Predictions of this week's three-day northeaster were a bit of a reach. Hours before the storm arrived, Marshall Carroll, owner of Menemsha Texaco, said he thought he was going to lose his store. "The forecast was dire," he said, referring to the predictions for hurricane winds and a six-foot-high storm surge. Before the storm, Mr. Carroll said, "I looked at my building and thought of all the good times, and then thought maybe I will get another one. With a new store, I would get a better door." During and after the storm it was business as usual at the up-Island's outermost store.

In 1997, Vineyard House opened its doors for the first time. Last
week the organization added more doors, closing on the purchase of a
third house.

Like its first two homes, the Oak Bluffs house will serve as a place
where Islanders can recover from drug and alcohol addictions and begin
rebuilding their lives on the Vineyard.

By and large, the 40-odd Islanders who came out for last
night's forum on the Steamship Authority's new service model
accepted the logic behind the proposal but questioned the details that
will make it all work.

The noise, dust and torn-up roadways they could tolerate, but not the huge electric panel boxes sprouting up all over downtown Oak Bluffs in the midst of the town sewer construction project.

If you came into gym class at the regional high school looking for Jay Schofield, it might take a minute to find him. He's not out in the center of the floor with the other two gym teachers.

"The Tisbury Police Department environment is dysfunctional, at best, with continual tension between police officers and management," declares a new report made public at the Feb. 27 meeting of the Tisbury board of selectmen. The 22-page report is the product of a four-month study commissioned by selectmen and undertaken by seasonal Island resident Robert Wasserman of the consulting firm PSComm LLC.

"The Tisbury Police Department environment is dysfunctional,
at best, with continual tension between police officers and
management," declares a new report made public at the Feb. 27
meeting of the Tisbury board of selectmen. The 22-page report is the
product of a four-month study commissioned by selectmen and undertaken
by seasonal Island resident Robert Wasserman of the consulting firm
PSComm LLC.

Hockey Coach Reinstated

By COLE LOUISON

Mike Jackson was reinstated as head coach of the hockey team Monday
after serving a week-long suspension for destroying a second-place
trophy following a tournament game against rival Shrewsbury on Feb. 18.

"I made a mistake," Mr. Jackson told the Gazette.
"And I learned from it, there's no doubt about that."

Mr. Jackson met with principal Peg Regan on Feb. 20 and admitted to
smashing a tournament trophy with a hammer, the action for which he was
suspended.

Officials from the Martha's Vineyard chapter of Habitat for Humanity announced this week that they have signed a purchase and sales agreement to buy two acres of land in Edgartown.

The land is located off the West Tisbury Road near Bennett Way and, if all goes as planned, the group hopes to begin constructing two houses there late this spring.

It's apt that this news comes now, since this week also marks the completion of the chapter's first house on the Island.

Basketball Team Wins

By KATHERINE WILEY

Tuesday afternoon, the Martha's Vineyard boys' varsity
basketball team showed what a burst of energy, a dose of teamwork and a
foundation of hard work can do. It can get you a win in the preliminary
round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA)
Division 3 basketball tournament.

The Vineyarders kept the fans on the edge of their seats, overcoming
a large deficit and beating 19t-seeded Old Rochester 55-51 in a
hard-fought game at the Vineyard's regional high school.