MARGARET KNIGHT
508-627-8894
It’s odd for two year-round residents of an island with such a small population to have cars that look exactly alike — but it’s even odder when one of them gets stolen in the middle of the day from down at the Point.
Last Wednesday afternoon about 2:30, Claire Thacher headed down to the ferry to buy a book of tickets before the discounted rates went up. She parked her white Caravan in the last space of the row in the parking lot — there was only one other vehicle parked in that row — and rode the ferry across to make the transaction. When she returned and went to get in her car, it wasn’t there. It was so unexpected that she asked Kim, who was driving the ferry, “Am I blind? Is there a white car there?” But there wasn’t one.
Claire tried to think who might have taken it; she’d only been gone about five minutes. She’d just talked to Roger at the house, and there didn’t seem to be anyone else who would have borrowed it. Gerry Jeffers was on the ferry, and he offered her a ride in the school bus. On the way up the road, they saw a white van go into a driveway, so Claire got out to see if it was possibly hers. Gerry drove on and said he’d come back after delivering the students home.
The van wasn’t Claire’s, but pretty soon Kappi Getsinger came along and gave her a ride up the road. Then Gerry returned and suggested Claire call the police. She figured it would probably turn out to be some innocent person, but she called anyway. When she told her name to the woman on the other end of the line at police headquarters, before Claire could even say anything more, the woman said, “I know why you’re calling.”
Evidently Shelly Wilbur had sent her stepson down to the ferry to pick up her white Caravan, which was on the Edgartown side. But when he saw the white van in the lot on this side, he thought it must be Shelly’s, and found the key and drove it back. It was only as Shelly was loading up the car that she noticed how clean it looked and realized it wasn’t hers, and called the police and took the car back to the Point. This all happened within the space of about a half hour.
Shelly’s car formerly belonged to Andrea DelloRusso who used to live on Chappy, too. Claire told me that when she shopped at Morning Glory Farm where Andrea used to work, sometimes she’d come out and get into Andrea’s car by accident. When she’d notice the car seats in the back, she’d realize it wasn’t her car.
It’s not often a Chappy car gets stolen on purpose. Sometimes it’s happened when kids have taken a car for a joyride, but as Claire said, “There’s no place for anyone to go.”
Last week I got so carried away describing the joys of my yard that, as a reader reminded me, I forgot to look beyond it to mention the potluck. In a last-minute host change, Edwin Seabury volunteered to bring the appetizers and be in charge of this past Wednesday’s community center potluck. The next potluck will be May 21 (in case I forget again). Another reminder is the Chappy collection of hazardous materials on May 17.
On Thursday, May 15 from 6 to 9 p.m., the Evening Under the Stars gala event will take place at the Mediterranean restaurant in Vineyard Haven to raise funds to help people on the Island dealing with cancer. For more information, you can call Pat Adler at 508-696-5901.
At the selectmen’s meeting on Monday, the ferry rate increase was approved with a plan to review it in October with a consultant knowledgeable about rates. Peter Wells says he wants to evaluate and revamp the rate structure, but he needs to know what each category brings in, so he plans to do that after one year of ownership. With the recent increases, the subsidized ticket rates went up 40 cents for cars and 20 cents for passengers per trip. The discount rate went up $1 for cars and 20 cents for passengers per trip.
On Tuesday, a hydraulic professional spent the day with Peter replacing hoses, valves, and seals, which should reduce the potential for breakdowns in the summer when both boats are running most of the time. After calling around for a welder, Peter came to learn that one had come with the ferry: Walter Streeter did the welding work that needed to be done on Tuesday. Next year, after a third boat is built, Peter will be able to do repairs without interrupting service.
Formation of the selectmen’s ferry committee has been postponed until the duties are clarified.
Last week the Edgartown Firemen’s Association gave a testimonial dinner for Richard Knight, who retired from being captain of the Chappy truck a year ago. Dick, who says he never wanted to be the captain, took over from Joe Cressy, and before him, Peter Valenti. Dick says, “There never could be a better group of guys to work with than the ones on the Chappy fire truck.” That may be why he ended up serving the department for more than 25 years.
At the dinner, Peter Wells, the new captain, talked about what a great influence Dick had been on the Chappy firefighters, and how he had been part of the design crew for the new firehouse. A brass plaque with his name on it hangs on an outside wall. Also, his footprints are permanently set into the floor’s epoxy coating where he walked inside before it had dried. The association gave Dick a clock, and the Chappy crew gave him a barometer with a plaque commemorating more than one-quarter of a century of service.
The cemetery stone wall crew is back from their home in Reading, Vt., to put the finishing touches on the wall. They’re cementing stone caps to the top of the wall to make it more solid – for the kids who, no doubt, will be walking on it soon.
The month of May brings the return of those who have wisely waited for the weather to improve. I’ve finally seen the first catbird and hummingbird in my yard. Mary MacGregor and Philip Lieberman also have arrived from Indiana, to open their house, trim their boxwoods, and enjoy the Island spring, which was generous with us this past week.
Other recent arrivals are the ticks. Of course, they were always here but now they’re showing their true colors — luckily, in the case of my white blanket. I hung the blanket on the line for the day. It may have been barely touching the grass, but at the end of the day, I picked eight wood ticks off it.
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