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
July 22, 2011
Breaking News: Friday, July 22 – Island Beaches Cleared to Open
All Vineyard beaches are open as of Friday afternoon.
In Chilmark, Squibnocket has reopened; signs warning that swimming was at your own risk have been removed. Town health agent Marina Lent said the state confirmed that average bacteria readings were at acceptable levels, after an anomalous high reading.
In Oak Bluffs,…
Colored oil on canvas by joan kennedy.
The Holmes Hole Sailing Association continued its summer season of handicap sailboat racing from Vineyard Haven harbor with a night race on July 7.
Thursday night was a nice evening with a 5 knot south wind. Seventeen boats posted for the 6 p.m. start at red nun 6. The course took the fleet…
Edgartown School Highlights Fourth Quarter Honor Roll
Edgartown School principal John Stevens has announced the honor roll for the fourth quarter of the 2010-2011 academic year.
Eighth grade high honors go to: Aubrey Ashmun, Erik Faber, Gabriella Hoxsie and Megan Hurley
Eighth grade honors go to: Dunovan Belisle, Charlotte Hammond, Erin Hegarty, Hanna Kim, Kevin Montambault, Charlie Morano,…
Underage Drinking Sweep in Edgartown
By REMY TUMIN
Six Edgartown establishments have been reported to the selectmen after an under-age alcohol sweep by the town police on Friday.
South Beach, liquor stores and liquor serving establishments were the target of a special underage enforcement operation.
Arrests were made at South Beach and summonses were…
Mending Walls, Neighbors Find Right Balance
Boulders, looking like the playthings of giants, are strewn over the rolling banks of South Road. Tumbling down from the walls, the rocks stand guard at this thoroughfare as they have done for hundreds of years, witnesses to all that has happened here, even as they shift with the changes in land and weather.
Coalition Plans to Buy Whippoorwill Farm, Turn It Nonprofit, Build Worker Housing
A newly-formed Island coalition is working on a possible deal to buy the former Thimble Farm property, take it out of private ownership and make it a nonprofit working farm with housing for farm workers.
Called the Martha’s Vineyard Farm Project, the group hopes to raise $2.5 million to buy the land and…
Woods Hole Founder’s Challenge: Environment Must Be Protected
The starting premise of Dr. George Woodwell’s presentation at Grace Church on Monday was bland enough. For civilization to thrive, he said, it requires both a political system and an economic system that work.
But from there, it got very scary, very fast. For, he continued, those systems were on the verge of…
Arthouse Goes State-of-the-Art: Film Society Eyes Own Theatre
The picture of Martha’s Vineyard’s cinematic near future painted by Richard Paradise, the driving force behind the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, is appealing.
On almost any given night, in season or out, Islanders could nip down to the Tisbury Marketplace for an intelligent film. A foreign language one, perhaps, or a documentary, or…
Resident of Oyster Pond Pushes State Legislation On Barrier Beach Rights
A well-known Cambridge businessman and prominent seasonal resident of Edgartown is a key backer of a bill quietly making its way through the Massachusetts legislature that has the potential to affect dramatically the ownership rights on barrier beaches around Great Ponds, the Gazette has learned.
Beach Bacteria? Lab Results Vary
New clues surfaced this week to the mysterious series of on-again, off-again swimming closures at public beaches that have plagued the Vineyard, when the Edgartown health agent sent water samples to two different labs for testing — and saw different results.
SSA to Keep Island Reservations Office
The Steamship Authority has decided against closing its offsite booking office, at least for the foreseeable future, although it will relocate.
Tuesday’s July meeting of the SSA board of governors at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven was told the boat line would advertise this week for new premises and already has…
Shakespeare of Hollywood on Board
Shakespeare of Hollywood on Board
Each summer the folks at the Vineyard Playhouse host a series they call Monday Night Specials. This summer’s series began last Monday and runs through the summer to August 29. The idea is simple. Host one-night-only readings of plays. If you’ve never been to a reading, the experience…
Marco Polo, YMCA Pool Parties Reach for Possibility
The YMCA has a fantastic pool. All year long Islanders have enjoyed this new and incredible gift to the community. No need, really, to head south during February vacation now that we can escape the late winter blues with a simple trip to the Y. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but not…
Looking at Vineyard Through Artists’ Eyes
Tomorrow night, Saturday, July 23, the Louisa Gould Gallery is hosting an artists’ reception from 5 to 7 p.m. entitled Vineyard Reflections. The event celebrates the work of Joan Kennedy, Kate Huntington, Anthony Benton Gude and Kathryn Wronski and includes works that reflect each artist’s interpretation of the Island in their own medium.
