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
May 3, 2013
Kennedy Family Puts Large Tract of Aquinnah Land Up for Sale
A large tract of rare and secluded oceanfront land owned by the Kennedy family in Aquinnah has been placed on the market for sale. Two undeveloped lots totaling 93 acres from the 377-acre Red Gate Farm were listed for sale this week. One lot is about 53.5 acres, fronting the Atlantic Ocean, with an asking…
Tisbury Stop & Shop Expansion Plan Will Have Public Airing
Commercial expansion, historical preservation, affordable housing and traffic patterns will all be on the docket Tuesday when the Tisbury selectmen and representatives from Stop & Shop will discuss a major expansion planned by the grocery chain at the gateway to the Island’s main port town. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Katharine Cornell…
Troy Toon Murder Case Revisited 14 Years After Conviction
Almost 14 years after a dramatic and highly-publicized murder trial on the Vineyard, the case was revisited Thursday in the Edgartown courthouse. The subject at hand was a hearing on whether to have a new trial for Troy A. Toon, a Boston man who was convicted in June 1999 for the murder of Gary D.…
Congressman Bill Keating Tours Coastal Areas, But Demurs on FEMA Funding
During a sunny-day tour of two areas on the Vineyard that have been hit hard by coastal erosion in the past year, Cong. William Keating encouraged a small group of public officials Thursday to press for federal funds for repairs — although he had no sunny promises about the outcome.
From Personal to Phone Line, Hospital Interpreter Program Endures
One year after a program using a live interpreter was discontinued at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, patients and medical providers say the replacement system, which uses an electronic telephone program instead of a person, is meeting needs adequately, if not as personably. Twelve months ago the hospital replaced its interpreter program with an AT&T telephone…
Island Follows Party Lines in Primary
The Vineyard voted in line with the rest of the commonwealth Tuesday, backing Democratic U.S. Cong. Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former naval special warfare lieutenant commander, in the state primary to replace Sen. John Kerry, who resigned in January to become secretary of state. Town clerks reported relatively low turnout, around 19.5…
Selectmen Deny Library Tree Removal Request
The West Tisbury selectmen this week denied a request to remove more trees to accommodate construction of the new West Tisbury library and adjacent parking lot. Building committee chairman Linda Hearn told the selectmen Wednesday that her group recently learned from NStar that the company needs to build an underground electrical vault near the road.…
Hospital to Purchase Inn to House Staff
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital announced this week that it will buy the Thorncroft Inn in Vineyard Haven to house traveling medical professionals, including doctors and nurses. “The hospital spends more than $800,000 per year in costs related to housing medical professionals who travel to the Island to provide necessary patient services at the hospital. Most…
VA Representatives Plan Trip to Vineyard
Representatives from the Providence VA Medical Center will meet with veterans during a visit to the Island next week. A town hall meeting is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, at the American Legion Post 257 in Vineyard Haven. The director of the medical center and other staff members will be on hand…
YMCA Kids Help Brighten Elders’ Days and Vice Versa
The community center at Woodside Village is a comfortable place with a decorated tree in one corner and a wall of drawings. “You are my BFF,” reads one. The drawings are created by children in the afterschool programs at the YMCA who visit Woodside once a week as part of the Island Elderly Housing Bridging…
Indie Film Dares to Ask Question, What Lurks in Heart of Off Season
Off a dirt road in West Tisbury, 18 people slept in a four-bedroom house. Five beds in one room, three in another. But it was not high summer. It was not even June. It was the Off Season. Off Season is the name of an independent film that just finished shooting on the Island. The…
Land Bank Revenues: April 26
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $136,193 for the business week ending on Friday, April 26, 2013. The land bank receives its funds from a two per cent fee charged on many Vineyard real estate transactions.
Expenses Up at Island Food Pantry
It was a tough winter on the Vineyard. One place where this was keenly felt was the Island Food Pantry. Armen Hanjian, food pantry coordinator, said that while the number of people served at the pantry this past winter was slightly down, the pantry spent considerably more than ever before: $106,007, up $10,661.
Hooked on Kids Trout Tournament
The annual children’s trout tournament starts tomorrow morning at “first light.” But securing a choice fishing spot can often require a wander in the dark with a flashlight. The fishing contest at the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank’s Duarte’s Pond, off Lambert’s Cove Road, is for children 14 years old and younger and its free. There…
Defending a Gateway
The spectacle of an eight-thousand-square-foot home being moved back from an eroding cliff can give a skewed impression of the hardship to the Vineyard caused by Hurricane Sandy and the nameless February storm that succeeded her.
