On August 1 the Oak Bluffs roads and byways committee voted unanimously, over the protests of neighborhood residents, to recommend that the town selectmen retroactively approve new parking spaces and signs that weeks earlier had been installed on the residential end of Seaview avenue.

Last Thursday morning a doctor called my office from a 645 telephone exchange and left an urgent message on my answering machine. He sought to arrange a flight to transport a little girl to Cleveland for medical treatment. Shortly afterward, I made repeated calls to the phone number but the line was continuously busy.

Responding to the Gazette story about ocean acidification. In the book Sea Sick by Alana Mitchell, the topic of ocean acidification is discussed at length. Some researchers say that at 450 parts per million, phytoplankton in the southern ocean will die as a result of acidification. The southern ocean is more susceptible but all oceans have their tipping point.

As the aunt of one of the varsity girls basketball players on the Vineyard, I was appalled to learn about the behavior of the head coach and lack of responsiveness to parents’ complaints by the school administration.

In reading all the recent letters to the editor about the upcoming election, I found the following quote by economist Thomas Sowell, writing in realclearpolitics.com on August 14 and published in the Wall Street Journal, to be right to the point.

The family of Margaret McBride would like to thank all the wonderful people who assisted our Aunt Margaret during her difficult time. To everyone at Hospice, Elder Services and especially the visiting nurses and home health care aides, along with many caring friends and neighbors, we give a deeply heartfelt thank you.