Dylan Thomas
The birds of the winged trees flying my name Above the farms and the white horses I rose in rainy autumn And walked abroad in a shower of all my days. – Dylan Thomas
March 14, 2008
Tie on Your Green Sneakers For St. Patrick’s Day Race
Tie on Your Green Sneakers For St. Patrick’s Day Race The 10th running of the Ocean View St. Patrick’s Day 5K Road Race to benefit the Martha’s Vineyard Boys’ and Girls’ Club will be held tomorrow, Saturday, March 15 at 9:30 a.m. Runners and walkers may register at the Ocean View Restaurant & Tavern today,…
Former School Secretary Gets Probation in Embezzling Case
A former secretary at the Oak Bluffs School was sentenced in Edgartown District Court to three years probation as part of a plea bargain on Friday. She admitted to embezzling more than $15,000 from a school account by forging the principal’s name on several checks and keeping the money. The Hon. John Julian agreed to…
North Tabor Farm Tour Hints of Green Leafy Season Ahead
Can’t wait for those fresh salad greens? Well, by the first of May, a mere 45 days away, you should be able to drop by Cronig’s and purchase a 10-ounce bag of North Tabor Farm’s salad greens, and the season will be under way.
Cinematic Gift
Cinematic Gift “A good movie can take you out of your dull funk,” film critic Pauline Kael said. “A good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact . . . make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.” Patrons who venture to the Chilmark Community Center this weekend will be transported from…
Citizen Sailor Guard Stars In World War II Movie
A movie featuring the Coastal Picket Patrol and its generally unknown yet strategic role in protecting the U.S. Coast during World War II will be shown on Wednesday, March 19, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library. During the initial involvement of the United States in World War II, the U.S. Navy…
County Names Finalists for Manager
For the second time in five months, the Dukes County commission has named finalists in the ongoing search for county manager. They are F. Tenney Lantz of South Dartmouth and Russell H. Smith of Aquinnah. After ticking off minor business items in a meeting Thursday afternoon, the commission went into executive session to discuss applicants…
Heidi Schwab, Asa Vought Set April Wedding Date
Heidi Schwab, Asa Vought Set April Wedding Date Rhoda and David Schwab of Vineyard Haven announce the engagement of their daughter, Heidi, to Asa Vought. Asa is the son of Duane and Donna Vought of Edgartown, and Susan Austin of West Tisbury. An April wedding is planned.
Letters to the Editor
FLOURISHING LIBRARY Editors, Vineyard Gazette: It has been reported in your paper that the Aquinnah Public Library has cut hours. This has not happened, nor has this been planned for the future. Our library hours continue to be Tuesday and Thursday from 2 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Be First to See Literary Hopes: Library Showcases New Talent
Feeling despair about the future of the republic in the hands of Xboxers and the “whatever” generation? Feel better. Get to the West Tisbury library and listen to some new literary voices. These mostly twenty-something award-winning poets and novelists think and write with clarity and understanding about our relationships with the world and with each…
Hy-Line, Pied Piper Ask SSA Permission to Cut Back Ferry Service to Vineyard
The options for getting to the Vineyard, particularly at times other than the summer high season, continue to diminish. Following the recent cutbacks in off-season high-speed services to the Island from New Bedford by the New England Fast Ferry, two more boat lines have flagged their intention to reduce the number of runs they do…
Corned Beef at the Cornerway Benefits Irish Trip
On Saturday, March 15 from 6 p.m. until midnight, the community is invited to turn out at the Cornerway in Chilmark to honor St. Patrick and the Irish tradition of generous celebration at a fund-raising dinner to benefit this year’s Irish History class trip to Ireland. The class is composed of students at Martha’s Vineyard…
Gazette Chronicle: The Last Heath Hen
The Last Heath Hen From the Vineyard Gazette editions of March, 1933:
Diversity Council Seeks Help from New Members
Diversity Council Seeks Help from New Members The Island Diversity Council, a grassroots organization with the mission of keeping issues of diversity in the forefront of the Island community’s attention, is seeking new members. The group seeks to promote programs in the school and create venues for adult education and discussions. The goal is to…
Through Scope of Gun: Soldier Tells Israeli Checkpoint Stories
Oded Na’Aman, a bespectacled 26-year-old in a brown corduroy blazer with the collar turned up towards a dark brown quiff, is telling an audience at Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Centre about scaring people half to death. “I told bad jokes and good jokes and they laughed just the same,” he says, “or they stood there shivering.…
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip. Day Max. Min. Inches. Fº Fº March 7 46 28 .00 March 8 54 40 .18 March 9 57 32 1.57 March 10 43 25 .00 March 11 39 24 .00 March 12 43 31 .00 March 13 47 30 .00
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 45º F.
