JANE N. SLATER
508-645-3378
Chilmark enjoyed a clear Christmas Eve with a full moon outshining all of the holiday lights around town. A brisk wind made the annual Christmas Day beach walks an invigorating experience. The coming week promises to be uneventful as the children enjoy their vacation and family reunions continue throughout the New Year’s celebration.
Winter Soup
The Chilmark Community Church at 9 Menemsha Crossroad will host winter soup suppers in the fellowship room on Tuesdays beginning Jan. 8 from 5 to 6 p.m.
The suppers are open to the community. A free-will offering basket will be available. If you would like to volunteer to make a pot of soup or bring some bread, please call Vicky and Armen Hanjian at 508-696-8225.
Top Runner
Amory Salem of Edgartown, who has won the women’s division of the Annual Thanksgiving Day 5K Race in Oak Bluffs several times, was the top finisher overall in this year’s Thanksgiving race. Mrs. Salem also was the female winner in the Chilmark Road Race this past summer.
JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
Phyllis Meras of Music street reports that we did not have any snow on Christmas Day as the temperature reached 46 degrees. The automobile traffic in town was nearly non-existent most of the day as families gathered around their tree to exchange gifts and enjoy a family dinner. Relatives and friends came by to visit in the lat e afternoon. The church was well attended at the two services held on Christmas Eve.
JUNE D. MANNING
508-645-2574
The Rev. David Berube will be the guest minister at Community Baptist Church on Sunday. Reverend Berube is a member of the Oak Bluffs Police Department and serves as chaplain for at Otis Air Force Base.
Of Bells and a Thousand
Years of Peace
The calendar points to the moment of Monday midnight, to the tolling of the Island bells, to that time in our lives when old becomes new and we wonder what lies ahead. These are the days just before and just after the first bell strikes that we find most appropriate for that old and familiar greeting spoken so comfortably and without rancor. Happy New Year is the refrain now heard across the Island, in every corner of every Vineyard township.
STRANDED WITHOUT CAUSE
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
This is an open letter to the board of governors, management and unions of the SSA.
Conflict and Turmoil
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of December 1982:
Martha’s Vineyard Community Services is the largest human service provider on the Island with roots established in 1961, when a community mental health center was formed to serve the Island population. Today, we employ more than 120 full and part-time employees and serve approximately 6,000 residents and visitors each year through our Early Childhood Programs, Island Counseling and Disability Services, the Visiting Nurse Service and Women’s Support Services.
Editor’s note: On Dec. 5, Lanny McDowell and Sam Low (aka The Two Cousins) went to Art Basel Miami Beach — the huge art fair that in sheer size trumps everything on the annual art circuit (Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, London, everything) They filed this report.
“Vineyard Gazette? What’s that?” said someone checking our press credentials at the Art Basel fair in Miami — “some kind of wine magazine?”
