Morning:
6°c
WORLD: Obamas head to playground of rich for a family summer
Ed Harris28 Jul 2009
Barack Obama and the first family are planning to rent a $20million (£12million) farmhouse on the island playground of Martha's Vineyard for their holiday next month.
The Blue Heron Farm is a sprawling 28-acre private compound with a private beach and pool, a basement cinema - and a rental of as much as $50,000 a week. But perhaps the attraction of a golf practice tee and basketball half-court helped swing it for the president.
The main property is a five-bedroom, white Victorian-style farmhouse, and there is also a reconstructed Pennsylvania hay barn and Vermont shed.
Michelle Obama and the couple's daughters, Sasha and Malia, may arrive earlier and stay with friends elsewhere on the island. Bo, their new dog, is also reportedly going.
The farm, which also has a private dock, is in the western resort of Chilmark, recorded as America's most expensive small town in 2007.
The Obamas do not seem to mind that the owner of the property is a prominent Republican donor.
William Van Devender, who made his money in timber, has given more than $166,000 to the party since 1979, including contributions made to former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain during the 2008 campaign.
No deal has yet been struck on the property, but the rental agreement being negotiated has reportedly been split into three separate leases, one of which will be held and paid for by the Obamas. The second will be taken by the secret service and the third by the White House, which will be sending a large entourage to Martha's Vineyard, summer playground for the wealthy.
The secret service has been looking for a suitable holiday site for the president and his family on the island since April.
The Obamas have previously spent holidays in Oak Bluffs, where many wealthy, and mostly African-American, friends have summer homes. These include Henry Louis Gates Jnr, the Harvard professor whose arrest after breaking into his own house last week led the President to say police had behaved "stupidly". But the secret service decided that staying in Oak Bluffs would cause traffic jams for locals, and that the area was too difficult to secure.
The White House added: "They've spent vacation time [at Martha's Vineyard] before and are looking forward to relaxing together as a family at the end of a very busy summer."
Mr Van Devender and his wife Mollie bought the farm in 2005 - at the time it was reportedly the second-highest price paid for a single residential property in the island's history.
Hawaiin officials say they have again checked and confirmed that President Obama was born in the state and is a natural-born American citizen, meeting a key constitutional requirement for being president. So-called birthers, who claim Mr Obama was born in Kenya and is therefore ineligible to be President, have grown more vocal recently on blogs and television shows.
Reader views (1)
There goes the neighbourhood...
- Cliff, Luton, 28/07/2009 12:43
Report abuse
