News
It’s a little after 7 a.m. on a Friday morning, and the ferry has just taken off from Vineyard Haven. A lively group of teens and preteens is seated around tables in one of the boat’s back corner rooms. The aisle is stacked high with backpacks, purses and lunchboxes, and the room is stifling hot from all the extra bodies. A few of the kids hold travel coffee mugs, but most are filled with water or hot chocolate — there is a surprising shortage of caffeine considering the energy the kids display, having been awake since 5:30.
The annual Oak Bluffs tree lighting ceremony will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 2 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Post Office Square. The community is invited to join in the caroling, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Vineyard Classic Brass Ensemble will perform a medley of traditional holiday carols and board of selectmen chairman Greg Coogan will officially light the town tree.
Alexandra Susan Weisman, a daughter of Suzanne Steinfeld Weisman and Hugh Stix Weisman of New York city and Chilmark, was married on Sunday, Oct. 11 to Malcolm Hume McDowell 3rd, a son of Kathleen Otto McDowell and The Very Rev. Malcolm Hume McDowell Jr. of Harwich.
To the human ear, the sea is a silent place. To float on your back in the ocean is to enjoy a blissful absence of sound.
But our senses deceive us. The ocean is actually a very noisy place. A blue whale can generate sounds of nearly 190 decibels. Its low frequency vocalizations can be heard for vast distances underwater.
By way of comparison, a jet engine or a loud rock concert is about 130 decibels.
Last Thursday, past and current members of the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Dispute Resolution celebrated their 25th anniversary in the one place they have been so effective at keeping people out of for years: the Edgartown district court.
Formerly the Martha’s Vineyard Mediation Program, the organization trains mediators who try to facilitate peaceful resolutions between opposing parties in a confidential, constructive and empathetic fashion, before either party resorts to formal litigation, which can often turn recriminatory and divisive.
The federal first home-buyer’s credit appeared to pay off on Martha’s Vineyard, where October sales of existing homes were up on the same month last year.
A surge in home sales nationwide was reflected in Dukes County — the six Island towns posted 25 sales in October this year, compared to 17 last year, according to figures provided by the Warren Group. Those 25 are a big chunk of the 111 single-family home sales so far this year; by this time last year, the Island had recorded 145 sales.