Letters to the Editor
Published: January 8, 2009
Shoveling needed
To the Editor:
Five days following last Wednesday's snowfall, little has been done by the Edgartown Highway Department to make sidewalks passable, aside from a few chosen places. Most of the Main Street walkways, as well as many sections of the bike paths, were cleared, but large stretches of often used walkways were never touched, while some lightly traveled streets had enough sand and salt dumped on them to cover the next two storms to come. Anyone needing or choosing to walk into and around town was forced to step out onto the roadways, including onto some busy streets.
Following two good thaw days, sidewalks along Pease's Point Way, Cooke Street, Clevelandtown Road, most in-town streets, and frequently traversed Church Street walkways leading to the bus station remained nonetheless an icy mess untouched by the sidewalk plow equipment the town owns for just this. Even sidewalks immediately adjacent to the Edgartown School weren't cleared, making it ill-advised for any kids who normally walk to school to do so. Since this kind of halfway response to a routine snowfall makes for days of inconvenience and sets up an unsafe situation for pedestrians, kids and elders alike, this normally heads-up town needs to put considerably more effort into making walkways usable again next time it snows.
Geoff Allan
Edgartown
Many helpers
To the Editor:
I would sincerely like to thank everyone who helped me the night of December 19, after I suffered a heart attack under the Christmas tree at my dear friend Jaime Hamlin's annual holiday party. Thank you Jaime, Dr. Yukevich, Nina Thayer, and the Tisbury ambulance folks for getting me to the hospital.
Thank you Dr. Kendall and the ER team for diagnosing and stabilizing me. Thanks to the Coast Guard helicopter that attempted to come to Martha's Vineyard but had to turn back. There was no way off Martha's Vineyard that night. Thanks to the Oak Bluffs EMTs that drove me to Mass General at 6 am, through a snowstorm in horrendous and dangerous conditions. You were great, professional and helpful.
Thank you Dr. Guiney for forgetting to turn off your beeper and taking Dr. Kendall's 2 am call. Thanks to the great Mass General, Ellison 11, and the wonderful nurses.
Thanks to Bridget Tobin, Commonwealth Care, and L.D.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Robert Green
Edgartown
Inaccessibility
To the Editor:
I was incarcerated in an airtight enclosure of approximately two an a half feet by four feet and several inches on Saturday, December 13, in Edgartown's Old Whaling Church. I was hoping to watch the annual Minnesingers' Holiday Concert.
I want to thank the Edgartown firemen for a speedy and most kindly response and thankful rescue. I would also like to thank all of those, especially those from the Minnesingers' parents group, who were there to help.
I am also writing this letter on behalf of all severely handicapped folk and others, who need and want to be able to attend events in public venues. The handicapped elevator in the Whaling Church is too old and too small to accommodate a power chair like mine. I did maneuver my chair in, but when the outer steel door was slammed shut, it pulled back the metal screen which must be shut before the outer door can be reopened. It is also illegal to be unable to call for help. The telephone is located so high that I could not reach it. [I cannot stand or move my paralyzed legs.]
I am asking all of you to call the owners of the Old Whaling Church to replace the present inadequate handicapped elevator for a federally approved accessible entry to the auditorium. It would also be appropriate to have several spaces in the front row [i.e. accessible] for wheel chairs. Remind the beautiful, beloved, and historic Whaling Church that as a public venue, it must be accessible for the handicapped.
Barbara Bick
Vineyard Haven
Bad timing
To the Editor:
I find it absolutely ridiculous that an article [Police check for underage alcohol sales, News in Brief, Dec. 31] was placed beforehand in the paper about the compliance checks.
It's just like putting out a warning to all liquor stores in advance. So if, "We know that alcohol is the number one drug problem among youth, killing more young people than all other illicit drugs combined," then aren't we supposed to be fixing this problem, not making it worse?
I feel this was uncalled for, because now all of the liquor stores know what to expect. An article should have been put out after the compliance checks have been done, not before. This does no good.
Megan Klein
Edgartown
State of our state
To the Editor:
Each member in our fifth grade class is working on a project called "Parade of States." We are responsible for gathering as much information about a state as we can to help "sell" the state.
I have chosen your state, Massachusetts, for my presentation. If any of your readers would help me out by sending me any pictures, postcards, a used license plate, facts, products, etc. from your state, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Emmalee Ford
2412 37th Ave. SE
Puyallup, WA 98374
Misleading
To the Editor:
The title of your Martha's Vineyard Commission energy policy article (on page 6 of your December 24 issue) misleads your readers. Admittedly, it costs about five percent more to correctly construct a new, policy-conforming building, but when one looks at the big picture (which includes pollution costs, health costs, military costs, and climate change costs) the Martha's Vineyard Commission's new policy will yield substantial savings.
For facts on energy and money-saving opportunities, I suggest your readers visit www.energystar.gov. Note that homeowners can receive $750-$1,250 to participate in the new home program.
Chris Fried
Tisbury
