Neighboring Islands Kiteboarder survives six cold, wet hours

NANTUCKET - A 37-year-old kiteboarder who had lost his kite and board spent six dark hours in the 47-degree waters of Nantucket Sound as the wind gusted to 50 miles and the waves rose to 12 feet, while searchlights from Coast Guard rescue boats and a helicopter swept over him without spotting him. But the tide that carried him out eventually carried him in and deposited him on a shore where he had to stumble some six miles in bare feet before reaching a closed inn, sliding in through an unlocked window and making a telephone call. The Inquirer and Mirror said he was treated at a hospital and released.

Another wind farm proposal

NANTUCKET — A New York firm will ask permission to build a data collection tower south of the island in preparation for putting up more than 200 energy-producing windmills, the Inquirer and Mirror reports. Winergy LLC of Shirley, N.Y., has identified four different wind farm sites southeast of Nantucket on its website. They range in size from 44 to 62 square miles, and would hold from 208 to 231 towers.

Meanwhile, a data collection tower is going up off Cape Cod, north of Nantucket, for the 170-tower wind farm of Cape Winds Associates of Boston and Yarmouth, Mass.

Refuse rates going up

SHELTER ISLAND — The Town Council raised the rates for waste disposal across the board but quickly ran into protests that the new rate for getting rid of brush and construction debris would drive contractors to wood-chipping services and cost the town a great deal of revenue.

The rates were raised because the town needs to cover a $208,000 budget gap at the refuse and recycling center, according to the Shelter Island Reporter. The rates were raised from six to ten cents a pound for construction and demolition debris, and from 1.5 to three cents a pound for brush and stumps. Other increases were from $3 to $3.50 for large bags of waste; from $1.50 to $2 for small bags; from 1.75 to three cents a pound for masonry debris.

SSA seeks fast-ferry offers

MARTHA'S VINEYARD — The Steamship Authority is seeking proposals from private operators for high-speed ferry service from New Bedford, according to the Martha's Vineyard Times. Among the criteria are four round trips daily in season, and the ability to carry at least 1,400 passengers a day.

Fast-ferry service from New Bedford is an issue that has had the SSA in turmoil for several years. The SSA board rejected a trial service because of doubts about economic feasibility. It later approved a new proposal, but New Bedford rejected the terms. New Bedford now has a voting member on the board.

Vineyard voters settled another aspect of the dispute on election day when they sharply rejected a proposal to shift the appointment of the island's SSA governor from the Dukes County Commission to a panel controlled by selectmen of the island's towns. The Vineyard Gazette explained that the proposal was seen as a New Bedford initiative after the Dukes County Commission replaced an SSA governor friendly to the city's campaign for more ferry service.

Snow-making in the park

NANTUCKET — An offer to use a snow-making machine to spread snow for sledding in Mill Hill Park met stormy weather at a Park and Recreation Commission meeting, the Inquirer and Mirror reported. Neighbors expressed concern about the snow, and one bewailed the loss of excitement that a fall of natural snow brings to children. The snow gun was offered at no cost by the Wachusett ski mountain in western Massachusetts.

The high cost of drought

SHELTER ISLAND — The 58 customers of the West Neck Water District will be paying a stiff price for the drought last summer, when two of the three wells went dry. It cost $31,707 to truck water in, the Shelter Island Reporter said, and so a special charge of $215 will be assessed on each customer in the lowest usage category, while the largest user, a hotel and restaurant, will pay more than $13,000.

Wood from the tropics

MARTHA'S VINEYARD — R.M. Packer Co., which ships gasoline and fuel oil to the island, has bought a boat to bring exotic woods from Suriname in South America to the island for Deep Water Ventures, which provides exotic woods to boat-builders on the island and on the mainland. The 110-foot boat, built in 1956 in Denmark, is the last surviving small boat built under a Marshall Plan program to revive European industry, the Martha's Vineyard Times reported.

Cleansing clams

SHELTER ISLAND — A corner of West Neck Bay has been seeded with clams to test a theory that a high concentration of filter-feeding shellfish may reduce the so-called brown tide algae, according to the Shelter Island Reporter. For the two-year study, by The Nature Conservancy in conjunction with Stony Brook State University and the University of Southern California, TNC will spread 10,000 seed clams. The Town Board declared the area off-limits to clammers.

Modular homes judged deficient

NANTUCKET — Five island homeowners have successfully sued modular home builder New England Homes and local distributors, alleging that their homes were poorly constructed. A jury awarded a total of $275,567 in damages, but interest at the rate of 1 percent a month since the case was filed in 1999 remains to be added. The defendants charged that roofs and windows leaked and shingles fell off. As building costs have risen, modular homes have become popular; between 50 and 100 of them have been erected on the island the past several years, the Inquirer and Mirror said.