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Letters
to the Editor
July 7, 2005
What we think about the new Y
To the Editor:
His name is Hunter Cleary. He’s four years old, the third of three children. His parents own a small store in Edgartown and work hard to stay on the Vineyard, give their kids the advantages of a good home, and keep them engaged in dance and baseball and hockey and all the other great Island activities.
If there is a poster child for the new YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard, it’s Hunter. He’ll learn to swim in a safe environment — the Vineyard is in the 90th percentile for drownings in the United States, above Nantucket, which has an indoor pool — and if he’s good, he’ll join the high school swim team to be housed in the new facility.
He’ll have a place to go with his family for fun activities like family nights in the pool and outdoor family adventure activities, and he’ll have a safe place to hang out as a teenager. He’ll join people of all ages, all fitness levels, all economic levels — and he’ll be joining a lot of them: a professional marketing survey conducted in May found overwhelming support for a Y on the Vineyard.
Winfield Associates of Atlanta, which conducted the survey of 700 Vineyard residents at the request of the Y, turned up some pretty amazing facts about people like Hunter and his family and others on the Vineyard. Winfield described the survey numbers as “a home run.” In most communities, the number of households expected to join a Y is 4.5 percent. Our Y survey showed 16.7 percent of Vineyarders have a “very high” level of interest and another 19 percent have a “high” level of interest.
The survey predicts membership from 1,200 households, ensuring the membership numbers that will make the building financially self-sustaining.
Thirty-four percent of those queried had children under 18, which means families will be one of the Y’s primary targets — and they were clear about what they wanted: family activities, a place for families to do things together, services for older children and teens. Nearly half the prospective members say they want activities families can do together.
Membership will come from people who do not belong to for-profit fitness centers. Eighty-five percent of those interviewed said they don’t belong to a for-profit center. Of the 14 percent of current residents interviewed who did, the vast majority said they were happy with their fitness centers and would not leave them.
Twenty-five percent of the Y’s potential members will be those over the age of 55 — and they want programs specifically targeted to them.
All this is important data for the grassroots Y board of directors, which has spent two years constantly taking the temperature of the Island to determine what sort of community center will fill gaps in services here. The new building, expected to open in 2008, when Hunter is seven years old, will be on the five-plus acres of land across from the high school leased to us at no cost for 60 years by the Martha’s Vineyard Regional School Committee. It will be the home for the social services and recreational programs that aren’t already offered on the Vineyard — things like the teen center, which the Y opened in Oak Bluffs this winter and will move into the new facility.
The survey is one of the final pieces in the planning puzzle for the community board that heads the Y — though we’ve hardly been waiting to get to work. In the last year, the Y has done the following:
Began two “Y Without Walls” programs serving Island children from kindergarten through age 20.
Started the Creative Choices after school enrichment program, in the winter of 2004, and was awarded a five-year, $950,000 federal 21st century grant in August to expand that program and add an academic component. In the 2004–2005 school year, Creative Choices — the only after school program in every elementary school — served 900 children, allowing parents to leave their children in schools until 5 pm every day for a few dollars a week.
Opened the second “Y Without Walls” program, the Youth Initiative, in March, the Island’s first teen center in 20 years. About 150 high schoolers regularly attended the center before it closed for the season in June. The Y is now developing a program to use the days the center is not open to run a collaborative program with the sheriff’s department, juvenile probation, and Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School during the school year.
Opened talks with the Island Councils on Aging to provide for space in the proposed new building for the Island’s only adult day care center, which has outgrown its space at The Anchors in Edgartown.
Provided the only child-oriented event during the recent Jaws Fest. The Y’s “Shark in the Pond” drew hundreds of family members to the beach as 125 kids leaped into freezing water to retrieve big and little toy sharks.
Sponsored this year’s second annual Battle of the Bands, put on by Y’s youth advisory board, The Slip (The Supporting League of Ideas and Programs). On the last day of school last week, local bands drew 680 people of all ages to the alcohol-free event at the Hot Tin Roof. The battle made more than $6,000, all of which will be spent for youth programs.
Began to lay plans for a capital campaign, which has already raised enough money to fund the hiring of an architect. Architectural plans will be available in August.
We do all this work with an active volunteer community board and one full-time person and six part-timers — funded by a year-long Founders Campaign that raised over $500,000. Ninety-six percent of that money came from year-round Islanders — a clear message that the Island wants and supports the Y — who want the opportunity to make sure children like Hunter get his chance in the pool.
Jan Pogue
President
YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard
Above and beyond
To the Editor:
I wanted to share my story and appreciation of the people who work for the Steamship Authority. On June 18, I had a trip planned to see my cousin’s art opening in Providence. I was taking the first bus from Woods Hole to Providence. The boat ride that coincides was the 7:15. That morning I woke up late and wasn’t able to leave until 7. I was frantic. By the time I made it to the ferry dock in Vineyard Haven it was 7:15. I had absolutely no time to park my car. I parked in the 10 minutes’ parking in hopes to at least explain my situation to the steamship employees. I went running across the parking lot yelling “Is this the 7:15?” The man answered yes. I, again yelling, explained how I overslept and had to catch a bus on the other side but hadn’t had time to park my car and if they wouldn’t mind letting me park my car. At this point there were tears and sweat starting to roll down my face.
The man looked at me and, realizing my stressful state, told me he would park my car for me, to just get on the boat. The next day when I returned from Providence, my car was parked exactly where I had asked. Thank you, Steamship Authority employees, for helping me make my cousin’s art opening and for still practicing kindness to the public.
Liberty Russell
Edgartown
Emily poster
To the Editor:
As the summer event season kicks off, I wanted to send a reminder to all those people who take down posters to put theirs up.
We all spend money to produce our posters for our Island events. Space is tight. However, neither I, nor my staff, would ever take down someone else’s poster to put ours up. It just isn’t right.
Suggested poster etiquette:
1. You may take down someone’s poster if the event has passed.
2. You may move some posters around to accommodate yours.
3. It’s totally uncool to discard another poster for yours (what goes around, comes around).
4. You may not cover up someone else’s poster.
I hope everyone will co-exist on our Island bulletin boards cooperatively and peacefully.
Barry Rosenthal
Creator, Vineyard Vibes
West Tisbury
Something to say
To the Editor:
Bush. Same guy. Same speech. Basically, off the ground. No territory, and not even a map. The TV program, “Lost,” and “Where are we?”
Bruce Balter
Oak Bluffs
Dedicated coach
To the Editor:
Good role model and good coach.
This attack on Marc River’s character [“Bad model for young athletes,” The Times, June 30] is totally uncalled for and unfair. Not only has Marc dedicated the past 13 seasons to Little League and done a great job teaching baseball, but he has spearheaded the effort to fix the fields both in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. Raising funds, getting material and time donated so that all the kids can play on safe and clean fields.
I do not know the individual who wrote the letter titled “Bad model for young athletes.” My guess is that this person has not competed against Marc Rivers. If he had he would have the proper perspective and would not have slandered his character in a public forum without knowing the rules of baseball or the contributions Marc has made to the league and the young boys and girls he has volunteered to coach.
The fact is that during the little league championship game, Coach Rivers intentionally walked the best hitter in the league three times. This is a legal and often used tactic in baseball. As a coach in the league, I used another strategy against this young man. I had my pitcher pitch around the batter. I did not want to give him any good pitches to hit. Both of these tactics are legal and part of baseball.
Roberto Clemente was also one of my heroes, not only because he was a great baseball player but because of his dedication to community service. If the letter writer knew more about baseball and more about the coach he ignorantly slandered he would be thanking him for his community service.
Congratulations to Bruce Stewart and the Dodgers for winning 16 consecutive games and having a great season. Congratulations to Marc Rivers and the Tigers for winning the championship.
Marc, thanks for your community service and hours of volunteer work during the past 13 years.
Sam Berlow
Coach of the A’s
Vineyard Haven
What about
the taxpayers?
To the Editor:
It’s hard to find any information about the operation of the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District. Yes, occasionally you see a meeting on MVTV, but a report from them is not published in the West Tisbury Town Report. They do not have a web site.
Yet, despite this lack of information, West Tisbury is assessed $124,060 by the district for FY2006. This assessment has increased at more than 10 percent annually since FY2003. We will also incur $54,000 in maintaining a transfer station in our town in FY2006. These costs have increased by 7 percent annually since FY2003. The total cost to West Tisbury works out to close to $60 for each year-round resident over the next year. The annual cost per family is at least $120.
I’m sure that the refuse district feels that standardizing on a pricing model makes sense for them. But given the lack of information supplied to the towns and citizens that pay the district’s bills, it’s hard for the average Joe, like me, to understand why this one-size-fits-all policy is necessary. What is wrong with a policy that also permits a smaller load for half-price?
I go to the transfer station just about every week. So before I pay my fee, it’s already cost me over $2 in taxes before I pay $2.50 to dispose of my typically small bag of trash, newspapers, bottles, and cans. Paying an extra $1.50 a week is not going to bankrupt me, but it will be a hardship for some who, like me, are also supporting the district with their tax dollars.
I suspect that some of these people, who are mostly elderly, will stack up their trash until they have a full 32-gallon barrel. How easily they can heft this barrel is a question, as is the health hazard this stored trash will create, particularly in the summer.
This policy has come into effect with little advance notice. As a result, reaction to this change has been slow. I think we should move it into high gear by urging our selectmen, who appoint the district board, to convince the board to change the policy to more closely meet the needs of the taxpayers who use the district’s facilities.
Al DeVito
West Tisbury
Recycling facade
To the Editor:
Last winter I started renting a room to a woman from New York. One of the things I quickly discovered was that she had never even considered any kind of recycling of household trash.
I found the things that I do automatically were way out there for her. In addition to mixed recyclables, there is paper, cardboard, returnable cans with a deposit, compost, Styrofoam peanuts that go to Vineyard packaging, and during the winter a separate category for things that can go in the wood stove.
“Why bother?” she asked.
“It’s good for the planet, as well as free,” I told her. She agreed that it was a good idea to conserve the resources and complied. A happy ending and another consciousness raised in the cause for environmental awareness.
My idealism was shattered, however, on Monday, June 27. I was on my way to the dump (the BFI facility in Oak Bluffs), but had to stop at my house in Vineyard Haven first. While there I noticed the Tisbury recycling truck go by and pick up my recyclables (they pick the regular trash up earlier in the day). About 45 minutes later, I was at BFI happily unloading my construction debris, when the Tisbury recycling truck, followed by a town of Tisbury dump truck loaded with all those nicely cleaned recyclable items, came in and dumped it all on the concrete slab right next to me. As I was leaving, the front-end loader was happily mixing my construction debris with my recyclables and everyone else’s household trash and loading them all into the same container for transport off-Island. At least that’s the way it looked to me and my friend who was with me.
I couldn’t help but hear Homer Simpson’s voice in my head saying “Heyyyy, wait a minute.” I called the Tisbury public works department, and the nice man there explained that it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. At best, the recyclables get dumped on the slab, next to all the household trash and the front-end loader only scoops up the recyclables and puts them in a separate container. Sometimes, however, things are busy there, and it doesn’t always work that way.
So in the end, all my cleaned and sorted stuff has a chance of being picked up by a bulldozer and loaded into a container that I have never seen in all my times at BFI . Seems like a lot of expense to run that second truck around, as they could pick up the recyclables with the regular trash the first time. I know the town is required to have a recycling program, but I think it would be better if it wasn’t just a facade.
Don Keller
Vineyard Haven
Impractical
and messy
To the Editor:
Is it true that we are going to have to pay nearly $5 for a barrel of trash/garbage after July 1? With diligent re-cycling, composting, and a modest food budget, many single persons and quiet couples (mostly seniors) will have to wait for anywhere from two weeks to a month to fill this barrel.
This will be a health hazard in the summer months, and Skunk City in the winter. One idea would be for the senior affairs people to establish collection sub-centers for these tiny weekly contributions, charging a modest (and fairer) fee. Each center would have a freezer on hand to avoid unnecessary air pollution.
An alternative would be for each of us to buy a small second hand freezer, but that will add to the Island’s energy load. Also, a barrel of frozen garbage will be too heavy for many of us to lift. Perhaps there will be a sudden increase in business for the private collectors.
There has been some discussion about the relationship between new, public management and the private sector. Now is the time to make sure that the connection is cleaner than the mess this unfair and impractical administrative decision will make for all.
Joe Eldredge
West Tisbury
A laugh
To the Editor:
Reading “An Open Letter to Oak Bluffs” [The Times, June 23] made me laugh.
Here is a gentleman that has tried to circumvent (beat) the system time and time again, with much greater consequence and hardship to the community than Kerry Scott’s problem.
He builds a restaurant then wants to add a second story for storage. Then to everyone’s amazement it suddenly becomes a second story restaurant. Now there is even a deck on a third level. What will that become in the years to come?
