Commentary
QUESTIONABLE CONDUCT
Editors, Vineyard Gazette
If the Martha’s Vineyard Commission was ever well-served by Mark London, that is no longer the case. His attempted gag order in the matter of the highly controversial roundabout is an insult not only to the commissioners whom he serves, but to the entire Vineyard community as well. In sum, he directs commissioners to freeze time as of the closing of the public hearing, and thereafter, to stick their heads in the sand.
A lbert (Ozzie) Fischer Jr. was a man of the land who always had dirt beneath his fingernails, a farmer and arborist with a fondness for practical jokes.
TO MARKET
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I’ve just come from the first winter farmers’ market at the Agricultural Hall (what a perfect venue) and we are so lucky to have such a resource. The range of food from soup and baked goods to winter squash, potatoes, pork sausage, beets, beautiful dried flowers (Sue Silva, of course), jams and jellies, greens, cheese and yogurt was amazing.
From an “Interesting Vineyarders” column:
Capt. Edward A. Perry of Oak Bluffs, a descendant of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, is one of the survivors of the era of wooden shipsRoundabout Rethink
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
The roundabout application for the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs is not the first controversial issue the Martha’s Vineyard Commission has faced in its existence, but it is surely a seminal one, and could fix public attitudes, for better or worse, toward the regional planning agency for a long time to come.
Edgartown
Like each sea captain’s home must be surrounded
by the white picket fence of a whale’s jaw full of teeth
over which morning glory vines grow like scrimshaw.
Like the White Cliffs of Dover must be rebuilt to welcome ships,
where houses stand like blocks of marble on Main Street,
and the glass fan window is a pale British Sunrise of sorts.