Martha's Vineyard Chris Burrell

Children Meet Racism on Tisbury Side Street

Chris Burrell | Friday, August 18 2000 - 12:32pm

Two young girls from New Jersey got their first exposure to overt racism this week when they returned from a morning walk into downtown Vineyard Haven and found a racial slur spray-painted in letters two feet tall in the street by the house their family was renting at Clough Lane and Pine street.

Tisbury police are investigating the vandalism that happened Wednesday — possibly in broad daylight — and police chief John McCarthy is looking into whether the incident should be considered a hate crime.

Tisbury Police

Racism

Two New Tularemia Cases Confirmed

Chris Burrell

A second round of blood tests has confirmed that two Island men who fell ill earlier this month with symptoms of pneumonia actually had the pneumonic form of tularemia, the rare bacterial disease that killed a Chilmark man almost two years ago.

Transit Agency Turns Down Plea For Bus Relief in West Tisbury

Chris Burrell

Three weeks ago, West Tisbury selectmen demanded concessions and route changes, seeking to reduce the impact of transit buses on their historic town center.

Scientific Team Seek Clues to Explain Rare Outbreaks of Tularemia on Vineyard

Chris Burrell

The Harvard scientists who spent the last four days on the Vineyard collecting clues that could help them solve the Island's biggest medical mystery came armed with an unusual tool kit: an aerosol can of automotive starter fluid, two flowerpots painted blue, a bag of apples and an empty can of Diet Coke.

Smoking Ban Is Reinstated

Chris Burrell

Voters in Oak Bluffs went on a public health rampage this week. Not only did they reinstate the ban on smoking in town bars, but they also cut back on the number of mopeds that may be rented in town and made sure to put a halt to the presence of bicycles, Frisbees and hacky-sack playing on downtown streets.

Voters Decide on Smoke Ban

Chris Burrell

Special town meetings in June are supposed to be humdrum affairs, but the one coming up Tuesday in Oak Bluffs puts voters face-to-face with two of the most controversial issues in town and on the Island - cigarettes and mopeds.

Retiring Star: Mary Jacobson Leaves Schools After 33 Years

Chris Burrell

Mary Jacobson knows that the Red Sox took a beating last week from the Arizona Diamondbacks. She also knows that if you're teaching math to a second-grade boy, it's not a bad idea to throw in some baseball talk.