A Shark Drops By
It didn’t take much. A large shark was sighted on the morning of July tenth off South Beach in Edgartown. Within twenty-four hours, three Island beaches had been closed and reopened, a false sighting hoax at Joseph A. Sylvia State Beach had been perpetrated, and media around the world had picked up the story.
The shark probably still doesn’t know all the fuss it caused.
Having lived on the Vineyard for over four years (these stretches of time sometimes get hazy on the Vineyard watch) I realized I had never been a passenger from the mainland to the Island on the Fourth of July.
Hedline
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of July, 1958:
Ever hear of the Demarcation Point?
The map will show it on the top side of Alaska, near the Siberian border. That is where Capt. Stephen Cottle of Chilmark, commanding the steam whaler Belvedere, picked up the crew of the wrecked Elvira, one of the vessels in Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s expedition, on a July day in 1907.
Store Battles Cancer
A month after the launch of the Triple Winner Game, Stop & Shop’s annual campaign to raise funds toward research and treatment of pediatric cancer, the company’s Vineyard Haven store has raised $4,144 toward the effort. The chain so far has collected $1.4 million in this year’s campaign.
Oral health is an essential component of overall health. Nearly half of all children have experienced dental decay by the time they reach the third grade. Nationally, 51 million school hours are lost each year due to dental disease. For children, poor oral health can interrupt life’s most basic activities, such as eating, sleeping, speaking and learning. In adulthood, the consequences become more severe. Dental disease is associated with stroke, heart disease, complications with diabetes, and the delivery of premature babies.
It’s another blowout variety night! See what happens on Monday, July 21, at 8 p.m. at Katharine Cornell Theatre (second floor of Tisbury Town Hall) on Spring street in Vineyard Haven.
This annual extravaganza welcomes the audience on a first come, first seated basis; there are no reservations. And there’s a special ticket price, just for you: $9.99.
CLOCK REPAIR
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
In light of the devastating fire on Main street Vineyard Haven, I think it would be a great civic gesture if NStar would find a live circuit that could be used for a temporary feed to the Bunch of Grapes clock. This would provide an instant symbol of renewal, both for the town and for the owners that have lost so much.
Robert D. Woerpel
Vineyard Haven
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WORK YET TO DO
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
They began descending on Martha’s Vineyard yesterday, the most powerful people in the Democratic Party, and their big money backers, for a few days of schmoozing and fund raising and plotting the way to victory in November.
Last Tuesday, Janice Perrin stood in her West Tisbury kitchen frantically packing. She had a reservation to leave the Vineyard that evening, but before that she had to dash to Edgartown for an interview and play a game with her volleyball league.
And she had to finish packing.
Deciding what to put in her suitcase was not the problem. It was deciding what to put in her cooler.
