Letters to the Editor
Published: October 2, 2008
A pilot in all ways
To the Editor:
It is so sad. I fly roughly 60 times a year on Cape Air for my job. I have flown roughly 30 times a year with Dave for the last four years. This time of year, he brought me home every Sunday from some strange land after some blow-out college football game. He always had a smile for me and a seat next to him on his plane. I loved seeing him because I knew I was only one hop from landing home on the Vineyard.
I met his wife, Jackie, first at the hospital after I gave birth to my daughter. I knew all about their kids, where they were going to school and when they were coming home for the holidays. I knew he loved the Red Sox and would listen to them as we were taxiing out from our gate at Logan - and categorically deny doing so. I could always tell who was winning just by looking sideways at him.
I am not a great flyer. Everyone at Cape Air knows this, and I believe at United Airlines too. I hate "bumps," and I hate not being able to see the ground below. I always make it point to ask about the conditions once we level off, and Dave always spoke the truth.
I have cried on his plane due to "moderate chop," and Dave would always assure me how painless it really was up there. Once, when we were flying through passing thunderstorms from Logan to the Vineyard, he looked at me with my mouth open and my eyes closed. He told me to close my mouth and relax, because I was scaring the other passengers. Other times, when I brought my three-year-old daughter with me last year, he bent down and explained to her that the plane was loud and not to be scared like her mommy. This made my daughter laugh; he constantly made us laugh. He knew how to make us enjoy the ride.
He explained to me that we were on the safest planes around because he could land them anywhere should something "go wrong" (a thought that constantly races through my mind when I get on a plane). A golf course, a smooth stretch of beach, or any airport that dotted the ground along the way home. He was a perfectionist, a fan of the "home-team" and real treat to sit next to while the sun was setting on a clear evening, and we could see Block Island in the distance. I will miss him dearly, and I know others will too. Coming home won't be the same without him.
Kelley Nagi
Oak Bluffs
Close call, plus thanks
To the Editor:
Close call to home.
I'm sitting in my room on this Friday night relaxing; listening to the rain outside. Next thing I know, I hear a sound of a loud revving engine right next to my house, possibly over it. Following the revving sound was a huge bang. I knew for sure that something had just crashed.
My roommate came running out of her room to tell me that a plane had just missed our house. Immediately we called 911 and went out to investigate. It was about 500 feet from our house, if not less. We could see all of the commotion right through the woods.
I just wanted to thank all of the EMTs, police, and firemen and everyone who was at the scene. They responded immediately. Not even five minutes later were they on the road rushing to the scene and were able to locate it.
At times like these we truly appreciate the Island. We are such a tightly knit community full of loving and dedicated people.
On another subject, within this past week, I have encountered numerous cars past dusk without their headlights on. Heading home one night after work, 11 pm or so, all the way from Oak Bluffs to West Tisbury, there was a truck in front of me without his headlights on the whole, entire time. Thursday night, there was a car crossing over the bridge without his lights on, and there have been several more incidents like these that I can recall. You're not only endangering yourself, but the lives of others as well.
I just wanted to remind everyone to put their headlights on when they start up their car, just as you should put your seatbelt on.
Megan Klein
West Tisbury
Dangerous reluctance
To the Editor:
I note with some concern the reluctance of police Chief Timothy Rich of Chilmark to ticket residents for speeding, due to his feeling that this action might "incur ramifications." And what sort of ramifications might that be? Does Chief Rich believe that the locals consider themselves above the law?
This may be naive, but I always thought that the police were supposed to impartially enforce the law rather than selectively enforce the law. It is setting a dangerous precedent to consider anybody above the law.
Susan Kimball
Oak Bluffs
A letter made a difference
To the Editor:
I want to comment on the letter to the editor on August 28, from Jess Dupon, a sophomore at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School. She wrote, "By not supporting the 'Second Hand Shop' we are hurting the families and children that use or rely on all the Boys and Girls Club programs." I think it is an immensely mature viewpoint for a sophomore in high school. I have reversed my thinking about supporting the Boys and Girls Club Thrift Shop.
Judith McIntosh
Vineyard Haven
Don't reward the crooks
To the Editor:
This is a copy of an email sent to U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, 9/25/08.
I am a resident of Martha's Vineyard and have been following with wide eyes the unfolding events on Wall Street and in Washington. I am outraged by the proposal of Paulson and Bush that seeks to reward the very people that caused this financial meltdown with unprecedented powers and zero oversight - not to mention hundreds of billions of taxpayers dollars.
The timing of this crisis is a bit suspicious and the American people must not be duped into another plundering orgy by the Republicans and their central banking cronies, who evidently will stop at nothing to pursue their agenda.
Their agenda of control and publicly funded private profit has not only crippled our economy and once great nation, but our democracy as well. Please, good sir, I ask that you do all in your power, to represent the voice of the people of this district and fight this plan that will do nothing for the American people but enslave them, while benefiting greatly the crooks that I believe orchestrated the whole disaster.
Keith Bassett
West Tisbury
Sick of thinking about politics; vote for Obama
To the Editor:
I don't know about you, but I am getting very sick of thinking about politics.
I have read more articles on the candidates in this election than I ever wanted to, and I am getting overwhelmed with it all.
