Opinion
UNSPEAKABLE TRAGEDY
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
I weep. For 30 years I have held my tongue, not wanting to be an Ibsenian “Enemy of the People.” Two weeks ago I was crossing the Look street intersection and saw a family — with an infant in one of those little carts! — struggling up the hill, unaware of the near-death experiences that await them, not just on that section of State Road, but riding to Gay Head or even just Lambert’s Cove Road. I can still feel the pit in my stomach.
Early summer has come to the Vineyard. The days are warm, the nights cool, and our pristine, breathtaking beaches beckon.
Nevertheless, we have decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Sri Lanka. We will be gone most of the summer, and will miss our Vineyard idyll, but adventure calls!
Therefore, we would like to offer our home to you on a rental basis, and hope at least one among you has not yet made your summer plans.
Editor’s Note: A small piece of history came down this week when a portion of an old house near the intersection of Old County and West Tisbury-Edgartown Road was torn down. The sagging buildig on the east end of the house was a familiar sight to all who drive that road. The building was formerly a general store that sold hand-cranked ice cream. The following piece was published in the Gazette in the summer of 1996.
Early Summer Tragedy
Between 1987 and 2004 there were five fatal bicycle accidents on the Vineyard, according to Gazette records. On Tuesday this week one more was added to the archives and today’s edition is unmistakably colored by sadness as it carries the news of the death of Dina Dececca, age forty, who died in a horrific accident on State Road in Vineyard Haven while riding her bicycle on a day trip to the Island early Tuesday afternoon.
By Land, By Sea
From Gazette editions of July, 1960:
After the Parade