The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and state environmental authorities have finally reached agreement on a restoration plan for two areas of land from which trees and other plants were removed last year, in breach of the Endangered Species Act.
The settlement provides that Sheriff’s Meadow will improve more than five times as much land as was affected by the removals, which were done by an Island landscaping firm for the benefit of a north shore landowner, and will set aside $27,000 in perpetuity for the ongoing management of the land.
A longstanding dispute between the Steamship Authority and Ralph Packer’s barge operation over the annual transport of rental cars to the Island for the summer appears set to be fought out in court before this year’s tourist season.
For several years now, Mr. Packer’s Tisbury Towing and Transportation has moved cars for the Hertz rental company to and from the Island, much to the chagrin of the SSA, which has a legislated monopoly over the movement of people, vehicles and freight to and from the Islands.
The year just past brought its share of mourning for the well-known Islanders who died.
On Jan 5 Robert T. Morgan died at the age of 84. Perhaps most widely known for his role as Island legislative liaison from 1985 to 1992, he was a ubiquitous presence around the place, a farmer, swordfisherman, scalloper, harbor master and civic leader.
Peter M. Williamson died on Jan. 23. He served 32 years with Oak Bluffs, 28 as chief. He was 70 years old.
On July 8, four days after the devastating fire that burned Café Moxie and the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, Tisbury defiantly held its summer street fair. Gazette photographer Jaxon White captured the event with a shot of an eight-year old girl on Main street, beaming through new front teeth and swirling a balloon. Her name was Hope. Hope Alwart.
And there was a single-frame metaphor for 2008, adversity and hope.
High-speed ferry service to the Vineyard will be cut significantly next season, under changes approved this week by the Steamship Authority to the Hy-Line schedule.
Hy-Line, which operates the Lady Martha service between Hyannis and Oak Bluffs, will cut back by two round trips per day in the shoulder seasons, and one per day in the high season.
Like most Vineyarders, Connie Teixeira had not given much thought to the specter of homelessness on the Island. Then, this year, she found herself looking the reality of it in the face, day after day at the Tisbury Senior Center.
“We have a gentleman who comes and spends most of the day at the senior center, he has lunch in the senior program, and then he goes to the library until it closes, and from there he goes to wherever he can find a place to sleep, and stays there until they find out he’s there and they put him out,” she said.
