MARGARET KNIGHT
508-627-8894
If you’re a Chappaquiddick homeowner, you probably got a letter recently from the fire department that included a photo of a classy red fire truck, with a detailed specifications sheet for a water tanker similar to the one that the department would like to buy for the island. The letter, signed by Fire Chief Peter Shemeth, captain of the Chappy fire station Peter Wells, and Jake Sylvia, president of the Edgartown Firemen’s Association, is full of colorful firefighter-speak like “attack pumper” and “pump and roll capability.” Basically, they’re asking for support to improve the chances that our houses will not burn down either because they can’t get there or because they don’t have enough water.
In the letter, they’re asking for donations toward the cost of a water tanker that would allow 2,000 gallons of water to be stored on Chappy in the truck, “ready to respond and deliver its payload to any fire scene.” Although money could eventually be raised through taxes, they hope to acquire another attack pumper, and “bring all the pieces of apparatus into service within a year of each other,” which is why they’d appreciate our tax-deductible donations to the Edgartown Firemen’s Association (note in the memo line: Chappy tanker), sent to the Edgartown Fire Department, P.O. Box 2097, Edgartown, MA 02539. You can receive periodic updates if you include a phone number and/or an e-mail address.
The other “apparatus” they’d like to acquire for Chappy is a four-wheel drive truck capable of traveling down sandy dirt roads, like the road to the lighthouse, which were previously inaccessible. The truck would also carry medical response equipment like the Jaws of Life, as well as about 300 gallons of water. A 2012 annual town meeting article asks for $120,000 to upgrade and retrofit a rescue truck now owned by the town for this purpose.
According to Georgiana Greenough, planning board assistant who has been facilitating the Chappy cell service process, a representative from Grain Communications Group Inc. showed up at town hall with an engineer from BSGI this past Monday. After a brief discussion regarding the RFP for cell service on Chappy, she took them to see the Chappaquiddick Fire Station, about which they were “quite enthusiastic.” She also took them to the Katama Farm to see if their DAS hotel equipment might be housed in the silos. She recommends attendance at the bid opening on Monday, March 26 at 4 p.m. at the selectmen’s meeting. It’s unlikely there will be any big bidding war, but it is hopeful that someone responded to the RFP.
Before the annual town meeting on April 10, those involved with the new library hope to educate us about their proposed plan. A video detailing the project is being broadcast regularly on Channel 13, our local community access channel (for those of us with access to such amenities). The video, made with a gift from the Friends of the Edgartown Library, explains how a new facility will help the staff provide better service to all our patrons. With the focus more on the financial details, the Library Trustees and the Building Committee will present two public forums: at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3, in the Baylies Room downstairs at the Old Whaling Church, and at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, at the Edgartown School. All voters are encouraged to attend and bring questions. They made a presentation at the Chappy Community Center potluck this past Wednesday, which also happened to be Peter Well’s 60th birthday. Congratulations, Peter!
Spring showed up right on time with 70 degree weather on the first day — not unexpectedly for this year of balmy temperatures. The fog appeared, too, right on time, with Wasque spending the whole day in a warm gloom while the sun shown brightly in Edgartown and other parts of the Island for most of the day. We heard the peepers for the first time at our house on Monday, although they’d been heard weeks ago in West Tisbury. Capt’n Bob said he first heard, and then saw, an oystercatcher making its noisy way above the channel into the harbor.
Another sign of spring on Tuesday was the sight of the two Chappy ferries running at once. There was a line — maybe not the first one of the year, but it was the first time Peter manned the II to help take care of an early morning line up Daggett street. Big trucks were heading out to North Neck to work on the septic system at “Lady Gaga’s House,” as the house being built by Peter Rosbeck has come to be known since the rumors concerning its owner were spread last year. Although he wasn’t a big fan of Lady Gaga previously, Peter said he caught her blue-haired and singing a duet with Tony Bennett on TV, and thought she was “fabulous.” Maybe we’ll be glad if she does move here after all.
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