Where Are The Goats?

From Gazette editions of August, 1959:

HEALTH SCARE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Just because the country voted for change in the last election, doesn’t mean people aren’t terrified of change, almost any change.

From an August, 1984 column by William Caldwell:

Attentive reading of the letters to the editors of your favorite semiweekly newspaper compels the conclusion that everybody is sore at everybody. Beware.

Vox populi, vox Dei. So the wisdom-smitten have been telling us for the thousand years since Alcuin first said it to Charlemagne, and, O.K., it is the philosophic underpinning of the democratic form of government.

A Plan for the Future

President Barack Obama once wrote: “There’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit — the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us.”

Summer’s Dizzying Height

For some people, in other places, the critical deadline to meet each year is April 15, which has something to do with taxes. For many people on the Island, it’s the deadline for entering the annual Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair, which has everything to do with fun. Paperwork for all fair entries is due by Monday at 5 p.m. Those otherwise sweet fair workers can be every bit as strict as the Internal Revenue Service, so don’t test them by tripping in on Tuesday.