Letters to the Editor
Posted September 27, 2007
Stiff-arming the common man
To the Editor:
Last week's Times ran an editorial bashing the abutters of Ice House Pond. The editorial states the abutters "do not want the members of the public swimming or fishing or kayaking or canoeing or picnicking at Ice House." This, however, is what the town of West Tisbury does with Lambert's Cove Beach, and yet the editorial board of The Times says nothing about it.
This next one is a little late, but here I go. Peter Simon wrote a letter to the Vineyard Gazette a few weeks back where he took Barack Obama to task for having an expensive fund-raiser on the Island and not meeting the common man. If Peter Simon is so concerned about the plight of the common man, why doesn't he write in to the paper about the beach policies in West Tisbury and his home town of Chilmark? Surely these policies do not conform with his ideals from the 1960s. End beach apartheid.
Erik Albert
Oak Bluffs
Ice House editorial
To the Editor:
I just love it when you expose hypocrites hiding behind the environmental flag. The Ice House and Chappy helicopter gang deserve to see their exploits in print.
Nelson Sigelman couldn't definitively finger the ringleader of the Trustees tee-shirt sales saga. I appreciate his efforts to try to uncover the real estate broker who started it all.
Thanks to all for publishing a newspaper that tells us what is really happening locally. Good fishing and happy hunting,
Will Geresy
Edgartown
Forever grateful
To the Editor:
On Friday, Sept. 14, I was greatly dismayed when the prearranged (well-known) taxi to take me to the SSA in V.H. did not show as scheduled at 5:15. When I called the company, I got a recording stating that they would be on vacation until Thursday.
Frantically, I searched the phone book for another cab that could come right then. Awakening the owner/driver of A Big Cab Co. (formerly Marlene's), he stated that he would be there within 10 minutes. He was. He also did not charge me double as the original taxi service was going to (the norm between the hours of 1 am and 6 am, I was told.)
I am forever grateful to A Big Cab Co.
Mary Fischman
Elizabeth City, N.C.
A 'quilt of hope'
To the Editor:
They say that when God closes a door, he opens a window. A little over a month ago, I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, malignant melanoma. I am 43 years old with a husband and two young children. I have taught on this Island for 11 years at The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School and have loved every moment of it.
Since I was diagnosed, I have felt more love from this Island community than I have ever experienced in my life. People have reached out to me in a way that will affect me deeper than this cancer ever will. Friends and strangers alike have offered me and my family their time, energy, money, and love. We have received the dearest letters, help with practical matters like transportation, ferry tickets, use of an off-Island car, and a place to stay near the hospital. People have given us childcare, books, tapes, valuable advice, vitamins, financial help, offers of trips, clothes, flowers, and delicious food. One day we woke up to find a huge donation of wood near our doorstep and fathers of my students and coworkers replacing our rotting porch. These gestures of true human spirit have woven themselves into a quilt of hope for me and cover me like the warmest of blankets.
Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart.
Dede Hagen
Vineyard Haven
Wonderful care
To the Editor:
I have been home about 10 days trying to conjure up some words to express my appreciation for the wonderful care I received during my 11-day stay in the Martha's Vineyard Community Hospital. All of those dedicated people who took care of me 24 hours a day did a superb job.
We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful staff, and they are most deserving of the new building which is now being built for them and for us. Surely you will all be "remembered in heaven!"
John W. Mayhew
West Tisbury
Horse council
supports special ways DCPC
To the Editor:
This is a copy of a letter to the Martha's Vineyard Commission:
Horses are not as common a sight on Martha's Vineyard as they once were. They may be seen grazing in a few roadside pastures, or pulling hay wagons and carriages for special events, or performing at the Agricultural Fair, but most equestrian activity takes place off the Island's main roads and therefore out of public view. A reliable estimate places the number of horses on Martha's Vineyard year-round at more than a thousand; the equine population, like the human, increases in summer.
The Martha's Vineyard Horse Council (MVHC) was founded in the early 1970s and is the Island's only nonprofit organization devoted to equestrian activities. Its official purpose is "to bring together all horse lovers on Martha's Vineyard, to promote horses and their related activities, as well as to provide educational clinics, seminars and youth programs for its membership." It currently has upwards of 150 members. We range in age from single digits to "right up there." Whether we keep our horses in fully equipped boarding stables or in modest backyard barns, we live for the hours we can spend at the barn, grooming, mucking stalls, cleaning tack, feeding, and doing the myriad chores that go into horsekeeping. We do all kinds of riding, solo and in company; some of us also drive.
