News
For the International Chimney Corporation, moving Richard and Jennifer Schifter’s Chappaquiddick home is a relatively small job compared to some of the other jobs the company has completed.
Besides chimney work, the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company specializes in building relocation and historic preservation, among other things, all over the world (the company just completed a chimney project in Thailand).
The all-Island school committee and the teachers unions ratified a tentative agreement for a contract that will boost teacher salaries by as much as 11.5 per cent in salary and step wages over the next three years.
The new contract, which goes into effect Sept. 1, calls for a two per cent increase in teacher salaries in the first year, a two and a half per cent increase in the second year, and a three per cent increase in the third year. The overall package also includes step increases, track changes and longevity pay.
Martha’s Vineyard officials are bracing for a weekend blizzard that could bring 18 to 24 inches of snow, hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding to the Island. The storm, predicted to arrive Friday morning and last through Saturday afternoon, has prompted early release from school, travel restrictions and parking bans, and is expected to result in widespread cancellations. Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to declare a state of emergency sometime on Friday, Chris Cini, chairman of the Martha’s Vineyard emergency management group, said.
Linda Marinelli, a career Vineyard politician and former longtime Oak Bluffs selectman whose firebrand style and tireless, bruising crusades in the name of open government were legendary, died Jan. 31 in Falmouth. She was 81.
Wasque Point is a remote place; this is the far southeastern corner of Chappaquiddick, an island off an island. The name comes from the Algonquin word Wannasque, which means “the ending.” Where the land ends, there is nothing but Atlantic Ocean, dotted with flocks of scoters bobbing where the waves break, and then it’s ocean as far as the eye can see.
The Gay Head Light, the beacon at the farthest end of the Island, helping boats navigate Vineyard waters safely for more than 150 years, inched closer this week to becoming town-owned.
Voters unanimously backed the acquisition and move of the lighthouse at a special town meeting on Tuesday, paving the way for the town to move forward with planning to relocate the historic structure, due to heavy erosion.