Numbers tell the story, this year more than ever, for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the Vineyard’s sole provider of a wide array of essential human services on the Island.

The annual budget, announced two months ago, cut half a million dollars, a ten per cent reduction from last year, down to bare bones. Community Services employees will see their salaries cut and their benefits reduced.

His strong sense of being vic timized by White America was, I feel certain, what drove the behavior of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr., widely known as Skip, that led to his arrest at his home in Cambridge shortly after midnight on July 16.

Unlike the farmhouse I rent on Middle Road, or Binty, the horse who whiles away her dotage in the meadow adjacent, I am not yet ancient. So what is it exactly that scares me about new media — aside from the fact that I need my children to help me download apps to my iPhone?

CONTRADICTIONS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter was sent to the Environmental Defense Fund:

I have just received a reminder to renew my membership in the Environmental Defense Fund. I have been a member for a number of years and have made donations from time to time. I admire EDF’s work and look forward to your continuing success.

BIRDS AND WIND

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I appreciated Susan Whiting giving us the thoughtful comments of David Nash on wind power and bird safety. I completely agree that we should make our wind turbines as safe for birds as possible. However, not mentioned in the article is the bird death rate due to oil spills and the habitat destruction due to coal mining.

Bea Phear

West Tisbury

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POND ADDENDUM

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

From a Gazette edition of 1929: