News
The whimsical alabaster dancing sculptures that are synonymous with the Field Gallery in West Tisbury now have a firmly-cemented place in the town’s future.
The West Tisbury selectmen signed the final papers yesterday morning to buy 1.4 acres of the gallery and sculpture garden in the village center from Tim and Eileen Maley. The purchase price was $625,000; a sale agreement was signed last spring and approved by voters at the annual town meeting.
At the young age of eight, Matthew had grown accustomed to being let down. Trust was an issue, so when Steve Sjogren came into his life, they began slowly, by going down to the beach and throwing rocks into the water.
As a wave, or tsunami rather, of baby boomers is expected to populate the Vineyard in the coming years, the Island faces a number of challenges delivering health care to its seniors. Six rural health scholars from the University of Massachusetts Medical School recently documented those challenges in a report on the current mental health needs of the Island’s elderly population. Transportation, isolation and access to mental health services emerged as major areas needing improvement.
Mirroring debates around the country about the health of school lunches and the constraints of shrinking budgets, a Tuesday hearing about the Up-Island Regional School District’s 2013 operating budget centered around whether and how the schools could fit a healthier but more expensive food program into their budget. The well-attended hearing included a vocal group of parents and teachers advocating for the schools to take over the school lunch program.
As libraries across the country search for new ways to stay relevant in an online world, Vineyard patrons have remained dedicated to their small town libraries, and their access to materials in three towns may soon get even easier.
The libraries of Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury have each applied to join the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing network, better known as CLAMS, a nonprofit cooperative of libraries on the Vineyard, Cape Cod and Nantucket that allows any in-network patron to borrow books and materials from some 36 participating libraries.
While President Obama’s landmark Affordable Care Act awaits scrutiny from the Supreme Court and many of its key provisions do not go into effect for years, Dukes County won’t have to wait to benefit from the bill’s focus on preventive health care. On Wednesday Marina Lent of the Dukes County Health Council announced that the county had received a five-year, $60,000-per-year Community Transformation Grant to promote healthy eating and active living.