Martha's Vineyard 1996 was a year of storms. There were tempests of the natural sort: September's Hurricane Edouard, though less fearsome than predicted, tore into the Island with gusts up to 80 miles per hour, tossing tree limbs around like chopsticks. An unexpected January blizzard dumped 20 inches of snow on the Island, the biggest one-day tally in nine years. Rain was a dreary, dull constant. The Vineyard absorbed a record 61 inches of rainfall this year, and the Island often looked more like Seattle than a sunny paradise.

But the biggest Island storms of 1996 were man-made storms. The crisis at Martha's Vineyard Hospital. Summer traffic gridlock. Ferry fights. Growth debates. Zoning battles. Beach access brouhahas. Wastewater predicaments. An ugly trial of a Vineyard state trooper, later convicted of a stunning drive-by shooting.

Troubles at Martha's Vineyard Hospital appeared unavoidable. After surviving on the financial precipice for much of the past decade, the facility endured the most grueling year of its history. In April, the hospital's chief subsidiary, Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, less than four years after its opening. Though the bankruptcy decision kept Windemere open and in the hands of a court-appointed trustee, it was a major blow not only to the confidence of Windemere employees and residents, but also to the credibility of hospital leaders, who had promised that the nursing home would be a major money maker.

The Windemere bankruptcy set the tone for the nine-month period of unrest which followed and continues today. In early June, four popular members of the hospital board — Emily Bramhall, Cynthia Mitchell, Carol Kolodny and James Reynolds — resigned in protest over the future direction and management of the health care facility. Though the remaining board members dismissed the resignations as a failed palace coup, the departures angered Vineyard public officials, who then sought the ouster of other hospital leaders. The resulting pressure — and startling allegations of mismanagement of the hospital's endowment — led to the July 15 resignations of the the institution's two highest officials: chief executive officer Abbie Taylor and foundation chairman Calhoun L.H. Howard.

With Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Howard gone, a team of Vineyard leaders drafted an emergency board including officials such as county commissioners Leonard Jason Jr. and Randi Vega and longtime seasonal residents such as William Graham, an investment banker who became the interim chairman of the new trustees. But although the new board pumped both money and renewed confidence in the hospital — as well as hiring a nationally known management firm, The Hunter Group, to run the facility — it was unable to fend off what many considered inevitable: In early December, both the hospital and the hospital foundation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Chapter 11 decision, which allows the hospital to remain open while it reorganizes, marked a new chapter in the institution's history. "Our purpose in filing is provide the hospital with the opportunity to reduce its debt to an amount that is reasonable and prudent for a nonprofit hospital on this Island .<\q>.<\q>. instead of worrying how to survive week to week," Mr. Graham wrote in an open letter to the Vineyard community.

While the hospital struggled to stay afloat, another recurrent Vineyard issue made headlines in 1996: Traffic. An SSA study predicted that, if current trends continue, car traffic to the Vineyard will rise at least 30 per cent in the next 10 years, choking Island roadways and outgrowing the capacity of the Authority fleet.

Despite those alarming predictions, Vineyarders did not give a warm welcome to Express Reservations, an SSA program that eliminates guaranteed standby for cars and requires advance reservations. While the program operated smoothly during a 16-day trial this summer, it was harshly criticized by the public, particularly members of the Vineyard business community, who feel the elimination of standby may lead some summer travelers to go elsewhere.

Undaunted by the criticism — and with the blessing of the Martha's Vineyard Transportation Task Force, which has urged the Authority to better manage cars — the SSA pushed Express Reservations forward. Next summer, the program will be implemented every single weekend.

At the same time, the Vineyard began taking steps to control traffic here on the Island. Under the leadership of new administrator Peter L. Fohlin, the Martha's Vineyard Transit Authority gave itself a much-needed overhaul and proposed a bold, 23-shuttle system serving all six towns. While Mr. Fohlin said the program is at least two years away, the idea has already won support from the SSA and a host of Island politicians.

As the transit authority prepared to reinvent itself, the Vineyard political landscape also featured a handful of second acts. Thomas Durawa returned as Edgartown selectman after a short absence; so did Kirk Briggs, who unseated incumbent Tisbury selectman Elizabeth Wild. But the biggest comeback was made by Linda Marinelli, who foiled her critics and stormed back into her Oak Bluffs selectman's seat despite being swept out of power just two years before.

While Mrs. Marinelli has used just two of her political lives, William Delahunt exhausted all nine of his. The Norfolk County district attorney won the 10th Congressional District seat in November with an assist from a state superior court judge, who ruled Mr. Delahunt the surprise winner over Philip Johnston in a recount held three weeks after the Sept. 17 primary. Mr. Delahunt replaces the popular Cong. Gerry Studds, who retired after 24 years of service to the region.

