Oak Bluffs Sign Off Didn't Follow Rules

Oak Bluffs Sign Off Didn't Follow Rules

By CHRIS BURRELL

An elected Oak Bluffs town official who is employed as operator of
two municipal sewage treatment plants on the Island may have violated
state environmental and ethics laws in the process of securing a septic
permit this winter for his new house in Oak Bluffs.

Joseph N. Alosso, member of the board of health and operator of the
wastewater treatment plants in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, denies any
wrongdoing.

Draft Report Eyes Airport

Draft Report Eyes Airport

An Early Look at Project Plans Sees No Environmental Hurdle to
Runway Improvements, New Terminal, Jail

By ALEXIS TONTI

The Martha's Vineyard Airport commissioners this week
previewed a document that will be critical to the approval, by both
state and federal officials, of long-range plans for development at the
airport and on its surrounding property.

No Standbys: At SSA Docks, Winter Season Brings a Hush

No Standbys: At SSA Docks, Winter Season Brings a Hush

By C.K. WOLFSON

Early morning: The landscape has turned to gauze; the snow, white
static in wind-driven billows, erases the harbor, leaving only the
illusion of distant masts - faint vertical slivers among the flows
of harbor ice.

Chilmark Merry-Go-Round Will Bring Police to School

As their town grows, Chilmark municipal employees are playing a game of musical chairs at the old Menemsha School.

In November of 2001, when the town library staff needed a place to work while their building underwent $2.4 million in renovations and expansion, the Menemsha School became their temporary home.

No sooner was the library done last June than town hall employees moved in, as their own building went through a $1.5 million upgrade. They expect to be in the school until mid March.

Finances Improve at Windemere, Hospital

Finances Improve at Windemere, Hospital

By JULIA WELLS

The Windemere Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center ended the year
in the red once again, but senior managers said this week that the
$200,000 operating deficit is a big improvement over last year and a
step in a better direction for the Island's only nursing home.

Martha's Vineyard Hospital chief executive officer Tim Walsh
said yesterday that some hard-won rate relief from Medicaid played a big
role in cutting the numbers at Windemere this year.

Tisbury Post Office Has a Quiet Opening

Gone is the 02568 zip code above the door announcing the building's identity. Gone, too, are the mail slots marked Tisbury, on-Island and off-Island. Now Vineyard Haven post office customers will drop their mail into bins labeled with two generic classifications, local and out of town. The sleek eagle emblem of the United States post office hangs above the new corner entrance.

Chilmark and Commission Will File Briefs in Sovereignty Case

Chilmark and Commission Will File Briefs in Sovereignty Case

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The town of Chilmark and the Martha's Vineyard Commission will
add their voices to the Aquinnah court appeal over sovereign immunity,
which is now expected to come before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court this year.

Boat Line and Private Developer Have Plans for Oak Bluffs Center

Boat Line and Private Developer Have Plans for Oak Bluffs Center

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

The Tivoli, a lost landmark of Oak Bluffs, may come back. This week
two young Island businessmen proposed to build a pavilion resembling the
old dance hall on the same site where the former town hall stands today.
Their plan competes with a second proposal from the Steamship Authority,
which would turn the old town hall into a ticket office.

Island Health Plan Awaits Funds from Beacon Hill; Spring Launch Expected

The Island Health Plan, which seeks to provide affordable health
insurance for many of the estimated 3,000 Islanders now living without
it, is poised to win legislative approval that will enable the nonprofit
group to begin work this spring.

Chilmark Merry-Go-Round Will Bring Police to School

Chilmark Merry-Go-Round Will Bring Police to School

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

As their town grows, Chilmark municipal employees are playing a game
of musical chairs at the old Menemsha School.

In November of 2001, when the town library staff needed a place to
work while their building underwent $2.4 million in renovations and
expansion, the Menemsha School became their temporary home.

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