Chilmark Community Center Throws Fundraising Party
All are welcome to enjoy a 3-D evening — desserts, dancing and donations — plus music by Mike Benjamin and auctions (live and silent) of one-of-a-kind items on Saturday, July 23, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center.
Up for grabs are a James Taylor-signed guitar, Joan Nathan cooking class,…
Baseball Hosts
Baseball Hosts
Today, Friday, July 22, the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks will be hosting Island Elderly Housing at their 5 p.m. baseball games. Game time is 5 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School baseball field.
Josepha DeLay Named Top Veterinary Pathologist
Josepha DeSorcy DeLay was recently named the 2011 Laboratorian of the Year by the Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network.
Leadership Key Ingredient for Stone Soup
Master of ceremonies Ed Jerome led a string of Vineyarders who paid tribute to veteran journalist Walter Cronkite and his love of the Island on Sunday, July 17, when the Stone Soup Leadership Institute held the second annual Walter Cronkite Awards at the Old Whaling Church.
Alpaca Shearing
Alpaca Shearing
Island Alpaca’s next baby alpaca shearing is scheduled for July 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at the farm at Head of the Pond Road near the blinker in Oak Bluffs.
This is an opportunity for all the family to experience the fleece-to-fiber transition first-hand. All…
Union Chapel
On Sunday, July 24 the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. will be the guest preacher at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. Reverend Forbes is Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church and is founder and president of the Healing of the Nations Foundation. In national and international religious circles, Reverend Forbes is known…
Taming Wildness Of Sheriff’s Meadow
Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary, the Edgartown property that gives its name to the Island’s largest private landowner and conservation group, is slated for restoration.
Adam Moore, executive director of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, said at the foundation’s annual dinner this week that more than $300,000 of the $500,000 needed to refurbish and maintain the…
Little League Makes Big Splash on the Road
The Martha’s Vineyard Little League summer travel baseball program is in full swing and All-Star teams at five different levels (ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 years old) have been participating in tournament play.
And the Ocean, Always the Ocean
Stand here and there, old Vineyard homes,
All wrapped in deep content.
— Emma Mayhew Whiting
They’re painting all the houses white in Edgartown,
capping flat pickets to fences around resplendent lawns,
cut on a diagonal. The parade is just around the corner.
Sit…
Dipping the Port Light for Love
Some years back, my wife and I rented a tiny little cottage in Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard. It was called the Binnacle. According to a story we heard, the Binnacle had been built with a keel for a foundation and a hurricane had floated it to where it was now, on the road from…
Off the Beaten Path, Wind Power Helps Keep the Lights On
Ometepe is as unlikely a place as you could ever imagine to catch a glimpse of the future. Although unique in the world, an island composed of two volcanoes in the midst of Nicaragua’s freshwater Lake Cocibolca, it is mostly a quiet backwater, both off the grid and the beaten path as well.
State of Civil Liberties Is Gauge of Freedom
Vineyard residents have a unique op portunity next Thursday, July 28, to assess the state of civil liberties and justice in America as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Two remarkable speakers — retiring federal judge Nancy Gertner, and national ACLU legal director Steve Shapiro — will discuss The Pursuit of Justice:…
Murky Waters
Murky Waters
It’s been a delicious hot spell, the days sunny but not excessively so and the nights cool. Perfect Island weather. Perfect for summer. Perfect for swimming.
Tisbury Firefighters Car Show Rolls Into Town
The Tisbury Firefighters Association invites everyone to its annual Car Show, open this Saturday, July 23, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the RM Packer lot and docks on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven.