Per usual, the Vineyard was not spared its share of controversies. Robert Sawyer, the Tisbury finance and advisory chairman, faced a January recall election after voters questioned his leadership and personal tax troubles. He beat the recall handily, but resigned the post a few months later, citing a desire to pursue other interests. Elizabeth Wild fended off accusations of impropriety after she admitted listening to an illegally recorded tape of telephone conversations among town officials. The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank formally censured commissioner Michael Stutz for his conduct, although Mr. Stutz vigorously denied any wrongdoing. And state trooper James F. (Jay) Lyons now sits in an Edgartown jail cell after a jury convicted him in December of a 1995 drive-by shooting spree in downtown Oak Bluffs.

Town governments weren't spared from hot-button issues in 1996, either. Gay Head proved to be a magnet for controversy, first in the early winter, when the town voted to take by eminent domain a parcel off Moshup Trail owned by Dr. Andrew and Barbara Warshaw of Boston. The move — hailed by conservationists as a bold step to preserve rare land — quickly became a bitter dispute, pitting townspeople against each other for several months. Eventually, the town voted again and upheld the land taking, but the Warshaws, who have since settled in Chilmark, vowed to sue.

Gay Head residents feuded again in the spring, when the state purchased a chunk of Dogfish Bar which had been pursued and later dropped by the land bank. Many locals protested the purchase, charging that the area is too sensitive for public use. Selectmen acknowledged that the Dogfish Bar move was a factor in their most contentious decision of 1996: Banning nonresident parking at Lobsterville Beach for the entire summer.

But feuds were not limited to Gay Head. Tisbury selectman Henry O. Burt found himself caught in a maelstrom when he criticized the reconstruction of the Alabama schooner in Vineyard Haven harbor. The Oak Bluffs wastewater committee, racked by dissension, resigned en masse in November. Chilmark battled over plans for a new Menemsha School at Beetlebung Corner. And even sleepy Chappaquiddick wrestled with the not-so-quiet issues of traffic and building permits.

Still, Vineyard towns also achieved some solid triumphs. The biggest came in late January, when the chief justice of the Massachusetts Land Court rejected the Herring Creek Trust's challenge to Edgartown's three-acre zoning.

"There is ample credible evidence to support the finding that [three-acre zoning] serves a permissible public purpose," wrote the Hon. Robert V. Cauchon. "[Three-acre zoning] facilitates the provision of open space, conserves the value of the land, promotes the conservation of natural resources, prevents the blight and pollution of the environment and preserves the Island's unique natural ecology and other values."

Perhaps the biggest controversy of 1996 was the controversy that wasn't: School budgets. Despite the strong and organized protests of local taxpayers associations — who argued that school spending was spinning beyond control and property tax rates were skyrocketing — the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School budget passed all six Island town meetings by a wide margin. Even this fall, when the high school was forced to request an additional $500,000 because of an accounting error, Vineyard residents gave their full support to the school.

School officials said they felt some vindication in March, when the high school was awarded a federal blue ribbon from the U.S. Department of Education. Principal Dr. Gregory Scotten couldn't resist a comment in his 1996 graduation speech: "In spite of the words of some critics, no school in the world with as much economic diversity can claim as much academic excellence."

The year brought other noteworthy achievements and anniversaries. The Vineyard Project, a camp for children with AIDS, turned three years old in April. Richard Brown of Edgartown was honored for 25 years of Little League umpiring. Island dentist Dr. LeRoy Erickson retired after 47 years of cavities, crowns and fillings. Joe Didato stepped down after 26 years as a counselor at the high school. And the Vineyard Gazette celebrated its 150th anniversary with its biggest issue in history — an 88-page July 5 edition that consumed 26,000 pounds of paper.

The Vineyard was spared from mega-celebrity in 1996 — both President Clinton and Princess Diana vacationed elsewhere this summer — and its stardust came in smaller pinches. James Taylor held a covert round of rehearsals in June at the West Tisbury agricultural hall. Evan Dando rocked the old agricultural hall in August; Olympian Paul Wylie skated at the Martha's Vineyard Arena the same month. Carly Simon reopened the Hot Tin Roof nightclub with a three-night stand of concerts. The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra made its Island debut with an August date at the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle — and a guest conductor was famed broadcaster Walter Cronkite.

The year also featured a number of strange celebrities and moments from the animal kingdom. Donna, a five-foot iguana, escaped from her Vineyard Haven home, only to be found several months later living in a neighborhood tree. A proud peacock, believed to be from Gay Head, buzzed about West Tisbury. A stinky 50-foot finback whale washed up on Norton Point Beach. A mysterious equine disease infected several horses and led to a brief Island quarantine. An Edgartown angler caught an Atlantic salmon — and promptly broke wildlife law when he cooked and ate the scarce fish.

