On behalf of the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard, thank you to all those animal lovers who attended our recent garden party. All proceeds from this lovely event will be used in support of the direct care of Island animals, because all the food, beverage, auction items and other associated costs were donated by a long list of generous sponsors.

This is written from a Nantucketer to Vineyarders. Maybe you do not want to hear this due to simple petty rivalry but I am coming as a fellow Islander (as a Nantucketer) with so much in common. I love your special place and if I could live there, I would. I am your home-birth midwife, and I have had the pleasure of being part of your community in such a positive way for the past seven years.

I am writing to share some observations with regard to my protest activities against the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament last Saturday afternoon. Between the hours of 2 and 4 p.m. I paddled my kayak with attached non-confrontational signs throughout the harbor. My goal was to present the shark fishermen and spectators with the reality that shark populations worldwide have decreased by 90 per cent over the past 40 years and that this tournament should become a catch-and-release event.

The Menemsha harbor dock project is on the warrant for the Chilmark’s special town meeting scheduled for August 6 at the Chilmark Community Center. The town received a grant from the Massachusetts Seaport Advisory Council to repair, rebuild and build docks in Menemsha. The proposed plan is to change the solid wood transient dock to concrete floats. I am passionately in favor of keeping the transient dock (the section that runs parallel to the jetty) solid wood.

In response to Peter Robb’s letter, Losing Faith: I was enjoying your letter of July 13 until I realized they must have left out the paragraph where you offered any proof for your negative assertions regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Peter Robb, in his July 13 letter, has recently furnished Gazette readers with several fine examples of unabashed Republican thinking, as put forth by their hard-working public relations staff and faithfully hammered into our eyes and ears by “Fair and Balanced” Fox News. All the Democrats need do is give this hogwash the widest possible circulation, and they can win in a walk.