this paper’s back shop printing staff. Jon joined the Gazette staff part-time while he was still in school, following his frequent encounters on Pease’s Point Way with Elizabeth Bowie…
Appraisal Day
Appraisal Day Not sure if it’s trash or treasure? Bring it to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s appraisal day tomorrow, Dec. 1, at the Museum in the Pease House, 59 School street in Edgartown.
Cafeteria Lunch May Be Farms’ Growing Market
When celebrity chef Jamie Oliver found students at an English elementary school eating a quarter-ton of chips each week in lunches that cost less to make than those at nearby prisons, he did something completely unexpected. He signed up as a lunch lady — bringing his fame, culinary skill and television production crew. In the…
Process Mars County Manager Search
Better communication between the county commission and a committee appointed to screen applicants for county manager would have helped the search run more smoothly, committee chairman Greg Coogan said this week. Despite a fallout between the commissioners and the committee earlier this fall, Mr. Coogan said the committee will stand behind the vote the commission…
Correspondents Born of War Reunite
If it weren’t for the war. Fifty years ago this winter, in February, 1958, I began my journalistic career as editor of a fledgling monthly newspaper, the Springdale News. I had just turned eleven. A key ingredient to increasing readership is a crackerjack staff. We engaged correspondents from New York, California and Scotland. And that’s…
Homecoming for the Holidays: Playhouse Stages Family Show
The holidays would not be complete without a show at The Vineyard Playhouse. Earl Hamner Jr.’s The Homecoming, adapted by Christopher Sergel and directed by M.J. Bruder Munafo, is back this year as part of the rotating repertory for The Playhouse’s annual family holiday show. The Homecoming will run from Friday, Dec. 7 through Saturday,…
Costly Sewering Seen As Great Pond Solution
Edgartown wastewater authorities believe a plan to sewer hundreds of homes in the watershed of the Edgartown Great Pond can achieve the 30 per cent reduction in nitrogen pollution required to restore it to health. A draft report of the Massachusetts Estuaries Project, obtained and published by the Gazette last week, finds the Great Pond’s…
State Database Mishap Concerns Professionals
The social security numbers of state-licensed Island professionals, including realtors and medical professionals, have not been compromised and are safely back in Massachusetts state databases, a spokesman for the state division of professional licensure said this week.
Letters to the Editor
EXCELLENT SUMMARY Editors, Vineyard Gazette: The story about the Edgartown Great Pond Estuaries Study was an excellent summary of a problem that has been (visibly) developing for years. Omitted, however, is the contribution of acid rain to nitrogen loading (see Wilcox Report to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission circa 1998?).
Community Takes Hay Rides While Sun Shines
Hundreds turned out on Friday for the hayrides, children’s crafts, good food and music of the annual Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary Fall Festival. The sunny noontime party was crafted years ago as a big follow-up to Thanksgiving, a homecoming, a Vineyard attempt to bring fellowship to the day after the big family meal.
Edgartown Needs Voter Turnout To Change Bylaw on Quorum
In a classic double bind, Edgartown will need to rely on voter turnout to reduce the number of voters required for future quorums at town meetings. The quorum question will form part of a special town meeting on Tuesday night. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Old Whaling Church and will be moderated…
Moon and Planets
A last quarter moon appears close to the ringed-planet Saturn tomorrow morning. The two rise in the eastern sky at midnight, and will be best seen after 1 a.m. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Leo.
Gazette Chronicle: 50 Years Ago
50 Years Ago: From the Vineyard Gazette editions of November, 1957:
Beetle Mania
“And now, here they are: the beetles!” (Insert soundtrack of hysterical screams.) Don’t faint, and don’t expect to see Paul, Ringo, George, and John — the beetles that I am talking about are the ones you would have had a much better chance of seeing in the past few weeks.
