Beachcombing Interrupted

The recent discovery old buried ordnance at Cape Pogue serves as a vivid reminder of the past and the active role the Vineyard played during World War II. It may be hard to picture it today, but the Vineyard was a key military installation and training ground for the war.

More Spectacle Than Sport

The Boston Big Game Fishing Club Monster Shark Tournament has worn out its welcome, not only in the host town of Oak Bluffs, but on the Vineyard altogether.

It is hard to know precisely when the tournament changed from a sport fishing event to a spectacle on the Oak Bluffs harborfront with dead, bloody sharks hung from hooks for weighing. Some say it was the year the television cameras for ESPN arrived, thrusting the tournament — and again the Vineyard — into an unwelcome national spotlight.

Restoring the Public Trust

The stripping of protected Vineyard conservation land to provide native plants for a private estate on the North Shore in West Tisbury has thrust the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation — the venerable land trust founded by the late longtime editor of this newspaper who campaigned fearlessly for the preservation of the Vineyard environment — uncomfortably into the public eye.

White Flower Parade

Dodging a Sex Offender

Last March the West Tisbury library trustees suddenly found themselves confronting what for most small town volunteers was the dilemma of a lifetime. Disturbing reports had come about the director of the town library through the town police department. Howard Curtis, who had been hired in June of two thousand and six, was an alleged sex offender. At that point there were no charges against Mr. Curtis, only allegations.