Opinion
Editor’s Note: The following is the text of an opinion written by the Aquinnah town counsel for the Aquinnah selectmen.
You have requested that I provide the Aquinnah board of selectmen with an opinion as to whether the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc. (Aquinnah) can operate a gaming casino in Aquinnah. The simple answer to the question is no.
When I was in second grade my teacher, Ms. Lipscombe, wore an ERA button to class every day. It was 1980 and the deadline for states to ratify the equal rights amendment was approaching. Ms. Lipscombe also had days where the girls and boys would switch gender roles and the boys had to serve the girls.
My friend Chris tapped on the flimsy clear plastic that separated the checkout counter from the entryway of Shirley’s True Value Hardware in Vineyard Haven.
“Is this bulletproof glass?” he joked with the woman behind the counter.
“Well . . . why don’t you stay on that side, I’ll get a gun and shoot at you, and we’ll find out.”
With that, the woman walked out from behind the register. She had gray hair, and wore thick, round glasses.
The statistics sketch a picture of the other Vineyard, the one rarely seen or understood by those who harbor images of the Island as an idyllic vacation spot. Substance abuse rates here are 21 per cent higher than the state average. There are high levels of depression and domestic conflict and violence. The Island has a significant Brazilian community whose people are often isolated and apart, and sadly sometimes targets of ugly acts of racisim.
TRUE COMPROMISE
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
Steven Carter’s letter to the editor regarding dogs on Lambert’s Cove Beach was unfortunate in its tone and further heated up an already hot issue. A true compromise came out of the annual town meeting to allow summer days that include both time that is people only, and time when residents can share walks and water play with their dogs. The challenge now is to develop a plan to put it in action and enforce it effectively and sustainably.
From past Gazette spring editorials:
Fog is our closest companion in these early days of spring when the air is warm and the water still cold. Fog conceals a message in the mist and in the tapestry it weaves. It tells us spring is trying to burst the barriers of these cloudy banks, that the season is struggling to slip in edgewise. And the barriers will burst in time.