News
With the agreement entered into a decade ago between Martha’s Vineyard towns and Comcast coming up for renewal, Island residents now have their chance to pass judgment on the performance of the cable company.
“What this is,” according to MVTV’s executive director Julienne Turner, “is a review of how the company has performed in the past and what we might need moving forward so that we can be smart about negotiating that agreement for the next 10 years.”
Despite a drop in the level of matching funds from the state, the Community Preservation Act has seen more than $825,000 directed from the state to Island towns this year, with the final installment delivered this month.
Combined with the local revenues, this means town community preservation boards have about $2 million for open space, community housing, historic preservation and recreation projects.
When Warren Gosson makes his pitch for the job of Dukes County Sheriff, he talks largely about one issue: addiction.
“This Island is loaded with heroin and prescription pills,” he said this week.
And no one, it seems to him, takes the problem seriously enough.
Not the media, which are more interested in presenting a picture of the Island as a happy destination.
Not the law enforcement agencies, which are under-resourced — they have no dog unit and the drug task force has just one full-time staff member.
They came for prizes and they came to support each other. The 65th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby awards ceremony at Nectar’s on Sunday was a festival of storytelling, stories told by those who won and those who didn’t. And two anglers who were friends and relatives to many there walked away as the proudest owners, one of a truck, the other of a powerboat.
Driving down the dirt path leading to the Farm Institute in Katama, a sign urges you to slow down: “Caution, children exploring.” There are the belted Galloway cows grazing in the distance, bales of wrapped hay in the far field, and now there is a fully restored barn to complete the picturesque vista.
Police sergeant and West Tisbury selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter withdrew his name for consideration for the position of police chief at Wednesday’s selectmen’s meeting.
A week after the board voted to refer the question of Mr. Manter’s eligibility for the position to legal counsel, Mr. Manter, sporting a medal from Sunday’s Bay State Marathon, simplified the process by submitting his withdrawal in a very brief statement.