This Week's Paper
James Flight Alley, 81, former West Tisbury postmaster and selectman, conservationist and life-long Democrat, real estate broker, horse dealer, farmer, new- and used-car salesman, and owner, with his brother, John, and his late sister, Phyllis Alley Smith, of Alley’s General Store from 1961 to 1981, died in West Tisbury on Wednesday after a long bout with cancer.
From new ferries to a terminal overhaul in Woods Hole, the Steamship Authority will be embarking on some major capital planning and spending projects in the coming years.
At the monthly boat line meeting in Hyannis this week, the SSA governors took a look at planning for two major projects: the replacement of aging vessels and reconstruction of the terminal at Woods Hole.
On his 103rd day on the job, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Matthew H. Malone came to the Vineyard for a full immersion in Island education: he chatted up students and praised the school’s vocational program, made suggestions for school fundraisers and sampled the culinary program’s scalloped potatoes.
Mr. Malone was on the Island Thursday for a look at Vineyard schools and to listen to concerns, he said, as part of a tour of schools across the commonwealth.
James Flight Alley, 81, former West Tisbury postmaster and selectman, conservationist and life-long Democrat, real estate broker, horse dealer, farmer, new- and used-car salesman, and owner, with his brother, John, and his late sister, Phyllis Alley Smith, of Alley’s General Store from 1961 to 1981, died in West Tisbury on Wednesday after a long bout with cancer.
It’s been 16 years since her first ferry ride to the Island. Luciana Freire wipes a sink and remembers it all as clearly as if it was yesterday.
“I flew from Sao Paolo, Brazil to New York. A friend of my husband’s, a guy I’ve never met before, picks me up and drives me to Woods Hole. I see the boat. I can’t believe my eyes. It’s huge. So white. I’ve never seen a boat like this. Then I’m standing on the deck, wind in my hair, looking at this beautiful Island in the distance and I feel like I am Rose in the movie Titanic.
Aquinnah voters approved a hefty hike in the town operating budget for the coming year and backed a spending package to help restore and ready the Gay Head Light for moving at their annual town meeting Tuesday, but balked at a town bylaw to ban public consumption of marijuana.
“Isn’t there a no smoking law in any public place?” said Juli Vanderhoop, who questioned the need for the bylaw. “Smoke is smoke.”
The owners of the dog believed to have killed a miniature horse in Edgartown last weekend have decided to euthanize the dog, while the owner of the horse said she will not press further charges.
Mugsy, a three-year-old neutered American Staffordshire-bulldog cross, will be put down on Monday, animal control officer Barbara Prada said, nine days after two miniature horses were attacked and one killed at an Edgartown farm. The incident rattled residents of the Edgartown neighborhood and highlighted what animal control officers said are rising dog incidents on the Island.
The Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure confirmed this week it is investigating years-old allegations of ethical impropriety against popular Vineyard veterinarian Dr. Steven Atwood.
Dr. Atwood, the owner of Animal Health Care Associates, resigned last month as chairman of the state Board of Registration in Veterinarian Medicine, the agency that oversees licenses for veterinarians. He gave no reason for his resignation in a brief April 16 letter to Gov. Deval Patrick.
West Tisbury will be the last Island town to decide two marijuana questions next week: one to prohibit public consumption and another to place a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in town.
The two bylaws are on the warrant for a special town meeting that begins at 7 p.m. at the West Tisbury School. Moderator F. Patrick Gregory will preside; there are seven articles on the warrant.
A state law passed last fall legalizing medical marijuana. The law went into effect Jan. 1. The state Department of Public Health issued regulations last month.
When a miniature horse was killed by a dog in the rural outskirts of Edgartown last weekend it clearly struck a nerve around the Island and beyond. As the news was reported on the Gazette website, reaction poured in, most of it civil and heartfelt. People winced at the terrible, violent death of a small horse named Magik.
Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me. The World War Two-era song sung famously by the Andrews Sisters sounds a little dated but the wild apple trees on the Vineyard are right in tune this year, their crooked boughs heavy with pink blossoms everywhere you look.
