Tag Archives: Chilmark

SMF’s Land Grab Continues

The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation (SMF) — a Vineyard conservation nonprofit that has long since lost sight of its founder’s mission — is still trying to steamroller Ben Ramsey and Nisa Counter into giving up their land on Blue Barque Road … Continue reading

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

So the results are in on the roundabout referendum from four of the five towns whose selectmen gave voters a chance to express their opinion. Aquinnah doesn’t vote till May 9. Here’s the tally so far: Edgartown: 508 NO ROUNDABOUT, … Continue reading

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Slantwise

As far as slants go, the Leaning Tower of Pisa has nothing on Nelson Sigelman’s coverage of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation’s suit against Ben Ramsey and Nisa Counter. The latest installment was posted yesterday on the Martha’s Vineyard Times website. … Continue reading

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They’d Rather Sue

For those following Ben Ramsey and Nisa Counter’s adventures in Massachusetts Land Court . . . In our last episode, Judge Sands encouraged the parties to consider mediating their dispute. Mediation encourages opponents in a dispute to work together to … Continue reading

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It Ain’t Over Yet

My September 10 post about Nisa Counter and Ben Ramsey’s struggle to defend their small piece of Chilmark against a land grab by a Vineyard conservation organization was titled How the Story Ended . . . That ellipsis at the … Continue reading

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How the Story Ended . . .

Earlier this summer I copyedited a book about the Sacco-Vanzetti case. I’d known the basics for many years. In 1921 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted of killing two men during a 1920 payroll robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. … Continue reading

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Defense Fund Established for Ben & Nisa

From the Seasonally Occupied Territories has been covering Ben Ramsey and Nisa Counter’s fight to defend their land against the claim of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation (SMF), a local conservation group. Apart from Facebook, it’s the only public source of … Continue reading

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Has SMF Lost the Plot?

Tom Counter submitted the following letter to both island newspapers. The Martha’s Vineyard Times declined to print it. The Vineyard Gazette has said it was going to print it, but as of last Friday’s paper, it hadn’t appeared. I’m honored … Continue reading

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So Long, Tent

For background info, see “Land Grab” (Aug. 17, 2011) and “What’s Up with the M.V. Times?,” published earlier today. Much ado has been made about the little structure that Ben Ramsey and Nisa Counter built on their land in Chilmark. … Continue reading

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What’s Up with the M.V. Times?

For the background to this post, see “Land Grab,” Aug. 17, 2011. The story in today’s Martha’s Vineyard Times, posted to the paper’s website yesterday and dated Aug. 24, opens with this sentence: “Massachusetts Land Court Associate Justice Alexander H. … Continue reading

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