Pig on the Loose

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of April, 1983:

A call from the Communications Center about a pig chasing cars on the Vineyard Haven Road sent John Rogers on a daring mission Saturday. When the Tisbury animal control officer reached the scene, he found that “a guy had lassoed the pig. And of course, the pig was towing him right along. He couldn’t hold that pig.” Dragging the six-foot man, the 300-pound pig was heading for cover. There was a truck nearby carrying a bucket of corn. Apparently an attempt had been made to lure the pig home behind the truck carrying the corn. Hence the call that the pig had been chasing traffic. Mr. Rogers instructed the pig’s owner, Lee Carroll, to grab the corn. He, meanwhile would grab the broom he had carried from home. Past experience with pigs, he said, proved that a broom can either effectively stop a pig, with a brush to the snout, or prod a pig ahead, when applied to the opposite end. With Mr. Carroll shaking the bucket of corn and Mr. Rogers gently prodding, the pig obediently walked back to his pen.

Peter Martell and Colonial Inn of Martha’s Vineyard Inc. plan to build a complex of 59 hotel rooms, nine shops and 40 parking spaces off Winter Street in Edgartown, leaving official expressions of deep dismay that the plan may destroy the character of the neighborhood and the heart of downtown Edgartown. The plan calls for demolition of the old building housing John C. Nevin Real Estate. The complex calls for two three-story buildings and butts up against two private homes on North Summer street. Since the property falls within the B-1 district, Mr. Martell needs only the permission of the Edgartown building inspector Arnold Anderson to get under way. Mr. Anderson said that he expects that the plan will needs some modifications, but basically falls within the regulations of the business district. The building inspector sought the comments of the planning board, which advised Mr. Anderson he will need to consider traffic and public safety problems as well as intrusions on the character of the neighborhood.

Two sure signs that the moped season has begun were evident this week. First, Island police and moped dealers journeyed to Boston Monday to testify on opposite sides of two bills that would increase the power of towns to regulate mopeds. Second, a rider on a rented moped wiped out on a patch of sand and cut her face. The joint legislative committee on public safety heard testimony on one bill which would authorize the Dukes and Nantucket county commissioners to regulate mopeds. The second bill would prohibit the operation of mopeds in West Tisbury, Chilmark and Gay Head. Police chiefs Peter Williamson of Oak Bluffs and John J. McCarthy of Tisbury testified in favor of the bills, telling the committee of the hazards of Island moped travel in the summer. They urged action to prevent fatalities. Dealers Edmond Clermont and Robert Cimeno of Vineyard Haven and Mark Wallace of Oak Bluffs said they opposed any legislation that would threaten their businesses, but supported steps to increase moped safety. Mr. Clermont stressed that the state could make riding safer by frequently cleaning state highways and approving money for bicycle path projects.

A Provincetown man who was arrested for disorderly conduct last summer filed a $6 million lawsuit against Provincetown-Boston Airlines and the West Tisbury police chief, claiming that his civil rights were violated. Peter Manso, a freelance writer whose credits include interviews published in Playboy magazine, seeks $1 million for injuries alledgedly received and $5 million in punitive damages. Mr. Manso was arrested by West Tisbury police at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport after he was asked to get off a flight bound for Hyannis. Mr. Manso reportedly was told by the pilot to disembark after he alledgedly made offensive remarks to Miss Susan Fish, a PBA stewardess. “The pilot accused Manso in the presence of other passengers of ‘threatening the stewardess’ and of threatening ‘to tear the stewardess’ clothes off.’ ” The suit claims that Mr. Manso spent “considerable sums of money” for medical care and transportation to and from the Vineyard as a result of the arrest and that he had suffered “great pain and suffering,” including loss of time from work, financial loss, “much anxiety and mental distress, annoyance, vexation, embarrassment, humiliation and indignity” as well as sleeplessness, restlessness and nervousness.

“I dislike even the word retirement,” says Dr. Milton Mazer, who retired April 1 as director of the Mental Health Center of Community Services. Dr. Mazer was a founder of the Mental Health Center more than 21 years ago, a clinic that pioneered in bringing psychiatric care to a small and isolated low-income area. He has been its director and sole psychiatrist ever since. “I will continue to have a private practice,” he says now. “And I’ll still be on the staff of the hospital as chief of psychiatry.” But he admits wistfully about the clinic, “It’s saying goodbye to a large part of my life. And I’d like to do some writing. But no more references and footnotes.”

Compiled by Cynthia Meisner

library@mvgazette.com