I was recently invited to give a lecture for the Piano Tuners Association of the UK at their centennial meeting to be held in Bournemouth, England. It turns out that Bournemouth is very close to the place were my ancient ancestor and direct descendant, Phillip Stanwood, is believed to have come from when he sailed to New England in the year 1652. I accepted the teaching invitation and knew that I would finally be able to visit and explore the place of my English roots. Would I find a feeling of resonance and connection?
There is a field across the way
Where dandelions bloom in May.
Like Flanders field, where hopes fly
And dreams too often come to die,
The flowers dot the field like fleets
Last Friday’s compact and nearly complete coverage of the Stop & Shop’s Tisbury expansion made up for the fact that an off-Island appointment made me miss the hearing. If I had been there, and if the applicant did not present information on the scope of substances and services to be put on sale in the final solution, I would have asked a few questions.
We will likely never see your kind face again, your deep-bellowing voice full of confidence and swagger could ice anyone in its path. As a war hero from the Greatest Generation you were shot in Okinawa in April of 1945, then sent home and back to Brown where you met Missy and married her in 1948.
Last week, I drove to Lambert’s Cove Beach for a late-afternoon walk with my dog. I had my purse with me, so I locked the car and stuck the key in my pocket.
p>Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
There is a circus currently being promoted in the Cape Cod area and I know some may think, what a fun outing. Before you go, please consider the following about elephants and any wild animal being used for entertainment.
People like to see elephants at a circus, movie, zoo or in an advertisement because of their magnificence and beauty. If you are seeing an elephant in any of these situations, please know that elephant has been and is being mistreated.
The recent letter from W.R. Deeble prompts me to respond to the allegations that Republicans, Fox News, talk show hosts and we poor, misguided fools that did not vote for Barack Hussein Obama “have launched a campaign to nullify” the 2012 election results.
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of May, 1928: George W. Purdy, one-armed keeper of East Chop Lighthouse, has previously astonished his acquaintances with his engineering feat, but his latest one is the more remarkable of any yet performed.
Supplies for the light are landed on the beach at the foot of the high bluff on which the lighthouse is situated. All along the shore of the government reservation is a heavy wall of loose boulders, weighing from one to several hundred pounds each.
For viewers this summer, gavel-to-gavel coverage of Island government meetings, high school sports and an eclectic array of original programming may appear unchanged on Martha’s Vineyard Television.
But for the people behind the cameras and the scenes at the Island’s only public access television station, huge change is in the offing as the station prepares to move to a new facility that is nearly complete off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
When the high school football team took to the field last year for the annual Island Cup game, there were no Vineyard cheerleaders. Nantucket had brought their squad, and the Vineyard junior high team performed their routine at the earlier middle school game, but the purple and white had no sideline representation.
That will change this fall as junior high coaches Sue Costello and Shannon Capra take their talents to the high school level to rebuild the program, which was absent last season after years of shrinking attendance. Mrs.
Memorial Day Weekend brings more than the signal of summer. It is also the weekend of the annual Friends of Family Planning Art Show Benefit which helps support the Family Planning Clinic of Martha’s Vineyard.
Island artists donate from 40 to 100 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of their work to benefit the cause. Appetizers and desserts are donated by Island restaurants, caterers and chefs.
The opening gala benefit is from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. Music will be provided by Jeremy Berlin.
In 2008 the company Airbnb started in San Francisco. The idea was basic but hardly simple. Create a conduit for travelers to vacation all across the globe in local homes and apartments. The internet site matches those with places to rent for a day, week, month, any amount of time, really, and those looking to travel. The company now has host sites in more than 40,000 cities and 192 countries.
After 23 seasons with the Vineyarders, boys’ varsity tennis head coach Ned Fennessy is stepping down. Coach Fennessy’s squad was a perfect 23-0 last season, and won the Division 3 state championships. Their win streak came to an end last week against Barnstable, a Division 1 team, but they quickly picked up three more wins.
The Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard is grateful to all those pets who brought their people to the Pink and Green Weekend in Edgartown last Saturday. The fashion star was a chihuahua togged out in those colors topped by a stunning hat. The Black Dog mascot showed up, a perfect example of the Labrador breed, to give out balloons to passers-by. The shelter’s fund for a new roof was increased by several donations. Some cookbooks and placemats were sold. The rain held off as well. A successful event in all respects.
