Remy Tumin
The cause of the Menemsha fire that destroyed the Coast Guard boathouse last July is undetermined, a report released by the U.S. Coast Guard this week concluded.
Investigators outlined three possible sources of the fire — a lit cigarette, faulty wiring under the Coast Guard boathouse or faulty wiring under the Chilmark public pier — but said none could be pinpointed precisely.
Calling it an inappropriate use of prime agricultural land, the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society appealed to the Edgartown selectmen this week to reconsider a plan to use five acres at Katama Farm for a solar panel project that is not yet built. Town leaders responded that they intend to stay the course with the project.
In a letter sent to the selectmen this week, agricultural society president Dale McClure urged to the town to find alternative sites for the photovoltaic panels.
The Aquinnah selectmen voted this week to accept a private donation to help underwrite the town’s participation in the Massachusetts Estuaries Project study of Menemsha and Squibnocket Ponds. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg will contribute up to $15,000 to help pay for the town’s share of the project.
A new affordable home buyer program is about to get under way in Edgartown, which if successful may put another dozen Islanders — who have been doing the seasonal shuffle or finding ownership just out of reach — in homes of their own. Administered by the town affordable housing committee and the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority, the so-called buy-down program will provide mortgage subsidies of up to $200,000 for income-qualified applicants, who in turn will be able to buy existing homes on the open market.
What inspires the eye behind the camera? A friend climbing in and out of tree limbs, a close-up portrait of a fellow classmate, or perhaps it is the reflection of teenaged friends playing dress-up in an attic. For Chris Baer’s photography students at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, it doesn’t matter if they take a picture digitally or with film, it’s about having a good eye and good ideas.
Even after they were done rehearsing the finale last weekend, the performers in MV Glee didn’t want to take off their strappy high-heeled shoes. A group of middle school girls clacked around the Space at the Triangle in between takes of the Lady Gaga’s song Bad Romance to check their cell phones or steal a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
But MV Glee cofounder and choreographer Sandra Stone-Benjamin wanted to make sure their clawed hands were as gnarly looking as the pop star’s in her music video.