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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
August 11 - 17, 2005 Edition
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News
in Brief August 11, 2005
The 125-foot schooner, Spirit of Massachusetts, a replica of an historic 19th century New England fishing vessel, will visit Vineyard Haven Harbor on Friday, August 19 as part of a Cape and Islands tour. The visits are part of a marine education effort organized by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound in cooperation with the MassSail program ofÅ]the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the Ocean Classroom Foundation according to a press release. The public will be able to tour the vessel on from 9 am to noon at Tisbury Wharf, Vineyard Haven. Representatives of the non-profit Ocean Classroom Foundation will act as guides. There is no cost to tour the ship. Constructed in 1984 at the Charlestown Navy Yard, the Spirit of Massachusetts is modeled after the late 19th-century fishing vessel Fredonia, which sailed the North Atlantic fishing grounds for cod. Spirit is authentic in rig and construction, although she carries modern navigation and safety equipment. She carries a crew complement of nine, and up to 23 student-sailors.Å] No sales tax this weekend Islanders are advised to get on their shopping shoes in preparation for this Saturday and Sunday, when the state’s five percent sales tax will be waived on certain items. For a new air conditioner, gas grill or other desirables up to $2,500, there will be no sales tax. There is no limit on the tax-free amount each customer may purchase, as long as each item costs $2,500 or less. Excluded from tax-free shopping are motor vehicles, motorized boats, utility payments, tobacco products and meals. Rentals of tangible property except motor vehicles and motorboats also are eligible for the sales tax exemption, even if the rental period covers days before or after the holiday, providing payment is made in full during the sales tax weekend. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue estimates that consumers will save more than $14 million in sales taxes and generate about $300 million in sales for retailers, a winning combination for Vineyard shoppers and storeowners alike. MVC continues Cozy Hearth hearing The third hearing for Cozy Hearth affordable housing project before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) last Thursday lasted only a matter of minutes, just long enough for commissioners to acknowledge their receipt of requested documents and state their intention to review them. The 26-page packet under review by the commissioners includes a letter from the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP) regarding their intention to issue a conservation and management permit for the Cozy Hearth project. This resolved an issue discussed at last month’s MVC hearing, regarding protection of a potential moth population disclosed in a habitat assessment. The NHESP’s issuance of a permit is contingent on protection of the moth habitat and permanent marking of the area with a visual barrier. The documents also included answers from Cozy Hearth members to questions from the commissioners and MVC staff regarding financing, deed restrictions on the lots, profits from resale of the lots, and house plans. Christina Brown, chair of the MVC Land Use Planning Committee, continued the hearing to September 1, at which time it will reopen for public testimony. Although last week’s meeting regarding the Cozy Hearth project was for procedural purposes only, several of the prospective homeowners were in attendance for what amounted to a 10-minute process. This was one of many steps in a long process for the Cozy Hearth group that started when they pooled resources in 2002 to purchase three lots totaling 10.9 acres on Watcha Path off Edgartown-West Tisbury Road. Although the property was zoned for three-acre lots, the group applied to make Cozy Hearth a 40B project to help bypass local approval processes and zoning restrictions in order to subdivide the property into 11 affordable lots. Computers and camera stolen from Wakeman Center Tisbury police are investigating the theft of two laptop computers and a digital camera from two nonprofit organizations in the Mary Wakeman Conservation Center this week. On Monday morning police were notified that a Hewlett-Packard laptop and a new Olympus digital camera were stolen from the offices of the Vineyard Conservation society, and that an IBM laptop was taken from the offices of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. Both nonprofits are located at the Wakeman Center. Ted Saulnier, Tisbury police chief, said that there were no signs of forced entry into the building, but said that his department is following up on a number of leads in the case. “We have plenty of leads to follow up on and chase down,” he said. “There are a number of things we have to look at, like who had access to the building at what times.” Chief Saulnier said that police are also trying to determine whether the thefts are related to a number of other break-ins around town recently. “We are in the process of determining who committed similar types of thefts in town recently, and we’re trying to see if there is any connection between them,” he said. Tisbury resident attempts suicide A 30-year-old woman, a resident of Tisbury, attempted suicide in the evening of August 3, shooting herself in the stomach with a rifle, according to police, who did not release her name. Tisbury Police responded to a call at about 8:05 pm from a friend of the woman, who reported she was depressed and in distress. Officers located the victim parked in her car on State Road, suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach, with a rifle lying nearby. She was conscious and able to communicate with the officers, who treated her with emergency medical procedures before an ambulance arrived. Ted Saulnier, Tisbury chief of police, said, “She did discharge a gun, but we do not anticipate charging her with anything.” He said the gun belonged to either the victim or someone in her family.
