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
January 8, 2010
A Church Dies, Leaves Legacy Of Community
After nearly two centuries, the Lambert’s Cove Church became but a memory last Sunday.
High School Basketball Teams Continue Their Winning Streak
After a string of frustrating seasons, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls’ basketball team has jumped out to an impressive 5-2 record early this season, and could easily be 7-0 if not for a pair of tough overtime losses.
Meanwhile the boys’ basketball team continued to roll this week with an easy…
War Documentary to Run Alongside Museum Exhibit
The seven-part Ken Burns documentary The War is being broadcast in conjunction with the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s new exhibit, Those Who Serve: Martha’s Vineyard and World War II.
The War, coproduced by Lynn Novick, screens on Rhode Island PBS station WSBE (channel 9) on Sundays at 2 p.m.
Stanton-Armstrong
Stanton-Armstrong
Norma and Richard Stanton of Edgartown are pleased to announce the October 2009 marriage of their daughter, Julie Hart Stanton, of Norwell and Edgartown, to Jeffery Mark Armstrong, the son of Donald and Bonnie Armstrong of Duxbury. The couple will reside in Norwell.
Community Suppers
Community Suppers
Members of the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury invite everyone to join the weekly community suppers, every Wednesday from now until the end of March. Dinner is provided by the church, and it is served promptly at 5:30 p.m. Donations of side dishes are welcome.
James Athearn Leaves Commission
Citing a desire to pursue other interests including the Island Plan and his business at Morning Glory Farm, James Athearn, Edgartown’s representative to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for the past 10 years, quietly resigned his post last month.
A Brief Guide to Basic Birding
Among the uninitiated, birding is often perceived as a passive, voyeuristic non-sport for dullards, the elderly and the obsessive. You may be surprised to know that, if you accept bird watching as a legitimate sport (riflery, an Olympic event, requires less from the participant than serious outdoor birding), according to the United States Fish and…
Snow Fallen, Bird Counters Never Surrender
Down an unplowed path in West Tisbury behind an ox pen sits a house at the edge of the woods. The bitterly cold morning has not yet broken and the snow is glowing a pale moonlit blue, but inside the lights are on and the tenants are restless. Bob Woodruff is preparing his team for…
Green Tour at 250 State Road Tomorrow
The Island Housing Trust is offering a tour of eight eco-friendly houses currently under construction off State Road in West Tisbury. The tour is on Saturday, Jan. 9, from 11 a.m. to noon. John Abrams of South Mountain Company will explain how this neighborhood of houses designed to approach zero net energy and achieve the…
Old Sycamores to Be Felled in Edgartown
Edgartown selectmen voted Monday to allow several old trees to be taken down and replaced with new specimens.
H1N1 Vaccine Clinics
H1N1 Vaccine Clinics
Each town will be conducting H1N1 flu vaccination clinics to the general public per the following schedule for their residents. Please attend the clinic in the town where you are resident.
Oak Bluffs: Monday, Jan. 11 at the library from 2 to 6 p.m.
Tisbury: Wednesday,…
Selectmen Vow to Slash Spending
Aquinnah will cut operational spending by 10 per cent in next year’s budget, the board of selectmen voted Tuesday night, leaving open the question of eliminating cost of living adjustments for town employees as well.
Selectmen Jim Newman stressed, “We’re not cutting services … You’re going to have the same number of police…
Vineyard Anglers to Fight State Plan To Ban Commercial Striped Bass Fishing
Hearings begin next week on legislation that would make striped bass an exclusively recreational fish in state waters.
The Massachusetts Striped Bass Conservation Bill, 796, filed a year ago by Falmouth state representative Matthew Patrick, has been debated among recreational and commercial fishermen for months.
Public Meeting on Town Budget Deficit
With Oak Bluffs facing a budget shortfall of $1.5 million next year, the town finance and advisory committee will host a public meeting next week to gather public comment and answer questions.
The meeting begins at 4 p.m. on Thursday at the Oak Bluffs Public Library on Pacific avenue.
Sophomores Speak Out
Expectations, Promises, Friendship
By Ana Nascimento
Four days ago, we said goodbye to 2009 and welcomed 2010. For lots of people 2009 was a year of losses and sadness, but 2009 also made lots of people happy. I bet people never stopped to think about all the good things that happened…
Young Guest Speaker Begins Series on New Spirituality
Jeremy D. Nickel will be the guest speaker at the 11 a.m. services at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard on Main street in Vineyard Haven on Jan. 10 and 24 as well as Feb. 7 and 21.
Born and raised just outside of Boston (doomed to a life as a passionate…
Turbulent Waters: Mill Pond Research Committee Reforms
After a specially appointed Mill Pond research committee clashed over the best plan to improve water quality in the pond — causing committee member Kent Healy to abruptly resign — the committee has been reorganized and expanded and will begin to meet again in the coming weeks.
Selectmen over the past two weeks…
A Gentle Mentor, Remembered
He was the quiet Islander, the longtime town attorney who had seen it all. I was the cub reporter stomping up the stairs to my office, shoulder bag stuffed with soft-lead pencils and notebooks filled with scribbles from some selectmen’s meeting, ready to be banged into a short story that the editors at the Cape…
Letters to the Editor
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I own Eco MV, a company I started because I felt the need to give something back to a community that had given me so much.