Apologies to Ethan
Apologies to Ethan An announcement in last week’s Gazette provided incorrect information about a son born to Scott and Lila DiBiaso of West Tisbury. The DiBiasos have announced the birth of a son, Ethan Ryder DiBiaso, born on Nov. 10 at Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Ethan weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Big brother Owen welcomes…
Networking in Tisbury Results in Tower That Turns on New Radio Station WVVY
The Vineyard is set to get a new radio station and the town of Tisbury to get an integrated information system following a couple of last-minute approvals this week. On Tuesday, selectmen Tristan Israel and Denys Wortman (Thomas Pachico was absent) approved an easement at the department of public works site for a 70-foot pole…
Sophomores Speak Out
Hi, I am the editor for this week’s Sophomores Speak Out. Students have chosen to write about a variety of topics this week about events happening all over the world. We have written about international tragedies like Darfur and Richard McAuliffe has written a response to Eric Fletcher’s piece that appeared on Nov. 16 asking…
Bird News
It is fun to catch up on what has been seen on Island while we were away. I think this is the first time in years a rare bird didn’t show up while we were away. Maybe the jinx is broken.
Receives Degree
Receives Degree Patrick Rolston of Vineyard Haven received a degree in marketing in May from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.
Welcome Beckett
Welcome Beckett Heather and Josh Kochin of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Beckett Michael Kochin, born on Nov. 20 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Beckett is also welcomed by grandparents Chip and Michelle Leonardi and Jack and Christie Shea.
Farmers Sow Seeds of Advocacy
T wo weeks ago a group of Vineyard farmers , selectmen, county commissioners and other Islanders interested in farming heard about the advantages of setting up an agricultural commission from a delegation of representatives involved in agricultural commisions elsewhere in the commonwealth. Vineyarders attending this workshop felt that there was enough merit in the idea…
The Vineyard Gardener
By Lynne Irons For years, I viewed alyssum as old lady plants. Now that I have become one, I know why. First of all, they are completely reliable. Mine are blooming happily along regardless of several freezing nights here in Vineyard Haven. I generally start several flats of them and just lay the contents of…
Deer Shotgun Week Begins With Hunters Out in Force
After a slow start due to poor weather, the shotgun season for deer is in full swing. As of Wednesday afternoon — the third day of the two-week shotgun season — a total of 67 deer had been checked in at the station at Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, while 35 had been checked in…
Oak Bluffs
HOLLY NADLER 508-693-3880 (sunporch@vineyard.net)
Political Freedom Is Trump Card In Bridge Players’ Brouhaha
Rarely does the genteel card game of bridge merit both a news story on the front page of the arts section and an editorial in The New York Times, but that’s what happened recently during a raging controversy over free expression.
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip. Day Max. Min. Inches. Fº Fº Nov. 22 55 35 .00 Nov. 23 62 33 .09 Nov. 24 40 23 .00 Nov. 25 34 24 .00 Nov. 26 49 30 .83 Nov. 27 60 46 1.80 Nov. 28 60 35 .00 Nov. 29 50 30 .00
Deon’s North Tisbury Restaurant Closes Following Thanksgiving Weekend Fire
A fast-moving fire swept through Deon’;s restaurant on State Road in North Tisbury on Sunday night, completely destroying a preparation area in the rear of the building and causing severe structural and smoke damage to the kitchen and dining area. Owners of the year-round restaurant said the eatery would be closed for repairs until at…
Edgartown
Kathie Case 508-627-5349 kcase1@verizon.net December begins tomorrow and we only have 24 days to get everything done. Even though snow has not been a big event in recent years, I am still one who associates snow with Christmas — trees all decorated, lights shining through and a sled beneath the tree. I think I just…
PBS Series on Baby Boomers Has Designs on Lorraine Parish
Lorraine Parish has been an Island fashion presence for nearly three decades, but it was her personal spirit rather than her designer’s eye which last month put her in front of a film crew, shooting the pilot for a television series on baby boomers. The hour-long Public Broadcasting System (PBS) show, yet untitled, is being…
Giving Noah’s Ark-Style: Heifer International Fair
Tomorrow at the Grace Church Holly Day Fair, the youth group at Grace Church — Youth M-Powered — will have a table where you can donate money to Heifer International.
