The Vineyard Independence Partnership (VIP) presented its first-ever Access Appreciation award to the Steamship Authority Wednesday afternoon in recognition of the recent improvements the SSA has made to its passenger ramp at the Vineyard Haven terminal. The ramp, installed earlier in the year, was designed to offer greater accessibility to passengers with physical disabilities, and features more gradual sloping and switchbacks.

SSA station manager Bridget Tobin accepted the award, given by VIP co-presidents Steve Soriano and Allison Burger.

State and local fisheries officials said Thursday that toxic bacteria in oysters caught in shallow waters off Wellfleet do not present a similar threat to Vineyard oysters, but nevertheless urged shellfishermen in all coastal areas to take precautions, including refrigerating oysters as soon as possible after catching them.

The Chilmark selectmen this week endorsed a formal appeal to the U.S. Coast Guard’s rejected insurance claims for the Menemsha boathouse fire.

At their meeting Tuesday, the selectmen unanimously voted to approve an appeal letter written by town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport that questions the outcome of the investigation into the cause of the July 2010 fire and challenges the Coast Guard’s dismissal of the claim due to the belief the fire started on town property.

There has been much in the news recently about James Cagney. Like so many children of the fifties and sixties, I grew up closely acquainted with his many movie roles. My favorites were Yankee Doodle Dandy, the film in which Cagney portrayed George M. Cohan, the famous musical composer, playwright, actor, singer and amazing dancer, and The Public Enemy, where Cagney donned the mantle of the tough guy gangster Tom Powers during Prohibition. The first was a touching depiction of a man who was an artist to his core.

With town meeting season over, some Islanders gathered with state Sen. Dan Wolf last Saturday morning to celebrate all six towns passing resolutions against the Supreme Court Citizens United case.

When I arrived on the Vineyard in mid-March, I could still see my breath billowing out in front of me as I ran out along South Road and down Blue Barque Road in Chilmark. I wore a sweatshirt and a wool hat to guard against the cold. I’m not in great shape, so by the time I reached the end of the wooded, residential road, I was wheezing and my white breath poured out of me like smoke. I always collapsed at the same spot; the wooden-gate entrance to Hancock Beach.

From the edition of May 22, 1987:

There’s a new and seasonal sort of traffic on the Beach Road in Vineyard Haven these days, as the sailboats of summer make their way down to the water for another season. Large sailboats emerge slowly from the lagoonside sheds of the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard, to the boat lift and into warming harbor waters.

CRITICAL NEED

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

For seven years, Rising Tide Therapeutic Equestrian Center has provided positive educational and therapeutic interactions with horses to members of our community with special needs. What started as a dream for a small group of dedicated volunteers has become a reality for Martha’s Vineyard. Rising Tide is the only therapeutic equestrian center on the Island, offering programs to more than 150 clients throughout the year.

Last week’s Gazette editorial eloquently recognizing the one-sided results of the ballot questions on the roundabout was a welcome coda to this ongoing and vexing issue.

There’s a special town meeting coming up for West Tisbury, on Tuesday June 5. It seems to be generating some confusion about the dog situation on Lambert’s Cove Beach. It would be great if no time were wasted at the town meeting clearing up the confusion, so I would like to politely offer clarity on three particular points here.