Most people think of the shark as the ultimate symbol of dread,
giants with cold lifeless eyes who cruise the ocean looking for swimmers
they can tear from limb to limb. The very word itself is used to
describe people in society who prey on others or who engage in deceptive
practices.
There is probably not an animal in the world more despised or feared
then sharks, ranking right down there with snakes and spiders.
Free horseback riding, kayaking, ice skating, swimming lessons, African dance classes and tennis lessons. That would sound good to a lot of people on the Island, but it’s being offered to girls 11 to 14 years old.
The program is called ABLE — Adolescent Balanced Living Experience — and it is part of the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard. It started last fall and attendance has been growing with each session.
The Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday closed a public
hearing for a planned 35,000 square-foot YMCA building, sending the
project into the home stretch with few visible potholes in the road.
As is the custom following the close of a public hearing, the
commission's land use planning committee met last night to discuss
the project and possibly begin drafting a list of conditions for
possible approval.
Amid compliments and congratulations, the Martha's Vineyard
Commission on Thursday unanimously approved the 35,000-square-foot YMCA
building to be built across from the regional high school on
Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road following a whirlwind session of
deliberations that wrapped up in under ninety minutes.
The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4,000 years ago when the new year began with the first new moon after the vernal equinox, which we know today to be the first day of spring. At that time it was thought that the planting of new crops was a logical time to start a new year.
Longtime YMCA executive Jill Robie will relocate from Orono, Me., to become interim executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Y beginning Monday, Nov. 2.
Ms. Robie will take over from Margaret (Peg) Regan, the retired regional high school principal who has been acting in the role since August. Construction of the 38,000-square-foot center in Oak Bluffs began in May; the first phase of the complex is expected to be completed in May 2010.
Jill Robie, the new interim executive director at the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard, began her first day on the job Tuesday wearing a hard hat and walking through the new $12 million facility in construction off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
While she was touring the concrete swimming pool with Chuck Hughes, president of the board, and Bill Skinner, board member, there were loud roofers outside overhead hammering in new shingles.
Rain and drizzle forced volunteers, staff and supporters for the new YMCA building into a huddle beneath a small tent at Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony. At the center of the huddle was a scale model of the new 38,000-square-foot facility.
Against the backdrop of a sustained national recession, the board of directors for the YMCA of the Martha’s Vineyard voted unanimously last Friday to begin construction on the long-awaited 38,000-square-foot YMCA building to be built across from the regional high school on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
The chief executive officer of Festival Network, the national entertainment promoter that has held a concert in Ocean Park featuring the Boston Pops for the past two years, has said the future of the concert is in doubt, largely because it lost money last year.
CEO Chris Shields has also leveled harsh accusations at the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard, saying that the nonprofit organization still owes his company thousands of dollars from ticket sales last August.