West Tisbury Must Ask School District To Apply for Turbine
A wind turbine project in West Tisbury hit a snag recently when a town committee that has been shepherding the project discovered that it had tapped the wrong group to prepare an application for a $40,000 state feasibility study. The wind energy committee learned that because the turbines are planned for the West Tisbury School,…
Chappy
Margaret Knight 508 627-8894 (margaret02539@yahoo.com) With all the wind and rain we’ve been having lately, Chappaquiddick is looking almost wintry, most of the leaves gone from the trees. Certain plants, though, seem to like this time of year: the moss in the woods is a brilliant green and the lawns are still looking happy.
Bank of Martha’s Vineyard Promotions: Klaren, Irwin
Bank of Martha’s Vineyard, a division of Sovereign Bank, is pleased to announce the promotions of Kim Klaren to Chilmark community banking manager and Jim Irwin to Edgartown Four Corners community banking manager.
High School Students, Parents Plead For No Budget Cuts in Music, Drama
At an emotionally charged public hearing Wednesday night, over 100 teachers, students, parents and citizens turned out in force to protest proposed budget cuts to the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School drama and music programs. “What I learned shaped me as person,” said a teary-eyed Lydia Fisher, a Minnesinger currently in her senior year, of…
Outerland Will Close Doors for Winter
Outerland, the Island’s main music venue, will close Jan. 1 and not reopen again until spring. Outerland owner Barry Rosenthal came before the Edgartown selectmen on Monday to request a change in his liquor license from year-round to seasonal, one month after he had been granted permission to shift from seasonal to year-round. He said…
Vineyard Haven
NANCY GARDELLA 508-693-3308 (vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)
Build the Debate About Island’s Village Character
The kickoff workshop for the Island Plan built environment work group will be held on Monday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission office in the Olde Stone Building in Oak Bluffs. This is one of the second series of work groups being launched by the Island Plan steering committee. For decades,…
Correction
Correction A Nov. 16 story in the Gazette about the sale of Thimble Farm reported inaccurately on the farm’s status in 2000 after former owners Bencion and Patricia Moskow sold the development rights to the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. The farm remained in continuous operation until it was sold to Lawrence Benson in 2002. The…
Sabev — de Geofroy
Sabev — de Geofroy Mr. Ivan Nikolov Sabev and Mrs. Margarita Doncheva Sabeva of Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria, are happy to announce the engagement of their beloved daughter Ivona Ivanova Sabeva, of Sofia and Edgartown, to Andrew Jason de Geofroy of Edgartown, son of Ms. Wendy Jones de Geofroy of Edgartown and Mr. Charles Antoine…
Winter Stargazer’s Guide to the Vineyard
At night the Earth loses all its importance. Then the Vineyard, surrounded by a black ocean, isn’t just any island — it’s an Island amid the stars. And it’s the best viewing stand. When the light of twilight fades, the Milky Way, our galaxy, becomes the Island’s neighborhood. Star clusters, comets and nebulae become a…
Taste of the Vineyard’s Legendary Music Scene
Perched in the second row of a community hall at five o’clock in the afternoon, a plate of reconstituted Thanksgiving food balanced in one hand, and a decent glass of red in the other — it was an unusual way to take in a festival of modern music. No poorly maintained toilet facilities, no vomit,…
West Tisbury
JOHN S. ALLEY 508-693-2950 (alleys@vineyard.net) Last Thursday afternoon the temperature was 60 degrees; it was very pleasant and warm. However by Sunday morning it was downright cold. That was in Taunton where we had gone to spend a long Thanksgiving weekend. All the stores were decorated and playing Christmas music — Bing Crosby and Brenda…
When Parents Go Radical, Movie Blames It on Fidel
The light French feature film Blame It on Fidel, a child’s view of how experience shapes our political consciousness, screens on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven. The film centers on a whip-smart, feisty Parisian girl, Anna, who is forced to make sense of cataclysmic changes in…
Commercial Season Opens For Scalloping Up Island
The commercial bay scalloping season opened yesterday in Aquinnah. Aquinnah is the last town on the Island to open the commercial season. Fishermen have been harvesting scallops in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Chilmark and Tisbury.
