News
Despite worrying declines in striped bass and lobster stocks, regulators this week deferred any significant action to curb the fisheries. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission did take a step toward restoring menhaden, a bait fish consumed by lobsters, striped bass and nearly all other swimming fish.
A chimney fire at Lattanzi’s Restaurant in Edgartown caused the pizzeria section of the restaurant to fill with smoke Thursday afternoon. Fire chief Peter Shemeth said the screen at the top of the chimney ignited but restaurant employees had extinguished it before the fire department arrived. Firefighters pulled the cap off to make sure the fire was completely out.
Mr. Shemeth said they were lucky the fire started during the day rather than afterhours. The restaurant was expected to be closed last night and reopen tonight. No injuries were reported.
Edgartown House Tour
The Edgartown House Tour, sponsored by the Federated Church, is on Tuesday, August 9. Lunch will be served on the lawn at 75 South Water street from noon until 1:30 p.m. Then historian Mary Jane Carpenter will speak about the homes which are included on the tour, at 1:30 p.m. in the church at the corner of Cooke and South Summer streets. Four houses, all within three blocks of the church, are open from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Tea and homemade cookies will be served all afternoon on the parsonage lawn.
Island farmers were alarmed this week to learn of the possible presence of a visitor from the mainland: a coyote.
Out in the middle of Meshacket Cove on the Edgartown Great Pond on Wednesday morning, David Schlezinger was going down for the third time, in nine feet of water.
He wasn’t drowning, though. It was quite the reverse. Dr. Schlezinger’s problem was his buoyancy. It’s hard to insert a long stake into the bottom of a pond when you can’t bring a lot of weight to bear on it.
The historic Denniston House on Masonic avenue in Oak Bluffs was sold at a public foreclosure auction yesterday for $500,000 to a well-known Oak Bluffs architect, marking a final chapter in the Martha’s Vineyard Housing Fund’s troubled ownership of the property.