Ruling that the dire need for low-cost rental housing trumps traffic
concerns, the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted unanimously last
night to approve the Pennywise Path affordable housing project in
Edgartown.

New Land Bank Purchase Will Preserve 84 Acres on Chilmark's
Middle Road

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By ALEXIS TONTI

The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank announced this week that it
will buy 84 acres of land in Chilmark, a sprawling property that rises
nearly 200 feet from Middle Road to a ridgeline with views of the south
shore.

Now a genetic study of the skins of scores of heath hens, all of them from the Vineyard, shows that the Island bird, although it looked and behaved much like its supposed parent species in the Midwest, was a wholly distinctive creature. Genetically it was more different from the greater western prairie chicken - that supposed parent species - than the Midwestern bird is from any other family member in its genus, which includes the lesser prairie chicken, the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken of eastern Texas, and even the sharp-tailed grouse. It is possible that instead of being a subspecies of the prairie chicken - which scientists have considered it to be since it was first typed in the last years of the nineteenth century - the heath hen might have been a species unto itself.

Appeals Board Vetoes Garage

For a Second Time, Oak Bluffs Says It's an Illegal Structure;
in Next Week's Chapter, a Request to Move It

By CHRIS BURRELL

They declared the building illegal, called the permit application
perjurious and refused to resurrect a building permit for a three-story
structure towering up from Joseph G. Moujabber's backyard in Oak
Bluffs.

Boatline Interim Manager Will Tackle Reservations and Ticketing
Problems

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

HYANNIS - Steamship Authority governors bid a quick adieu to
chief executive officer Fred C. Raskin and voted without dissent
yesterday to name Wayne Lamson, their longtime treasurer, as interim
general manager for the next four months.

"Wayne, it's a pleasure, thank you," said
Barnstable governor and board chairman Robert O'Brien during the
monthly boat line meeting held here yesterday morning.

For Second Time, Aquinnah Voters Reject Budget Override; A Difficult
Year Ahead

By JULIA WELLS

Voters in Aquinnah spoke - and loudly - for the second
time in four weeks yesterday, rejecting a $130,000 general override to
Proposition 2 1/2 by a decisive margin in a special town election.

The final count was 75-56 against the override to the state-mandated
tax cap. There was only one question on the ballot. The vote echoed a
special election last month, when voters rejected a $260,000 override by
three votes. The final count then was 40-37.

For the fifth summer in a row, a rare and potentially fatal disease called tularemia continues to surface on the Vineyard.

State public health officials yesterday confirmed this year's first case of tularemia: a male landscaper from Edgartown who became ill in early June. Another landscaper from Edgartown is listed as a probable tularemia case, pending follow-up blood tests.

Both men are under 30 years of age and have undergone medical treatment for the disease, public health officials said.

Pennywise Path Gets Subcommittee's Nod

Martha's Vineyard Commission to Give Final Consideration
Thursday; List of Conditions Attached

By JULIA WELLS

A key subcommittee of the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted
last night to recommend approval of the Pennywise Path affordable
housing project in Edgartown, along with a hefty list of conditions
aimed at softening the blow to both the neighborhood and the environment
from 60 rental units.

As the sport-fishing boat Cookie Too backed into the slip in Oak
Bluffs harbor on Saturday evening, nervous chatter rippled through the
onlookers who had congregated around the dock.

Boat Line Treasurer Says He Is Willing to Return to Role of Interim
Chief

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Marking an auspicious new tack for the embattled Steamship
Authority, Wayne Lamson, the respected longtime boat line treasurer, has
volunteered to step in as interim chief executive officer, the Gazette
has learned.

In a letter sent to SSA governors last week, Mr. Lamson offered to
take over the top spot at the boat line as CEO Fred Raskin prepares to
leave after barely two years on the job.