Louise Sweet Featured
Louise Sweet Featured Louise Sweet of Flowers On The Vineyard will featured for her work on the Style Network this month. It can be seen on cable channel 119 Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., or go to stylenetwork.com and click on weddings away, then destination weddings, then Martha’s Vineyard.
Taize Worship Service
Taize Worship Service The United Methodist Cooperative Ministry will hold a candlelit Taize Worship beginning Sunday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Church. It will continue for four consecutive Sundays, through Dec. 23. The Taize community began in the south of France in the 1940s to witness reconciliation and peace among individuals,…
Study Blames Birds, Dogs for Pollution
Reduce the number of birds and leash the dogs. That’s the translation of a technical study released this week by a leading marine biologist which concludes that a flock of invasive cormorants and – to a lesser extent – a group of domesticated dogs are responsible for the high levels of fecal contamination in Sengekontacket…
The Yard Added to Select Catalogue of Philanthropy
The Yard, a performing artists’ dance colony in Chilmark, is among 54 charitable organizations newly listed in the 2007 Massachusetts Catalogue of Philanthropy, a publication mailed to the 120,000 wealthiest families in the state. The catalogue, published yearly since 1997, links charities and benefactors.
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER 508-645-3378 (slaterjn@comcast.net) We send condolences to the Vincent family on the recent death of Priscilla Vincent, wife of Bill Vincent and mother of Katie, all of Schenectady and Chilmark. The family is gathered this week at the family home on South Road for the internment at Abel’s Hill Cemetery at 2 p.m.…
Oil Trade: Book Renews Hanukkah Story
LETTER ON THE WIND: A Chanukah Tale. By Sarah Marwil Lamstein. Illustrated by Neil Waldman. Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, Pa. 2007. 32 pages. $16.95 hardcover.
Can This Old House Be Saved? Maybe
None of the houses on North Water street in Edgartown are small. But tucked among the old whaling captains’ homes, with their broad lawns stretching down to private docks on the outer harbor is a comparatively diminutive Greek revival building known as the library. The fate of this home has hung in the balance since…
Island Woman Wins 5K
Island Woman Wins 5K Amory Salem of Edgartown has won the women’s division of the annual Thanksgiving Day 5K in Oak Bluffs several times — but this is the first year she also out-ran the men as well to win. Congratulations.
Aquinnah Town Column: Nov. 29
Condolences to the family and friends of Orlie Alwardt. Services were held on Wednesday at the Methodist Church in the Camp Ground. It was a wonderful tribute to Orlie who had spent his adult life working for the town of Oak Bluffs in the highway department and as an Oak Bluffs firefighter.
Hallelujah! Island Chorus Revives Holiday Favorites
The Island Community Chorus will open the holiday season with a festive concert program, presented twice this weekend at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. At 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, and again at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2, the chorus will sing under the baton of its artistic director Peter Boak, with accompanist Garrett Brown…
Bills Grow Larger For Home Insurance
In a move that has outraged Island homeowners and their elected state representatives alike, the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, with only scant publicity, recently agreed to hike to the roof certain deductibles for people insured under the FAIR plan.
Parsonage Pond Gets Big Dig Before Winter Brings Ice Skaters
Island residents, the Whiting family hopes, can have as much fun skating on Parsonage Pond as they have had watching the pond being dredged. Onlookers were abuzz Tuesday morning as a unique paddle-wheeled excavator on pontoons crept into the two-acre pond and began snuffling pond grass and weeds into the maw of its extended rake,…
Restoring Great Salt Pond
Restoring Great Salt Pond The draft Massachusetts Estuaries Project report on the Edgartown Great Pond obtained by the Gazette last week is required reading for all who live on the Vineyard. The conclusions of the report may be obvious, but no less startling on an Island with a long history of strictly protecting its pristine…
Works from Viet Nam
Works from Viet Nam Works from Viet Nam, Chantal Legare’s mixed media exhibition on paper and wood, opens tomorrow, Dec. 1. at the West Tisbury library and will continue through Dec. 31.