Unsung Heroines
One was a year-round resident who taught music to Vineyard school children for nearly fifty years and handed out daffodils in the name of cancer research every spring. The other was a dynamic leader in the world of fundraising for academic and nonprofit institutions, a seasonal resident who quietly brought her considerable know-how to Martha’s…
Long After the Last Out, First At Bat Still Lingers
A friend’s son recently started playing Little League and my friend was philosophically relaying the fact that his son was playing right field. There was disappointment in his voice. I said that I had heard over the years right field had actually become less the place to hide a poor player and more the place…
Loving Life in the Rear View Mirror
I’m old and don’t like change. I’ve balked, moaned and resented the roundabout going in right up the road. But I’m a sentimental fool. I’m nostalgic for the blinker light, the old blinker light, with red on two sides. The one I used to speed through on the way back from parties. Why be nostalgic…
Tales from Gosnold: Going My Way by Golf Cart or Junker
The vehicle safety situation on this little island is pretty funky indeed. We have no police or mechanics or any other way of keeping tabs on the condition of vehicles, or fixing them if we do find something wrong. What we do know is if it runs we should drive it. Then there’s the rust…
Food Pantry Report
It was another curious year. Pantry visits were down 10 per cent to 2,468. The number of families went down from 523 to 503. Income went down $6,056; expenses were up $10,661 to a record of $106,007. Except for administrative expenses of $2,278 for building use, phone, thank you notes etc., all money was used…
Loss of Carole Cohen
The leadership, staff and extended family of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation mourn the loss of Carole G. Cohen, wife of the chairman of our board of trustees, Dr. Jordan J. Cohen. Carole, who spent her career in university advancement work and nonprofit management, was a great friend to the foundation.
Elvers Interrupted
This past Sunday afternoon, I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time to see something extraordinary. Sitting on the bank of Mill Brook just below the Mill Pond dam, watching to see what fish might be about, I spied several dozen tiny elvers (one and a half inch-long baby…
Finley Fan
What a wonderful column on the history of the automobile on the Island. You always impart a history lesson and link that history with contemporary events. I loved your ending with a Paul Laurence Dunbar poem. My mother recited his poetry to our family of six kids and I was so proud of myself when…
Open House
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of May, 1908: The lovely weather of the past week has been improved by housekeepers in having carpets beaten and a general war on dirt. Everyone is hustling to get their house in trim for the summer season. There have been many arrivals here during the week past of summer…
Disaster Relief Drill
Martha’s Vineyard disaster relief organizations will carry out a shelter drill to test their ability to coordinate emergency efforts in the event of a hurricane or other disaster. The drill takes place at the Tisbury School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, and is the first of its kind for the…
Mary Ollen Participates in Student Government Day
Mary Ollen represented Martha’s Vineyard High School in the 66th Annual Student Government Day at the State House in Boston on April 5. The event provides students from across the Commonwealth opportunities to take on the roles of governor, constitutional officers, legislators and court justices to experience what it is like to “run” the state…
Aquinnah Town Column: May 3
Warm weather has ever so slowly arrived with temperatures in the 60s during the sunlight of the past week. The wild pear is in bloom, forsythia continue to flourish with the intense yellow feathers of the goldfinches on the branches and the golden crowned kinglet flying around the daffodils. Martha’s Vineyard Minnesingers, under the direction…
Chilmark Town Column: May 3
Chilmark welcomed May with a cheery sunny day. Lots of fruit trees are blooming and the last of the daffodils and tulips are still nodding but in a lot less wind than last week. In a more innocent time in Chilmark, the 1st of May was marked by the hanging of May baskets on the…
West Tisbury Town Column: May 3
The spring flowers are in bloom most everywhere and Wednesday was the first of May bringing baskets hung on doors and Maypole celebrations and dances announcing the arrival of spring officially sending old Jack Frost on vacation. The baseball field hosted a youth baseball game and the tennis courts were busy. Short sleeve shirts was…
Vineyard Haven Town Column: May 3
There’s a whole lot of news in the food and book arenas. The film A Place at the Table will be screened at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center at 4 p.m. tomorrow. This will be followed by a discussion with people working to address food insecurity and poverty issues on Martha’s Vineyard.