Juliska and State Road Restaurant go together like wine and cheese, especially on Friday, May 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. when they partner for an evening of wine, cheese and State Road preserves at the Juliska Island Store, 23 Main street in Vineyard Haven.
For more information, call 508-562-4010.
On a recent Tuesday morning culinary students at the Martha’s Vineyard High School were preparing lunch for some of the teachers. They baked foccacia bread and made sandwiches with vegetables, whipped ricotta cheese and roast chicken, and Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese.
“The food is extraordinary,” said Cindy West, a Spanish teacher who attended the lunch. But cooking wasn’t the only item on the educational menu
In an effort to spread the success of raising mussels offshore, local Vineyard commercial fishermen and shellfishermen are being invited to a special workshop on mussel farming on Friday, May 17 in Rhode Island.
The moon passes by two brilliant stars this weekend. After sunset, the first quarter moon appears high in the sky tonight, near the bright star Regulus.
The following cases were heard in Edgartown district court: April 19 Benjamin C. Stafford, 32, of Oak Bluffs, arraigned on April 13 charges in Oak Bluffs of assault and battery and intimidating a witness. According to a police report filed in court, Mr. Stafford and another man allegedly assaulted a cab driver and took away the driver’s phone so he could not call police. Pretrial hearing scheduled for May 28.
The Permanent Endowment Fund for Martha’s Vineyard is accepting nominations for the 2013 Creative Living Award. Established in 1983 through the Ruth J. Bogan and Ruth Redding Fund, the award recognizes members of the Vineyard community who embody Ruth Bogan’s spirit and love for the Island. Ms. Bogan was a nurse by training but was also a self-taught painter, sculptor and photographer.
The Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association, or FAIR Plan, has submitted a request for a rate hike. The Cape and Islands have a proposed rate hike of 9.9 per cent on homeowner insurance premiums scheduled to go into effect July 1. A public hearing on the rate request will be held on Wednesday, May 29, at 11 a.m. at the Barnstable town hall in Hyannis in the second floor hearing room. Citizens for Homeowners Insurance Reform will hold a rally on the village green next to the town hall from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. before the hearing.
The Dockside Inn in Oak Bluffs was named 2013 best harborfront hotel in New England by Yankee Magazine’s Travel Guide to New England. The magazine cited the hotel’s contemporary design and nautical decor. The Dockside Inn was previously named in Boston Magazine’s 2012 Best of Boston.
Field of Dreams! I recently experienced the dream of every parent and so many offspring — college graduation. I am bursting with pride because my son Christopher Leigh Clark graduated from Upper Iowa University on Saturday, May 11, and I was there to see it. Chris has earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
I was watching Ellen Degeneres’ show today and she told her audience that it sure was hot outside. She said it was 102 degrees so I turned on the guide to see if this was a repeat episode and it was not. Now I’m thinking it is 50 degrees today and it is chilly. I would much rather have it that way then trying to keep cool.
In this typically tardy Vineyard spring, the Chappaquiddick trees are finally decked out in all their finery — delicate leaves, dangling catkins, and frilly blossoms that entice the bees to do their job while we shiver in the morning, refusing to get the stove going because it’s the middle of May, for God’s sake!
Oak Bluffs has always been the sweetest town, at least cavity-wise. Back in Stuart MacMackin’s 1920s, Circuit avenue and its surroundings included three ice cream/soda fountain establishments (the Jack Hughes Ice Cream Parlor, Rausch’s Ice Cream and Pearson’s Drug Store Soda Fountain at the Arcade), two bakeries (Mrs. Dow’s Bake Shop and LaBell’s Bakery), cotton candy from the Flying Horses and of course, saltwater taffy from Darling’s.
