Beacons of History

They stand tall and straight on the horizon, an enduring symbol of the Island’s long and rich maritime history. Viewed from a distance, the Edgartown and East Chop lighthouses convey a sense of strength and of purpose.

Until recently, however, closer looks would have inspired less appreciation.

In the nineteen eighties, the Coast Guard stopped funding the maintenance of the lighthouses. Soon time and weather took their toll on the old cast-iron structures.

Double Dip

The ice cream cone is soon to become an endangered species on the Vineyard after a long, hot, delicious summer.

From Columbus Day to May, ice cream cones are simply not to be found up-Island or down. Occasionally, one surfaces in a convenience store ice cream freezer, but those are hardly the same. Popsicles, fudgicles, chocolate-covered ice cream bars are quite acceptable from a grocery freezer, but never an ice cream cone. An ice cream cone must be freshly scooped.

Fit to Fight Fires

Age, conditioning and skill do not necessarily run in tandem. In that light, the Tisbury selectmen should reconsider their decision to enforce a mandatory retirement age of sixty five for members of the town’s volunteer fire department.

State law mandates that uniformed members of paid fire departments retire in the month that they turn sixty five. But many men and women of that age are still in peak health; some may even be healthier than they were at a younger age.

Chain Saws and Shattered Faith

Peg’s Steady Regime

Troubling Youth Statistics

The percentage leaps off the page. According to a Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted this past February among Island students from seventh through twelfth grades, twelve per cent of the high school students said they had attempted suicide in the previous twelve months.

That’s a startling number in itself. It looms even larger when compared to the response to the same question in three similar Vineyard surveys between two thousand and two thousand five: five per cent.