Recently Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln, "If you don't stop lying about me, I will have to start telling the truth about you." I wish he would. But will anyone listen? Or will they think it is all more distortions and propaganda?
This is a very important election. As someone said during World War II, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." Everyone who does not vote for Obama is dropping a drop into the bucket of McCain supporters. Not voting is making a wrong choice. And don't talk to me about voting machine fraud, how you think your vote doesn't count, etc. Be a responsible citizen and vote.
If you are undecided, look at Obama's record, look at his attitude, look at his accomplishments, look at the fact that he is the most charismatic presidential candidate we have had since John Kennedy.
I believe that he can give us the confidence as a nation to face the mess we are in, and do what needs to be done. I also believe that he would help restore our credibility with the rest of the world.
Obama has more experience, where it counts, than we give him credit for, and far more intelligence than most people in Congress, not to mention that he has been very effective in everything he has done so far. (Look him up in Wikipedia if you want to be impressed, and look at the articles in the NY Times if you want to be informed about how McCain has personally contributed to the financial mess we are struggling with on Wall Street and coming soon to a bank near you.)
We have terrible problems facing this country: between the two wars we have started (and God help us if someone else starts a war with us since, as one commentator said, "we are out of army"), the state of the world economy, the weather (typhoons, hurricanes, global warming, and other damaging natural phenomenon which cost us billions of dollars) - you name it.
My point (and I do have one) is that in times of crisis, I want one of "the best and the brightest" working for me. Obama does have my confidence. As much as any human being can, he will do the best job for us, if we give him the chance.
As for McCain, if his choice of Sarah Palin is any measure of his judgment, I have no faith in him whatsoever. Despite his protestations of good health, he would be the oldest president ever inaugurated, and I worry that the stress of the job might kill him, and then where would we be? With a woman who hasn't got a clue about how the world works, has no experience whatsoever for the job that would be before her, and who can not be trusted to stop and think before she acts. No thank you.
If the Republicans truly think that any woman who would have voted for Hillary will vote McCain/Palin just because there is a woman on the ticket, they are insulting the intelligence of every one of us. The women who wanted Hillary, want a woman who will intelligently represent their interests (and not embarrass us), a woman who is informed and knows how to deal with world leaders, a woman who is competent and diplomatic and knows how to get things done.
Palin is the exact opposite, which is why they only want photographers, not reporters, around her. She may be easy on the eye, but she doesn't know enough about the issues to represent her own state in Congress, much less this country to the world. If it weren't such a dangerous situation, it would be a joke.
One more thing is very much in play in this election: bigotry. Make me proud, America. Swallow your prejudice, use your brain, and vote for a "black man" for president of the United States. Not because he is black, or a man, but because he is the best, most qualified person we have available for the job.
Ellen Miller Eisenberg
Vineyard Haven
What?
To the Editor:
Lipstick in a pig-pen.
Peter Ochs
Aquinnah
Tossing them both
To the Editor:
Regardless of the bipartisan spin on the financial bailout, it really seems to fall on who will keep their job. Washington, D.C., has always been a separate country with separate values and ideals. Finally, an example where the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater.
Fred Thornbrugh
Vineyard Haven
Thanks from Island Grown Schools
To the Editor:
Thanks to you, our first year of Island Grown Schools has been incredible. We have installed new school gardens at West Tisbury School, Oak Bluffs School, and the Charter School, with others in the works at the High School and Edgartown School. This means that in less than a calendar year we will have brought active school garden programs to five of the seven schools on the Island!
The gardens are already being used as teaching tools, for YMCA summer and after-school programs, and in the cafeteria. I went to Oak Bluffs school last week, and everything on the menu had garden-grown ingredients, from pizza with garden tomatoes, basil and eggplant to gazpacho with garden bell peppers to fajitas with garden jalepenos. Delicious. Food service directors are developing and strengthening relationships with local farmers to bring even more fresh, locally grown foods into school meals.
In August, 20 Vineyard teachers came to our Island Grown Schools Summer Institute, and each of them developed creative garden and farm-based lesson plans to teach their students this school year. Farm field trips are being planned, worm bins are being built for classrooms, winter growing projects are being developed, and teachers from a wide range of grade levels and subject areas are finding that they can teach what they need through agriculture-based learning.
Noli Taylor
Island Grown Schools
Coordinator
Island Grown Initiative
Great help
To the Editor:
Thank you to the Oak Bluffs Fire Department, EMTs and police.
The recent fire drill at Woodside Village was a success! Because of you, our residents and staff are more aware of what would happen in case of a fire at our building. Your professionalism, your thoroughness, and your care with those who needed assistance were a great help and reassurance to us.
Thank you very much.
Ann Wallace
Island Elderly Housing, Inc.
Catering to whom?
To the Editor:
Niki Patton of West Tisbury wrote a letter to last week's Times, where she asked not to have advertising at the airport. The letter closed with this quote "Could we please continue to cater to our tourists, residents and visitors and give them what they seem to enjoy?" It would be nice if this concern for "tourists, residents, and visitors" would also be applied to her home town of West Tisbury. The town denies walk-on access to Lambert's Cove Beach , a town park. Surely "tourists, residents, and visitors" would like the option to walk onto a public beach on the Island. End beach apartheid.
Erik Albert
Oak Bluffs
