It was my good fortune to have known Steve Crampton for many years — to have had a chance to see him up close with his family, as a leader in his profession and in the community and as someone who loved and excelled in many sports. He was a true friend; I greatly enjoyed being with him and I had the greatest respect for his advice and counsel.

Call me erratic, but my new year always begins in February with the first signs of spring. As Adam Moore, director of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, pointed out in his article in last Friday’s Gazette on this subject, it is the challenge of the erratic boulder, the excitement of the ocean, that draws his children out of themselves and into nature, hopefully into a world which will offer them lifelong joys. But it can also be done by smaller things.

TOWERING TURBINES

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

My partner, Jay, and I purchased a home on the Vineyard nearly six years ago. I don’t think we’ll ever forget the words of the listing agent, Rob Kendall, when he first showed us our house. He stood on our deck in the yard and looking out over the valley below and the vast ridge beyond, he raised his arms and beamed: “Welcome to the Chilmark Alps.”

Affordable Housing Report Card

Affordable housing continues to be a pressing issue on the Island, and the past few weeks have seen developments on more than one front.

Bradley Square