A subcommittee of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on Wednesday launched an ambitious plan to create an Islandwide wastewater management study, which among other things is expected to call for a more regional approach to sewage treatment and the reduction of nitrogen loading into coastal ponds.
The Water Resource Work Group — a subset of the Island Plan, an initiative of the commission — hosted an informational meeting at the Olde Stone Building in Oak Bluffs that was attended by wastewater and conservation officials from all six towns.
Students Graduate
Hanss Buder, son of Lynn and Karl Buder of Vineyard Haven, has graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Mickaela Gray of Edgartown received a bachelor’s degree during May commencement ceremonies at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt. She majored in community and international development.
Red Cross Receives Grant
The Edward Bangs and Elza Bangs Kelley Foundation Inc. has provided a $7,500 grant to the Cape Cod and Islands Chapter of the American Red Cross to support the Training For Life Program.
The program is aimed at developing American Red Cross community scholarships to train high school students in first aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
More information is available by calling 508-775-1540 or visiting capecodandislandsredcross.org.
The Rev. Thomas C. Lopes, a Vineyard native who has been ordained for 43 years, will retire as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, North Easton, on June 24.
Father Lopes, who will turn 70 in August, plans to retire to the Island. He intends to assist at churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River with the celebration of Masses and other priestly services.
A 1956 graduate of Tisbury High School, he studied for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Conn., and at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. He was ordained a priest in 1965.
Mosquito Survey
A joint effort is planned for the Vineyard in July, August and part of September to trap and collect mosquitoes that may be vectors for Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus.
The Island boards of health, Dukes County, the state Bureau of Laboratory and Enviromental Science, and the Massachusetts State Laboratory Institute are cooperating in the effort. More information is available by calling T.J. Hegarty at 508-696-4888 or individual town health agents.
The Cost of Wind
At a time when sharply rising oil prices are rippling through the economy — pushing up the price of a multitude of commodities, from gasoline to meat to electricity — the idea of generating power right in the backyard through renewable sources such as the wind grows even more attractive for homeowners.
Small But Mighty
The piping plover is an amazing profile of endurance, hardiness, fidelity and overcoming long odds for survival. These tiny shorebirds mate for life and migrate north for thousands of miles every year to build their nests, which are literally scrapes in the sand.
They are especially attracted to wide-open barrier beaches that have been washed over by winter storms, and this year the Vineyard has many prime real estate offerings in that category, from Norton Point in the Katama section of Edgartown to Tashmoo in Vineyard Haven.
STARTING SMALL
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
When passing by the row of pitch pines along State Road at the Polly Hill Arboretum, I often notice their picturesque beauty that represents the Vineyard sense of place. I enjoy knowing these trees were planted as seedlings purchased in 1929 for 10 cents each. Though I don’t know the exact circumstance of their planting, I imagine Howard Butcher Jr., perhaps with the help of his daughter, the future Polly Hill, planting the little trees with an old shovel and a watering can.
I slept with my first beetle at age eight. Ours was a casual affair; two souls finding refuge on my grandmother’s pull-out sofa. But, as with many relationships, what began as a simple nocturnal arrangement between insect and boy soon became a complicated and crowded tempestuous two week ordeal.
Noisy Gli de
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of June, 1983:
