EGREGIOUS ERROR

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Stunned! Heartbroken! Furious! These are but three of the emotions I was feeling after reading about the rejection of the Island’s application to the state for federal funds to assist members of our community because of a clerical error. That is $2 million lost.

BEARING DRIFT: A Story of Tragedy, Heroism and How Thirty-Four Sailors Rescued the U.S. Coast Guard. By Peter Sloan Eident. Pirate Press. 350 pages, $29.95.

From a 1952 Gazette edition:

Since Thursday, when the Coast Guard building, three stories high, came towing into Menemsha Creek on a scow after crosssing Vineyard Sound from Cuttyhunk, people have exclaimed: “How unusual!”

But here on the Vineyard the moving of buildings by water is an old story. Not too many men are now living who have engaged in such undertakings, but there are many familiar with the history of similar movings who can point out houses and other structures that floated alongshore to their present destinations.

Jamie O’Gorman stood in a field of summer squash and cucumbers at Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown on Saturday, looking over her shoulder, hoping that more volunteers would arrive at any minute. The field behind the peach orchard had only a few volunteers that afternoon to help the Island Grown Initiative’s gleaning program.

With their town administrator’s resignation effective at the end of the month, Oak Bluffs selectmen met on Friday morning to discuss how to fill the gaping hole at the top of town government. The town is currently searching for an interim town administrator while it prepares its larger search for a permanent replacement for Michael Dutton.

Selectmen announced Mr. Dutton’s resignation last Friday after weeks of speculation in light of the town’s financial problems and revelations about violations to state public bidding laws.

The first Tisbury art stroll got off to a quiet start on Friday night, but no matter, the tide in this port town is changing. Dawn Braasch, owner of the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore and now president of the Tisbury Business Association, is on a mission to revitalize downtown Vineyard Haven.

And the art stroll was a good way to kick off her campaign. “It just felt like there was life again in Vineyard Haven. It was lovely,” she said.

The tagline of the Martha’s Vineyard Summer Institute, “from the front lines of politics, science and the arts,” proved too true last week when the program’s scheduled July 21 speaker, Cong. Barney Frank, was called back to the front. Mr. Frank and his colleagues in Congress won’t be taking their customary recess as the political battle continues over the federal debt ceiling.

But another formidable speaker, Kenneth Feinberg, will fill the July 21 bill.

The sixth annual Vineyard Cup regatta was the best yet. Wind, weather, participation and competitive spirit reached new levels in what has become the Island’s premiere three-day sailing competition. A record 101 sailboats of varying size and construction competed in Vineyard waters, from Menemsha Pond to Cow Bay.

It was not your usual Narnia — which came as no surprise to anyone who has revelled in the fantasy and fun of the annual Camp Jabberwocky play.

In this year’s production, inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Narnia was not so much the lamppost-lit enchanted domain of the elusive White Witch. It was a Vineyard-inspired porthole between the wardrobe of the camp’s costume room and the wardrobe of a different take on a ruling female power – Lady Gaga, played to perfection by camper Mary Beth Rush.

Machschefes Graduates

Jacob C Machschefes, the grandson of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joseph F. Burgess Jr. and Jessie C. Burgess U.S. Coast Guard (retired) and the son of Jane and Karl Machschefes, graduated from Natomas Charter School, in Sacramento, Calif., on June 10, 2011. He will continue his education at the Art Institute of Sacramento. He has successfully made Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.

His sister, JuliAnn, has completed her first year at the University of San Diego.