VNA on the Move, Expands to Nantucket

The Vineyard Nursing Association, the Island’s only home nursing provider, announced this week that it will expand its services onto Nantucket, where currently there are none.

VNA chief executive officer Robert Tonti said he expects to open a Nantucket office by early May at the latest. The Nantucket Cottage Hospital will provide $350,000 in startup money for the service, paid out over three years, Mr. Tonti said.

“We are helping their community and we’re happy to do it,” Mr. Tonti said in an interview.

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Farewell to a Woman of Character and Grit

She was an Oak Bluffs selectman and I was a cub reporter for the New Bedford Standard Times. The year was 1973. Geraldyne DeBettencourt had recently been elected as the first woman selectman on the Vineyard. It was quite a milestone when you think about it now, especially placed in the context of nearly four decades ago when Island government was a dyed-in-the-wool, old-boy network. My professional world too was heavily populated by men, most of them kindly, small-town newspapermen who were willing to take me under their wing.

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Lobster Boat Rescue Averts Large Oil Spill

After nearly two days of foundering in the surf near a remote coastline in Aquinnah with hundreds of gallons of fuel on board, the Sherry Ann, a 46-foot offshore lobster boat out of Westport, was freed from her unwanted rocky berth and towed to a nearby salvage barge Thursday afternoon.

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Possible Dreams Auction Looks To Make Night Impossible to Miss

Two high rollers in a bidding war to share a peanut butter sandwich with Carly Simon?

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Bunch of Grapes Turns the Page, Will Move to Bowl and Board

The Bunch of Grapes, the landmark Vineyard Haven bookstore that has been the go-to place for Islanders and summer visitors alike — including sitting U.S. presidents — to buy their books for more than 40 years, will relocate, owner Dawn Braasch announced last week.

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News Update: Saturday, April 7 - Bunch of Grapes Will Relocate

The Bunch of Grapes, the landmark Vineyard Haven bookstore that has been the go-to place for Islanders and summer visitors alike — including sitting U.S. presidents — to buy their books for more than 40 years, will relocate, owner Dawn Braasch said.

Ms. Braasch has signed a lease with the Hall family to take over the Bowl and Board building across the street from the bookstore. The move will be complete by Memorial Day or at the latest mid-June, she said.

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Three Towns See Big Election Wins; Beer and Wine Allowed

West Tisbury will allow the sale of beer and wine in restaurants for the first time in modern history, Oak Bluffs saw a vote of confidence in town government, with two incumbent selectmen reelected, and spending was approved for two major public library construction projects, one in West Tisbury, the other in Edgartown.

And public opinion is running strongly against the roundabout in at least two towns.

These were the highlights of the annual town elections held yesterday in three Island towns.

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Iconic Newsman Mike Wallace Found Peace on the Vineyard

Mike Wallace, the CBS newsman who was a household name across America and a longtime summer resident of the Vineyard, died on April 7 at the age of 93. The familiar television anchorman for the CBS Sunday evening show 60 Minutes was also a familiar figure on the Island, where he had visited since boyhood and later owned a home on Hatch Road in Vineyard Haven. The house was sold late last year after Mr. Wallace’s health had declined to the point where he no longer came here.

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Island Conservation Leaders Look to Future

The place names are familiar and unchanging: Wasque, Cape Pogue and Long Point, Herring Creek Farm, Cedar Tree Neck and Fulling Mill Brook, Waskosim’s Rock and Pecoy Point, to name a few.

But the people who admire, use and could potentially contribute to the thousands of acres of land in conservation on the Vineyard have changed, and Island conservation leaders say this is what frames their biggest challenge today.

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Tisbury's Denial of Lagoon Pier Upheld by Superior Court Judge

A Tisbury homeowner’s effort to build a 100-foot private pier in the Lagoon Pond has been rebuffed again by a superior court judge.

The ruling in a dispute that has been going on for five years is seen as a victory for the town’s ability to impose environmental restrictions that are stricter than those established by the state.

The case involved a challenge to the Tisbury wetlands protection bylaw that was designed, among other things, to protect valuable shellfish resources in town waters.

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