Halfway through his Vineyard vacation, President Obama has turned to Island links and basketball courts for his downtime, while the operation of the reform-minded White House carries on.
A rainy, windswept Monday afternoon found Mr. Obama shooting hoops at the Oak Bluffs School with longtime Chicago friend and former Illinois public health director Eric Whitaker along with UBS chief Robert Wolf and his two sons.
This week Island swimmers were greeted by the three worst words a vacationer can read: CLOSED NO SWIMMING. While sharks have garnered the regional headlines this has been a summer increasingly interrupted for beachgoers by much smaller animals: bacteria.
A number of beaches were closed in Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury on Wednesday due to bacterial contamination.
A proposed recreational fishing pier in Oak Bluffs is causing divisions among fishermen and local residents who would prefer to see the pier elsewhere.
At a hearing on July 20 the Oak Bluffs conservation commission referred a proposal by the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game to build a 317-foot fishing pier off the North Bluff in Oak Bluffs to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for review.
Since then, the plan has provoked passion both in support of and opposition to the dock, as a record of correspondence to the MVC illustrates.
The Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock strode acress the altar of the 333-year-old First Congregational Church of West Tisbury and surveyed the weathered, expectant faces of its Yankee parishioners. Mr. Warnock hails from Atlanta, Ga., where he leads the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Let the church say Amen!” he announced. The congregation, though unpracticed, made a solid reply; still it was no doubt fainter than the amens Rev. Warnock usually elicits.
Few people know their way around the Island links like local wunderkind Tony Grillo. As President Obama settles into a vacation in West Tisbury that is almost certain to include a few rounds, Mr. Grillo leaves for Seattle to compete in the U.S. Amateur Championship. Before leaving, though, he spoke with the Gazette at his home course, Farm Neck, about what the duffer-in-chief can expect on Vineyard fairways.
As 1,500 runners anxiously milled about the starting line on Middle Road Saturday Morning, West Tisbury selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter brandished a streamer-topped car antenna, holding it up to the sky.
“In case I need to wave down a med-flight,” he told curious fellow runners in the 34th Chilmark Road Race.
The sweat-soaked Mr. Manter had already run the course that morning in preparation for a half-marathon in Lowell and was beginning to feel the miles.
“Stay in front of me and you’ll be all right,” he said.
