Opinion
A lbert (Ozzie) Fischer Jr. was a man of the land who always had dirt beneath his fingernails, a farmer and arborist with a fondness for practical jokes.
I wake up in the morning to the clucking of chickens. The sun is rising, peeking up above the trees as I stumble down the stairs and out into the yard. The “ladies” rush to the edge of their fenced enclosure and watch me closely. I almost fall on the dew-covered grass as I step into the wooden shower covered by honeysuckle and green twisting vines, 15 pairs of eyes still observing carefully. They flock to the shelf in their coop, where they can see me standing in the shower.
From Gazette editions of November 1936:
Island interest in the election this week centered about the contest for county representative. For the first time in many years a Democratic nominee was on the ballot and, possibly for the first time, an independent opposed the Republican nominee. Joseph A. Sylvia of Oak Bluffs, who won the Republican nomination in the primary, was victorious over Allan Keniston, independent of West Tisbury, and Paul Bangs, Democratic nominee of Tisbury.
Fall Back
This past weekend on the Weather Channel, with the outdoor snowstorms overtaking much of the Northeast, Jim Cantore, the channel’s most hyperbolic newscaster, stood in the snow outside Harrisburg, Pa. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, thundersnow, as he called it. Mr. Cantore was so taken with this phenomenon, evidently extremely rare, he needed to compose himself.
“I need a moment,” he said live on camera and turned away as seconds of silence ticked by.
Roundabout Rethink
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
The roundabout application for the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs is not the first controversial issue the Martha’s Vineyard Commission has faced in its existence, but it is surely a seminal one, and could fix public attitudes, for better or worse, toward the regional planning agency for a long time to come.
TO MARKET
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I’ve just come from the first winter farmers’ market at the Agricultural Hall (what a perfect venue) and we are so lucky to have such a resource. The range of food from soup and baked goods to winter squash, potatoes, pork sausage, beets, beautiful dried flowers (Sue Silva, of course), jams and jellies, greens, cheese and yogurt was amazing.