But nothing in the Vineyard animal world surpassed the events of May 19, when an unprecedented swarm of birds invaded the Island for a one-day fiesta. Birders counted thrushes, warblers, vireos, orioles, tanagers and grosbeaks among dozens of airborne creatures jetting around Island skies. "Absolutely stunning, spectacular, once in a lifetime," the always-restrained bird columnist E. Vernon Laux wrote in the Gazette.

Airborne athletes also captured our attention. Ben Higgins, then a high school sophomore, jumped 21' 3/4," second-best in New England. His classmate, Kara Shemeth, was the best female shot putter in the region. Super seniors Jess Branch and Nell Coogan became the finest scoring tandem in Vineyard high school girls soccer history. Liz Rothwell earned some accolades — and some Advil — when she pitched every single inning of the Vineyard softball season. The Vineyard football team reversed its 3-7 record from one year ago, the boys' hockey and soccer teams won the Cape and Islands league and the brain-steamrolling high school chess squad won its eighth conference championship in nine years.

Vineyard fishermen enjoyed a strong year as well. A world record 454-pound blue shark won July's Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament. Truck driver Paul Willoughby of Oak Bluffs took the the 51st Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby — and a 20-foot motorboat — with a 11.68-pound false albacore. "It makes you feel pretty good," Mr. Willoughby said. "It's a real honor to finally become king of the hill."

Other Vineyard people caught our eye this year. Bridget Tobin was named manager at the Vineyard Haven SSA terminal, replacing longtime chief Robert Clark. Susan Wilson of Oak Bluffs published her first novel, entitled Beauty. Charles Laws mounted a Green Party campaign for Congress. Laury Binney was named principal of the Oak Bluffs School. And Ken Scott, a frustrated summer visitor, told the Vineyard to "go to hell" in a Gazette letter which became the <I>cause célèbre<I> of the summertime cocktail circuit.

There were plenty of important numbers in 1996, most of them big. A New Jersey pharmaceutical executive paid $4.4 million for a Chilmark enclave. R.M. Packer Co. Inc. settled a fuel oil price-fixing case for $23,000. Keys to Hancock Beach on the south shore topped $90,000. A fund raiser to save the Wintertide Coffeehouse netted $30,000. And Jack Connors, a businessman from Edgartown and Sanibel, Fla., paid $12,500 for a bike ride around Gay Head with John F. Kennedy Jr.

Mr. Connors made his winning bid for Camelot at the Possible Dreams Auction, the annual August fete for Martha's Vineyard Community Services. This was where auctioneer and humorist Art Buchwald uttered the most memorable line of 1996: "Anyone who bids $1,000 gets a round of applause. Anyone who bids more than $5,000 gets a standing ovation. Anyone who bids more than $6 million gets to be the president of Martha's Vineyard Hospital."

The Vineyard lost a number of its most respected voices and leaders in 1996. Writer Anne Simon Werner died at 82. Acclaimed consumer critic and author Vance Packard, also 82. Philanthropist Fairleigh Dickinson Jr., 77. Airport commissioner and pilot Carolyn Cullen, 79. Recently retired Edgartown police chief George L. Searle, 62. Former Edgartown selectman George Piper, 64. Indefatigable newsman Gerald Kelly, 66. Farm Neck developer Dr. Alvin Strock, 85. Longtime businessman Dixon B. Renear, 69. Island theatre pioneer Mary Payne, 64. Mary Sibley of the Oak Bluffs Camp Meeting Association, 102.

The Vineyard also lost two residents to the TWA Flight 800 tragedy. Edwin B. Brooks, 82, and his wife, Ruth, 79, were en route to a Paris vacation when their plane mysteriously exploded and crashed off Long Island.

Perhaps no death touched the Island more than the loss of Richard Phelps, 73, a retired businessman and Alzheimer's patient who disappeared from his West Tisbury home in September. For four days, massive teams of volunteers, firemen and police combed densely wooded areas, often in driving rain and unseasonably cold temperatures. On Thursday, Sept. 19, several hours after the sun reappeared, a search team located Mr. Phelps's body in a wooded patch just 200 yards from his house. He was found curled on his side, his shoes and glasses removed; investigators believe that Mr. Phelps, lost and confused, simply laid down and went to sleep.

To Mr. Phelps's widow, Susan, and those involved in the rescue mission, the search for Richard Phelps testified to the unshakable spirit and goodwill of Martha's Vineyard. For four days, volunteers from every Island town — and even some from the mainland — banded together to find a shy, soft-spoken man whom most of them had never met. It was the largest search-and-rescue effort in Island history, but more important, it was evidence that Martha's Vineyard remains a community unlike any other.

"We felt cradled, embraced and comforted by the entire West Tisbury community and by many, many others from all over the Island," Susan Phelps wrote later. "But this ship of support, together with the special outreach of close friends and relatives, has sustained us through this ordeal and surely will continue to do so. How lucky we are to live here."

How lucky, indeed.