L ast month during a discussion of an expansion of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) bottle bill that provides for redemption centers around the commonwealth, Oak Bluffs selectmen half-jokingly suggested lobbying the state to include in the bill what are known as nips, a particularly popular denomination of hard alcohol on the Island. Empty nip bottles increasingly line street curbs and thickets of Vineyard dune grass.
A Cairn terrier that killed chickens and a cat will be allowed to move out of state, Chilmark selectmen agreed this week. After killing four hens, badly maiming another and killing a cat, the 12-pound terrier owned by Heather and Geordie Gude has taken refuge in a New York city home. The Gudes said the terrier will never return to the Island but, just in case, selectmen, on the recommendation of dog officer Chris Murphy, have ordered the dog to be euthanized should it ever return.
Next Thursday Oak Bluffs voters will elect two selectmen from a crowded field of five candidates. With a still-sputtering economy and town coffers running dry, each one is claiming the mantle of financial leadership.
This week the Gazette spoke with all five candidates.
Despite the town’s recent fiscal woes both incumbents touted their financial credentials and promised innovative measures both to raise revenue and cut spending in the years ahead.
Responding to a fraud investigation launched last month by the Cape and Islands district attorney, on Monday the Edgartown wastewater commission voted to change the way the town collects its wastewater bills.
Oak Bluffs residents accustomed to the marathon week-long spectacle that has come to characterize town meetings in recent years will be shocked to see the length of this year’s warrant.
“It’s very short,” said selectman Ron DiOrio this week. The push for simplification comes as a reaction to last year’s town meeting which saw 30 warrant articles and some 12 Proposition 2 1/2 override questions. Voters rejected 11 of those overrides and sent selectmen scrambling to reorganize the budget. The town meeting ran into a second week.
A historic change is in the works for West Tisbury if voters approve the sale of beer and wine at town restaurants and inns at the annual town meeting on Tuesday night.
A petitioned article championed by the owners of State Road Restaurant, the Lambert’s Cove Inn and the Plane View calls for the sale of beer and wine at restaurants with a seating capacity of 50 or more patrons.
