Remy Tumin
Aquinnah voters approved a hefty hike in the town operating budget for the coming year and backed a spending package to help restore and ready the Gay Head Light for moving at their annual town meeting Tuesday, but balked at a town bylaw to ban public consumption of marijuana.
“Isn’t there a no smoking law in any public place?” said Juli Vanderhoop, who questioned the need for the bylaw. “Smoke is smoke.”
West Tisbury will be the last Island town to decide two marijuana questions next week: one to prohibit public consumption and another to place a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in town.
The two bylaws are on the warrant for a special town meeting that begins at 7 p.m. at the West Tisbury School. Moderator F. Patrick Gregory will preside; there are seven articles on the warrant.
A state law passed last fall legalizing medical marijuana. The law went into effect Jan. 1. The state Department of Public Health issued regulations last month.
For viewers this summer, gavel-to-gavel coverage of Island government meetings, high school sports and an eclectic array of original programming may appear unchanged on Martha’s Vineyard Television.
But for the people behind the cameras and the scenes at the Island’s only public access television station, huge change is in the offing as the station prepares to move to a new facility that is nearly complete off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
Turnout was light at the Aquinnah polls on Wednesday for the annual town election. Of the 369 registered voters, a total of 65 voters, or 17 per cent, participated. The ballot featured a Proposition 2 ½ override request, but no contested races.
Aquinnah voters wrapped up the annual town meeting season on Tuesday night, approving nearly all 30 warrant articles but stopping short at the final item of the night to defeat a measure that would have prohibited public consumption of marijuana.
Voters in Aquinnah gather tonight for their annual town meeting, marking the end of the annual town meeting season on the Vineyard.