Commentary
Birds of a Feather
From Gazette editions of July, 1936:
We went to the Farmers’ Cooperative Market last Friday. It’s held in the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury every Tuesday and Friday of the summer. Most of the individual stalls were run by women who could get away from their household duties during the day to sell their own goods. They had on sale substantial, home-made products, just the kind of thing you would expect a New England good wife to produce.
By SHIRLEY MAYHEW
I have lived in West Tisbury for almost 64 years — what is there not to love? I have lived in the house we built on the north side of Look’s Pond for 54 years, and although I can no longer enjoy the activities in and around the water, I can still see it, and my memories are vivid.
EGREGIOUS ERROR
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
Stunned! Heartbroken! Furious! These are but three of the emotions I was feeling after reading about the rejection of the Island’s application to the state for federal funds to assist members of our community because of a clerical error. That is $2 million lost.
From a 1952 Gazette edition:
Since Thursday, when the Coast Guard building, three stories high, came towing into Menemsha Creek on a scow after crosssing Vineyard Sound from Cuttyhunk, people have exclaimed: “How unusual!”
But here on the Vineyard the moving of buildings by water is an old story. Not too many men are now living who have engaged in such undertakings, but there are many familiar with the history of similar movings who can point out houses and other structures that floated alongshore to their present destinations.
Southern New England is overdue for a major hurricane. The last big one, in terms of lives lost, damage and cost, was the Great Hurricane of 1938. A lot has changed since then that will make the next one even more severe.
Wind generation is irrelevant to energy independence: Making electricity doesn’t give us oil, asphalt, plastics or tires; only 1.1 per cent of America’s electricity is generated by petroleum. As for fossil fuel savings, adding wind into the electricity mix tends to increase fuel usage and CO2 emissions due to the inefficiencies introduced into the system.