Then he applies for a building permit to renovate an existing one-car garage and ends up building a three-story apartment building. The initial proposed cost for the garage was $20,000, and the cost skyrocketed to over $200,000. He now wants this building accepted even though it is illegal, and once again after the fact.
When will these egregious developments (bullying) be brought to a halt? Why does the town of Oak Bluffs let this continue?
Eric Hohenthal
Oak Bluffs
More to be done
To the Editor:
Contrary to my usual tightfisted, fiscally conservative nature, I believe that the money was well spent to open up the passage under the Little Bridge. It is great to see water rushing between the Sound and Sengekontacket again. Now is the time to act to ensure that emergency measures and funds will not be needed next spring.
Of the four jetties that help ensure a steady flow of water, three of them block vehicle access and one allows it — that one failed this past winter to get its job done. Sands from our predictable northeasters weren’t held back by the jetty.
During the summer, it’s not unusual to see vehicles lined up parallel to Beach Road, wheels pressed up against the armor stone on the north side jetty, while the remaining three jetties have no vehicles on them. Common sense tells me that the constant flow of traffic on the north side jetty has pushed the sand into the armor stone. This pressure over time has lowered the armor stone so that it can no longer provide adequate protection. If vehicle flow continues, I would imagine that the armor stone would eventually tumble into the very area it is trying to protect.
Oak Bluffs officials should block vehicle access to the only jetty that still allows it now. This action would stop further erosion. Qualified people should inspect the current height of the armor stone, and if it needs to be raised, let’s get it done before the 2005-06 storms arrive.
Alfred Woollacott 3rd
Oak Bluffs
Freight
To the Editor:
Bill Graham is suing because the land tax on the 235 acres he owns in West Tisbury is so high.
Doesn’t he know why the land assessment is so steep? It’s the freight.
Peter Ochs
Aquinnah
Down with tyranny
To the Editor:
Through some neurotic resistance, the regime of cheap gas is near its end. Americans are just beginning to awake from the long coma of complacency that they fell into half a century ago. The times demand that educated people debate issues of good and bad, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness. Educated people must remit notions such as virtue and wickedness into the realm of ideas and arrive at a humane consensus about what they mean.
When equality and social justice should be at its best, there is this current irony with our federal administration to bring democracy to an oil supplying country in the Middle East, yet has a fixation to remove the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that has given gay American couples the legal right to protect their family and properties.
The moral dimension of life is relegated to the domain of the supernatural, and therefore moral issues have become the special province of evangelical religious bullies, political extremists, and maniacs.
It is the right for all Americans to ensure a safe environment to all citizens without creating tyranny.
Fred Thornbrugh
Vineyard Haven
Something to say
To the Editor:
Bush. Same guy. Same speech. Basically, off the ground. No territory, and not even a map. The TV program, “Lost,” and “Where are we?”
Bruce Balter
Oak Bluffs
Special thanks
To the Editor:
I would like to send a special thank you to all the family, friends, and community members who have so generously supported my fundraising efforts by donating recipes and/or purchasing the cookbook I have compiled.
I was nominated, along with Lilla Warren and Sheilagh Kelley, to participate in the People to People Student Ambassador Program this summer. This program was devised by President Eisenhower to help promote peace among nations by introducing young people to other cultures.
The profits from the sales of this hard cover, three-ring binder cookbook go to defraying the cost of this remarkable experience. We will be traveling to several major regions in Australia with a group of students from the New England area.
Thank you for all your support.
Bethany deBettencourt
Oak Bluffs
Plover spotting
To the Editor:
Although Vineyarders are known for respecting the privacy of our celebrity summer visitors, some might still argue the existence of a sort of social hierarchy that our summers bring to the Island. I myself will occasionally watch with awe and interest when I spot Carly Simon or Caroline Kennedy walking down Main Street. Why just the other day I think I spotted Mike Wallace in the produce section at Cronig’s, shamelessly commenting on how good the berries looked. I freely admit that I can be star struck at times.
However, it was not until this year that I realized there exists a group which resides above all others in status, even above Ted Danson. Yes, a group with a place at the very top of the Vineyard chain that inspires respect and admiration from all that they encounter. I am of course speaking of the piping plover.
Yes, the piping plover commands respect everywhere it goes. Like the president or pope, when the piping plover arrives somewhere, all access to it or near it is strictly forbidden. Nowhere is this more evident than at our local beaches.
