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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
June 30 - July 6, 2005 Edition
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Police ready for merrymaking, but not rap star June 30, 2005 By Janet Hefler
“A major paper in Boston put in its lifestyle section that a major rap star is coming to the Island looking for a place, but it has nothing to do with coming for performances,” said Erik G. Blake, Oak Bluffs Police Chief. “I’ve been in contact with the clubs, and there is no scheduled rap performance that I know of. The Island is notorious for having celebrities visit anyway, whether it is 50 Cent or Mike Wallace.” Of more concern to Chief Blake and his police department are the extra traffic and the chaos at bar closing time, which they plan to handle with extra traffic control posts. Summer police officers already are on staff and scheduled to work the holiday weekend. Since Oak Bluffs won an award this year for being the toughest community on drunk driving in the state, the chief and his officers plan to continue their ongoing “You drink, you drive, you lose” campaign. “My feeling is, hey, you’re on vacation, have an amazing time,” said Chief Blake. “However, we have a ton of public transportation options. So have a great time, but do not get behind the wheel.” In Edgartown Paul Condlin, Edgartown’s police chief, also advised people to use mass transit, such as the shuttle service to downtown Edgartown from the free parking lots located at the Triangle and the Edgartown School. With a late-afternoon parade and evening fireworks on the holiday, the town’s scarce parking spots become even fewer with streets blocked off for both events. All of Chief Condlin’s officers will be working the weekend, and he views July 4 as a “manageable day. We do have our share of problems. Our major issue is just dealing with the volume of people in the downtown area,” he notes. Although beach parties on South Beach were a problem in the past, Chief Condlin said, “It is not to the extent that it was a few years ago, but it is something we monitor.” West Tisbury For West Tisbury police chief Beth Toomey, however, beach parties are a concern and are a bylaw violation which may result in an arrest. “We will have extra patrols all weekend for traffic, and also are going to be very high profile on the beach to prevent beach parties.” During the day, she said, parking problems occur at Uncle Seth’s Pond and along Lambert’s Cove Road, as well as heavy traffic in the area of Alley’s General Store and the town hall. At night, the challenges are loud parties and alcohol, she said. Perhaps the biggest factor in determining the volume of traffic and people the police officials have to manage will be the weather. The nicer the weather, the bigger the crowds. All hands in Chilmark “We’ll have all hands on deck. Everything is in place,” said Timothy Rich, Chilmark’s police chief. “Chilmark is a beach day destination if we have nice weather, and we get a lot of people out to enjoy the Menemsha sunsets, as well. If it is a nice beach day, we get the crowds during the day, and the other towns get them in the evening. It kind of evens out.” In Aquinnah In Aquinnah, Police Chief Rhandi Belain expects the same, with increased traffic from people going to the beach and busloads of visitors to the Gay Head cliffs. He plans to put an extra officer on during each shift and schedule more patrols. “We just kind of play it by ear. You never know what is going to happen,” he said. In addition to good weather adding numbers to the usual holiday crowds, the fact that this Fourth of July falls on a Monday also gives most people a bona fide three-day weekend. That, coupled with it being the first weekend following the close of schools for the summer, may make for extra holiday revelers. For Lt. Bob Moore of the State Police, “The first week of July is the first week of summer, and that pretty much gauges how it will look for the rest of the summer. It kind of sets the tone.” Additional State Police officers will supplement his local department, and his officers will work overtime hours, as well. They plan to assist local police departments with crowd control, drunk driving arrests, and traffic management. “I hope it’s a safe weekend for everybody,” Lt. Moore said. |
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