Opinion
Editor’s Note: The following story was published in the Gazette on Jan. 18, 1985. William Bettencourt died on July 7 at the age of 87. A memorial service will be held on Saturday at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital chapel at 11 a.m.
BY HILARY STOUT
Southern New England is overdue for a major hurricane. The last big one, in terms of lives lost, damage and cost, was the Great Hurricane of 1938. A lot has changed since then that will make the next one even more severe.
Wind generation is irrelevant to energy independence: Making electricity doesn’t give us oil, asphalt, plastics or tires; only 1.1 per cent of America’s electricity is generated by petroleum. As for fossil fuel savings, adding wind into the electricity mix tends to increase fuel usage and CO2 emissions due to the inefficiencies introduced into the system.
Editor’s Note: What follows in an addendum to an the Editorial Page feature Why I Love Where I Live, published in the Tuesday Gazette.
For many years, I dragged my books around with me, from apartment to apartment and finally to our house. There are the novels of Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, plenty of histories, art and photography books. My treasured copy of Walden is still with me. I bought a thick paperback in the early 1980s but never had the courage to actually read it. This book was famous but just too long. When my favorite Boston talk radio host urged listeners to read it, I decided to take it on. And I recommend it to everyone.
BY THE BOOK
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I agree with the sentiments expressed in the Gazette by the owners of the Victorian Inn and more recently by Jane Dean regarding the inappropriateness of a tasteless and potentially noisy cafe located on South Water street.
Both sets of writers are however unfortunately misinformed as to the role the historic district commission was allowed by law to play in this decision.