Opinion
It’s hard to say which was more shocking, witnessing the near drowning of an elderly man and a young boy or the refusal of a couple on a nearby motorboat to help rescue them. Either way, it was an afternoon to remember.
All winter, my venerable sailboat, Blue beard , has sat on her trailer in my Music street backyard. But as spring turns to summer, I have been sensing from the stirrings of the tarp that has kept her cozy on snowy days, that Bluebeard is longing to return to the water. Not that she controls the actions of the tarp. The wind does. But in my years of tending Bluebeard, I have learned a bit about her temperament — and mine.
FLAG FIX
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
Let’s all give a big thank-you to whomever dredged up the so-called flag bylaw in Tisbury and indirectly brought it to our collective attention. Such faceless mischief-makers are rarely recognized for catalyzing unintended consequences.
In all the hubbub two questions go unanswered: Where is the value added, and how is the public served?
Affordable Housing’s Gordian Knot
School’s Out, Safety’s In
The kids are all out! Special artworks that adorned school hallways were carried home to take new pride of place. Those old worksheets stuffed in the backpacks are now crumpled under beach towels, all freshly smudged with sunscreen. And, best of all, the bike helmets are at the ready, for students with free time to be freewheeling on two wheels.
As a cyclist, I am sadly accustomed to abuse, including ignorant and aggressive drivers (thankfully rare on the Vineyard), so-called bike paths that are substandard in design and upkeep, and the overall attitude (despite law to the contrary) that I’m a second-class road user. Even here in Edgartown, the town has put up illegal stop signs on the bike paths (and ignored pleas to remove them), and illegally tries to exclude cyclists from a section of Pease’s Point Way (a ham-fisted response to a fatality some years back).