ON GREAT SALT POND

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

As members of the Great Pond Foundation board of directors and riparian owners, we’d like to thank Edmund Stevens for his letter of Sept. 2 making some cogent observations regarding the health of Edgartown Great Pond. We’d also like to address his concerns in print, since I assume there are others who share them.

POND ALGAE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

When we arrived in Aquinnah in mid-July, I noticed a substantial growth of green algae in the Herring Creek area of Menemsha Pond. The articles describing the algae problems in Edgartown Great Pond paint a picture much like what I observed, including the diminution of the algae later on in August.

I suspect the problems described in your articles may be Island-wide and not just confined to the Edgartown Great Pond. It’s time for all of us to start thinking about solutions.

BEST BOOKSELLER

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Independent book stores — while beloved by loyal fans — find it difficult to survive under the best of circumstances, no less the tragic fire that gutted Bunch of Grapes. They were one of the first stores to buy the book America according to Connor Gifford, which I co-authored with an amazing young man from Nantucket who has Down Syndrome.

LYME SCIENCE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Despite what your story (Uneasiness Over Lyme Disease Spreads, August 15) suggests, the science behind the Lyme disease guidelines issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has never been in question and the guidelines remain in place today.

SPEAK OUT

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

PUBLIC, PRIVATE VIEWS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette

We live on Sengekontacket Pond, on property that has been in our family for decades and is sentimental to us. Over the years we have removed pine trees from our property on Sengekontacket and a parcel across the street, by request of neighbors, to open up their views. One neighbor offered and we received compensation in the form of refinished oak floors in my dad’s house and the other neighbor, well, never even offered a thank you.