Mr. Barnes, along with an assortment of local builders, contractors
and heavy machinery, helped place a 1,000-pound, seven-and-a-half-foot
fossilized Triceratops skull atop a metal pedestal in the specially
renovated hallway of a Vineyard Haven home.

Bad news if you bought or built a new house on the Vineyard and figured you could cover some of your mortgage by renting it out for a chunk of summer: You weren't the only one with that idea. Now real estate agents say the market is glutted with houses for rent.

"There's a lot of houses out there to rent," said Deborah Hancock, a longtime real estate broker in Chilmark. "We have houses that have never been vacant that are still vacant . . . . It used to be that anything good was gone by January."

That's the cost of doing business for landscaper James Hayes now that gas prices have soared beyond $2.50 a gallon. Every five days, he swallows the steep price to keep his GMC 4X4 truck on the road. He charges it and reminds himself that as a small businessman, he can write it off at the end of the year.

Eight months after town health officials first detected a contaminated plume running beneath Edgartown Meadows subdivision, they are turning their attention to installing clean drinking water in the neighborhood instead of pinpointing the cause.

"This has dragged on for more than half a year. It's obviously more of a long-term problem," said Matthew Poole, Edgartown health agent.

"The most important thing is for people to have safe drinking water regardless of whether the source is septic systems or the golf club or something we haven't even considered," he added.

County Tries to Balance $4.4 Million Budget

By ALEXIS TONTI

Eliminating the water testing laboratory and turning down a $42,500
funding request by the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority -
these are some of the measures under consideration by the Dukes County
commissioners as they try to balance the $4.4 million total operating
budget for next year.

The county commissioners must consider the changes after an initial
draft budget came in with a shortfall of nearly $120,000.

Sgt. William L. Searle, state environmental police officer for the Vineyard, will retire from his post at the end of this month. Sergeant Searle, who is 54, is retiring for personal reasons, on June 30. He and
his wife, Linda, are selling their Island home and moving to Florida.

Prisoner's Story: Long Captivity Framed His War

By MANDY LOCKE

Six months after Lieut. Curtis Jones watched a one-hour Army
training film on how to handle imprisonment by the enemy, he fell into
German hands.

That March day in 1943 was a blur. Mr. Jones is still not quite sure
what went wrong, but he is not one to second-guess the events of his
life.

Two Guards Suspended After Indictments in Inmate Beatings

By ALEXIS TONTI

After three days of witness testimony and deliberation, a Dukes
County grand jury Wednesday indicted two correctional officers and an
inmate on conspiracy charges in connection with an inmate beating at the
Dukes County House of Correction.

Michael Trance, 26, of Edgartown and Teejay Roginski, 25, of Tisbury
are both charged with conspiracy to commit assault and battery in
connection with an inmate-on-inmate attack last June.

Windemere Is Operating in Black This Fiscal Year

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

On the subject of money, at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital
this year the watchword is up: Cash is up, patient volume is up and
contributions are up.

The hospital released draft combined financial statements this week,
and the numbers show that the Vineyard's only hospital ended its
fiscal year solidly in the black - even after factoring in a
$198,000 operating loss at the Windemere Nursing Home and Rehabilitation
Center.

Hospital Is Exploring Ties to Oak Bluffs Sewer Line

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Leaders at the Martha's Vineyard hospital said this week that
the plan to build a new hospital also now includes an emerging plan to
tie into the Oak Bluffs sewage treatment plant.

"We have begun talks with the town of Oak Bluffs, and we know
that nothing would be better than getting everything out of here,"
said hospital board vice chairman Tim Sweet yesterday.