PAY THE COMMISSION

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I was surprised to read the claim in last Friday’s Gazette that all the land in Edgartown was either developed or in conservation. This was not the picture that I saw at the Island Plan meeting at the Agricultural Hall last August. In fact, I just looked again at the maps at islandplan.org (in the appendix to the proceedings on development and growth). Maybe only the center of town was intended, or the historical district, but that’s not where most of us live, thank you very much.

How odd, to say in effect that there’s nothing left to protect immediately after saying “Edgartown can protect itself better now.” And frankly local zoning has not been adequate protection in the past and no evidence has been advanced why we should expect it to be in the future.

My family wasn’t at the town meeting in April, shame on us. Our votes would have been in favor of paying the commission. Even if the Island Plan were the only thing they were doing, they’d deserve our support.

We’ll be at the special meeting on the 18th, and I hope to see a lot of friends and family there too.

Bruce Nevin

Edgartown

RESTORE THE BEACH

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Checking to try to uncover who’s responsible for the disaster at Bend in the Road Beach would waste time and accomplish nothing. I urge all those interested in correcting the untenable situation to contact the board of selectmen, the conservation commission and the dredge committee and tell them to start restoring this part of the beach. They have the ability to do it. Whatever it takes.

Robert Carroll

Edgartown

ABOUT CAPE WIND

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I’m sad to see how many groups have a hand in this massive for-profit project. It seems almost impossible to know who has control of what. In the end I suspect there will a rueful day when we will ask why we stood aside and gave up control over what goes onto our waters. The absolute lack of environmental impact language in the “report” is also very troubling.

Chip Coblyn

Oak Bluffs

SLOW DOWN!

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

After reading the letter from James Paterson on how he was accosted by his fellow road users, I can but say how sad but all too typical for the little Island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Mr. Peterson has every right to ride on any public road on the Island without harassment or endangerment from those who drive.

We have without question some of the worst drivers I have ever encountered here on the Vineyard.

He is absolutely correct that there are a whole lot of people behind the wheel of motor vehicles on this little Island with a false sense of entitlement who hate cyclists, think nothing of screaming, cursing, throwing objects and threatening them with their motor vehicles.

The Massachusetts laws protecting cyclists on our roadways have been increased and strengthened this year. That includes the education of our police departments to further protect all road users.

These shared use paths (sidewalks) are an option for cyclists to use if they so wish. Motorists do not have any right to harass cyclists or to demand that cyclists get off any public road.

How would these motorists feel if it was their child or sibling, spouse or friend having their lives threatened in such a manner?

These people you assault with your words, your actions, your cars and trucks are those who may hire you for a job, a customer in your store, a friend you may never know.

My daughters and I have experienced this type of behavior many times and I hear it from cyclists over and over and over again.

I can be online and in touch with thousands of cyclists who in turn can touch bases with thousands more, and on and on, worldwide.

What happens when it becomes commonly known that this Island is not a safe place for cyclists to come to ride these beautiful roads, to spend their money at great hotels, in fine restaurants and stores?

What happens when it becomes commonly known that we have such a road-rage-centered bunch of motorists stuck in self-induced gridlock?

Why are these motorists so freaking angry? What is it about motor vehicles that brings out the worst in people?

Ya know, if you travel at a slower pace you might get there faster and calmer.

David J. Whitmon

Oak Bluffs

FRIEND INDEED

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

In my West Tisbury sign shop I employ a very old-fashioned and not dup-licable item: Bon Ami soap cakes, which are used to prepare high gloss surfaces for paint. The secret ingredient in Bon Ami is feldspar, an extremely mild abrasive. There are two cakes of Bon Ami left on my supplies shelf, so it’s time to try to find a place to order more. LL Bean used to have it, but no longer. I hope that Bon Ami cake has not gone to the same sad place of oblivion as have the real Orange Crush or Postum.

I was on the ferry when I remembered that the SSA has put wireless on their ferries. Aha! So I tried to find, through Google, Bon Ami. No luck. The Steamship Authority (Big Brother?) Internet censor refuses to allow any searches for the word “ami.” Friend, I kid you not.

I am so very thankful to the Steamship Authority for protecting me from my misguided inquisitiveness. Especially for keeping me from the evils of the word “ami.”

Yes, oh my goodness gracious, bless them for protecting us all from the hideous evils that lurk out there in the Internet.

Tom Hodgson

West Tisbury

DISAPPEARING MORES

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

My days on the Vineyard go back to a time when we only had to dial four digits for a local call. We never locked our house and left our keys in the ignition while running errands in town. Seems like I always read letters in the Gazette thanking a total stranger for returning their lost wallet (with perhaps $500 in it), or other items of value here and there.

Sensing that our community was somehow protected from everyday small-time criminal activity was one of the main incentives for my moving here with my family, away from the random acts of lawlessness that plagued the streets of New York and Boston. I thought, rather naively, that no one could get away with “it” because of the ferry. It was our natural protector and gatekeeper.

But times are tougher now. Over the past winter a series of jarring daytime home invasions caused me to alarm my home every day before going off to town. Then I got paranoid on Main street in Vineyard Haven when I read of an elderly movie theatre ticket taker being mugged at night. Then there was the recent incident at the Dairy Queen caused by a drunken preppie in need of a soft ice cream fix at the break of dawn.

Through all these years, fortunately, nothing like this has actually happened to me. That is until last week. I carelessly left my camera (a Canon D50) on the passenger seat of my car while forgetting to close the car window or lock it up. I think it was parked at Cronig’s. When I drove back home and looked to bring the camera into the house, it was nowhere to be found. Surely I must have just misplaced it, I thought.

But as time went by and I could not find it, I began to presume that it had been taken. I miss it. There were some nice shots still left on the chip, yet to be downloaded. Fortunately, they were not of a wedding or some once-in-a-lifetime occasion I was trusted to capture forever. Just a nice sunset along Sengekontacket. I feel grateful it wasn’t my laptop that was taken — that would have been a real disaster!

But a photographer without his camera is like a fisherman without a pole, or a carpenter without a hammer. So after three days of searching and hoping, I ordered a new one — nice and clean and shiny.

I write this letter not expecting someone to offer it back, but to remind us all that we are no longer back in the days of four-digit phone calls, beautiful beaches devoid of no trespassing signs, and the Island as an enforcer of our morality. Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way.

Peter Simon

Chilmark

CHILDREN’S BENEFIT

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

On behalf of the Martha’s Vineyard Boys’ and Girls’ Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Martha’s Vineyard, I would like to thank everyone who made the 15th Annual Children’s Benefit Golf Tournament at Farm Neck a huge success. Together we raised over $35,000 to support the programs and services of these two special organizations.

Thank you to all the golfers who came out in support of our organizational missions. We couldn’t have asked for a better day and I hope that everyone enjoyed the event as much as we enjoyed having you there.

Thank you to Farm Neck for once again hosting our event at your beautiful club. I’d especially like to thank Mike Zoll and Kyle Fiore in the pro shop and Mia Rebello in the cafe for all your help in the organization and facilitation of this event.

Thank you to all our sponsors of various levels. Your support and commitment to our community is greatly appreciated, and we are proud to have you as partners in providing our Island’s youth with quality programs and services.

I hope to see everyone back next year for the 16th edition of the children’s benefit, and look forward to welcoming new participants and sponsors to the event.

Peter Lambos

Edgartown

Peter Lambos is executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Boys’ and Girls’ Club.