The show includes more than 50 cars — from classic, custom, antiques and hot rods — and this year…
Libraries Offer Free Song Downloads, No Late Fees
Thanks to a new service purchased in this new fiscal year by the Edgartown and Vineyard Haven Public Libraries, card-holding patrons in both towns now have access to free songs from the Sony Music catalog of recording artists.
Temperatures
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
July 15 70 57 Trace
July 16 80 60 .00
July 17 82 65 .00
July 18 85 67 .00
July 19 79 67 .01
July 20 85 64 .00
July 21 84 68 .01
…
East Chop
RICK HERRICK
508-693-8065
(herricklr@verizon.net)
Sue Collinson is a talented, fascinating woman. She recently became a Life Master in bridge, a milestone achieved by winning 300 master points in bridge tournaments. Her favorite partner is her husband, Dale Collinson. Sue and Dale compete in bridge tournaments all over New England.
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER
508-645-3378
slaterjn@comcast.net
Chilmark is a busy place. Everyone I meet is in a hurry to be somewhere else. There are so many things to do that the vacation part of a vacation is getting lost! Just in case you aren’t totally booked for the coming week,…
Aquinnah
JUNE D. MANNING
508-645-2574
(lthslnks@gis.net)
The fifth annual Native American Artisans’ Festival will be held at the Aquinnah Cultural Center on Saturday, July 23 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with Jennifer Kreissberg of Ulali performing at 3 pm. For further information, please call 508-645-7900.
In case…
Volunteer with Red Cross
Volunteer with Red Cross
The American Red Cross is looking for Island volunteers for general support, health and safety preparedness, disaster services and military family support.
Training is provided, free of charge.
Volunteer forms are available to download on the web at cciredcross.org; click volunteer, or call 508-775-1540.
Correction
Correction
A story in Friday’s paper about a lawsuit brought against Clarence A. (Trip) Barnes 3rd referred to Mr. Barnes’s plan to fight an order to remove unregistered vehicles from his West Tisbury home. Mr. Barnes said he would fight the order to remove storage trailers, not cars.
•
Harvard professor…
When Molly Gets Really, Really Creative
By JONAH LIPSKY
Before she began writing and illustrating children’s books, Molly Bang earned master’s degrees in Far Eastern languages and literature from the University of Arizona and Harvard University. These experiences helped her realize, “how unsuited I was for scholarly research and a life spent in libraries.”
She then turned…
Chief Climber
Chief Climber
Chilmark police chief Brian Cioffi is going Over the Edge this weekend. As part of a fund-raising event for Special Olympics Massachusetts, 100 participants who pledge to raise at least $1,000 have a once-in-a-lifetime chance of rappelling 22 stories down Boston’s Hyatt Regency.
As of Thursday morning he had…
Please Adopt Us
Please Adopt Us
Aquinnah to Create Taxi Regulations
Aquinnah selectmen denied a new taxi license application this week, citing a lack of town rules and regulations.
Selectman Spencer Booker said at the selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday he couldn’t approve Jeff Corr’s application because the town has no taxi bylaws.
“I’m looking to work some rules and [regulations] up perhaps…
Historian Highlights Moments of Revelation
The West Tisbury Public Library is expanding, its patrons hope, to make room for more books like David McCullough’s The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Mr. McCullough spoke at the Agricultural Hall on Wednesday to a rapt, full house, without notes and with his inimitable panache about the importance of libraries and the illuminating effect…
Vineyarders Achieve Academic Honors
Graduates
Carlisle Alessandra Williams, daughter of Leslie O’Brien and Kenneth Williams of Edgartown and Santa Monica, Calif., graduated from Georgetown University on May 22, 2010. She received a bachelor of arts degree in English and Government. Carlisle was a three-year varsity member the Georgetown Sailing Team, and a sailing instructor at the Vineyard…
On Tour, Sidra Dumont Sings With Choir in Europe
Sidra Dumont of West Tisbury, a 2011 graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, is currently touring Europe with the Sound of America Honor Band and Chorus. The tour began July 1 and wraps tomorrow, July 23. It has included St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.…
Prize Pupils
Prize Pupils
Two Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School high school students, Allison McAndrews and Liam Wallace, both of Vineyard Haven, were given the 2011 Saint Michael’s College Book Award for Academic Achievement with a Social Conscience.