Many of you may have read last week that a beach was closed due to the discovery of a piping plover nest. I can’t even get near Quansoo beach, but apparently the piping plover get the red carpet and a beach key. Whereas I would be tossed off of Lucy Vincent immediately, I am certain that a stylish clambake or potluck would be quickly organized in honor of the piping plover, if it ever showed up at Seven Gates or took up residence on Chappy. (I hear through the grapevine that there is an open invitation for the plovers to play golf with Clinton if they ever take a fancy.)
So rather than taking it personally, I started to wonder how I could also participate in this royal visit and feel more a part of their arrival. Then it hit me, and the answers just kept coming like Wampum at the crafts fair. I soon realized that I needed a piping plover of my own.
Imagine how useful it would be to place a piping plover nest on your street during those bicycle marathons that seem to go on for miles. A simple “Stay Out! Plover Sanctuary” sign would guarantee an alternate route for this odd vacation ritual.
And think about the next time you were stuck in line at Cronig’s behind those women who have just reunited after 50 years and want to “catch up” right then and there. By casually setting your plover nest on the counter and saying “Oh look, a piping plover!” they would surely scatter out of fear of arrest.
And what about the convenience of setting your piping plover and nest on your front porch when you notice an unwelcome visitor approaching, or training your plover like a homing pigeon to follow mopeds and direct them away from your area. Best of all, one could place a plover’s nest at Five Corners, thus clearing traffic during those times of gridlock. The immediate “Save the Plover” rally and the “Honk if You Love the Piping Plover” signs would insure that everyone would know they were getting too close to the birds and thus take another route.
Now I’m no legal expert, but it occurs to me that the owner of the disputed “garage” in Oak Bluffs could put a family of piping plovers on the roof, and thus put an end to the demand by his neighbors to tear the structure down.
Now this may seem like an extreme idea, maybe even ridiculous, but I can see real potential here. However there are always drawbacks to any plan. I am certain that the local clams would be very insulted and ticked off at the idea that the piping plovers are stealing their glory and getting preferential treatment. Yes, there are clam beds that are off limits also, but rarely do the clams garner such media attention. Plus, who wants to go stand in a clam bed anyways? I don’t imagine that the scallops would be jumping for joy either. However, I do think the benefits would outweigh the liabilities.
So, in closing, I’d just like to say that I still have no idea what a piping plover looks like or what makes them so influential. Honestly, I’d never even heard of one until last week. Further, I am amazed that on an Island as large as ours somebody actually spotted one small nest and alerted the proper authorities. (On second thought, I am not really surprised at all.) But if you know who it was that came to the plovers’ rescue, please let me know, as I would really like to invite them over to find out how that damn skunk is still getting into my yard.
Mark Martin
Tisbury
Wildlife rehab
To the Editor:
If you find an injured or infant raccoon, skunk, bird, or other wildlife, there is a web site to help you:
www.nwrawildlife.org
Through this web site you can find people to give you quick advice and take over the care of the animal. They do not charge for their help, but they are happy to accept donations to offset their costs. I have found the Hy-Line and Island Queen both helpful in getting orphan animals to rehabilitators on the Cape.
Jill Simmons
Oak Bluffs
Weak skunks
To the Editor:
I was disheartened to read in the Vineyard Gazette’s Friday, July 1, issue that the skunk population has dropped. Wildlife experts debate the causes. My own theory is that the original group deposited here in the 1970s was genetically weak in the first place. The skunks I’ve seen around here have always been small dumb versions of ones I have seen in America. Perhaps there is an inherited genetic weakness that has caused them to have a decreased chance of survival. Sort of like the inherited deafness by the children of Chilmark. Or like the famous dumb piping plovers who lay their eggs in the paths of oncoming SUVs. Phil Craig’s theory is not without merit. Alas, as is the case with many species in nature, the strong and smart survive, the weak and dumb die.
Strength, as it relates to human beings, is measured in dollars. Looks as if the money-strong wash-ashore patrons to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital’s pledge campaign, reaching a miraculous $20 million already, will ensure quality health care for future Islanders in the years to come. The weaker humans, the less financially strong, or if you will, genetically mutated, humans will most likely die off, like the skunks. At the very least, their numbers will dramatically decline. Nature is wonderful, it rewards the strong and kills off the weak.
I just wish that the original skunk group brought here could have been a heartier group. Then we would all be blessed with many years of the lovely fragrance bestowed upon us by our little furry black and white friends.
Mike Kemly
Edgartown
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