A Different Tune
The sound of whistling in the street is a rare, sweet pleasure.
Eschewing headphones rather to entertain strangers, the whistler and her clear and human music are a precious gift to passersby, who are irresistibly cheered.
“How lovely!” cried one listener on the streets of Edgartown recently, and the bold whistler pulled back her eager pooch to pause and say admiringly, “You should hear my father.”
A New Beginning
After sixty-two years of ownership by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Katharine M. Foote Memorial Shelter in Edgartown quietly changes hands today. And so begins a new era of public-private ownership at the Island’s only animal shelter. A nonprofit organization has been formed, a board of directors has been appointed, and for now Dukes County will oversee the administrative duties of the shelter and help with funding for operations. In a couple of weeks a grand opening will be held.
Open and Shut Case
The plan to rehabilitate the old Oak Bluffs library by converting the building into affordable housing for seniors and a pharmacy must be referred to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for review as a development of regional impact.
“An elegant, ironic fable with literary origins that belongs to a distinctive middle-European artistic tradition with a puckish spirit that sometimes seems sweet and at other times ruthless.”
So says Andrew O’Hehir of salon.com about I Served The King of England, a documentary film that screens Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.
The Oak Bluffs Public Library, in conjunction with the annual celebration of Della Hardman Day on Saturday, July 25, is now accepting entries for a photography contest to will select Martha’s Vineyard images that reflect Della Hardman’s legacy theme — “Savor the moment.”
The winning entries will be published in the Oak Bluffs Public Library Calendar for 2010.
Watercolor Workshop
A Watercolor Workshop with Priscilla Levesque will take place at the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs on Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Priscilla lives in Cataumet on the Cape and makes frequent painting trips to the Island. She has taught drawing and watercolor at the Cataumet Arts Center and the Falmouth Community School. Her work can be seen at the Granary Gallery and at priscillaart.com.
The fee is $100 per person. In case of rain, meet at 32 Bayview avenue in Oak Bluffs.
Firefighters from three Island towns moved quickly Sunday to extinguish a fast-moving brush fire in a rural area near the Edgartown Great Pond, stopping the blaze not far from two homes in the Boldwater subdivision. The fire capped a busy day for Edgartown firemen, who also put out a transformer fire off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and responded to several false alarms.
Responding to questions about plans to convert the old town library on lower Circuit avenue into a mixed-use building with affordable housing and a new pharmacy, Oak Bluffs selectmen said this week that the project conforms with state regulations for public works projects.
In recent weeks, questions surfaced over why extensive work had been done on the old library with no site plans on file at town hall and no contractor yet chosen for the project.
Child Care Class
The American Red Cross, Cape Cod and Islands Chapter is organizing a Childcare Provider class on May 9 for residents of the Vineyard. The class will be held at the YMCA at 57 Pequot avenue in Oak Bluffs.
Infant and Child CPR will be taught on Saturday, May 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost for this class is $45. For students who add first aid in the afternoon from 1 to 3:30 p.m., the cost will be $60.
William S. O’Connell may have clear-cut a 100 by 106-foot area on his land in Chappaquiddick, put up a wind sock and a sign saying “Heliport,” but that did not make it a heliport, a Dukes County Superior Court judge was told on Friday.
Nor did occasional takeoffs and landings make it one, argued Thomas C. Grassia, appearing for Mr. O’Connell, who is battling the town of Edgartown over its refusal to allow him to fly to and from his Chappy home.
