Letters to the Editor
Selectmen should do their executive jobs
To the Editor:
With regard to your article last week concerning the debate over the budget in Oak Bluffs, I would offer a few comments:
If a town's budget really can be influenced by notes pinned to kindergartner's shirts to sweeten the school's allocation, then perhaps highway allocations can be restored from reductions by similar notes pinned to vehicle owners. And there are other priorities out there too: the employees, the police, the harbor. Should each vested interest wear color-coded notes around town and at town meetings? All departments worth keeping are important, each in its own way. All should swim together, and live within their means. The financial tide rises; the financial tide falls.
If this means zero increases and no new hiring for town employees, it also means that the taxpayers should be spared notions of overrides and debt exclusions for the extraction of ever more money. The state of the economy is compelling; we all must learn to live with it. Oak Bluffs has a finance committee that works hard to exercise its good judgment, and offers a balanced budget. Voters should support them.
But the proposed town meeting warrant appears to propose otherwise.
I think the voters deserve better than this. They deserve a balanced budget to be prepared, agreed to and presented at town meeting. Bickering over details, individual salaries and inter-departmental trade-offs becomes emotional, unattractive, and needlessly time-consuming at town meetings. Now is the time for the selectmen to do their jobs.
Meantime, it has been announced that town elections follow town meeting by a mere two days. Let's all do our civic duty, and vote.
John M. Boardman
Oak Bluffs
Change and the future
To the Editor:
On April 14, at Tisbury town meeting, you will be asked once again to vote on whether to place the issue of allowing full service restaurants containing at least 30 seats to sell beer and wine on the ballot in 2010.
After the very interesting result of last year's vote at the ballot (a tie), it seems that quite a few of the taxpayers feel that this is a worthwhile cause, and rightfully so. Having been closely involved in the recount effort, I can tell you that this was democracy at its best.
I've written to the papers before, my husband and I are restaurant owners, but even if we weren't, the sad state of affairs with this depressed economy makes it abundantly clear that we are all suffering in some way or another, and out of necessity, changes will be happening. But positive things can come from change - greener technology; a larger sense of community, so prevalent on Martha's Vineyard, and our growing appreciation for simply having a job.
Tisbury restaurant owners would love to lower prices to bring in more customers, creating larger community spirit, but they simply cannot do that now. Those restaurants in "wet" towns are able to offer price specials, two-for-ones and major food discounts to entice customers. Tisbury restaurants cannot because receipts depend entirely on food sales. How long can some of us hang on? Can we afford to lay off even more workers in the restaurant industry?
There has been some talk about the warrant article containing issues not previously addressed, and perhaps those in favor of the issue are attempting to "get away with something." This couldn't be further from the truth. In our efforts to be very specific, some items were mistakenly left out, but be assured that all of this will be corrected at town meeting.
A web site has been created called www.preservingtisburysfuture.com. This very well assembled site was designed so that many of the misconceptions expressed by some can be clarified. Looking back, this probably should have been done last year, but we learn from our mistakes. However, none of this will matter if you don't attend town meeting and have your vote counted among those who know that this will be a great step toward preserving Tisbury's future.
Laura Barbera
Nicky's Italian Cafe
On the road
To the Editor:
I would like to make an addition to Judy Norton's Letter to the Editor in the March 26, 2009 edition of the Martha's Vineyard Times ["Jefferson's words"]. Ms. Norton's letter included some poignant quotes regarding the current direction of our government, next stop socialism.
"We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have communism." - former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, 1959
Martha Leite
Oak Bluffs
A fee for shelter
To the Editor:
I would like to suggest a way to provide funding - at least in part - for Martha's Vineyard's animal shelter: a small fee for each dog that travels on the ferry to and from Martha's Vineyard. I know that dog lovers would gladly pay a small fee to support this important cause.
Charles Pinck
Washington, D.C.
Congratulations
To the Editor:
Michael Shabazian, well-known "Angel Flight " pilot and resident of Martha's Vineyard, earned his certified flight instructor's rating, CFI, on March 21. Mike did a great job, and he already earned his certified instrument instructor rating earlier this year for those needing instrument instructions, proficiency checks etc. So he is a CFI & CFII. Congratulations.
Ute and Dieter Kuerschner
Oak Bluffs
Good cheer, good cause
To the Editor:
I am writing this letter on behalf of the Island Food Pantry to thank Connie McHugh and staff of Vineyard Tennis for hosting a tennis round robin as a fundraiser for the Food Pantry. The numerous participants and tennis devotees were both generous with cash and goods, not to mention good cheer with some excellent tennis.
This was the second fundraiser hosted by the tennis center and met with equal success as per the first one. Again, many thanks to Connie McHugh, her staff, and, of course, the Food Pantry itself, for being there.