The award recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to leadership in volunteer service and academic…
Samantha Rabin
Samantha Rabin
Samantha Rabin, daughter of Karen Bressler and Steven Rabin of Edgartown, was named the recipient of the David J. Gray Senior Prize in Sociology at Hamilton College on May 6.
Ms. Rabin, a senior majoring in sociology, is a graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.
Plans Brewing for Offshore Ale, SSA and Liquor Store by Airport
A proposed new building at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport business park could become the home of a second Offshore Ale Company brewing outpost.
The building also might house the Steamship Authority reservations office, which will lose its lease at the airport park in 2012.
Oak Bluffs Casts a Wide Net For New Revenue, Budget Cuts
With a trying fiscal year 2011 behind it, the town of Oak Bluffs must now grapple with a fiscal year 2012 budget that looks increasingly unsound. Selectman and board chairman Kathy Burton said the town was looking to make up a shortfall of around $300,000 in its 2012 budget based on revenue projections, and everything…
Letters to the Editor
MONUMENTAL MOVE
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
Our selectmen have voted to move the little-known war memorial from its somewhat obscure site at the triangle across from Whiting’s Pond to the town hall. I feel this is such a great idea I have volunteered my time and equipment to make the move.
Moon and Planets
Early tomorrow morning, the last quarter moon appears near the bright planet Jupiter. You’ll see them rising in the east after midnight tonight. The two are together in the zodiacal constellation Aries. We usually associate Aries with the constellations of autumn. Autumn stars all start showing up in our evening sky for those up after…
Gazette Chronicle: Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather
From Gazette editions of July, 1936:
We went to the Farmers’ Cooperative Market last Friday. It’s held in the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury every Tuesday and Friday of the summer. Most of the individual stalls were run by women who could get away from their household…
Edgartown
KATHIE CASE
508-627-5349
(kathleencase@comcast.net)
Well, the heat has come to the Vineyard. The beaches are packed and the sand is hot and the water is nice and cool. If you are a beach lover you are probably loving this weather.
Happy birthday to all who celebrated their…
Armen Arrives
Armen Arrives
Laura Marashlian and Myles Thurlow of West Tisbury announce the birth of a son, Armen Zohrab Thurlow, born on July 2, 2011, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Armen weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces at birth.
Welcome Cameron
Welcome Cameron
Joanna and Brian Stanton of Edgartown and Marblehead announce the birth of a son, Cameron Richard Stanton, born on July 7, 2011. Cameron weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces at birth. Proud grandparents are Richard and Norma Stanton of Edgartown.
Nursing a New Talent, Art Delivers
Artist Stephanie Danforth, one of the featured artists at this Sunday’s reception at the Field Gallery in West Tisbury, has an intriguing resume for an artist. For 20 years she worked as a pediatric nurse. She holds degrees in psychology and nursing and a master’s degree in maternal-child health.
Taj Mahal and Tosh 1 Play Nectar’s
Taj Mahal and Tosh 1 Play Nectar’s
This Sunday night, July 24, Taj Mahal is playing Nectar’s. Taj is huge and Nectar’s is small. Not small in taste or talent, mind you, but small in square footage. This is a very good thing. You will be just footsteps away from guitar greatness, rather…
Natural Healing
Natural Healing
Heal yourself, or at least let the bounty of nature, rather than lab created chemicals, do the job.
On Tuesday, July 26, local expert Holly Bellebuono of Vineyard Herbs, will conduct a hands on salve-making workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Polly Hill Arboretum. The event starts…
Tennis by Design
Tennis by Design
Looking good and swinging good. Next Friday, July 29, Stina Sayre Design is hosting a fashion show and cocktail party to benefit Vineyard Youth Tennis. The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Shephard Fine ArtSpace located at 8 Uncas avenue in Oak Bluffs.
Governor Deval Patrick Reads From His Memoir
Governor Deval Patrick is coming to the Island but this is not just another baby-kissing tour. On Saturday, July 23, he will be reading from and discussing his new memoir, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life.
