Lobsters and Ewes
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of March, 1983:
A LESSER EVIL
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I had to miss the Cape Wind hearing. I support Cape Wind. For me it is an indication that we are learning to dream differently, and think differently, and act differently. I have no quarrel, however, with those who oppose it. It is what it is to each of us.
Vineyarders will enjoy arguing for many more years about when the world will run out of oil, about the causes and effects of climate change, about the safety of nuclear power and about the politics of our dependence on imported fuel. We like to argue. But increasingly, many of us are coming around to the idea of a reliable energy future for Martha’s Vineyard based on higher efficiency and local generation of energy primarily from wind. The Island Plan expects that remarkable transition from fossil fuels to be achieved within 40 years.
Hey to all our readers, this is Troy (85) Small. Every week I edit the Sophomores Speak Out and I enjoy it because I get to read what the other kids in my class are talking and thinking about. We have a lot to say this week. I particularly related to Haley Rossi’s piece about homework. Our readers probably think we all complain all the time, but we have our reasons. Teachers don’t realize that when we get an assignment from them we go on to the next teacher who is waiting with another one.
To our community and those in need of homecare:
On Wednesday, March 12, just a day before the notice went public, the Vineyard Nursing Association (VNA) learned that Martha’s Vineyard Community Services will be closing the doors of their Visiting Nurse Service (VNS) effective June 30. The news was received with concern for the patients and employees of the nursing service and was a complete surprise to our staff and board.
Unfortunate Move
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
The terrible news that the Visiting Nurse Service is closing is causing distress in the minds and hearts of many Vineyard residents who have come to rely on the services provided by this agency.
Particularly troubling is the loss of a uniquely dedicated team of nurses who have demonstrated a willingness time and time again to go above and beyond the call of duty in serving and advocating for their patients and the families of their patients.
The West Tisbury assessors have made public their first round of real estate abatements, applying reductions in valuations from 10 to 60 per cent on seven of 57 properties in the Tisbury Great Pond and Seven Gates Farm neighborhoods, the areas in town hit hardest by revaluations.
Abatement applications are taxpayer requests for lower valuations, thus lower tax bills. They challenge real estate values assigned after revaluation occurs.
A meeting at Oak Bluffs town hall on Wednesday was as much about a plan to mend the crumbling town waterfront as it was to mend frayed relations between certain town officials who disagree over what approach should be taken after a 30-ton retaining wall along Sea View avenue suddenly collapsed nearly a month ago.
Oil prices sitting stubbornly at more than $10 per barrel above budget forecasts. Cost overruns on capital projects totaling almost $3 million.
It was a sober March meeting for the governors of the Steamship Authority this week.
The good news was that the actual and projected traffic on SSA ferries remains strong. But it was the bad news which took up most of the time at Tuesday’s meeting.
The Vineyard Nursing Association (VNA) and Martha’s Vineyard Community Services met this week to develop a transition plan for the care of 66 patients now served by the Community Services Visiting Nurse Service.
Officials of both groups said real progress has been made in developing a plan to provide service continuity followed by an unexpected announcement by Community Services last week that it would shutter its nursing service on June 30 to focus on other areas, including behavioral health services.
