News
in Brief
December
23, 2004
Aquinnah
has a budget it can live with
It took six months, three failed Proposition 2.5 override attempts,
an annual town meeting, and a special town meeting, but Aquinnah
selectmen finally were able to convince town voters to approve a
reduced request for more money to help fund the town’s 2005
fiscal year operating budget, which began on July 1, 2004.
At a special town meeting last Thursday night, voters agreed to
dip into the town’s stabilization fund, passing eight warrant
articles totaling $54,800 in transfers and approving a transfer
of $13,000 in 2004 unexpended funds into the general account.
Voters rejected a request for $2,500 for the town’s shellfish
constable and harbormaster.
Selectmen have assured voters that the stabilization fund will be
replenished later, once free cash becomes available.
With the 2005 fiscal year settled, selectmen and town officials
said they would now focus on getting the town’s finances in
order.
Stop & Shop buys Triangle Pharmacy
Stop & Shop has purchased the Triangle Pharmacy in Edgartown
from pharmacist Dora Psarakis, who has moved off-Island. On Dec.
15, it opened for business as the Stop & Shop Triangle Pharmacy.
The new store will keep the same hours.
According to Robert Keene of Stop & Shop, the new manager, Andy
Olem, offered positions to all the old employees. The new pharmacist
is Rich Cafferty, who worked in the same store some years ago.
Mr. Keene said that as a matter of policy, he does not discuss prices,
but he added, “I believe the customer will be pleased with
our pricing.” The new pharmacy will carry Stop & Shop house
brands of over-the-counter medicines.
Sunday shot leads to illegal hunting charge
Tisbury police filed charges in Edgartown District Court against
two Oak Bluffs men in connection with the shooting of a deer off
Northern Pines Road in Tisbury on Sunday. It is illegal to hunt
on Sunday in Massachusetts.
Tisbury police chief Ted Saulnier said police officers responding
to a report of a gunshot at 9:47 am Sunday morning found Joseph
Peters, 25, and James Wilson, 35, of Oak Bluff in a truck driven
by Mr. Wilson which matched the description of a vehicle that was
reportedly in the vicinity of the Thompson farm when a shot was
fired.
The men at first claimed to have been digging for clams said Chief
Saulnier, but upon further questioning Mr. Peters told the officers
he had fired at a “skipper,” a small deer, with his black
powder rifle, which he had hidden a short distance from the truck.
The officers searched the area and found a recently killed 8-point
buck.
Police charged Mr. Peters with hunting on Sunday, which carries
a fine of not more than $100 and 30 days in the house of correction.
Mr. Wilson was charged with motor vehicle trespass.
Chief Saulnier said that with the number of deer on the Vineyard,
hunters who want to take a deer and do so legally can certainly
be successful.
Mysterious blockade at Humphreys bakery
The Vineyard Food Shop on State Rd. in North Tisbury, popularly
known as Humphreys, closed its doors yesterday, but customers this
week were buzzing about the barricade which appeared on Tuesday
at the back of the customers’ parking area.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a locked metal fence backed
by an assortment of old refrigerators, stoves, and other scrap metal
appeared, sealing off access to the area between the main house
and barn immediately adjacent to the customer parking lot. The house
and barn, as well as the bakery, are owned by Joyce Duarte, daughter
of Argie Humphreys, founder of the Vineyard Food Shop. The bakery
has been leased to Ms. Duarte’s niece, Donna Diaz, and her
husband, Mike, who have operated the business for several years.
Though not part of the original lease, the area behind the barrier
had been used for employee parking by an agreement between the West
Tisbury selectmen and the late Bart Humphreys, in an effort to reduce
parking on State Rd. Bart Humphreys, who inherited the properties
from his father, Argie Humphreys, left them to his sister, Ms. Duarte.
Ms. Duarte has informed the Diazes that she will not renew their
lease on the bakery. In a telephone interview, Ms. Duarte said that
she plans to run the Vineyard Food Shop herself next season. According
to Ms. Diaz, she and her husband plan to operate Humphreys from
a Vineyard Haven location next spring, and the new shop will be
open year-round.
As an explanation of the mysterious barricade, Ms. Duarte said the
appliances and other scrap metal are waiting to be hauled away in
a clean-up of the barn, and the fence is there to protect others
from injuring themselves on the jagged metal and glass.
Eleven months of SSA declines
November ends with Steamship Authority traffic volumes down significantly.
With only this month left in 2004, passenger travel between the
Vineyard and the mainland had fallen 5.5 percent, compared with
2003 numbers for the same period. Auto traffic was down 5.1 percent.
Freight (that is, truck) volumes rose 22.4 percent, but the numbers
are not comparable year to year because of changes in the way the
SSA categorizes certain vehicles that had been autos and are now
trucks.
For Nantucket, the news is strikingly worse. Auto travel between
the distant island and Hyannis was off 12.8 percent for the first
11 months of 2004, and passenger traffic slipped 12.8 percent. Freight
rose 14.5 percent, but the same caution about comparisons holds
here.
