TALE OF TWO CITIZENS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

PURE JOY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Life seldom makes sense, especially when those we love are taken from us in ways that are as terrible as they are inexplicable, and such was Joy Flanders’s untimely passing as the end result of a 15-month battle with melanoma which she waged so bravely.

INSPIRING TEXT

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

A word of appreciation to James H.K. Norton for his Commentary Page piece titled Mayhew, Tear Down This Wall. He inspired us with the quest for liberty that characterized some of our early Vineyard citizens, connecting their proud story to our challenging times.

Jerome Davidson

Chilmark and

Great Neck, N.Y.

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PRAISE FOR FIREFIGHTERS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

LIBRARY NEEDS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

At the Feb. 22 special town meeting, called by the Oak Bluffs selectmen to get approval for a quarter-million dollar list of cuts to the current year (FY 2011) budget, the library trustees will move to amend that list by reducing the amount removed from the library budget by $12,000. We will be doing this in to order fill, without further delay, the position of reference librarian, a position approved at the last annual town meeting.

CALL FOR CANDIDATES

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

A functioning democracy requires the participation of its citizens.

That is something which we in the United States take for granted.

But the reality is that very few people actually take the time and trouble to take part in their local political processes, leaving decisions that affect them to be made by the very few activists.

By participation, I don’t just mean speaking up at annual town meeting.

TOWERS OF HOPE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

It is time for us all to embrace wind power. What a joy it is to see these beacons of hope sprouting up here in New England. How can anyone who uses electricity not think the same? Isn’t it great driving from Woods Hole to Falmouth? To see the white blades soaring into the sky saying, “We are on the grounds of an institution of higher learning — we are here to promote the greater good for all!”