Julia Rappaport
If it is true that convention is meant to be defied, Elaine Barse could write the book. A top-tier college graduate who chose the life of a ski bum over graduate school in her post-college years, today Ms. Barse owns The Green Room, the popular surf, skate and clothing store on Main street Vineyard Haven.
The road on Sunday was marked with only a simple sign — a white sheet of paper taped to a tree and stamped with the letter B. The B was for bees and the sign was to direct those interested in the insect to a meeting of beekeepers and bee enthusiasts.
Like the bee that travels in swarms, the bee enthusiast is most in his element when surrounded by like-minded company.
The fight to keep funding intact for the Vineyard Health Care Access Program continued without letup last week during a meeting of the county advisory board on the county operating budget for the coming year.
Members of the Dukes County Health Council, the charter study commission, concerned residents and county commissioners packed the county administration building on their lunch breaks last Thursday to watch as the advisory board voted to approve a draft $1.9 million operating budget for the coming fiscal year.
Chilmark selectmen announced last Friday an agreement to buy a plot of land on Tabor House Road, which will help the board move forward with plans to build the first town-sponsored affordable housing project in Chilmark.
“This is the last piece of the puzzle,” board chairman Warren Doty said this week by telephone.
In 2001, Oak Bluffs harbor master Todd Alexander and his wife, Kara Gelinas, were on vacation in Southeast Asia when they met Roma, a 14-year-old girl who was selling water and souvenirs during the day instead of going to school.
Roma had no official schooling. Her family could not afford it.
On a recent Wednesday morning, Michelle Nepton, enrollment specialist at Vineyard Health Care Access, took a quick moment in between clients to put on a pot of coffee. It was the second full pot of the day. It was only 10:30.