Stephen Dantzig
Tisbury
A lifeline
To the Editor:
As two participants of the Daybreak Clubhouse of Martha's Vineyard, we were privileged last week to attend and learn from a three-day seminar in Washington D.C. The Eastern USA Clubhouse Conference addressed Clubhouse practices world-wide. Approximately 150 members, staff, and friends of East Coast Clubhouses expressed pride in their local associations, and they were excited by this opportunity to meet as a group. Our voices and our ideas together might advance the lives of people with mental illness.
We arrived at the conference on Sunday and left Wednesday. Daily workshops on everything from education and technology to advocacy and fundraising were an opportunity for everyone attending to learn as well as to share knowledge and experience.
The only prerequisite to being a member of a Clubhouse is to have a mental illness. There was, however, little talk of having a mental illness and much talk about the Clubhouse community, including employment, education, advocacy and other facets of the Clubhouse program. The Clubhouse community, as a whole, is the intersection of understanding, respect, and opportunity. Where the larger community fails us with stigma, the Clubhouse community steps in. The Clubhouse offers a lifeline, acceptance, a road to recovery, and independent living.
In the Clubhouse, we are enabled to accept responsibility for our illnesses as illnesses, and not as our identity. The Clubhouse is not a program of arts and crafts or group therapy. It is about empowerment and belief in oneself. We can work and we will work if looked upon without smirk and bigotry, if nurtured by a place to live, food to eat, and access to important medical treatment.
Work starts in the Clubhouse. Members work side by side with staff, doing the jobs of the Clubhouse for the benefit of the members. Folks work in the kitchen unit, making, serving, and cleaning up after meals, or in the business unit, writing the newsletter or completing various reports for the Department of Mental Health. We forget our illnesses.
Our illnesses are serious brain diseases: schizophrenia, depression, bipolar, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder and others. We must bear the burden of our symptoms and our medications just as one must wear and accept the passing of time. And, when we are allowed to carry our own weight in this way, as Clubhouses worldwide encourage, we are a valuable resource.
First and foremost, we are a community to others who are sick. We are friends, peers. We are a smile in place of a pronounced look of silence. We are the first step to independent living.
Here on Martha's Vineyard at the Daybreak Clubhouse, members work in an employment program with local businesses, like the Martha's Vineyard Times, Murdick's Fudge, and the Morning Glory Farm. We fill positions efficiently and economically, saving these businesses money and adding to their productivity.
Employment and supporting oneself was one of the many topics discussed at the Clubhouse conference in the nation's capital last week. Employment and later independent living, one member at the conference said, starts with love. A person traumatized by illness needs shoulders of compassion. Clubhouse community provides this support. For some, it may take several years being part of the Clubhouse before they are back at work. We learned how to support each other and how to grow strong from our relationships. We came together to unite in the ongoing campaign against stigma. We combined to create new energy.
Joe Pantoliano, who starred in "Risky Business" and "The Matrix", showed a working copy of his new documentary on mental illness, "No Kidding-Me Too." Mr. Pantoliano suffers from depression. He brought with him an Iraq war veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and a survivor of a suicide attempt from a seven-story window. They urged us to fight.
We visited the Capitol and called on our congressmen and senators. We told our stories. At a banquet at the Canon Capitol Building, we celebrated employers who have supported Clubhouses. Congressmen Barney Frank and other officials spoke. We, in the audience, applauded and shared in the achievements of those being honored.
We said, "Yes We Can."
With the help and care of folks like you, we will.
Jonathan Burke
Vineyard Haven
Jakob Burton-Sundman
Oak Bluffs
Turbines - count them
To the Editor:
Electricity is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). One kilo equals 1,000. One 50-watt light bulb left on for 20 hours consumes one kWh of electricity (50 watts x 20 hours = 1,000 watt-hours = 1 kWh).
The average U.S. household consumes about 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. A 10-kW wind turbine (like the one at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School) can generate about 10,000 kWh annually at a site where wind speeds average 12 miles per hour.
The height of the high school's 10-kW wind turbine is 112 feet (top tip of the blade above the ground). Massachusetts Maritime Academy erected a 248-foot, 660-kW turbine. If the high school could have erected a 600-foot-tall five-megawatt (MW, mega equals a million) turbine instead of its 10-kW turbine, that turbine could have produced more than 15 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in a year - enough to power more than 1,400 households. There are approximately 14,000 households on Martha's Vineyard. Ten 5-MW turbines, or 5,000 high school-sized wind turbines could supply the electrical needs of Martha's Vineyard.
Peter Cabana
Vineyard Haven
Your vote means something
To the Editor:
Please remember to come to town meeting on Tuesday, April 14, at 7 pm at the Tisbury School gym. Do we want beer and wine in Tisbury? Remember last year? Your vote makes a difference. Thank you.
Gretchen Snyder
Vineyard Haven
