Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday looked ahead to an unsettling future, one in which the landscape of the Island is strewn with construction sites, construction trucks and traffic jams. But instead of pondering some hypothetical or even worst-case scenario, they were staring in the face of reality.
It is a misty Tuesday night in Chilmark, the kind of evening when the Vineyard seems a million miles from the rest of the world.
For the past few years, talk of the planet's imminent demise due to climate change and rising ocean levels has permeated the media to the point where the notion is firmly in the collective consciousness of the nation and the world.
But while documentaries on global warming have won awards and politicians debate ways to regulate carbon emissions, there has been a noticeable lack of progress to actually address the problem.
Several Oak Bluffs businesses were shut down and at least one person was reportedly sent to the hospital Sunday morning following a volatile oil delivery mishap near the Sand Bar and Grill that sent a powerful geyser of diesel fuel into the air which rained down on rooftops as far as two blocks away.
Some quick action and bold navigating by a charter fishing captain on Friday likely saved the life of a New Jersey man who fell from his boat into rough seas off Wasque Point on Chappaquiddick. The man was not wearing a life jacket at the time and had to tread water for close to a 30 minutes before being rescued, authorities said yesterday.
A planned expedition to recover a mysterious rune stone on Noman's Land reportedly inscribed with the name of famous Viking Leif Eriksson has hit a snag. The state historical commission questions the plan and the Chilmark historical commission has recommended against removal of the stone.
