Refusing to take no for an answer, proponents of beer and wine sales in Tisbury and two of the three selectmen have opted to again put the town through the referendum process which split voters literally down the middle last year.

The warrant for this year’s annual town meeting will again contain an article seeking a home rule petition which would allow restaurants with a seating capacity of 30 or more — including restaurants in within inns and hotels, to offer alcohol with meals.

An article was lodged by way of petition with the town clerk’s office this week. Last year’s effort to end Tisbury’s status as a dry town was defeated by a wafer-thin margin of 392 to 390 votes.

The selectmen took matters a step further on Tuesday night, voting 2-1 to take ownership of the issue themselves.

Jeff Kristal, a Tisbury inn owner and strong advocate of alcohol sales, moved that the selectmen should back it.

After a testy debate, in which he was strongly opposed by Tristan Israel, the matter was ultimately decided by chairman of the selectmen Denys Wortman, who said that if the process was to be done a again, it should be “done right” under the aegis of the board.

The article submitted by the selectmen is worded identically to that of the earlier petition.

And it is unclear whether the selectmen have the power to take it over. Yesterday town hall still was awaiting a determination from town counsel on the legalities of the matter.

The balance of non-legal opinion in town, though, was that it might be done if the original petitioners withdrew their article so it could be substituted.

Mr. Kristal was a prime mover behind both articles.

The article is the first in a two-step process. If the town endorses the article, it would allow the selectmen to file a home rule petition with the state legislature.

With the state’s approval, the substantive question would then go on the agenda for the 2010 town meeting.

On Tuesday evening Mr. Kristal argued the selectmen should support the move to at least send it to the state.

But Mr. Israel argued that given the perilous state of the economy, many other issues on the town’s agenda and the divisiveness of the beer and wine issue, the selectmen should stay out of it.

“The people who want this to happen will carry the ball,” he said.

The issue of beer and wine sales has been a contentious one for years. In September of 2005 the Tisbury Business Association first brought the idea before the selectmen.

There followed an exhaustive round of meetings, hearings and business and taxpayer surveys, as well as spirited campaigns from both pro and anti factions in town.

A town beer and wine review committee was established, and after eight months, in October 2006, it found that sales would have little or no effect on taxpayers, the town, or the general business community. Nonetheless, it recommended selectmen make a home rule petition to the state.

When the matter finally came to a vote last year, the initial count was tied 690-690. A recount found two more votes against, and the town remained dry.

In other business Tuesday, selectmen also took up the case of Sail Martha’s Vineyard, which appears to be $32,000 down the hole because of the vagaries of the Community Preservation Act.

At town meeting last year voters approved the construction of four wooden skiffs, in order that Sail MV might expand its mission of teaching Island kids to sail.

The boats were built, the work paid for, and only then, according to Phil Hale of Sail MV, did the organization learn it could not be given the money because the project was not in compliance with CPA rules.

Town accountant Suzanne Kennedy had written to the state Department of Revenue questioning the project’s eligibility, and DOR had rejected the project.

Both Mr. Israel and Mr. Wortman said they were sympathetic, but noted Sail MV had been warned the project might not be within guidelines. Mr. Israel said the rules for CPA money were too rigid.

They sought a solution.

Perhaps town meeting would vote funds to make good the money. But Ms. Kennedy scuttled that idea too, saying the town could not pick up the tab for a private entity.

And so it appears the group can look only to some private benefactor.

Another, long-simmering waterfront issue also came before the selectmen: the standoff between the Steamship Authority and owners of the tall ship Shenandoah over the alleged danger posed by the old ship’s mooring, close to the ferry line’s south slip.

Capt. Robert Douglas, owner of the Shenandoah, and Vineyard SSA governor Marc Hanover were both there to debate the issue.

They went over old ground. The SSA wants the Shenandoah moved a boat length — about 150 feet — to give the ferries a greater safety margin.

Mr. Douglas said the best that can be done is 65 feet.

The argument went back and forth. Despite the best efforts of selectmen to mediate, Mr. Kristal characterized the dispute as a game of chicken between the parties, in which the town was the likely loser.

Finally, Department of Public Works director Fred LaPiana told selectmen the town already had chewed through its $15,000 budget for snow plowing this year.

He asked for, and got, a motion to seek emergency funding.