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In wake of Earl, lots of linemen, but no wires to repair on Martha's Vineyard

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane September 4, 2010 12:06 PM

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Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

A couple hit the beach this morning on Martha's Vineyard to look for treasures tossed up by the storm.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

OAK BLUFFS -- Looking weary and a little disappointed, linemen filed into Linda Jean’s Restaurant on Circuit Avenue this morning as the sun rose on Martha's Vinyeard.

The storm had left the region without causing any damage to the power lines in town. That meant the dozens of workers contracted by NStar who had come to the Vineyard hoping for days, maybe weeks, of work, would leave early, with little to show for the trip.

“Earl was a dud,” grumbled Mike Riben, a lineman from Enfield, Conn. as he puffed on a cigarette outside the diner.

Fixing fallen repair lines can pay up to $500 day, said J.P. Murphy, a crew foreman from Plainville.

“We got paid,” Murphy said. “But not like we could have been.”

Riben, who has been repairing lines for 35 years, said he knows it sounds bizarre to want destruction.

“I’m glad nobody got hurt,” Riben said. “It’s hard when your job requires tragedy. But there’s satisfaction in getting things back, in fixing things.”

Around the island, there was relief the storm caused such little damage, but there was also a sense of lost opportunity.

The storm cost Jim De Marco, owner of Richardson’s Ice Cream on Lake Avenue, about $1,000 in sales.

His store normally shuts down at 11 p.m., but he lost hours of bustle when town officials forced shops and restaurants to shut down at 2 p.m. Friday.

“I think they could have killed closing time until at least 5 p.m.,” De Marco said. “It hurts to lose business any time, but especially Labor Day weekend.”

Still, De Marco, 64, said it could have been worse for him financially if the hurricane had destroyed part of his property.

“I’d rather be happy and rich,” De Marco said, “But I’ll take relieved and happy.”

Shelley McThomas, a 60-year-old from Kansas City and a veteran of many tornadoes, said she was hoping for more excitement out of Earl.

“I wanted to experience 100 mile-an-hour winds,” she said, as she sat on a bench along Ocean Avenue, overlooking the tranquil sea. “Earl petered out. I’m disappointed with Earl, like so many men in my life.”

About six miles away in Edgartown, a small crowd gathered at Norton Point Beach, where the night before the waves had reached at least ten feet and the water had rushed to the roadways.

The waters were choppy and the waves crashed dramatically on the beach. But the nearby road was dry and there had been no damage to the beach gatehouse, a relief to Rick Dwyer, the 59-year-old beach manager.

“We dodged a bullet,” he said, as he sat on his ATV.

Nearby, Lisa Friedrich, a 47-year-old car saleswoman from South Windsor, Conn., stood on the beach staring at the waves.

Her vacation ends tomorrow, and she was happy she did not flee the island like others did.

“Definitely would have been kicking myself,” Friedrich said. “We know what they’re thinking, ‘Damn it, I paid for the whole weekend!’”