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 31, 2008
Breaking News: Wednesday, November 5, 12 a.m. – Nantucket Voters Put Tim Madden Over the Top for State Representative
Tim Madden of Nantucket won the hotly contested race for Cape and Islands state representative Tuesday, beating out three other opponents including Dan Larkosh, a West Tisbury attorney who fought hard for the post. At 11 p.m., after a historic Presidential election that saw an extremely high turnout across across the Island, Mr. Madden emerged…
Election Day 2008
Voter turnout was heavy on the Vineyard throughout the day Tuesday, especially in West Tisbury where there were long lines at the polls from 7 a.m. on. The weather was mild and spring-like with scallopers and quahauggers out on flat-calm ponds around the Island. Town clerks manned the polls from Aquinnah to Chilmark, assisted by…
Question Three: Greyhound Racing’s Future
On Nov. 4, we have an opportunity to vote yes on Question Three and end the suffering of greyhounds in Massachusetts. Question Three is a humane proposal that will phase out greyhound racing in Massachusetts by 2010.
Farm to School
Farm to School
The November Community Island Grown Schools meeting will take place on Thursday, Nov. 6, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Island Co-Housing Common House in West Tisbury, off Stoney Hill/Chicama Vineyards Road. The meeting, to discuss rules and regulations around sourcing locally-grown food for school meals, will be attended by…
Flu Vaccine
Flu Vaccine
Former State Official to Talk About Online Threat to Kids
A program called Keeping Young People Safe on the Internet, a positive approach for parents, guardians and adults who work with young people, will be presented next week by Katelyn M. LeClerc, former Internet safety program coordinator for the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General.
Alanna Arrives
Alanna Arrives
Brianna and Christopher Flanders of Bourne welcomed their first child, Alanna Mavro Flanders, on August 1, 2008. She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 inches long. Alanna is the granddaughter of Noreen and Brian Flanders of Vineyard Haven, Sue Rego of N.C. as well as Karen and Jim Jean…
Vineyarders on the Road for Obama
Noting the porch light left on as he approaches, Vineyarder for Obama Chris Fried chipperly predicts, “These people left early this morning.” He knocks on the door anyway and waits. No answer. He wedges some Democratic leaflets into a crack in the door — the law prohibits him from using the mailbox — and troops…
Question Five: Universal Health Care Policy
Voters in the Barnstable legislative district, including Martha’s Vineyard, have an opportunity to vote in favor of establishing a single payer system for health care for the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Please look for the public policy question on your Nov. 4 ballot regarding health care as a human right and vote yes (Question Five in…
Question Four: Dukes County Term Limits
On Tuesday the voters of Dukes County will find a question on the ballot asking for approval to make an important change to our county government. The question and answer below may be helpful.
Q: Will I be able to vote to abolish county government?
A: No. The charter study commission,…
Question One: Preserve State Income Tax
Over 40 per cent of the income of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services comes from state contracts. We are very thankful that we have just come through the state budget cuts relatively unscathed. However, in order to maintain the quality of services we provide to the Island community we must be constantly vigilant.
State Representative: Why Tim Madden?
Based on my personal experience, I believe that the most important task of our state representative is to protect the integrity, independence, and local control of the Steamship Authority. It is the trump issue in the current race to fill the seat being vacated by Eric Turkington.
Our state representative may be only…
Chappy
MARGARET KNIGHT
508-627-8894
(margaret02539@yahoo.com)
I don’t think I’ve ever been on a more exciting ferry crossing than this past Tuesday evening during the big blow. As Skip Bettencourt’s front page Gazette photo last week showed, the opening at Norton Point has grown — now more than a mile wide…
Gazette Chronicle: Bump in the Night
A bit of the spectral from early Gazette editions:
Near the north shore of the Island just inshore from Cedar Tree Neck is what is left of the Crying Swamp. Here today is a small cranberry bog, surrounded by swamp bushes just like a hundred similar spots on the Vineyard.
Years…
Election Day 2008
Election Day 2008
Vineyard voters go to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots for President and Vice President in an election that is by any measure historic. The country is in turmoil, with the economy in a deep crisis that even the best and brightest financial experts cannot completely unravel, unemployment…
How to Leave Gazette: Remember to Exhale
The smell of newsprint is hard to describe — pungent, inky, old, dusty — all of the words fit but none is exactly right. And that is frustrating because the smell of newsprint is the smell of words.
Isaac Arrives
Isaac Arrives
Leslie and Wagnen Belo of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Isaac Barbosa Amaral Belo, born on Oct. 27, 2008, at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Isaac weighed 7 pounds, 10.8 ounces at birth.
Announcing Addison
Announcing Addison
Lynn C. and Erik G. Blake of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Addison Chang Blake, born on Oct. 20, 2008 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Addison weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at birth.
