The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and state environmental authorities have finally reached agreement on a restoration plan for two areas of land from which trees and other plants were removed last year, in breach of the Endangered Species Act.

The settlement provides that Sheriff’s Meadow will improve more than five times as much land as was affected by the removals, which were done by an Island landscaping firm for the benefit of a north shore landowner, and will set aside $27,000 in perpetuity for the ongoing management of the land.

The town of West Tisbury, a breeding ground for property tax rancor in recent years, had a record high $289,000 in tax abatements in 2008 based on approximately $68 million in total adjusted property values.

While town officials say the high number of abatements can be tracked directly to the current triennial real estate revaluation and a spike in waterfront property values, some residents insist that they signal a continued level of discontent with the current assessment system and the company hired to help conduct the revaluations.

A longstanding dispute between the Steamship Authority and Ralph Packer’s barge operation over the annual transport of rental cars to the Island for the summer appears set to be fought out in court before this year’s tourist season.

For several years now, Mr. Packer’s Tisbury Towing and Transportation has moved cars for the Hertz rental company to and from the Island, much to the chagrin of the SSA, which has a legislated monopoly over the movement of people, vehicles and freight to and from the Islands.

Oak Bluffs school principal Laury Binney is leading the charge in cuts to Island elementary school budgets, with a proposed nine cuts to positions across six departments.

Principals are preparing to present their budgets to town leaders, in some cases still scrambling to cut operational costs while attempting to minimize the effects of a recession on students.

With the country in a recession, all six Vineyard towns yesterday rushed to file applications to receive funding through an ambitious economic recovery plan from President-elect Barack Obama that recalls the late Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal plan of 1932.

JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

Well, we got smacked up side of the head on New Year’s Eve with a snow storm, howling winds, single-digit temperatures and a howling wind with gusts over 50 miles per hour. So you can safely say the new year arrived on a cold note. The Mill and Parsonage ponds were frozen over but not a lot of ice skating took place on Parsonage Pond over the weekend.

NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

JUNE MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

KATHIE CASE

508-627-5349

(kathleencase@comcast.net)

This is the time of year we all want to settle down to our winter’s nap. All the lights are down, the Christmas trees are out side, and all the toys and presents are away. So now it is time to rest up, as spring is just around the corner.