The MVHC sponsors several horse shows and other activities throughout the year. Among its most popular events is the annual fall pace ride, which takes place on the trails in and near the State Forest. Many MVHC members ride the Island's trails, dirt roads, and ancient ways year-round. The State Forest provides an extensive network of trails, dirt tracks, and fire lanes, which horseback riders share with walkers, joggers, runners, Rollerbladers, and bicyclists. The five special ways that have been nominated by the Edgartown planning board for designation as a DCPC are especially important to riders east of Barnes Road because they allow riders to access the State Forest without riding along the main roads.
In bygone decades, riders could go almost anywhere on horseback. In these days of more and faster traffic, the main roads are best avoided. Increased development has restricted or eliminated access to many previously accessible fields and trails. Like other lovers of the outdoors, equestrians depend on public lands and publicly accessible trails. The MVHC urges the Martha's Vineyard Commission to designate these five special ways as a District of Critical Planning Concern so that they will remain safe and accessible to riders in coming years, and even in future generations.
Susanna Sturgis
M.V. Horse Council
Island hospitality
To the Editor:
I would just like to take a moment to share a very welcoming and pleasant Vineyard experience with you and your readers. I was scheduled to do a training at 5:30 at the Vineyard Haven Library and missed the ferry that would get me there on time. Frantically searching for an alternative mode of transportation, a fisherman, Mitch Pachico and his son, Glenn, volunteered to take me to the Vineyard. They refused to take any money, saying that it was good old "Vineyard hospitality" and that some day I could offer the same to someone else. Not only did I meet two very hospitable men and have a great boat ride, but I also made my training!
Thank you Mitch and Glenn.
Maura McAvoy
Boston
So generous
To the Editor:
On Wednesday, July 19, 2007, Julie Rae Fable at 15 months of age took her first helicopter ride, a Medivac from Martha's Vineyard Hospital to Massachusetts Children's Hospital in Boston. Her mom Valeria accompanied her. Because of turbulence, the helicopter was forced to land, and Julie Rae and Mom continued on in an ambulance.
Julie Rae's difficulty with breathing had been diagnosed by doctors at Martha's Vineyard Hospital as croup. Because of her condition, Julie was transferred to the Boston hospital for further treatment. With the proper medication and nurturing for the young child, Julie was able to return to their grandparent's home in Oak Bluffs on Friday afternoon.
The family is very appreciative of the Medivac personnel, Linda and Lynda and the pilot, the nurses and doctors in Martha's Vineyard and in the Boston Children's Hospital, as well as the Steamship Authority staff that was so caring and helpful and the Black Dog personnel that was so generous.
Garry Meyers
Oak Bluffs
Hurrah for the bridge tenders
To the Editor:
As the sailing season draws to an end, we want to thank the Lagoon Pond Bridge tenders, Bob and Earl, for the excellent service they provided this summer. Not only was the bridge fully operational again this summer, but the bridge tenders were always on call at the scheduled times. They answered each radio request cheerfully, with helpful advice on tides and wind, and personal words of encouragement.
It is not always the easiest task, steering a sailboat through the narrow channel! Thanks again for a job well done.
Jane and Helmer Puetthoff
Vineyard Haven
Vineyard view
To the Editor:
The new orientation of the webcam freshens up your great view of the harbor.
Thanks for the webcam. Whether your weather is better than ours or worse, I appreciate that view of Martha's Vineyard every day.
Dave Bosted
Trenton, N.J.
Vote no on old roads designation
To the Editor:
I do not understand why the Vineyard Gazette has to make such sport of trying to vilify me and my family. I write in response to the Gazette editorial of Sept. 18, 2007. While it is true that my family owns almost a hundred acres of lands along the old roads that are proposed to be designated and that we wish to preserve our rights to use, at some future time, these lands just as everybody else has used these old roads already, the Gazette misunderstands our position, portraying us as evil, greedy opponents. I remind you that we are nearly the last folks to not have developed these properties and have left them in a largely natural state, doing some logging in parts.
