Changes Underway in SSA Priorities

An Olive Branch Toward Nantucket; Islander Meeting Will Be August
12; Can Rates Be Held Down?

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Change is the watchword these days at the Steamship Authority,
palpable and overnight change.

Alleging Contract Lapses, Schools' Bus Company Says It
Won't Run in Fall

By CHRIS BURRELL

Just one month before a new school year is supposed to get in gear,
the owner of the bus company contracted to transport students is locked
in a dispute with school leadership and says he won't roll out the
buses.

In a highly-charged letter written Friday, James C. (Jack) Dario
Jr., president of Island Transport, Inc., told Vineyard school committee
members he has decided to end the service provided by his company.

A bit of spontaneity, a little arm-twisting and a contagious spirit of generosity turned last night into another record-breaking year for the Possible Dreams Auction. The 26th annual benefit raised more than $515,000 in about three hours for Martha's Vineyard Community Services, just surpassing last year's half-million mark.

Today's lesson is turtles.

A tiny boy wearing a T-shirt, shorts and cap stands up suddenly and
shades his eyes with his hands.

"I can't see, Gus - sorry!" he exclaims.

Something really big and different is about to happen at the Colonial Inn in Edgartown, but so far, the people who know what it is - the hotel's primary owner and a Tisbury real estate outfit involved in the deal - are keeping their lips locked.

They won't say a word until tomorrow and then again Thursday at cocktail parties in the Daniel Fisher House in downtown Edgartown. Party invitations read like a movie trailer voice-over script, enticing guests to the "grand unveiling," where they will "experience the ultimate," so "come see what it's all about."

State transportation officials are committed to abolishing rotaries
across the commonwealth, but that's not stopping them from
spending more than $300,000 to construct a smaller-scaled version at one
of the historically worst intersections on the Vineyard.

Formidable Trio at Possible Dreams Auction

By ALEXIS TONTI

When Rick Lee and Susan Klein first stepped behind the podium of the
Possible Dreams Auction in 2000, they thought it was a one-time deal, a
way to support longtime auctioneer Art Buchwald, who was still
recovering from a stroke, and to keep the momentum rolling for the
annual benefit.

But when Mr. Buchwald returned the next year, he decided he wanted
to turn the auction into something of a three-man show -
indefinitely.

Under the Lights: Hoops by Night Is No Longer a Boys' Game

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By CHRIS BURRELL

They call themselves the Bad Boys, but it's truly a misnomer
for this undefeated basketball squad that plays two nights a week under
the darkening sky of Oak Bluffs.

Building Inspector to Face Questions by the Selectmen

By CHRIS BURRELL

Less than a week after the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals
denounced the process that permitted a controversial three-story garage
to be built on the North Bluff, Oak Bluffs selectmen now intend to ask
their building inspector to explain publicly how it all happened.