County Hopefuls Offer Differences
It may not be the most controversial thing on the ballot, but the race for the Dukes County Commission is probably the most complicated.
There are three seats to fill; terms for John Alley of West Tisbury, Leonard Jason Jr. of Chilmark, and Roger Wey of Oak Bluffs are all ending. Mr. Wey…
Ten Candidates for Nine MVC Spots
At first glance the race for Martha’s Vineyard Commission, the regional land use planning agency vested with broad powers by the state legislature, seems quite simple. There are nine candidates listed on the ballot and nine open seats on the commission.
But not so fast.
Melissa Freitag of Falmouth Urges Vote for Transparency
Melissa Freitag pitches herself as the all-rounder candidate.
“I have the strongest professional, educational and strongest contribution to local government as a package,” she said, adding:
“I have a history of public service, and not on a per-hour stipend. I’m not doing this for my own health. One thing I teach…
Independent Jacob Ferreira Cites Broad Education Agenda
Jacob Ferreira is the only unenrolled candidate who will stay that way if he is elected.
“I entered this race without a party,” he said. “When I first registered to vote as an 18-year-old, I took that moment very seriously. I thought about at the time if I wanted to enroll with a…
Tim Madden from Nantucket Stresses Experience as Liaison
Tim Madden is tired of the negativity he has detected in parts of the race for state representative.
“If everyone had been running a positive campaign it would be fun, I feel like there’s been a bit of negativity,” he said, “I’ve been painted as a Republican.”
Mr. Madden is an unenrolled…
Vineyard Native Dan Larkosh Changes Position on Boatline
Daniel Larkosh has had a change of heart since the Democratic primary, a race he won relatively comfortably back in September. In September Mr. Larkosh voiced strong support for a bill that would have placed the Steamship Authority under control of the state department of transportation.
He said this week he has changed…
Two Nashville Musicians Come Home to Offshore
Former Island residents and songwriting duo Judd Fuller and Dana Radford will perform at The Offshore Ale Co. in Oak Bluffs, on Saturday, Nov. 1. Judd and Dana were involved in the Vineyard music scene for years before moving to Nashville, Tenn., in the winter of 2005. Judd is currently touring with country music star…
School Books Grant
School Books Grant
The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation is pleased to announce the availability of funds to school districts, private and charter schools, and not-for-profit organizations operating a school located on Martha’s Vineyard to purchase books for school or classroom libraries used by students ages 5 to 13. The due date…
As Sailing Season Draws to Close, Yacht Club Looses the Hounds
On Saturday, Oct. 18, the Edgartown Yacht Club came ashore and held a dog show. This went well, though it was entirely unnautical.
There were 17 dogs all let loose into the greensward at the Edgartown Yacht Club Tennis Club. They played, they sniffed, they chased balls and Frisbees, and there was not…
Aquinnah
JUNE MANNING
508-645-2574
(lthslnks@gis.net)
Cranberry Day celebration was grand this year. There was a more than abundant harvest of cranberries, the last berry of the season in Aquinnah. The potluck was a wonderful evening of socializing with friends and neighbors. Traditional dance and drum was enjoyed by all. We…
Three Island Photographers Featured in New Calendar
Several Vineyard photographers have had their work published in a new 2009 calendar from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture. A full-page photograph of Marle the alpaca from Tisbury photographer Heather Welch graces the January page and Oak Bluffs resident Julian Robinson’s photograph of the agricultural fair horse show marks the month of July. Ms. Welch…
Edgartown Board of Trade Holds Elections Nov. 17
The Edgartown Board of Trade will be holding elections for a new board of directors on Monday, Nov. 17. The elections will take place during the annual meeting, which will be held in the Baylies Room of the Old Whaling Church at 5 p.m. The board is seeking business owners who are willing to share…
Oak Bluffs
HOLLY NADLER
508-687-9239
(hollynadler@gmail.com)
This is going to sound conceited, but this week on Martha’s Vineyard, I’m the person to know. The rest of the year I’m Joe Blow as far as anyone’s concerned, but in the run up to Halloween, the strange little niche that I’ve carved for…
Hello, Dreyden
Hello, Dreyden
Ariel Sylia Thomas and J.R. Thomas of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Dreyden Albert Thomas, born on Oct. 15, 2008 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Dreyden weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces at birth.
Belly Dance Class
Belly Dance Class
On Monday Nov. 3, at 1:30 p.m., Vineyard Belly Dance and Island vocalist Jerri Wells will perform at the Edgartown Council on Aging, located at The Anchors on Daggett street in Edgartown. The show is expected to dazzle attendees with music, color and dance. The event is free and appropriate…
Zill Workshop
Zill Workshop
Vineyard Belly Dance and Revue will sponsor a finger cymbal (zills) workshop on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 1 to 3 p.m. The location is the Howes House directly across from Alleys’ General Store in West Tisbury. The cost is $20. For information and to register call Suzanna 508-627-3240.