Well, the weather was mild and the sun came out Saturday afternoon and it turned out to be a decent weekend. Lawn mowers could be heard buzzing around town cutting lawns. The cherry trees in Harriet Bernstein’s front lawn were ablaze with color and so was the one on Music street
Chilmark enjoyed a busy but rainy Mother’s Day weekend. It is usually the first weekend of visits from seasonal residents and the first holiday weekend that feels like spring. Most businesses will open this coming weekend, although some were ready for the early visitors. The restaurants are mostly open now. The Beach Plum Inn restaurant will be open Thursday through Sundays this month with a Sunday Supper Series. The Galley and The Bite will both open May 16, and the Beetlebung Café will open on May 2.
Springtime in Aquinnah is nearly in full bloom. The flowering cherry trees are a burst of pretty pink blossoms in Anne Vanderhoop’s yard, as well as in the yard of Aiko Hydeman. Forrest Alley has his lawn greener than ever, and freshly mowed. The beach plum bushes are flowering, and the catbirds have arrived searching for raisins. Michael Hebert has the Whispering Wind off of the winter boat storage unit. The Fall River Ham Operators Club had their annual trip to Aquinnah Circle, which has been freshly cut by Jay Smalley. Aquinnah is blossoming!
Memorial Day weekend begins for school children in Tisbury and Edgartown with the annual March to the Sea on Friday, May 24. The Edgartown School students begin their walk to the Edgartown Wharf at 1 p.m. They will be joined by town officials as they make their way to the water, stopping at the court house to leave baskets of flowers. The band will play and the students will recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The community and parents are welcome to join them for the traditional march commemorating those who lost their lives in service to their country.
Eating pizza is even more important when you do it for a good cause. Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena is the beneficiary of dine-to-donate on Thursday, May 23, at the Flatbread Company, 17 Airport Road in Edgartown.
Visit flatbreadcompany.com or call 508-693-1137 for more information.
Offered by Tea Lane AssociatesThis beautifully renovated 1910 farmhouse integrates old world charm with impeccable design, and innumerable modern luxuries. Just two minutes to Main Street, house is oriented to maximize privacy, and provides a buffered experience of in town living.
On Monday afternoon, tentative strains of Go Tell Aunt Rhody echo in the foyer of the Chilmark School where beginning and intermediate students perform solo violin recitals. On Tuesday morning, a group of Advanced Orchestra students work to achieve fortissimo at the West Tisbury School. On Wednesday morning, eight intermediate students, ranks depleted due to MCAS testing, fill the band room of the Tisbury School with the coda of their latest piece. One youngster swings his foot in time to the music as he plays.
This winter Jemima James began work on a new CD, her first in five years. The CD is called Nothing New and the recording was done in West Tisbury.
A CD release party will be held this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury. The only catch is there won’t actually be CD’s at the party. There is still some tweaking to be done. It will be ready by mid-June.
Author Judith Hannan shares the story of her young daughter’s battle with cancer and how the journey strengthened her resilience as part of the Speakeasy Series on Wednesday, May 22, at State Road Restaurant in West Tisbury. Ms. Hannan’s talk begins at 5:30 p.m. She will discuss her book Motherhood Exaggerated, which chronicles the emotional toll her daughter’s illness took on her family.
The summer calendar at Flatbread Company is full of backyard boogies, family dance parties and live music featuring on-Island and off-Island musicians. And of course, the main event — Pizza.
Live music officially returns with Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish and Goodnight Louise at the opening party on Saturday, May 18, beginning at 8 p.m.
Kids can run for a great cause on Sunday, May 26, with proceeds benefitting Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard. Registration is from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Wesley Hotel, 70 Lake avenue in Oak Bluffs. Preregister on Saturday, May 25, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the hotel.
Those interested in finding out about the fungus among us should head to the mushroom walk with mycologist Wesley Price on Sunday, May 19, from 10 a.m. to noon at Menemsha Hills Reservation in Chilmark. Mycology is the study of fungi and all their many uses, so get ready to embrace your inner mushroomologist.
Calling all Island thespians: it’s audition weekend and time to strut your inner scarecrow, mad monkey or one of Shakespeare’s finest.
The Island Theatre Workshop will be putting on a late summer production of The Wizard of Oz and they are currently on the prowl for principal actors. Auditions began on Thursday and continue on Saturday, May 18, from 4 to 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 19, from 4 to 7 p.m. at 12 Music street in West Tisbury. For more information, call 508-627-2456 or 508-737-8550.
