Time Machine Terms
July 5, 1996
It Took Many Years for the Gazette to Fully Report the Tisbury Fire
The Tisbury fire, which began one summer evening in the very heart of downtown Vineyard Haven, destroyed 62 buildings valued at $200,000. Photographs of the center of the village the next morning show smears and patches of black spread across a grid of lanes and roads. Every store but one burned to the ground.
July 5, 1996
When Oak Bluffs Seceded: The Gazette’s Fulminations Were Bitter But Unavailing
The whininess, contempt and partisanship with which the Vineyard Gazette reported this story over six years is journalism in its brightest rain-slicker yellow - all the more embarrassing and entertaining today because the paper lost the fight.
July 5, 1996
Death of Whaling Ended an Island Way of Life
No single event finished off whaling, of course. It was doomed from the moment in 1859 when geologists discovered oil in the crust of Pennsylvania. Then came the piracy and scuttling of whaling ships during the Civil War (including the Edgartown whaler Ocmulgee, sunk by the Confederate raider Alabama), the loss of most of the New England fleet to Arctic ice in 1871, and the transfer of investment by the richest Vineyarders from whaling to the resorts at Oak Bluffs and Katama during the post-war building boom.
June 28, 1996
Tisbury Loses Stately, Historic Linden Tree
Tisbury has lost one of its oldest residents - the Linden Tree is dead. While some sprouts still appear from its trunk, its vast summer canopy is lost. Now stark branches cast long shadows over Main street shops.
“It really looks like it reached the point of no return,” said Connie Leonard, a Tisbury resident. “It was just a part of Main street. It was the accepted spot to meet someone. I wish I had a nickel for every bake sale under that tree.”
June 28, 1996
Noman’s Land is Free at Last
The bombing of Noman’s Land has ended. Plans are underway to transfer the small island from the U.S. Defense Department to the Department of Interior. By Sept. 1, the Navy will turn the property over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will manage it as a wildlife sanctuary.
June 28, 1996
Activist Group in Oak Bluffs Works for Holiday Harmony
The Fourth of July weekend in Oak Bluffs was a big mess last year, everyone said.
There was too much traffic. An ambulance couldn’t get through a street crowded with people. There were clashes between cultures and, when people talked about the weekend later, blatant racism.
Bob Holland of Oak Bluffs stayed home, but he heard all about it. And he sees no reason why all these people shouldn’t enjoy Oak Bluffs on its biggest holiday weekend.
So this year, he will be there to help with other members of the new Martha’s Vineyard Million Man Association.
May 31, 1996
Public Charter School Enrollment Diverts $350,000 from Other School Budgets
When 72 Island students move to the new Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School this fall, they will take with them $370,000 from the budgets of other Island schools.
This figure is higher than expected, mainly because a key factor -- the average cost of education at existing schools -- has turned out to be greater than anticipated. State estimates of the average education costs at each Island school were released last week.
May 24, 1996
State Appeals Court Upholds Edgartown
Marking the second time this year that a state court has recognized protective land use regulations in the town of Edgartown, the Massachusetts appeals court early this month upheld a local board of health regulation which prohibits guest houses in the Katama area.
The regulation, first adopted by the town board of health in 1985, was rooted in concern about contamination of the groundwater at Katama. The case is important because it upholds the broad powers of town boards of health.
May 10, 1996
Call It Quaint If You Must, But Menemsha Remains a Fishing Village
Menemsha fishermen rise with the sun. On a cool, clear morning this week, the lobstermen came down one by one to take their boats to sea.
Pat Jenkinson came down to his lobster boat Solitude. Herbert Hancock’s boat Billie H. began with a roar of its diesel engine.
May 3, 1996
Plan to Establish First Vietnam Memorial Gathers Quiet Support from Across Island
It’s been more than a generation since this country sent its soldiers to battle in the jungles of a small country called Vietnam, and there are many Islanders who believe their community has yet to pay proper tribute to those who served.