Winston, Canine Therapist, Reaches for Stars Aspires to Be Corporate Spokesdog
Vineyard native Theresa Carroll and her therapy dog Winston are among the top 100 finalists in the Milk-Bone Moments nationwide search to find America’s first-ever Milk-Bone Spokesdog.
First thing Ms. Carroll and Winston got was their own spokesperson — “my dog has a publicist in Los Angeles!” laughed a thrilled Ms. Carroll, who…
Moon and Planets
Show time is tonight and it continues through Monday night. The thin crescent moon passes by two planets in the nights ahead.
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER
508-645-3378
(slaterjn@comcast.net)
The winds blew this week and Chilmark lost most of the fall foliage, a lot of tree limbs and the electric power for a couple of hours on Tuesday. The project of clearing the town roadsides of dead trees is to start this week…
Edgartown
KATHIE CASE
508-627-5349
(kathleencase@comcast.com)
Mother Nature is doing her best to help the trees show their true colors. However, after the winds we have been having we will soon be raking those beautiful colors.
Happy birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons…
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
Oct. 24 47 29 .00
Oct. 25 60 34 .00
Oct. 26 65 55 .87
Oct. 27 65 44 .01
Oct. 28 65 43 .12
Oct. 29 56 41 .31
Oct. 30 50 32 .00
…
Church Potluck on Sunday
Church Potluck on Sunday
Chilmark Community Church, Christ, Edgartown and Trinity United Methodist Churches will have a special combined service at the Edgartown United Methodist Church (the Old Whaling Church) on Main street in Edgartown on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. with the district superintendent, Rev. Gary Shaw, preaching.
Meteorologist Visits Local Weather Stations
A meteorologist from the National Weather Service was on the Island recently servicing its two weather stations. Alan Dunham, 55, the regional observing program leader who made the visit from headquarters in Taunton, has Island ties.
His uncle was the late David W. Dunham, a resident of Vineyard Haven who died in January…
No Tricks: Football Team Plays a Key Game at Home Tonight
While other Islanders are out trick-or-treating or putting finishing touches on their costumes, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity football team will be spending Halloween on the field under the lights tonight when they play Cape Cod Tech at home in what is easily their most important game so far this season.
Apple Pie for Charity
Apple Pie for Charity
Zephrus Zeafood and Grill has created a sweet new way for Vineyarders to think of each other and to donate to the Island Food Pantry. Along with its other standard desserts, Zephrus tempts its patrons by offering a new dessert called As American As Apple Pie.
Chef…
Tisbury Farm Market Bringing Fresh Savings, Fine Foods to Vineyard Haven
It’s a bad time for business. Shoppers are spending less and economists are predicting the worst. But veteran Island businessman Elio Silva said the timing could not be better for opening Tisbury Farm Market, his new fresh produce stand on State Road. “More people are looking to cook from scratch and are looking to get…
Selectmen Reject Split Tax Proposal
Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday firmly said no to a proposal from the town assessors to establish a split tax rate giving year-round residents a break on their property tax bills and shifting more of the burden onto seasonal property owners.
Jack Law, chairman of the board of assessors, said creating a split…
Correction
Correction
A story in the Oct. 17 edition of the Gazette about short-term borrowing for the West Tisbury town hall renovation project contained an inaccuracy. An attempt by town officials to sell short-term bond anticipation notes was postponed, but did not fail. The Gazette regrets the error.
Commission Begins Work To Repair Park Problems
After receiving a notice of noncompliance from the state last month confirming that treated effluent is seeping to the surface at Ocean Park, the Oak Bluffs wastewater commission has agreed to hire an environmental engineering firm to begin work on additional leaching beds at a new site adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant.
Generous Islanders Turn Up to Aid Friend in Need at Benefit Auction
The Vineyard community from here and abroad showed up for a fundraiser to help an Island personality coping with medical hardship. Jim Moore, a sales representative from Island Food Products and a former food and beverage director for the Harbor View Hotel, is fighting the cancer Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Joe the Plumber on the Island: Pressing Issues, No Press Corps
He has yet to hold a press conference in his front yard, hold forth on foreign policy regarding Israel, or hire a publicity management agent, as Ohio’s Joe Wurzelbacher has. But Joe Guerin, an Edgartown plumber with nearly 30 years experience, has seen his local fame skyrocket in the two weeks following the final presidential…
Bonanza Cranberry Harvest Has Island Growers Seeing Good Red
The stock market may be seeing red on Wall street this autumn, but here on the Vineyard there is a bright future in cranberries. On the Island and across southeastern Massachusetts, it is a banner year for cranberries, both wild and cultivated.