Mr. Patrick was born in Chicago in 1956 and after junior high school he…
Growing Art, Carol Barsha Captures Beetlebung Farm
The Chilmark Library is presenting an exhibition of paintings by Carol Barsha. There will be an opening reception held on Saturday, July 23 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Ms. Barsha’s exhibit is called Twenty Years at Beetlebung Farm. Her work chronicles her time spent painting at the farm for a few weeks every…
Alan Dershowitz Speaks
Alan Dershowitz Speaks
Local summer kid, and internationally acclaimed lawyer, author, and lecturer Alan Dershowitz will be speaking this coming Wednesday, July 27, at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library. His talk is entitled The First Amendment: From Pentagon Papers to Wiki Leaks.
Mad Potter on the Move
Mad Potter on the Move
The Mad Potter has wandered into Vineyard Haven and is now selling his pottery at Morrice Florist on State Road.
The work of his royal madness is truly unique. Towering castles, mermaid and Celtic knotwork bowls, vases, goblets, dragon mugs: If you buy it the fairies…
Poetic Duo
Poetic Duo
On Tuesday, July 26, the West Tisbury Library continues its summer of celebrating great poets as Michael Palmer and Julie Carr take the stage to share their work.
Stand by for Chef Joe DaSilva’s Fresh Saltwater Food Experience
When Joe DaSilva starts talking about his cooking career, little of it has to do with food. He talks about the people and conversations that start over a meal. Eating is an experience, he says, that doesn’t rely solely on the ingredients. Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics.
Portrait of the Artist as a Sous Chef: Michael Rottman Paints ’n’ Plates
It is high summer on the Vineyard and nowhere more than at l’étoile restaurant in Edgartown, where customers are filling up the dining rooms indoors and out and sitting shoulder to shoulder at the bar late into the night.
And the food being prepared for them is a work of art. Well, actually…
Poster Girl Takes a Final Cut on War
Robynn Murray served in the armed forces in Iraq and was featured on the cover of Army Magazine as an inspiration to women in the army. She now wants nothing to do with selling the military to other women. While in Iraq she was shot at, pointed her gun at families, and witnessed death and…
Blinded By Brilliance, Sophocles Expert Orates
To launch the publication of The Complete Plays of Sophocles, translator Robert Bagg will speak at the West Tisbury library on Wednesday, July 27 from 5 to 6 p.m.
Oak Bluffs Book Sale
Oak Bluffs Book Sale
What better way to spend vacation than curled up with a good book? Oops, forgot to bring one, or already tore through your stash and are making do by reading signs and T-shirts? Well, never fear, time to cozy up to your reading chair because a bounty of stories…
Seal Meets Dog
Seal Meets Dog
Sarah French, author of the new children’s book Summer Friends, will be appearing in the garden at Dragonfly Gallery on Friday, July 29, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Summer Friends is an exploration, through collage art, of the imagined friendship between a seal and Ms. French’s black Lab…
Before Streetcar Came These Desires
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was born in Columbus, Mississippi, with all the proper psychological accoutrements to become a great writer. His family was abysmally dysfunctional, his mother a narcissist with a streak of snobbery, denial and grandiosity (much like the mother in The Glass Menagerie), and his father an often-absent, smalltime businessman with a temper, active…
Seeing a Light at the End of the Island
The dips in the hills and the swirls in the clay may change with the passing of time, but the view from the top of the Gay Head Light always will be a staggering one. From the balcony, nature is laid out before you: The ocean winks as the waves roll in, hopeful fishermen scour…
Hosed
I have two methods of last resort for weeding. I take a shovel to the huge clumps of grass and flop them over.
Adults and their Babes
What am I looking at? It appears to be a punk-rock bird star. What I see first is a stiff gray crest, gray belly and a black bill. Then as the bird turns I see the remainder of the back feathers is gray as well. It is only when I spot a slight reddishness in…
Mimosa Mornings
Steve Bender, also known as the Grumpy Gardener, doesn’t mince words.
He is honest and forthright and speaks his mind. In his blog, posted June 29, 2009, he provides this advice to gardeners: “When anyone asks me what’s the best time to prune a mimosa, my instinctive response is, ‘Any time you can…
