Opinion
Second Cut
The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, or so goes the old lyric from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma.
V igilantly we awaited news on what would happen when the full force of Hurricane Gustav hit New Orleans, almost three years to the day that Hurricane Katrina struck with brute force. This time there was better preparation. Most residents evacuated the city. Many were assisted with transportation that the local government provided in advance. New Orleans was forced to watch and see if the tenuous levees would be strong enough to hold back water.
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of September 1983:
Of all our inheritances from the late Adam, the pleasantest must be the obligation that we sweat for a living. Everybody reverences hard work and can sit for hours watching other people do it. Let’s get down to cases.
Back to School
A flutter of feet that didn’t yet reach the floor swung from chairs in the back of Brickman’s Saturday morning. It was back-to-school shoe shopping central. Kids pulled off their flip-flops and Crocs and pulled on fluffy white socks for the first time in a long time, judging from the soles of their feet. The toughened skin underfoot was proof of play in a place where barefoot and beach-free is a way of life.
Regulating Wind Turbines
With backyard wind turbines all the rage these days, planners at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission would be wise to take up the matter of drafting a set of uniform wind turbine regulations for the six towns to consider.
It’s good that the Vineyard is going green, with turbines large and small in various stages of planning in every Island town.
After Labor Day
September begins. It is still summer by the calendar and certainly by the weather — warm late summer days perfect for beachgoing, picnics, fishing, clamming, sailing and walks on woodland trails.
This is the season Islanders look forward to. Traffic jams are gone for another year and some of the ordinary routines have returned — children in school, coffee at the favorite morning haunt without waiting in line, trips to the post office and dry cleaners that are suddenly unhurried.