Candidates Release Spending Records
With the election of a new Cape and Islands state representative days away, campaign finance reports released this week show Vineyard candidate Daniel Larkosh outspending his opponents three to one.
The committee to elect Mr. Larkosh, who won the Democratic primary, spent $31,200 in the period between August 30, two weeks before the…
Once a Republican Stronghold, Forest of Democrats Grows Here
Seventy-odd years ago, Everett Poole recalls, the first Democrat appeared in Chilmark. He ran the post office.
“The reason he was a Democrat was that Franklin Roosevelt was President and those jobs were all political appointments. So he had to be a Democrat. He came from Maine,” said Mr. Poole.
“As…
County Charter Question Seeks to Reduce Commission Terms
Amid the heap of state and national issues on Tuesday, Island voters will be asked one local question: whether to reduce the terms of the seven-member Dukes County commission. A yes vote on ballot question number four will reduce terms from four years to two. A no vote will leave commission members serving four-year staggered…
Tuesday Election Nears; Record Turnout Expected And Town Clerks Are Busy
Vineyard election officials are expecting a record turnout for Tuesday’s election following a rush of new voter registrations and a huge number of absentee ballots already cast.
The number of absentee ballots as of yesterday was in some cases close to twice that normally seen at a presidential election, a sure sign, Island…
Shirley’s Mermaid Wins School Scarecrow Contest
The stunning success of the ninth annual Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School Scarecrow Contest is evident across the Vineyard. This year’s theme of marine life resulted in fishermen, jellyfish, sharks, sardines, sea dragons and whales appearing in front of participating businesses everywhere. Scarecrows will be coming down on Sunday, Nov. 2, so make sure to…
The Vineyard Gardener
By LYNNE IRONS
A Lot of Gall
Don’t come knocking, cause there’s nobody home in a brown oak apple gall.
Oak apple galls are those fragile looking, paper-like round things on the ground or attached to branches. These ping-pong ball sized orbs are readily seen in the woods now that the leaves are coming down. They were home base for…
Wine, Shakespeare’s Women, and Dancing Classes
Some single class seminars and multi-week courses — on subjects as diverse as Shakespeare, wine appreciation and salsa — are still open for registration with the Adult and Community Education Program (ACE MV). Classes meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The fall session runs through Dec. 4, and a winter session begins Jan. 12.
Mussel In on a Fresh Dinner for Rich Taste, Natural Rhythm
Mussels don’t taste like duck, but the difference between the flavor of farmed mussels and wild ones is like the difference between a domesticated duck and one born to the pond. The meat of a farm-raised duck is tenderer, milder and tamer — while a wild fowl is more toothsome, nuttier and gamier, admittedly not…
Feed the Birds
Feeding birds is a great way to draw birds close to your house, at least in theory. I add that last phrase because several observers have commented that there are not many birds and that the seed in their feeder is not being eaten.
Macbeth Witches Toil and Trouble on the Double
To every play there is a season, and Halloween is the perfect season for Shakespeare’s creepiest, witchiest play: The Tragedy of Macbeth. And so, tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m., The Vineyard Playhouse’s Shakespeare for the Masses project will offer a free, script-in-hand presentation of “the Scottish Play,” as actors superstitiously refer to it.
Bravo to Theatre Maestro Linda Berg
Island Theatre Workshop is celebrating Linda Berg’s achievements as director of the Children’s Theatre program for the past three years and as music director for the 13 preceding years. Festivities will take place at the Sailing Camp on Barnes Road on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008 from 2 to 5 p.m.
Film Shows Continental View on U.S. Presidential Race
Need more election reflection before Tuesday night’s poll results? On Saturday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. the film The Election Game — showing the results gathered by a news team from Italy who travelled around America this past year asking Americans what issues in this year’s Presidential election were most important to them — will…
Local Look on National Politics at Vineyard Museum
Count Me In — Not So Small Town Politics on Martha’s Vineyard is the name of the newest exhibit at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
Minnesingers’ Auction
Minnesingers’ Auction
Tomorrow is the Minnesingers’ Annual Auction and Mini-Concert. The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s select vocal group will perform, plus there will be food, an array of items in a silent auction and a live auction with Trip Barnes at the microphone.
Help support the Minnesingers as they pursue…
Chapter 24: Pitch Pines in the Pitch Dark
In this year-long serialized novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after two decades to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. Abe has a paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the CEO of an off-Island wholesale nursery, Broadway. Convinced that Moby wants…
Lepers, Delinquents and Ghosts, Oh My: The Thrice-Cursed Island of Penikese
What follows is an excerpt from Holly Mascot Nadler’s latest book, Vineyard Supernatural, True Ghost Stories from America’s Most Haunted Island.
