Nantucket, MA

PDF of print edition Loring Foundation hires Pochman as first director BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER       Thas he Linda Loring Nature Foundation lured former Maria Mitchell Association executive director Kathryn "Kitty" Pochman out of retirement and last week named her to be its first executive director and guiding force behind a planned environmental education center geared to children. More ... Nantucket Harbor water quality ranked best in Southeastern Mass. BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER       Nantucket Harbor's water quality is the highest of 20 embayments along the southeastern coast of Massachusetts examined in the first round of assessments by the Massachusetts Estuaries Project. More ... OBITUARY GABRIELLE VAN KENNAN MEERBERGEN       G abrielle Van Kennan Meerbergen died on July 22, 2007 in New York State. She was 18, and was born at Nantucket Cottage Hospital on February 13, 1989. Gabrielle was due to receive highest honors from the John Dewey Academy, in Great Barrington, Mass. on August 18. More ... Favorable high court ruling could impact airport land dispute BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER       The state's Supreme Judicial Court last Thursday ruled in favor of William Devine, who fought an airport claim to his Nantucket property in Madequecham. Now airport officials and Eric Shaw, who are engaged in a similar scenario, await more information on how the July 19 ruling will affect Shaw's c... More ... Who is Mr. Zee? The following article about the current owner of the Dreamland Theatre, Haim Zahavi, was originally published on January 17, 2007 in The Nantucket Independent. In light of Special Town Meeting Article 1, it is republished here this week. BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT WRITER       Aformer captain in the Israeli army. Father of two. Self-made millionaire who started with nothing when he immigrated in 1987. Principle owner of the Dreamland Theatre and Condominiums, one of the most interesting - and bureaucratically fraught - real estate stories of the last few years. More ... Eminent domain takings not as easy as they seem BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER       Eminent domain is a phrase tossed around whenever the town is faced with losing a major element of island life like the boatyard on Washington Street Extension or the Dreamland Theater. But eminent domain is hardly a property taking mechanism used with any kind of regularity; for the most part, i... More ... West end beach owners explore different erosion control options BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER       The 'Sconset Bluff has the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund and beach nourishment, but Smith's Point has Joseph Farrell and his shoal modules. More ... Planners survey residents for town open space plan BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER       With open space on Nantucket now approaching 50 percent, the requirement for a town management plan might seem like overkill. But then the town's open space plan has not been updated since the early 1990s, while the island's nonprofit conservation organizations have up-to-date management strategi... More ... CATALPA TREE IN PERIL?       Catalpa is not a word in most Nantucketers' lexicons unless they know something about trees. If they do, they know that catalpa trees are a rarity on the island, which is why Nantucket's tree warden is trying to prevent Andrew and Annette Dey, owners of two houses at 7 Eagle Lane, from felling the... More ... Islanders carry on tradition with handcrafted whirligigs BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER       Two young islanders have launched a new business to carry on the traditional folk art craft of making whirligigs. More ... DREAMLAND BY DANIEL W. DRAKE ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER       As Eliza Doolittle sings wistfully in "My Fair Lady," "Wouldn't it be loverly" if Rick Ulmer's deal to purchase the Dreamland Theater had come to pass? But in the end, to paraphrase his summation, the projector broke down even before ticket sales began. More ...