Idyll Chatter

From Gazette editions of December, 1935:

The Pilgrims survived!

For this they praised the Lord

And thanked their Indian friends

Who taught them how to live

In this different land.

Like them we pause,

From daily toil and furrowed brow relieved,

To feast and laugh and play and rest,

And tell ourselves how much we’re blessed

In this hopeful land.

Could they have known,

Long years ago, where Moses’ trek would lead:

Stiletto heels and MTV,

It was thirty-five years ago that I wrote my first editorial for the Vineyard Gazette, an editorial so important that today no one remembers the message. The thoughts behind that editorial essay were of no particular significance, except perhaps to mark the beginning of a journalistic journey through a profoundly important period of Martha’s Vineyard history.

THE TAX MAN

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The front page article in Friday’s paper titled “Tisbury’s Taxes Sharply Higher” may have given the casual reader the impression that Tisbury’s taxes will be sharply higher. In fact, while our 2011 taxes will be higher, the 14.5 per cent increase cited in the article applies to the tax rate, not to our tax bills. In 2011, even if our tax bills were to stay exactly the same as in 2010, our tax rate would be seven per cent higher. How is this possible?