News
An Island man was killed last Thursday after he reportedly drove his vehicle off a 50-foot cliff along East Chop in Oak Bluffs into the shallow ocean water below.
The body of Benjamin Viera, 35, was recovered two days later after a passenger aboard a Steamship Authority ferry spotted the body inside the Vineyard Haven harbor breakwater.
Police this week declined to comment on how Mr. Viera’s vehicle went over the cliff, although there were indications that the incident may have been a suicide.
Edgartown voters returned selectman Margaret Serpa to a third term Thursday and Oak Bluffs voters also decided to back incumbents, reelecting selectmen Duncan Ross and Ron DiOrio. But West Tisbury voters took a different path, electing Richard Knabel over two-term selectman Glenn Hearn. The vote was 380 to 294.
Complete election results will appear in the Friday morning Gazette.
Russell H. Smith of Aquinnah has been named as the next Dukes County manager. In a special meeting Friday morning, the Dukes County Commission voted unanimously to appoint Mr. Smith to the position, which has been vacant since August.
Vineyard Women Honored
As Unsung Heroines
Six Vineyard women have been named among the 287 Unsung Heroines for 2008 by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.
They are Camille Rose of Aquinnah, Katherine L. Carroll of Chilmark, Diane Smadbeck of Edgartown, the late Dorothy A. Larkosh Roberts of Oak Bluffs, Dolly Campbell of Vineyard Haven and Cynthia Mitchell of West Tisbury.
Hello, Kiandra
Sandra Paim Borges and Julian F. Borges of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Kiandra Julianne Paim Borges, born March 30 at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces.
Coast Guard Senior Chief Steve Barr knows that he lives in a special place.
“On a good stormy night looking out from the lighthouse, with the waves crashing below and sheets of rain coming down all around in flashes, illuminated by the light . . . there’s nothing like it,” he said.
It’s probably one of the most photographed homesteads on the Island, “if not the most photographed,” Mr. Barr said of the West Chop Lighthouse property where he lives with his wife Andrea and their infant son.