Recalling an Earlier Chilmark and a Girl Named Virginia
Chilmark fifty years ago was a different place. Well, of course it was. There weren’t so many people. There weren’t so many summer people. And there weren’t so many people who lived there year-round. Islanders, we called them.
The Fabulists Go Cuckoo in Upcoming Kids Show
The Vineyard Playhouse and the Martha’s Vineyard Library Association continue a five-year tradition of presenting an exciting live theater experience for Island children. The Playhouse’s troupe, The Fabulists, will perform The Call of the Cuckoo, an entertaining stage adaptation of a folk tale from Afghanistan, written by Elizabeth Wojtusik. There is one performance on Saturday…
It’s Not Over Until the Fat’s Out of Fridge
I got caught. There was no way to refute the evidence. It was all in a blood test. I have high cholesterol, and my doctor was the first to know it. But the evidence wasn’t just in the writing. There were the cookie crumbs on my kitchen floor. There was a large jar of mayonnaise…
Early Spring
Spring arrives on Thursday at 1:48 a.m. For those who like to keep track of such events, this is an unusually early start for the season and it is due to this being a leap year. Usually spring arrives a day later on the 21st.
Herbert Putnam 3rd Befriended Entire Vineyard Community
As most on the Vineyard now have learned, this past Sunday we lost a prominent member of our community, Herb Putnam. I write today to share with the readers of this paper a brief note about my twenty-year friendship with Herb. I am certain that Vineyarders all over have many great stories to share about…
Kids Get Transported to New Life at FARM Institute
It’s spring at the FARM Institute already, with activities revolving around new life in the fields, barns and gardens at Katama Farm – caring for new lambs, calves and chicks; planting, cultivating and nurturing little seedlings. The teaching farm will offer spring programs for kids five days a week beginning Tuesday, April 1. Once again…
Oyster Drags Stolen from Chilmark Boats
Chilmark police are investigating a series of thefts from several fishing boats earlier this month in which oyster drags were stolen from vessels anchored at Tisbury Great Pond. Police were alerted to the thefts on March 4 after three Chilmark fishermen called to report that fishing equipment had been stolen from their boats. Officer Jeff…
Andrew Arrives
Andrew Arrives Dr. and Mrs. Gerald F. Westover of Wolfeboro, N.H., and Edgartown would like to announce the birth of their first grandchild, Andrew Chase Formica. Andrew was born Dec. 28 at Winchester Hospital in Winchester. He weighed 8 pounds, 15 ounces.
When Assessing Begets Indigestion
The heartburn in West Tisbury over the tri ennial real estate revaluation, which hit riparian owners on the north and south shore with increased assessments of two, three, and four times their previous values, is not likely to quiet down any time soon. Our three elected assessors, who bear the major responsibility for this gut-wrenching…
Oscar Winner Takes Viewers to Dark Side
In the disturbing yet vital film Taxi to the Dark Side, Army Specialist Damien Corsetti, one of six interrogators who confessed to torturing and killing an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan in 2002, stoically peers into the camera and tries to justify his actions. “When you look at people…
Aquinnah
JUNE MANNING 508-645-2574 (lthslnks@gis.net)
Hello, Haile
Hello, Haile Julia and Alessandro Barbosa of Edgartown announce the birth of a son, Haile Amazonas Barbosa, born Feb. 4 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Haile weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces at birth.
Importance of a Seaside Park and Beach for Oak Bluffs
As our town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport pointed out at a recent Oak Bluffs selectmen’s meeting, access and use of a town park is not a privilege but a citizen’s right. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, town parks were symbolic of a wider commitment to the public good, citizenship and public well-being. Cottage…
Fishing Concerns Dominate Cape Wind Hearing
A few things became quite clear at Wednesday night’s public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement on the Cape Wind project. The first was that about twice as many Vineyarders, assuming those who attended are broadly representative of Island opinion, oppose the project as support it.