One Ocean, One Island
One Ocean, One Island
Trust Seeks to Change Housing Covenants
The Island Housing Trust is appealing to the town of West Tisbury to ease affordability requirements on the high-profile eight-house project nearing completion at 250 State Road.
The reason is a new challenge facing Island towns trying to ensure their affordable housing stays affordable in perpetuity: lenders.
Preferring to Crank, Chilmark Will Test Vote Machine Mandate
Chilmark is a Yankee town, no doubt about it. Some might call it behind the times, but Chilmark is quite content to preserve the quiet simplicity of the past, both in its rustic landscape and in its traditional methods of settling business and political matters.
Case in point: The hand-cranked ballot box.
…
Expectations Ebb for Island Economy
Amid mixed reports about whether the recession is easing its grip on the nation, the Vineyard economy remains in decline and has yet to hit bottom, merchants, tradesmen and bankers said this week.
Unemployment on the Island is still high — especially among contractors — while many businesses ended the calendar year with…
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
Dec. 31 35 20 .00
Jan. 1 36 31 .35
Jan. 2 37 30 .20*
Jan. 3 33 16 .10*
Jan. 4 29 18 Trace
Jan. 5 34 13 .00
Jan. 6 35 25 .00
Jan.…
Please Adopt Us
Please Adopt Us
The Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard has three dogs and four cats available for adoption. The dogs include Vito and Louie, the gentle beagles who need some training but will make good pets or hunters with some work. The other dog is P.J., a very gentle, good-natured female pit bull.…
State’s Final Ocean Management Plan Exempts Gosnold from MVC Review
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission is specifically excluded from any role in deciding whether or not commercial-scale wind power could be developed in the waters off the Elizabeth Islands, under the final version of the state’s controversial Ocean Management Plan, released this week.
That exclusion raises the prospect that scores of turbines, each more…
Ruling by Park Service Favors Tribes; Secretary Salazar Calls a Summit
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will meet with Cape Wind opponents and proponents, among them members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe in Washington on Wednesday, following this week’s finding that Nantucket Sound was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic places.
West Tisbury
JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
(alleys@vineyard.net)
We seemed to be between snowstorms on New Year’s Eve, so several parties went ahead around town. The trend in recent years seems toward family or neighborhood gatherings to welcome in the New Year.
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER
508-645-3378
(slaterjn@comcast.net)
Hooray, Chilmark starts off the New Year by welcoming a new citizen to our town. Tauras and Ellen Biskis had baby Tauras on Dec. 22, and he came home on Christmas Eve. He has a big brother, Kestutis, and sister, Grazina. Cheers from us…
Aquinnah
JUNE D. MANNING
508-645-2574
(lthslnks@gis.net)
Aquinnah family, friends and neighbors will gather for a pancake breakfast at the town hall on Sunday morning Jan. 12 from 9 a.m. to noon. All you can eat for $5. Children under five years of age will be able to eat free. The…
Mars
This is the month to look for Mars. The bright red planet rises in the east sky about two hours after sunset. Mars is best viewed when it is higher in the east, after 9 p.m. and it is the brightest celestial object in the east. Its reddish color gives it away.
A Howling Good Time
A Howling Good Time
A snowy weekend forecast will find many at home, staying warm and stimulated with a blanket and a movie. But for those ready to brave the elements, Che’s Lounge in Vineyard Haven has got your wintry fix: Adam Howl and a few of his many friends will play the…
Explore the State Forest
Explore the State Forest
The Vineyard Conservation Society (VCS) will hold a guided winter walk this Sunday, Jan. 10, at 1 p.m., with a tour of the 5,200-acre Manuel Correllus State Forest.
The forest is managed by the Commonwealth Department of Conservation and Recreation; the supervisor is John Varkonda.
…
Film: The Black Stallion Canters on into Chilmark
Legendary film critic Pauline Kael wrote of The Black Stallion, “It may be the greatest children’s movie ever made” — and so it may be the greatest film ever selected to kick off a new Friday family movie series at the Chilmark Public Library, tonight at 7 p.m.
The library’s plan is family…
IMPers Come Home
IMPers Come Home
Having performed at the Chicago, Boston and Providence improv festivals, the IMPers are playing the home stage again. The Island’s teen comedy improv troupe will do a two-act show of spontaneous theater on Friday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.
Free Seminar on Energy Planning for Professionals
A free seminar on energy planning, designed for architects, engineers, town planners, facilities managers and other building and design professionals, will take place on Thursday, Jan. 14, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay. It is presented by the Cape Light Compact.
The seminar will cover…
Supermarket Steps Up
Supermarket Steps Up
The Vineyard Gardener
By LYNNE IRONS
Bird News
The weather on the proposed date (Jan. 3) for the Christmas Bird Count wasn’t fit for man nor beast. Rob Culbert made an excellent decision and moved the count to Tuesday, Jan. 5. The only problem with this change was that some participants were unable to join us as they were working. We were very…
Lunar Landing Plans
This could be the ultimate home away from home.
A place that is miles from civilization, inaccessible to even your craziest relatives, and isolated from anyone’s day-to-day trials and tribulations. In fact, it is almost as far out as you can get.
