When the new weather vane at the bandstand in Ocean Park is unveiled, it will be a product of a centuries-old trade brought to new life by Anthony Holand of Tuck and Holand Metal Sculptors.

Editor’s Note: The following story was published in the Gazette on Jan. 18, 1985. William Bettencourt died on July 7 at the age of 87. A memorial service will be held on Saturday at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital chapel at 11 a.m.

BY HILARY STOUT

Southern New England is overdue for a major hurricane. The last big one, in terms of lives lost, damage and cost, was the Great Hurricane of 1938. A lot has changed since then that will make the next one even more severe.

Wind generation is irrelevant to energy independence: Making electricity doesn’t give us oil, asphalt, plastics or tires; only 1.1 per cent of America’s electricity is generated by petroleum. As for fossil fuel savings, adding wind into the electricity mix tends to increase fuel usage and CO2 emissions due to the inefficiencies introduced into the system.

Editor’s Note: What follows in an addendum to an the Editorial Page feature Why I Love Where I Live, published in the Tuesday Gazette.

The back seat of the Aquinnah police cruiser is cramped and hot. A black wall, just inches from the edge of the seat, grows into plexiglass, reaching the ceiling of the police car. There is barely enough room to sit, and the partition keeps all the air conditioning in the front seat. In the summer heat of a July day at noon, the back seat of the cruiser is sweltering. It’s an uncomfortable place for a perpetrator — or today, a reporter.

For many years, I dragged my books around with me, from apartment to apartment and finally to our house. There are the novels of Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, plenty of histories, art and photography books. My treasured copy of Walden is still with me. I bought a thick paperback in the early 1980s but never had the courage to actually read it. This book was famous but just too long. When my favorite Boston talk radio host urged listeners to read it, I decided to take it on. And I recommend it to everyone.

BY THE BOOK

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I agree with the sentiments expressed in the Gazette by the owners of the Victorian Inn and more recently by Jane Dean regarding the inappropriateness of a tasteless and potentially noisy cafe located on South Water street.

Both sets of writers are however unfortunately misinformed as to the role the historic district commission was allowed by law to play in this decision.

High Marks for School Superintendent

The Search Begins in Oak Bluffs

Who would want to be town administrator in Oak Bluffs, anyway?

The question has become more than rhetorical with last week’s resignation of Michael Dutton, concluding a long-running drama that played out with all the inevitability of an Italian opera — the only surprise being how and when the end would come.