Julia Rappaport
They are symptoms most of us have experienced. Fatigue? We chalk it up to skimping on sleep. We forget where we put our car keys and call it a sign of age. Anxiety — one too many things on the to-do list. Hardly ever do we stop and think these symptoms all have one cause. Rarely do we think they are signs of sickness.
The Hagen household was decidedly uneventful. John Hagen stood outside with Sabu, the practically pony-sized family dog. Elsewhere on the Island, bells rang and kids ran out of classrooms, slinging backpacks into cars. In a matter of moments, the hustle and bustle spilled into the Hagen driveway.
Better communication between the county commission and a committee appointed to screen applicants for county manager would have helped the search run more smoothly, committee chairman Greg Coogan said this week.
Despite a fallout between the commissioners and the committee earlier this fall, Mr. Coogan said the committee will stand behind the vote the commission is expected to take next week for a new manager.
“We all strongly wish the best for the county,” said Mr. Coogan, reached this week by telephone.
When celebrity chef Jamie Oliver found students at an English elementary school eating a quarter-ton of chips each week in lunches that cost less to make than those at nearby prisons, he did something completely unexpected. He signed up as a lunch lady — bringing his fame, culinary skill and television production crew. In the four-episode series that followed, the ebullient Mr. Oliver faced student revolts, cafeterias losing money, and parents smuggling junk food over school fences.
In their ongoing search to fill the county manager seat, vacant since August, county commissioners are doing their homework.
The sole item on the agenda at the county commission meeting Tuesday night was discussion about references and background checks on the three finalists for the position. The finalists are Thomas Bernardo of Chatham, Troy Clarkson of Falmouth and Russell Smith of Aquinnah.
There was a time, in the not so distant past, when turkeys crowded more than just the roads of Martha’s Vineyard.