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER 508-645-3378 (slaterjn@comcast.net)
Kids’ Culture All Day, Every Day in New Camp
Six of Martha’s Vineyard’s most loved cultural organizations are pooling their resources and expertise to offer a week of fun, creative learning experiences for children in the Island’s loveliest natural settings. Inspired educators from The FARM Institute, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Polly Hill Arboretum and The Yard…
Board Backs Town Hall Renovations
The West Tisbury historic district commission this week approved the major parts of a proposed $5.1 million renovation of town hall. The renovation project, slated for a vote at annual town meeting on April 8, is the latest in a series of renovation proposals to voters dating back to 1997. Between April 1997 and 2005,…
Chappy
MARGARET KNIGHT 508-627-8894 (margaret02539@yahoo.com) When I went across to town early on Sunday morning, there was barely enough water in the Chappaquiddick slip to float the ferry. Captain Bob attributed the low tide to a combination of the new moon and the high pressure of that bright sunny day. I didn’t know this, but high…
Hello, Emily
Hello, Emily Kristy and Jaroslav Kral of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Emily Sandra Kral, born March 6 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Emily weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces at birth. She is also welcomed by big brothers Darien and Dylan.
Men: Casting Call
Men: Casting Call Island Theatre Workshop has an urgent casting call for two men, needed immediately for May/June production of I Sent a Letter to My Love. First, a man with stage experience who can play as a 30 to 40-year-old, sings baritone or tenor and has comic timing. Second, a man who can play…
Agency Plans to Close Visiting Nurse Service
Martha’s Vineyard Community Services will end its Visiting Nurse Service on June 30 after nearly 43 years of operation. Seventy-two clients and 22 employees — 12 staff members and 10 per-diem workers — will be affected. The agency is not accepting new referrals, said Julia Burgess, executive director of Community Services. Program director Sharon Clauss-Zanger…
Edgartown
KATHIE CASE 508-627-5349 (kcase1@verizon.net) Our weather is so typical for this time of year. We get a warm day and think this is it, we might be over the worst. Then the next day it snows. However, if it wasn’t this way, what would we have to talk about? Happy birthday to all who celebrated…
Dean’s List
Dean’s List Alexander D. Rossi, class of 2008 at Assumption College in Worcester, has been named to the dean’s list for the fall 2007 semester. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. David Rossi of Edgartown.
An Admirable Tree
This tree will give you shakes and shingles. Building materials aside, many of us agree that the Eastern red cedar is a terrific tree. Arthur Barlowe and Phillip Amadus, who arrived at Roanoke Island in 1564, noticed these beautiful trees, effusing that they were “the tallest and reddest cedars in the world.” After so many…
Sugaring Season Brings a Sweet Taste of Maples
It is sap-running time on the Vineyard, and Simon J. Athearn of Edgartown already is in the thick of making maple syrup. His own topping for home-cooked waffles and pancakes can’t be found in any store. But there is an ample supply for those lucky enough to join him and his wife, Catherine, for breakfast.…
Vineyard Haven
NANCY GARDELLA 508-693-3308 (vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com) My friend alerted me — that was the only reason I watched the worst television show I have ever had the misery to sit through in my life. She knows I don’t like reality shows. I think they’re bogus, vapid and narcissistic. I wasn’t wrong.
Announcing Luna
Announcing Luna Jennifer Oliver and Fred Natusch of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Luna Shakti Natusch, born on March 6 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.
Bird Feeders
Birds that come to bird feeders change over the seasons. Sure, that sounds obvious, but this point was driven home by recent observations at my feeder. There were six to eight American goldfinches that were regulars at my thistle feeder from October through January, but I have not seen them in the past month or…
Timely Entry for Deep-Water Project
It seemed an unlikely coincidence that on the very day the community consultation process on the Cape Wind project began, another wind project should suddenly pop into the world, one conveniently out of sight of land, and apparently on the best of terms with the opponents of Cape Wind. And indeed, it proved not to…
Oak Bluffs
HOLLY NADLER 508-693-3880 (sunporch@vineyard.net) Back from California, babe. Lunch with Nicholson, cocktails with Spielberg. Oops, I just channeled someone else’s L.A. vacation. One thing we Vineyarders can depend on when we plunge into the real world for a week or two or more: we run up against the latest technologies that leave us whistling, “Everything’s…
Hoops All Stars
Hoops All Stars Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School is proud to announce that Kia Minor, Julie Perry and Mark Reppert have been chosen to play in the Cape Cod High School All Star Basketball Games at Sandwich High School on Sunday, March 16. Girls play at 2 p.m. and the boys at 5:30 p.m.
