No Nips!

Residents and visitors to Martha's Vineyard are familiar with "nips," the small, empty, plastic, alcohol bottles strewn along the roads and sidewalks across the island. Our Road and Beach Trust Association mobilizes a clean-up every spring to pick up the winter's detritus; nips always lead the pack.

The Vineyard's towns held annual town meetings this week to vote on town budgets and long lists of warrants and articles. Among them was a ban on selling alcohol bottles of 100 milliliters or smaller. Similar bans on nips were passed on Nantucket and several towns on Cape Cod in recent years.

The ban passed quickly in Oak Bluffs, but almost didn't pass in Edgartown. According to the Vineyard Gazette:

"The night was largely absent of any major controversies, but did get off to a slow start as the town struggled to make its 210-person quorum. Town moderator Steve Ewing made a last-ditch phone call to The Wharf Pub for voters, finally calling the meeting to order about 30 minutes late."