The fourth annual Martha’s Vineyard Blessing of the Bikes is Saturday, May 18, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Federated Church, 45 South Summer street in Edgartown. Rev. Dr. Jerry Fritz, pastor and cyclist, will be officiating. The blessing is for cyclists of every age and faith.
Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School student newspaper, the High School View, has earned first place in the Scholastic Journalism Awards in the All-New England region for two consecutive years.
The community is invited to a meeting and to participate in discussion regarding affordable housing in Vineyard Haven. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 13, at the Vineyard Housing Office at 346 State Road behind the Tisbury Farm Market in Vineyard Haven. Property at 6 Water street, between Stop & Shop and AA Island Auto Rental, was recently donated to the Island Housing Trust, and they are requesting comment from neighbors and the community regarding the use of the property.
The Friends of Sengekontacket is teaming with Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary again this summer to offer a program for children ages four and up. The program, Saturdays on Sengie, begins on Saturday, July 6, and will run on successive Saturdays through August 17.
Happy Birthday Baby!
Making it to its first birthday is quite an accomplishment for a painted turtle. At one year old, painted turtles are about the size of a quarter and have been very rich in luck (if not change).
These survivors beat the odds. More than 90 per cent of turtle nests are lost to predators, such as raccoons and skunks, which gobble up turtle eggs like they were candy.
For the 10 per cent of painted turtles that remain, the enduring hatchling’s first year is a quiet one.
It was early May and the migrating birds, Felix Neck Bird-a-thon and our garden were calling us home to the Vineyard. We thought we were headed home from Big Bend, Texas, however the bird buggy (and we) had a different idea. How could we not bird the famous Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park, the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge or South Padre Island while we were in West Texas?
Here it is Mother’s Day, and I must say it’s been emotionally challenging today. This is my first one without a mother. Grief has some interesting twists and turns. However, everything seems right in the world for the moment. We had a lovely rain last evening and full-on beautiful sun and sky for the Sunday festivities. Son Reuben and grandson Christian gave me several hours of brawn. There is always something heavy to move around at my place. I’ve finally accepted the limitations of this aging body and no longer try to do it myself.
Robert Edward Morton of Delmar, N.Y., died on Friday, March 15. He was the devoted husband of Eleanor Huetter Morton. They married on June 15, 1949, in Buffalo, N.Y., after their graduation from St. Lawrence University.
Ethel Langmeyer Marsh of Oak Bluffs, wife of the late Robert E. Marsh, died peacefully Feb. 26 at home.
Joyce May Hobby of Oak Bluffs died at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital on Friday, May 10. She was 72.
Henry O. Burt of Vineyard Haven died at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth on May 8. He was 85.
Connal Wortmann, son of Susan Cahill and Matthew Wortmann of Vineyard Haven, was named to the spring 2013 dean’s list at Champlain College. Connal is majoring in graphic design and digital media.
Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School has announced its honor roll for the third quarter of the 2012-2013 academic year.
Grade 12 high honors: Amy Fligor, Charlotte Hall, Patrick McDonough, Lila Quinn, John Roberts, Austin Simonin and Katherine Smith.
Grade 11 high honors: G. Galen Mayhew, Patrick McCarthy, Jacqueline Menton, Sarah Ortlip-Sommers, Sarah Parece, Barra Peak, Sam Permar, Jacquelyn Swan and Mikayla Tinus.
Marine Corps Pfc. Benjamin J. Ferry, son of Jill S. Haffield of Framingham and James M. Ferry of Vineyard Haven graduated from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C.
Sandra A. Gomes and Wesdey F. Pereira of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Maria Luiza Gomes Fonseca, born on May 10 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.
A disbarred Edgartown attorney admitted to sufficient facts on several charges last week in Edgartown district court, including identity fraud, credit card fraud and a removed attorney practicing law.
Fitness centers usually bring to mind weights, elliptical machines, some sweat and maybe even a hot tub. Alida O’Loughlin has turned the Vineyard Tennis Center, Workout & Spa into an art gallery, too, specializing in photography. Over the past year she has organized numerous shows at the fitness center.