County Fee to Hospital Is Eliminated, Ending Weeks of Controversy

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The subcommittee charged with managing an unusual contract between
the county and the Martha's Vineyard Hospital voted last night to
eliminate a controversial fee from the contract - and the county
manager issued a brief apology for setting up the fee in the first
place.

A diverse collection of Vineyard residents, including ministers, mothers and small business owners, came together at a rally on Tuesday in Vineyard Haven to call for a peaceful resolution to last week's terrorist attack in New York city and Washington, D.C.

They urged thought before action, and warned against decisions fueled by emotion rather than rational deliberation.

"Anger can be like a mighty, rushing flood that destroys or channeled like a stream. Let it be redeemed and well-used and channeled in creative ways," said the Rev. Alden Besse.

For the second time in two weeks, Theophilus Nix Jr., an Oak Bluffs
attorney, has come before selectmen holding a petition that could give
voters a chance to pull their town out of the Martha's Vineyard
Commission.

With all the worries plaguing aviators these days, the thing
that's got Trade Winds airport manager Joe Costa all worked up is
dog droppings - on the runway and taxi lane.

Charles W. Clifford Will Leave Commission Post After 15 Years of
Service

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Martha's Vineyard Commission executive director Charles W.
Clifford announced late last night that he will resign at the end of the
year from the unique regional planning agency where he has held the top
post for a total of 15 years, including the last 11 straight years.

Chilmark voters, at a special town meeting on Tuesday, indefinitely
postponed requests to fund major expansion projects at both the town
hall and the public library.

The Katama Bay oyster is the talk of Island raw bars. Lovers of
seafood now have a local oyster available through most of the year. This
Island oyster is making its way across the eastern seaboard to
Washington, D.C., New York and Boston.

An escalating contract dispute between management and
nonprofessional workers at the Windemere Nursing Home and Rehabilitation
Center will now go to federal mediation - and workers at the
Island's only nursing home will file a complaint charging unfair
labor practices.

State health advisories warning people to wear dust masks when mowing the lawn or cutting brush may have put a dent in this summer's total for cases of tularemia, the rare disease that has an unexplained foothold on the Vineyard.

Tivoli Day was about shopping and strolling and talking and eating and shopping and eating. People couldn't avoid the shopping and the eating. How could they when neon pink signs screamed from the sidewalk about $4 T-shirts and $10 sweatshirts, when the smell of hot dogs and fried foods dogged them from one end of Circuit avenue to the other. Everyone seemed to have a bag over one arm and a grease-stained cardboard food box in hand.