News
Linsey Lee emerged from what was once the Vineyard’s first African American church last week peeling a respirator from her face. By her count, she had spent more than 150 hours in the Bradley Memorial Church in Oak Bluffs, and the mask stood as a shield between her and decades of dust.
Heritage Trail Dedication
On Saturday, August 16, the African American Heritage Trail, in collaboration with the W.E. Du Bois Institute at Harvard, will dedicate the former home of Dorothy West, Harlem Renaissance writer, as a site on the trail. All are invited.
The dedication is scheduled for 2 p.m., and at 5 p.m. a celebration of life and the creative achievements of the Highlands community will be celebrated at the Shearer Cottage on Rose Avenue in Oak Bluffs. The keynote speaker will be Professor Charles J. Ogletree of Harvard.
For the second time in three weeks, Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday hosted a special meeting for summer residents. And like last month, this week’s meeting was a largely tranquil affair attended by a sparse crowd of about a dozen people.
While in previous years summer meetings have seen large turnouts — one last year drew nearly 50 people — there appear to be no hot button issues this year.
Hello, Hannah
Joshua and Suzanne Provost Flanders announce the birth of their daughter, Hannah Evealoe Flanders, on July 14 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Hannah weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces. She joins big brothers Joshua, David and Christian. Her grandparents are Glenn and Marcella Provost of Vineyard Haven and Patricia Flanders of Edgartown.
Melinda Loberg was sworn in as a Dukes County commissioner Thursday after a 4 to 3 vote by the county commission on Wednesday night. She will fill the seat left vacant by Paul Strauss, who retired earlier this summer.
“This is not what I saw myself being at this time in my life,” Ms. Loberg said on the phone yesterday. “But I was encouraged by folks in the community who I respect.”
Ms. Loberg, a resident of Vineyard Haven, has come to the Island for summers her whole life; she moved here full time in 1999.
Two years ago this month, Larry R. Couture took a walk on the beach in Aquinnah and spotted something shining in the sand. He found a piece of clear crystal quartz the size of a tennis ball. Though he didn’t know it at the time, it was a rare find.
This summer, Mr. Couture returned to the Island carrying a 60-carat quartz crystal. The gem was cut from the stone.