A majority of West Tisbury residents at a packed public meeting on Wednesday spoke against a plan from American Tower Corporation to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns.

Many who attended the meeting cited concerns about safety, questioning whether radio frequency from the towers would pose a danger to humans, while others said they worried a series of new utility poles needed for the system would ruin scenic vistas and infringe on people’s property.

Eating ice cream is a familiar pastime on Memorial Day weekend, but for Zachary Gould, 25, of Oak Bluffs, who had a sweet tooth and apparently too much to drink, the temptation to grab some soft-serve proved to be criminal.

Edgartown police yesterday arrested Mr. Gould, who smashed in the back door of the Dairy Queen on Upper Main street early Saturday morning.

Some 1,500 Vineyard residents will have to find a new health insurer, following the Island hospital’s decision to stop accepting the Boston Medical Center (BMC) HealthNet program, one of two Commonwealth Care providers here.

From the end of June, BMC will withdraw from the Island and another insurer, Neighborhood Health, will come in. The other insurer, Network Health, will continue to offer coverage, which still leaves people with a choice of two.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day brings many great tradi tions. Yesterday we watched some of the tributes on the television and I was struck by the footage of visitors to The Wall in Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in Viet Nam. As most people know, the memorial is a triangular shaped wall that is inscribed with the names of every person who died in Viet Nam. It is simple and yet so stirring. And for those who knew someone on that wall, it carries far deeper meaning.

On May 28 Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard and Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod (H& PCCC) announced an alliance that will bring expanded hospice services to Martha’s Vineyard while preserving the traditional role of Hospice. This letter is an effort to set forth my personal feelings and the board’s rationale for this innovative undertaking.

To quote the Vineyard Gazette editorial in the May 15 issue: “The goals of affordable housing are both vital and laudable, but they are not above the equally important principles of transparency and accountability, especially to the thousands of private donors and taxpayers who have contributed so generously to a good cause.”

The Island Affordable Housing Fund and the Island Housing Trust are pleased to have this opportunity to clarify our roles and describe our operating methods as they have evolved.

Rescuing the Messboy

From Gazette editions of May, 1934:

enough hypocrisy

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

This from Laurie David’s (self-proclaimed environmental activist) blog on the Huffington Post:

“My favorite action tip for the week is to stop idling. On average, a car will burn more than half a gallon of fuel for every hour spent idling. In general, 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the car, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. — Signing off from the Green Zone, Laurie David.”

We just installed a new oven and the kitchen has been all torn up. A fit of tidiness and order naturally followed this upheaval, an inspiration to do something serious about cleaning things up to match the shiny new appliance. Starting to hunt for a Band-aid in a kitchen drawer full of junk, I decided to change the paper lining while at it. Sort of stirring things around, I began to take a look.