Chappy Town Column: May 3
Spring came this past week, finally, with all its interest for the senses. Chappaquiddick’s many late-leafing oaks still give the woods a wintery look. The honeysuckle and low bushes along the roadsides are covered with tiny vibrant green leaves, and the grass has a brilliant glow. The fragrant mayflowers, or trailing arbutus, can be found…
Oak Bluffs Town Column: May 3
Tomahawk Corner’s blinker may wind up forgotten like its ancestor, the honest-to-God light that directed traffic at Farland Square at the base of Circuit avenue in 1930. Knotting knickers Island-wide, I wonder what venerable Vineyard Gazette publisher Henry Beetle Hough would have said about the soon-to-be-completed roundabout?
Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk, That’s How History Comes Alive
Elaine Weintraub says “history” a lot. The word rolls off her tongue briskly in three sharp syllables: hih-store-ee. “Welcome to the 16th annual tour of the African American Heritage Trail,” she said last Thursday at the start of this year’s sophomore class field trip. “Here’s your chance of learning some real hih-store-ee.”
Minnesingers Present Spring Concert
The Minnesingers have returned from their 10-day trip to Croatia with a new show for Vineyard audiences. On Saturday, May 4, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 5 at 3 p.m. they will perform their spring show Roots, which celebrates the African-American contribution of composers and performers, at the performing arts center at the regional…
Fancying Forsythias
Hello, yellow! Boy, are we glad to see you.
American Woodcocks
It was still daylight on Thursday evening, April 25, about an hour before the full moon was to rise in the eastern sky. The parking lot at the frisbee golf course in the state forest had about 10 cars in it, but the golfers were finishing up for the day. My guided birding tour was…
All-Island Band Concert
The all-Island Instrumental Band Spring Concert begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, at the Performing Arts Center at the regional high school, 100 Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs. The concert begins with the jazz band and also features a showcase of fourth-graders, as well as the more seasoned middle school performers. The…
In Praise of Martha’s Vineyard Women
Thomas Dresser discusses his latest book Women of Martha’s Vineyard at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Public Library on Main street in Vineyard Haven on Wednesday, May 8. Mr. Dresser’s book digs into the lives of 15 women from Vineyard history, including West Tisbury’s hen-loving poet Nancy Luce and Harlem Renaissance writer Dorothy West.…
Under Pressure
The month of May has to get the Academy Award in the garden year. I try to notice particularly nice displays as I drive around and make weekly written comments. At the moment everything is simply lovely. Cynthia Shilling has a magnolia soulangeana easily as big as her house. Nestled in with azaleas and forsythia,…
Vineyard Uncorked, Wine Festival Begins
It may not be a rocket launch but the countdown to the Martha’s Vineyard Wine Festival has begun. The festival is underway in less than a week, and where else can you enjoy two types of bouquets: the subtle aroma of a cabernet and a bunch of fresh spring flowers. Homes and businesses on the…
Film Reveals Hunger Issues
In a recent publication by UNICEF, the U.S. ranked number 24 overall out of the 29 countries for the Child Well-Being in Rich Countries survey. The bottom four places in UNICEF’s rankings are occupied by three of the poorest countries in the survey — Latvia, Lithuania and Romania — and by one of the richest,…
Dance of Two Planets
Venus has staged a comeback. The brightest planet in our night skies appears low in the southwestern sky, close to the horizon, just after sunset. Last year Venus was mostly a morning planet. Jupiter is higher in the western sky, visible at twilight and easier to see. But soon the two planets will change places.…
Going for a Green Lawn
If you want the greenest, healthiest lawn in the neighborhood this summer, catch the May lecture series at Vineyard Gardens, 484 State road in West Tisbury. The series kicks off this Saturday, May 4, from 11 a.m. to noon, and highlights lawn care and maintenance with tips on mowing, fertilizing and watering.
Teens Helping Elders
An Elder Tech Fair, the second in a series of events bringing teens and elders together, begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, at Alex’s Place at the YMCA. The fair gives elders an opportunity to ask the younger generation questions regarding their smartphones and computers. Those wishing to participate should call 508-693-1676 to…
Edgartown Honor Roll Announced
The Edgartown School has announced its honor roll for the third quarter of the 2012-2013 academic year. Eighth grade high honors: Cana Courtney, Kylie Hatt, Abigail Lively, Paul Pereira and Lucy Ulyatt. Eighth grade honors: Kyle Boyd, Elizabeth Dourian, Lucy Enos, Sarah Felix, Ennis Foster, Daniel Gaines, Malcolm Hammond, Kylie Hathaway, Owen Hess, Erin Hill,…
Please Adopt Us
The cat cages at the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard are once again starting to fill up. There are six sweet cats waiting to find homes. They are: Simon, a big tabby and white neutered male; Hazel, a short-haired Calico; Rosie, a shy tuxedo kitty who will come out of hiding for anyone who will…
Island Theatre Workshop
The Island Theatre Workshop is headed to Pooh Corner. Well, Pooh Bear himself won’t be the main attraction but A. A. Milne is the man of the weekend. The woman of the weekend is Taffy McCarthy who directs this play based on works by Mr. Milne.
Peace Quilts Benefit
Celebrities (or almost celebrities) will be devising all sorts of schemes and gambits to earn tips as they serve dinner at the sixth annual Celebrity Waiters Dinner fundraiser for PeaceQuilts on Saturday, May 4, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Federated Church in Edgartown. A pasta dinner with all the trimmings is being cooked up…
Welcome, David
Gleyzielle Rodrigues and Henry Bernardes of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, David Rodrigues Bernardes, born on April 26 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. David weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces at birth.
Lucille Arrives
Elissa Turnbull and Eddie Stahl of Chilmark announce the birth of a daughter, Lucille Hazel Turnbull Stahl, born on April 28 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Lucille weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces at birth.
Announcing Alef
Janaina Oliveira and Helywenderson Teodoro of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Alef Oliveira Teodoro, born on April 29 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Alef weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces at birth.
Hello, Maya
Aneta Zahova and Ivan Takov of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Maya Takova, born on May 1 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Maya weighed 8 pounds at birth.
Simon Arrives
Lindsay and David Wolff of Chilmark announce the birth of a son, Simon Ramer Wolff, born on April 27 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Simon weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces at birth.
Painful Cuts for Groundfishermen Take Effect
As the struggle to save the foundering Northeast groundfishery continues, drastic cuts on landing limits for cod, yellowtail flounder and haddock went into effect this week. Adopted by the New England Fishery Management Council in late January and effective May 1, the cuts brought little cheerful news to the fishing communities up and down the…
Flaws in Construction Likely Cause of Windemere Roof Collapse
Flaws in the original construction were the cause of a mishap at Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center when a section of porch roof collapsed Wednesday morning while workmen were repairing windows, the hospital said. No one was injured in the accident.
Left Teetering on Edge, Stonewall Beach Home Is Demolished
A small cottage perilously close to the edge at Stonewall Beach in Chilmark has been demolished to prevent it from falling over the cliff, town building inspector Leonard Jason Jr. said Tuesday. The demolition of the structure, which contains a bedroom, began Monday, Mr. Jason said. By Tuesday afternoon the demolition on Greenhouse Lane was…
Selectmen, Nonprofit Clash Over Edgartown Library Donations
Edgartown selectmen and members of the Edgartown Library Foundation sparred Monday over whether the nonprofit organization would turn over money for the town’s new library project, with selectmen criticizing the organization for a lack of transparency and withholding the money, while foundation members said they had concerns about the project’s completion and wanted naming opportunities…
Vocational School, Storm Damage Top Lieut. Gov.’s Visit to Island
Lieut. Gov. Timothy Murray’s trip to the Vineyard Monday took him from surveying a damaged seawall in Oak Bluffs to watching culinary students cook chicken Marsala at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.
Man Charged with Making False Bomb Threat at Steamship Authority
A Connecticut man headed to the Vineyard was arrested Sunday night at the Steamship Authority terminal in Woods Hole after allegedly claiming to have a bomb in his vehicle. Krzysztof Malz, 45, of New Britain, Conn., will be charged with a threat concerning the location of dangerous items (explosives), according to a statement from Falmouth…
Edgartown Unveils New Emergency Management Center
On Saturday afternoon the Edgartown Police Department held an open house, giving taxpayers a chance to see all the new bells and whistles. Officers gave tours of the new Emergency Management Center and showed off the new emergency response boat. Patrolman Jamie Craig, a member of the SWAT team dispatched to Watertown last week, talked…
