FOR THE CHIEF

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I write to thank the residents of the Vineyard for the kindness extended toward the Williamson family suffering the loss of Peter Williamson, known on the Vineyard as The Chief.

I drove down from Boston on Jan. 27, the most wretched snowy day of winter with winds blustering around 50 miles per hour, with my sister, her daughter, and my cousin to attend the wake and funeral for Peter Williamson, our cousin.

25 Years Ago

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of February, 1983:

As a teacher of history I studied many presidencies.

I have recently been the recipient of one of those fantastical e-mail chain letters being broadly circulated these days titled Who Is Barack Obama? Full of untruths, it anonymously warns us about Obama’s secret allegiance to radical Muslims’ beliefs, and while attacking Barack’s Christian faith and deep patriotism, the e-mail assures us that its assertions are all supposedly verified by the rumor site snopes.com. This is untrue: a check on that Web site refutes the e-mail.

An open letter to Sens. John Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy:

As a journalist, voter, part-time Vineyarder and full-time Democrat, I’m writing to urge you to produce the removed 120 pages of The Barrett Report before they foment a ruinous political scandal.

Hello to all our readers. We have just finished an exhausting week of midterm exams and this week we share with you some of our issues and interests. We hope you enjoy our writing, and we’ll be back in two weeks.

— Dr. W’s Sophomore Classes

Sweet Peace — Ethical Chocolate

By Solvig Sayre>

The fight to keep funding intact for the Vineyard Health Care Access Program continued without letup last week during a meeting of the county advisory board on the county operating budget for the coming year.

Members of the Dukes County Health Council, the charter study commission, concerned residents and county commissioners packed the county administration building on their lunch breaks last Thursday to watch as the advisory board voted to approve a draft $1.9 million operating budget for the coming fiscal year.

Correction

A story in last week’s Gazette about Island voters registering to participate in the Feb. 5 primary incorrectly identified where Tisbury residents will vote. Voting will occur at the American Legion Hall. The story also misidentified the Tisbury town clerk. She is Marion Mudge.

The Gazette regrets the errors.

Chilmark selectmen announced last Friday an agreement to buy a plot of land on Tabor House Road, which will help the board move forward with plans to build the first town-sponsored affordable housing project in Chilmark.

“This is the last piece of the puzzle,” board chairman Warren Doty said this week by telephone.

Edgartown selectmen voted not to suspend the commercial scalloping license of fisherman Richard Morris Monday, going against the recommendation of the shellfish committee at a heated public hearing.