The proponents and the town seem to wish to ignore the very legal basis for the designation. That is what we have opposed. In order to lawfully designate these roads, they must be declared to be public roads, to lawfully allow the public to "enjoy" them. Otherwise, the rules would simply foment trespass, which they obviously cannot do. Such a declaration would mean that these roads would have to now be maintained by the town so as to permit all persons to travel safely along them, opening them to all kinds of additional traffic. That would defeat the very purpose avowed for the district and would undermine the nice rural feel of the area.
Pennywise Path and Watcha Path were historically and always have been used as cut through roads. Middleline Road was a short cut from the Plains to Holmes Hole Road. A declaration that they are fully public would only make more fully developed the by-pass nature. What the proponents of this district have not told you is that it would now be easier than ever to avoid the Triangle and upper Main Street snarl by cutting through to the West Tisbury Road. That is one central point that has been pressed by me, called an "opponent." I trust the desire to regulate these old roads would never have comprehended the disastrous consequences of the very designation the proponents seem so pressed to rush into effect.
The town has resisted this very result since the planning board, in anticipating Pennywise becoming a real paved town road in the mid-'70's, allowed dozens of lots to be developed along the way. The new homes were built, and these folks became instant conservationists, wishing to prevent the improvements that were contemplated in letting them build in the first place.
The town succumbed to the wishes of the new residents. The triangle got developed without the relief valve that the 1970s planning board had planned in urging the town to open up the new uptown B-2 district. Look where that bit got us. What we have here is a failure to plan, based on some sort of pressing desire to rush this unwise proposal through the process. Pennywise has been gradually improved over the years by the residents of the road, to no dismay of anyone, so that emergency vehicles could access the homes, the very reason we all pay real estate taxes. How come any similar work that might occur to these other old roads, all of sudden, becomes "verboten?"
That is what concerns me, as well as the existing language of the current special ways by-law that would forbid even the most modest of maintenance of the roadbed, leaving it to completely degrade over time to the point of non-use. How dangerous would that be for everyone. I guess that that would be in line with the aim of returning these ways to ancient history, to let them grow back in and out of existence.
Folks are rushing to judgment without understanding the devil is in the details. I urge everyone to be much more thoughtful than they have been until now about the consequences of any sort of designation. As private roads, while the rights remain for adjacent landowners to gradually improve these old roads, the nature of the ways is more likely to be generally preserved to enhance the value of the properties.
No one wants these to become highway shortcuts. Stop, the public road designation! Vote no on designation!
Benjamin L. Hall, Jr.
Edgartown
Another milestone for the Y
To the Editor:
The YMCA of Martha's Vineyard has passed another milestone. On Sept. 6, the Martha's Vineyard Commission formally approved our building plan. While we still need to secure important approvals in the town of Oak Bluffs and raise the remaining funds required, the construction of the Y is now in sight.
We want to take this opportunity to publicly thank all those organizations that have worked so diligently and cooperatively with us to reach this critical turning point.
We are deeply grateful for the spirit of good will and collaboration that has existed from the very outset of our project. For the past two years, as the Y has worked to develop a campus plan that would encompass our project, we have enjoyed the full and wonderfully supportive participation of our neighbors: the MV Regional High School, MV Community Services, MV Arena, the Skate Park, Island Elderly Housing, the Vineyard Transit Authority, the MV Land Bank, the Oak Bluffs planning board, the Oak Bluffs Wastewater Commission, and the Oak Bluffs town hall. Throughout the process, the Martha's Vineyard Commission offered constructive guidance, functioning in its planning role.
The actual approval process before the Martha's Vineyard Commission was not without obstacles. Some of the hurdles were difficult to overcome. The issues, however, were of vital importance to the Island: the need to protect our great ponds and our water supply, the need to safeguard the natural habitat, the need to explore alternative sources of energy, and the need to secure affordable housing. Thanks to the collaboration and trust already in place, solutions were found. The MVC did its job. We did our job. Our project is better for it. The Island is better for it.
We must now secure final approvals in the town of Oak Bluffs and raise the remaining funds needed to break ground. We are counting on the continuing support of our generous Island community.
Judy Crawford
For the Board of Directors
YMCA of Martha's Vineyard
