New Beginnings in Menemsha

It has been seven long months since the investigation into the Menemsha fire began by top federal and state experts, including the state fire marshal, the United States Coast Guard and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. And now the investigation has ended, not with a bang but something far more open-ended: The cause of the fire that destroyed the Coast Guard boathouse and forced the evacuation of the village of Menemsha last July cannot be precisely determined.

February Days

A spell of warm days has melted the snow. The grass, although looking like someone just recovering from the flu, dull yellow and bent over, is a welcome sight. So too is the sun, spending a bit more time with us now. The hens are beginning to lay more eggs thanks to the extended daylight. Young children are waking earlier too, stirred by the light.

The state of Massachusetts again leads the nation in methods to bring itself and eventually the nation out of the current recession. While the feds have been threatening to terminate unemployment benefits and meddle with the social security fund (please Washington, if you are going to borrow, then you need to return loans, with interest, like everyone else), Massachusetts has reaped enough of a tax surplus to start handing out free million-dollar fishing piers.

T he sterile smell hits me once I walk through the doors. The carpeted floor and hand sanitizer canister aren’t the only things that greet my family and me upon our entrance to the center. An old lady who sits everyday by the door welcomes us, repeating “Hi” to all the visitors, even though none of them are ever hers.

LIBRARY NEEDS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

At the Feb. 22 special town meeting, called by the Oak Bluffs selectmen to get approval for a quarter-million dollar list of cuts to the current year (FY 2011) budget, the library trustees will move to amend that list by reducing the amount removed from the library budget by $12,000. We will be doing this in to order fill, without further delay, the position of reference librarian, a position approved at the last annual town meeting.

Birds of a Feather

From Gazette editions of February, 1961: