Martha's Vineyard Chris Burrell

Children Meet Racism on Tisbury Side Street

Chris Burrell | Friday, August 18 2000 - 12:32pm

Two young girls from New Jersey got their first exposure to overt racism this week when they returned from a morning walk into downtown Vineyard Haven and found a racial slur spray-painted in letters two feet tall in the street by the house their family was renting at Clough Lane and Pine street.

Tisbury police are investigating the vandalism that happened Wednesday — possibly in broad daylight — and police chief John McCarthy is looking into whether the incident should be considered a hate crime.

Tisbury Police

Racism

$100-Per-Hour Employee Raises Ire at High School

Chris Burrell

$100-Per-Hour Employee Raises Ire at High School

By CHRIS BURRELL

The full-time administrator's job pays $65,000 a year, but when the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School needed a replacement to fill in for the first five months of the school year, the pay rate nearly doubled.

By the time the interim dean of students clocked out at the end of January, he had earned $37,117 working from a contract that had him working half days from September through January. That's nearly $100 an hour or about $400 a day.

High School Faces Unexpected Bills

Chris Burrell

High School Faces Unexpected Bills

By CHRIS BURRELL

The regional high school has already racked up nearly $40,000 in legal bills, negotiating a potential lease of school-owned land for an aquatics center project that is still in the planning and feasibility stages.

News of hefty legal costs connected to the proposed swimming pool plan came amidst other troubling budget figures, showing roughly $90,000 in cost overruns so far this year.

When Two-Wheelers Crash, Moped Victims Suffer Worst, New Hospital Survey Reveals

Chris Burrell

The latest survey of moped, bicycle and motorcycle accidents on the Island won't show the broken ribs, the punctured lungs or the "whole body rubbed raw" by a case of road rash, said Dr. Alan Hirshberg, the director of emergency services at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital.

Slippery Fun: Ice Boats Fly on Squibnocket Pond

Chris Burrell

For much of the work week, Emily Bramhall inhabits a world devoted to the creature comforts of the indoor world - stuffed pillows, luxurious bedsheets and cozy handknit sweaters sold at her store on Main street Vineyard Haven.

It was all the more shocking then to see Ms. Bramhall wearing a crash helmet and scrunched into the wooden cockpit of a vessel capable of reaching 60 miles per hour across the ice of a frozen pond.

Painful Teasing: Child Cruelty Is Vexing Issue for Educators

Chris Burrell

Child Cruelty Is Vexing Issue for Educators

By CHRIS BURRELL

When a social worker from Maine came to the Island last month for the second time in less than two years, he sat down with teenagers, listened to their worries and feelings and walked away with a disturbing impression: Vineyard kids, especially middle schoolers, are living in a world dominated by teasing and bullying.

Sewer Project Set in Tisbury

Chris Burrell

Sewer Project Set in Tisbury

Leaders Release Four-Phase Plan for $10.2 Million Sewering, but Frigid Weather Puts Start Date in Question

By CHRIS BURRELL

The construction crew hired to build Tisbury's $10.2 million sewer system was supposed to break ground next Monday, but now there's one more problem and another likely delay: The ground might well break their shovels if they tried.