A forum bringing together those for and against the controversial Cape Wind electricity project drew more than 120 people to the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Thursday night and generated far more light than heat.
The forum, organized under the auspices of the Vineyard Haven library lecture and workshop series, was intended to establish a factual basis for further discussion of the project rather than encourage debate, and by that measure can be counted a signal success.
By MIKE SECCOMBE
Sengekontacket Pond has been cleared of the bacterial contamination which saw it closed to shellfishing for most of the summer, and the pond will reopen on Oct. 1.
Persistent contamination with fecal coliform bacteria resulted in the pond closure in June and again in July, when the state Division of Marine Fisheries determined the pond would be closed to shellfishing for four months in summer every year.
Faced with a potential million-dollar increase in fuel costs, the Steamship Authority will rework its budget for next year, examining cost cuts, fare rises or a fuel surcharge.
Doubt was cast on the estimates for fuel costs contained in a draft budget presented to the SSA board at its meeting on Tuesday by Robert S. Marshall, the Falmouth member of the Authority board of governors, who noted the document assumed oil prices of $70 per barrel in 2008, which is about $10 lower than current world prices.
Holly and Marty Nadler met when he hired her to write on the hit television series Laverne and Shirley in 1976. They moved full-time to the Vineyard in 1991 and broke up here; they were engaged to be divorced longer than they were engaged to be married. But they remain close friends.
Interviews by Mike Seccombe
Marty:
It has taken them 12 years to do it, but the Edgartown board of health is finally getting tough over a breach of health and planning regulations which threatens the health of Sengekontacket Pond.
For the first time, the board is looking to impose a substantial fine on a homeowner who twice has breached undertakings relating to the size of a house and the treatment and disposal of waste water from it.
Landowners around Edgartown Great Pond are looking at buying a half-million-dollar dredge to improve the water quality of their pond, and potentially that of other fresh and salt water ponds on the Island.
As a first step, they will put up between $50,000 and $100,000 to lease the small, easily transported machine to conduct test dredging of the pond this fall. If all goes well, the plan is to buy it and take pressure off the increasingly-overtaxed town dredge.
