Restoring Veterans Park

War Veterans Memorial Park was built more than half a century ago by hand by a small group of Vineyard Haven veterans who were members of the George W. Goethals American Legion Post. The men spent their weekends hauling fill and toting rakes and shovels to convert ten acres of swamp in an area known as Cat Hollow to a public park.

MORGAN FAMILY THANKS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

To our family and friends, we extend our sincere gratitude for all that you have done to see us through our loss. For errands, flowers, cards, phone calls, food, kind words and especially for the hugs — a heartfelt thank you!

Your love and concern for our family has warmed our broken hearts and been a tribute to Bob that will not soon be forgotten.

Thanks for all the ways that you have been present for us.

Allouise Morgan

Edgartown

It has been a long time since I have lived on the Vineyard, so forgive me for asking, but when did the term New Yorker become derogatory? What does it mean to call someone a New Yorker? Because New York is several cities, to say that one person who hails from Park Slope in Brooklyn and another from East 63rd street in Manhattan are equally rude is like comparing persimmons to pineapples.

All in the Family

By William A. Caldwell, Pulitzer prize winner, long-time Vineyard Gazette columnist etc. From the Vineyard Gazette editions of January, 1983:

The new tax bills for Tisbury Great Pond properties were a shocker all right. The camp that I co-own with my three siblings, as the Sturgis Family Trust, was valued at $2,123,800 in fiscal year 2007. Now, with no effort on our part, it’s supposedly worth $4,419,700. For years we’ve been managing to pay the taxes — $9,568 in fiscal year 2007 — by renting the camp out most of the summer. The new tax bill, $17,511 and change, means renting for nine or ten weeks with no margin for error: no cancellations, and nothing left over for maintenance either.

I turned 21 in 1968, the first year I had the chance to vote. With an anti-Roosevelt Republican father and a liberal leaning Democratic mother, I tread a torturous political path. And 1968 was a year when caution was thrown to the wind, early and often. No one imagined the year would turn out to be a most tumultuous political experience.

It began with the Tet offensive at the end of January, 1968, a Viet Cong onslaught on American troops. People in the United States had been led to believe we were on the verge of victory, so the enemy uprising was amazing.

Forty years ago my father, Island artist Stan Murphy, was commissioned to paint a portrait of our country’s first black cabinet member, Dr. Robert Weaver. Weaver, a civil rights leader with a doctorate in economics from Harvard, became Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) when he was appointed by President Johnson.

In what has become a fiercely contested primary battle, Vineyarders rushed to register last week in time to vote in the Massachusetts Democratic and Republican primary elections, scheduled for “Super Duper,” “Tsunami,” or even “Destiny” Tuesday, Feb. 5.

That day will feature the biggest one-day collection of state primaries and caucuses ever held in the United States.

Neighborhood Convention

The February meeting of Neighborhood Convention will be held at the Assembly of God, 1048 State Road in Vineyard Haven, at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5. The Rev. Walter Rogero will conduct the worship service and the program will feature Featherstone Center for the Arts. Bring a bag lunch; dessert and beverages will be provided by the host congregation.

More information is available by calling Mary-Jean Miner at 508-696-8589.

Dean’s List

Jennifer Ross Reekie, daughter of Chele and Alan Reekie of West Tisbury, has been named to the dean’s list at Bentley College for the fall semester.