Martha’s Vineyard Community Services on Wednesday unveiled a strategic plan to grow in services, size and funding over the next five years, but within a year the organization expects to have better services in place for Islanders with drug and alcohol problems.
Talks already are underway between community services and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, with help from the department of public health, to coordinate care for Islanders with substance abuse or mental health concerns.
The last day to register to vote in Massachusetts was Wednesday, and the deadline saw a flurry of activity in town halls across the Island.
“I’m working fast and furious,” reported Edgartown town clerk Wanda Williams yesterday morning. Ms. Williams said nearly 60 new voters registered in Edgartown on Wednesday. Because she is still entering figures, the town clerk was unable to report the new total number of registered voters in town at press time.
They are artists and painters of the plein air variety, and of course friends and nearly neighbors. Hermine Hull and Leslie Baker both live in West Tisbury. They paint together often, sometimes several times a week. Never at a loss for words, Hermine is chatty and outgoing, while Leslie is quiet and introspective. But, like the walking path that runs behind the West Tisbury fire station between their two houses, they are connected.
Tomorrow, students at the Edgartown School will have a choice at lunchtime: chicken salad sandwich or peanut butter and jelly. And on Thursday, they will have another choice: tossed green salad or a salad of mozzarella cheese and tomato.
Chicken or peanut butter, tossed or tomato salad, may not seem like a weighty decision, but for Edgartown students the choice will also be an opportunity to choose locally-grown, fresh food over a meal made from imported ingredients.
A 2003 graduate of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School who works as a dispatcher for the county sheriff’s department was one of three lucky Islanders who won an affordable Edgartown home in a town lottery this week.
“I’m too shocked to think,” said a teary Maria Williams following the drawing held by Edgartown selectmen in the Baylies Room at the Old Whaling Church on Tuesday.
MCAS test results, budget concerns, professional development and student enrollment were all topics for discussion at the first all-Island school committee meeting of the new school year.
It was the day tropical storm Hanna was supposed to hit and, as luck would have it, Michael Domitrovich was stuck inside with a chest cold. Despite the weather and the nagging cough, Mr. Domitrovich declared himself a lucky man.
Tonight is an evening for turning lemons into lemonade.
Islander Joyce Garde, a 14-year cancer survivor, was recently diagnosed with another cancer. Rather than fight the battle alone, she is celebrating with friends and is doing it in style — at a benefit held tonight in her honor at Lola’s restaurant in Oak Bluffs. All are invited to join her from 7 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. for free finger food, live deejay music, dancing, and a silent auction. The suggested donation is $20 at the door.
“That was the only way to go,” Chilmarker David Flanders said this week. Mr. Flanders has Vineyard roots which extend back generations and are deeply tied to the land. “The whole thing was always like that to be very honest,” he continued. “It’s an old-time solution.” This weekend a two-day celebration of the local, the sustainable and the renewable is putting that old Island tradition back into the spotlight.