MJ Bruder Munafo, artistic director of the Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven, received the 2005 Creative Living Award at a well-attended ceremony Tuesday evening in the Grange Hall in West Tisbury. The Creative Living Award is given each year from the Ruth J. Bogan and Ruth Redding Fund, which was established in 1983 by Ruth Redding to honor and remember the wonderful creativity and caring of her dear friend, Ruth J. Bogan. The fund is overseen by the Permanent Endowment Fund for Martha’s Vineyard. In making the presentation, Debbie Hale (right, above), Permanent Endowment Fund chairman, described Ms. Munafo (left, above) as an Island treasure, for her extensive work with the theatre community, the Vineyard Playhouse, and with the 4th-grade theater project. Ms. Hale said that MJ, as Ms.Munafo is commonly known, exemplified the values of creativity and community. MJ has been a long time dynamic force on the local theatre scene as the producer and artistic director of the Vineyard Playhouse and within the school system where she helps fourth-graders with an annual project in which the students write and produce their own theatrical productions. She is currently directing “Romeo and Juliet” at the Tisbury Amphitheater at Tashmoo Overlook. The Grange Hall was crowded with members of the Vineyard’s vibrant theater community. Several people of spoke Ms. Munafo’s many contributions and talents. Parks, trash, and traffic top O.B. residents’ concerns The condition of town parks, litter on town beaches, and various traffic issues were among the top concerns that Oak Bluffs residents raised at a public forum Tuesday evening. The selectmen scheduled the “committee of the whole” to hear questions and concerns from both seasonal and year-round residents. Town parks were a favorite topic. Several residents around Niantic Park complained of untidiness and noise from the popular basketball courts. “The park here is unkempt and unhealthy,” said one resident. Barbara Peckham said, “The basketball court has gotten much, much louder…. I have bedroom windows facing the park and the kids are blasting their music late at night.” But it wasn’t all criticism. “Ocean Park has never been greener, or cleaner, or better planted than it is this year,” said one resident. Richard Combra Jr., Oak Bluffs highway superintendent and parks commissioner, said that maintaining town parks is a costly undertaking, but that he would take the concerns seriously and try to make improvements. “It’s not cheap beautifying parks,” he said. “I wish every park in town could look like Ocean Park.” Mr. Combra said he would also respond to several complaints of trash along Beach Road and on the town beaches. Traffic issues, including signage, crosswalks, parking, and speeding were all hot topics. Each time a resident raised a concern or identified a potential problem, Erik Blake, Oak Bluffs police chief and a member of the town’s parking and traffic committee, would make a note of it. One area that was of particular concern to a number of residents was the crosswalk in front of Nancy’s restaurant. Several residents referred to the area as “an accident waiting to happen.” The selectmen said they are currently waiting for results from a survey to determine who owns the various parcels of land surrounding the harbor, including the parking spaces adjacent to Nancy’s, before making any changes. Several residents also raised some zoning and building issues. At the end of the meeting Jerry Wiener, newly appointed town building inspector, handed out business cards to the people who had concerns. “I don’t need more any more to do, but I will be happy to look into it and help you,” said Mr. Wiener. Before closing the forum, after more than an hour of discussion, Duncan Ross, selectman who moderated the forum, thanked the audience. “Thank for you for your suggestions and your comments,” he said. “We have written everything down so we will look into everything that has been raised here.” Louise Browning dead at 94 Louise Adeline Merry Browning died August 9 at Windemere at the age of 94. A full obituary will appear in The Times at a later date. Correction A story in last week's Times about William Graham's appeal to the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board misspelled the name of Mr. Graham's attorney, who is Richard L. Wulsin. |
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