Measuring in dollar terms, passenger revenues for the line as a
whole fell seven percent, comparing the first 11 months of 2004
with the comparable 2003 period. Auto revenue rose 1.6 percent,
and freight leapt 17.6 percent. Rate increases and changes in rate
structures concerning what are now categorized as trucks account
for the increases.
Woman killed driving home from Martha’s Vineyard
Andrea Hilse, 35, died when her car ran off route I-93 in Braintree
on Dec. 9, according to stories in the New Bedford Standard Times
and the Quincy Patriot Ledger. She was returning to her home in
Lawrence from a temporary job as a pharmacist at the Triangle Pharmacy
in Edgartown.
Because the section of I-93 is wooded and unlit, and because by
chance the place where she lost control is without a guardrail for
a short distance, the car traveled 100 feet into the woods and overturned
out of sight. A search of the area, including a helicopter patrol,
missed spotting the wreck. It was not until Dec. 17 that a tow truck
driver spotted the wreck while stopped to check his equipment.
RHS students qualify for state scholarships
Forty-nine seniors from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High
School have qualified for the state’s John and Abigail Adams
Scholarships. The Adams Scholarships provide a tuition waiver for
eight traditional semesters of undergraduate education at Massachusetts
state colleges and universities.
Massachusetts public school students qualify for the Adams Scholarship
when they apply and are accepted at a state college or university
and: score in the Advanced category in either the mathematics or
the English language arts section of the grade 10 MCAS test; score
in the proficient or advanced category on the second subject (Mathematics
or English language arts); and have a combined MCAS score on these
assessments that ranks in the top 25 percent in their school district,
based on the number of twelfth graders enrolled as of the Oct. 1,
2004, Student Information Management Systems (SIMS) report.
The regional high school students who are eligible are: Zachary
Horton; Derek Nagengast; Amy Alberice; James Smadbeck; Janelle Gilstad;
Nathaniel Sprague; Shane McGovern; John Gaskill; Evan Hammond; Elizabeth
Sinnett; Tyler Johnson; Elyse Fortes; Jennifer Reekie; John Colley;
Casey Dobel; Samuel Mercier; Marisa Higham; Hannah McGlynn; Jonathan
Eldridge; Benjamine Gramkowski; Patrick Smadbeck; Timothy Luce;
Mitchell Moreis; Emily Freeman-Miller; Emily Laursen; Julia Friedman;
Todd Hitchings; Matthew Rossi; Sarah Greenberg; Erik Monterosso;
Emily Rodegast; Rachel Lucier; Jonathan Ryan; Lance Fullin; Michael
Shea; Christopher Post; Carlos Ventura; John Morgan; Jessica Stone;
Eric Herman; Isabelle Lew; Kara Rosenthal; Simon Goldberg; Timothy
Walsh; Genevieve Flanders; Gwendolyn Mayhew; Nicholas Wallen; Christine
Ronan; and Jeremy Meacham.
Dr. Timothy Tsai. |
Hospital
appoints new ER director
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital announced last week that Dr.
Timothy W. Tsai has been appointed to be the new director of the
hospital Emergency Services Department. Dr. Tsai is no stranger
to the emergency room where he has worked since arriving on the
Island in June 2001.
Dr. Tsai takes over the post vacated following the departure of
Dr. Alan Hirshberg in July.
Quoted in a hospital press release, Tim Walsh, hospital chief executive
officer, said the selection of Dr. Tsai followed an extensive search.
“Dr. Tsai’s considerable experience in Emergency Medicine
and Administration along with his commitment to the Island community
made him a standout candidate,” said Mr. Walsh. “We are
delighted to have Dr. Tsai join the growing and dedicated corps
of healthcare providers at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.”
Dr. Tsai graduated from St. Louis University School of Medicine.
He completed his internship at University Medical Center at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham and went on to do his residency
in Emergency Medicine at Jacobi Medical Center at the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine. Dr. Tsai also received a Bachelor of Arts degree
from Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences.
He is board-certified in Emergency Medicine and is a fellow of the
American College of Emergency Physicians. His resumé also
includes past work with Indian Health Service Programs in both the
Navajo and Blackfeet communities.
Fishing vessel aground on Nomans Land, crew saved
At 12:48 on Saturday morning, the crew of the New Bedford fishing
vessel Mo Kelly sent a distress call to the Coast Guard. Their boat
was aground on a rocky shore on Nomans Land, and the three-man crew,
fearing that the hull might have been damaged and that the vessel
loaded with their catch might capsize, decided to abandon ship and
waded ashore in survival suits.
Seas that night were running 10 to 12 feet, and the wind was onshore.
A Coast Guard helicopter located the men on the beach at Nomans
Land and picked them up safely at 2:17 am. The Coast Guard reported
no injuries.
According to Lieutenant Hellberg of the Coast Guard Marine Safety
Office, which is investigating, the Mo Kelly is still ashore on
the rocks at the southwest corner of Nomans Land.
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