Government
Representatives from the Providence VA Medical Center will meet with veterans during a visit to the Island next week.
A town hall meeting is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, at the American Legion Post 257 in Vineyard Haven. The director of the medical center and other staff members will be on hand to see how things are going with the new contract for medical care for Island veterans, and to take any questions.
The West Tisbury selectmen this week denied a request to remove more trees to accommodate construction of the new West Tisbury library and adjacent parking lot.
Building committee chairman Linda Hearn told the selectmen Wednesday that her group recently learned from NStar that the company needs to build an underground electrical vault near the road. Three additional trees need to be removed to make way for the vault, Mrs. Hearn said.
“I have to say I find this totally unacceptable. We went through an agonizing process,” selectman and board chairman Richard Knabel said.
As the struggle to save the foundering Northeast groundfishery continues, drastic cuts on landing limits for cod, yellowtail flounder and haddock went into effect this week. Adopted by the New England Fishery Management Council in late January and effective May 1, the cuts brought little cheerful news to the fishing communities up and down the New England coast.
Cong. Bill Keating will make a daylong trip to the Vineyard Thursday to tour storm-ravaged coastal areas in Oak Bluffs and Aquinnah.
Mr. Keating will begin the day by hosting one of his constituent coffee sessions, where people are encouraged to meet him and ask questions.
Early morning voter turnout for the special state primary and town elections Tuesday was low, but, in at least one town, steady. Oak Bluffs town clerk Deborah Ratcliff said that, as of 10 a.m., she had seen more voters than expected at the public library.
“We’ve had somebody here every moment,” she said. Shortly after, the lone pair of voters in the ballot area left as two more walked into the polls. Still, Ms. Ratcliff said only about 40 voters had shown up to mark their ballots.
Edgartown selectmen and members of the Edgartown Library Foundation sparred Monday over whether the nonprofit organization would turn over money for the town’s new library project, with selectmen criticizing the organization for a lack of transparency and withholding the money, while foundation members said they had concerns about the project’s completion and wanted naming opportunities for the new library.