I was enjoying your editorial, Common Purpose, until I got to the paragraph that expressed your support of ObamaCare. I could not disagree more. When the deeply-divided Supreme Court ruled ObamaCare constitutional, it became the biggest tax increase in U.S. history. The new health care program, now dubbed Obama tax, signals the largest expansion of government since the New Deal.

Words of John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower and many folk singers echo around this troubled world. Holly Near is on a nationwide tour including San Francisco, Chicago, Concord, Nantucket and here in The Old Whaling Church on Sunday, July 22. Her songs of peace have inspired many for over 30 years. Our 50 to 60-year-old daughters alerted us to her music and we have been Singing for Our Lives ever since

The Steamship Authority’s vessel Martha’s Vineyard now sports a vintage whistle, the pleasing sound of which harks back to a time of proper ships, staterooms and service to Nantucket and New Bedford. We listen for the departure whistle from Vineyard Haven as the Martha’s Vineyard sets sail to go about her appointed rounds, including her later stops at Oak Bluffs.

I am writing with regard to the Jeffrey Toobin event at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center Thursday night, July 5. I arrived at the center around 6:15 and commented to my husband that the parking lot was already full and how surprised I was that so many people were already in line (approximately 70). I joined the queue while my husband parked the car at the Tisbury School. In the short time he was gone the line doubled and, even after he returned, it continued to grow down the block. The weather was perfect. We ran into friends and chatted with those around us, and we looked forward to hearing Mr. Toobin and to the center’s wonderful desserts.

Since its inception 13 years ago, the Summer Institute of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center has brought exceptional leaders and notables from the frontiers of politics, science and the arts to the Vineyard as part of its speaker series. This year’s roster follows that tradition. Last Thursday evening, well known legal analyst and author Jeffrey Toobin addressed the Summer Institute audience and spoke about the recent decisions of the Supreme Court. The timely subject, the advance publicity and the extended holiday weekend resulted in a larger-than-anticipated crowd seeking admission to the lecture by Mr. Toobin.

We are the abutters who are the subject of your July 6 article. We don’t wish to hash out the case outside of the proper authorities but would like to correct the record to reflect that the Zoia home, according to our reading of the plans, is actually over 10,000 square feet of habitable space on three levels and that the three structures comprise over 20,000 square feet! This has been mistakenly described as either 4,200 or 8,200 square feet in various articles in the Gazette.