News
More than 40 years before BP’s catastrophic oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the barge Florida ran aground in Buzzards Bay one foggy night and dumped nearly 200,000 gallons of fuel. The effects of that accident still linger in the marsh mud around West Falmouth.
So while the news yesterday that the oil company thinks it may have succeeded in stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf is welcome, it by no means signifies the end of the matter.
The latest victim of an economy that is increasingly running on empty, Family Planning of Martha’s Vineyard will close its Vineyard Haven clinic for two days this month in order to meet a mandatory work furlough before the end of the fiscal year.
Kelly McCarron, the teenaged driver behind the wheel during an accident last June that claimed the life of her passenger, 18-year-old Jena Pothier, was sentenced to a year in state prison last Friday by an Edgartown district court judge.
Part of a plea bargain with the Cape and Islands district attorney, the sentencing took place in an emotional courtroom after Ms. McCarron, 18, pleaded guilty to a charge of motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of alcohol.
In the nearly 10 years that one Island war memorial has been mothballed in the artist’s backyard, tens of thousands of American soldiers have been killed or wounded in controversial wars being fought far away. Veterans hospitals have been overrun, new names have been given to the traumas of those returning from foreign fronts, protest groups have formed, a President was elected promising to bring troops home, promising hope and healing. And still the memorial has stayed away from the Vineyard public.
Considered by many to be the starting shot of the Vineyard summer season, the annual Oak Bluffs Memorial Day Road Race is this Sunday morning, May 30. Consisting of a 5 kilometer road race and walk, along with a one mile family fun run, the race has seen over 600 racers and countless spectators of all ages over the years, with all proceeds going to benefit Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, which relies on these funds to provide nursing, social, spiritual and bereavement services to the Island community.
Heard the one about the brawling Bronx nun who drank too much Christian Brothers?
Those who do know Sister Maurice Doody and Sister Rose Patricia Reilly’s deadpan sobriety standup act well tend to complain when they drop any details: “You left out the part where you beat up your sister!”