So back on Nov. 27, 2001, when he got word that a land bank employee was coming to mow the old path which runs through his block in West Tisbury, he went down to order them off, as he had done with others who wandered across his land on the path.
As he told the superior court in Edgartown this week, he went down in his Bobcat earth mover and confronted them, raising the bucket of the tractor over the mower, then pushed rocks in the path and called the police.
In a decision that helps cement the ongoing efforts of Island towns and conservation groups to protect the ancient ways that crisscross the Vineyard like so many strands of history, a superior court judge ruled yesterday that Rogers Path in West Tisbury is open for public use.
“The public has the right to use the entire length and width of the way,” wrote the Hon. C. Brian McDonald, an associate justice of the superior court.
A group of neighbors is appealing a recent superior court decision that Rogers Path in West Tisbury — an ancient way once used by Wampanoags and as a cart path by English colonials — must remain open for public use.