The Vineyard Gardener
Prudy Burt sent me this little poem. She said it came on a mug that Heidi Schmidt brought her from England. Let the wealthy and great Roll in splendour and state I envy them not. I declare it I eat my own lamb My own chicken and ham I shear my own fleece and I…
Ospreys Return to Island
This past Sunday saw the earliest recorded spring appearance of an osprey on the Vineyard, fishing Brine’s Pond on Chappaquiddick. The prior record was set on March 14, 2002.
West Tisbury
JOHN S. ALLEY 508-693-2950 (alleys@vineyard.net)
Employers: Time to Sign Up for Summer Job Fair
Employers: Time to Sign Up for Summer Job Fair Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School will hold its annual student job fair on Thursday, April 17, at the school library. Approximately 400 students will be participating. This is a student job fair and is not open to the general public. Local businesses have been asked to…
Organization Will Offer Children’s Sailing Lessons
Sail Martha’s Vineyard, the Island’s community sailing program, will offer beginner through advanced sailing lessons to Island children again this summer at the Sailing Camp Park on Barnes Road in Oak Bluffs.
Oak Bluffs Beach Repair Proposal Spurs Criticism
In a markedly short meeting by Oak Bluffs standards, selectmen on Tuesday breezed through a wide variety of hot topics including the growing likelihood of an override for next year’s budget — the first in six years — and plans for emergency repairs to a 30-ton retaining wall that collapsed along Sea View avenue last…
Martha Stewart Tunes in to Vineyard CSA
Martha Stewart Living radio will feature Elizabeth Germain today discussing Community Supported Agriculture. The broadcast is Friday, March 14, from 2:30 to 3 p.m. on Sirius Satellite radio, the Living Today Show. Tune in to learn about the history of CSA programs, the benefits of being a shareholder, and the similarities and differences between projects…
Etiquette Class
Etiquette Class Manners and etiquette classes for girls and boys ages 5 to 15 begin April 7 at the Mansion House in Vineyard Haven. Registration is required and forms are available online at mvschoolofetiquette.com. For details, call 508-693-5903.
Songwriters Tap Spring of Inspiration in Winter Recording Sessions
Looking out on a grey Aquinnah woodland, the sprawling front room of singer Lexie Roth’s family house, with its vintage guitar and miniature car collections, has been converted into a live studio for a loose collective of musicians wintering on the Island. This Monday afternoon it is dotted with microphone stands, a drum kit which…
Corrections
Corrections A news article that ran in the Feb. 29 edition of the Gazette and an editorial in last Friday’s edition inaccurately described services at the Aquinnah Public Library. The hours of operation have not been scaled back. The Gazette regrets the errors. •
Firefighters Battle Three Blazes in Week
Island firefighters and emergency personnel this past week responded to no fewer than three fully involved house fires in three different towns. Although fire officials say there are no signs of foul play in any of the fires, there was consensus that three major structure fires in one week is unusually high for the second…
Mature Workers
Mature Workers The Mature Workers Program of Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands Inc., has openings in its Bridge Back to Work Program for income-eligible people 55 and older. The program offers paid work experience and training opportunities. More information is available by calling 508-394-4630 or 1-888-394-4630, extensions 135 or 134.
Was Your Vote Counted? Film Examines Foul-Ups; Foul Play
After the polling irregularities in Florida in the 2000 Presidential election, which saw George W. Bush come to office, David Earnhart did nothing. But when it was repeated in 2004, he could not let it pass again. “A lot of people were angry in 2004,” Mr. Earnhart said this week from his office in Nashville.…
Edgartown Selectmen Vote to Expand Parking Time
Edgartown selectmen approved a series of parking reforms Monday that included additional time allowances at parking spaces, increased fines for violations, and a name change for the Dark Woods Trolley Lot, the sinisterly monikered park-and-ride at the entrance to Edgartown. The rulings follow the recommendations of the Edgartown planning board and a voluntary parking committee,…
Islanders Work to Meet High Demand for Food Assistance
Two local organizations have worked hard this winter to make sure disadvantaged Islanders have access to free food. This afternoon the Vineyard Committee on Hunger is hosting a giveaway at the First Baptist Church on Spring street in Vineyard Haven. They are distributing free food, some of it government surplus, to families that qualify. There…
Welcome Home, Mr. Turkington
Welcome Home, Mr. Turkington He was a quiet politician in a noisy political arena. He was sometimes so quiet he seemed out of place in the fractious clamor of Vineyard politics. His critics wondered in the early years if he was too timid to survive the political wars that roil the everyday life of the…
