News
Census recruiters are hard at work on the Island getting the word out to Islanders that jobs are still available for 2010 census takers. They set up a booth at the Portuguese American Club for the Big Chili Contest in late January, had a table near the finish line at last week’s road race, and have visited a handful of weekly community suppers to explain the process. And next week they will host their own event and information session at the Oak Bluffs Public Library to give Islanders one more chance to pick up some temporary work for the spring.
My grandfather, Charles Shearer, was born into slavery. Henrietta Shearer was of Native American and African American descent. They were both educated at Hampton University.
Haiti Relief Continues
The Martha’s Vineyard Fish Farm Haiti Project is holding a Haiti relief drive that runs through Feb. 27. Rainy season is approaching, and large emergency relief tents are a first priority. Also needed are donations of a generator, tarps, rope, blankets, sheets and towels in excellent condition, medical equipment and supplies.
For information call 508-693-0368 or go to the Web site fishfarmhaiti.org.
The long journey of a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle named Shellbey came to a sad end early this month, when the turtle was found dead in an isolation tank at its temporary home at the University of New England’s Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center in Biddeford, Me.
Fortunately the family that found the turtle washed up on the Vineyard’s north shore shortly after Thanksgiving last year got one last chance to see Shellbey, when they visited the rehabilitation center in January.
Pearl, our little old white lady cat, is back at the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard shelter looking for a new home; her adoptive friend had to give her up, so she had a taste of a new home and is now looking for another one.
Adding another twist to the high-stakes gamble for who will win the right to use the ocean waters around the Vineyard for industrial wind power development in the name of green energy progress, a formerly prominent member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has publicly disputed the claim that Nantucket Sound is sacred ground traditionally used by the tribe for sunrise ceremonies.