Police, Library Costs Jump in Oak Bluffs

By JAMES KINSELLA

For the third year in a row, Oak Bluffs voters will be presented
with an annual town operating budget that does not require an override.

And for the first year ever, town voters also will be asked to
approve a budget that breaks the $20 million mark.

Avoiding an override took some work on the part of the town finance
committee, which sliced $450,000 from town department requests in its
budget review.

Fast Link to Hyannis Wins Public Backing

Steamship Authority Governors Poised to Decide on Hy-Line Proposal;
Year-Round Service Planned

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

The public likes the idea of a year-round fast ferry running between
Hyannis and Oak Bluffs. Now the question is whether the Steamship
Authority will.

Edgartown Turns to Town Voters to Pay for Ambulance, Firehouse

By JAMES KINSELLA

A laundry list of potential capital expenditures and a proposed 5.1
per cent increase in the annual operating budget await Edgartown voters
this April.

The financial advisory committee has signed off on a budget of
$21,250,025 for the coming fiscal year, $1,031,892 higher than the
current year.

Architect in Life: Banker Takes the Long View in Front Office

By JAMES KINSELLA

In his earlier years, Chris Wells thought about becoming an
architect. As it turned out, he did become an architect - not of
bricks and mortar, but of the hopes and aspirations of people's
lives.

Mr. Wells, 40, had learned what banking could mean for the people in
a community.

Against a backdrop of increasing doubt, state highway officials this week promised to complete temporary repairs to the Lagoon Pond drawbridge in time for summer boat traffic.

Plans are under way to fix the hardware that opens and closes the highly-trafficked drawbridge that connects Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven, but at least one selectman and the bridge's own caretaker reacted this week with skepticism.

Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel said Tuesday night at the board's weekly meeting that he harbors serious doubts that the bridge can be repaired in time.

Amid the piles of sawdust and wood shavings, beyond the planks of
white pine, black locust and silver bali, heritage and history are
rising from the ground once again in Vineyard Haven.

At the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway, Manny Palomo chisels and
planes the keel of September, a 26-foot sloop. Mr. Palomo crawls around
the ribbands and hull molds of the ship's skeleton, fine tuning
the frame for the garboard and rest of the planking.

Enough already.

Winter has buried the Vineyard and the rest of New England in one snowfall after another, and there is little argument among Islanders that spring can't come soon enough.

Selectmen Order Referral to MVC

Illegal Teardown of Old Army Barracks Now Goes to Commission as a
DRI; Building Owner Answers to Board

By JAMES KINSELLA

The Oak Bluffs selectmen directed their town building inspector this
week to refer the reconstruction of the old Army Barracks building on
Circuit avenue to the Martha's Vineyard Commission.

At their meeting Tuesday night, the selectmen voted 4-0 to require
building inspector Richard Mavro to refer the proposed project to the
MVC. Selectman Richard Combra was absent.

Land Plan for Ice House Pond Stirs Heated Commission Debate

By IAN FEIN

Angry exchanges and charges of bad faith erupted during a
Martha's Vineyard Land Bank meeting called this week to discuss
the draft management plan for Ice House Pond Preserve.

Land bank commissioner Michael Stutz of Aquinnah said the plan has
numerous inconsistencies and huge holes. He called for additional study
of the pond this summer, and criticized what he said was an
unprecedented effort to rush through the management process.

One of the first harbingers of spring on the waterfront is the arrival of herring in the Island's coastal ponds. They will start showing up in the weeks ahead, but there is rising concern across the state and on the Vineyard that their numbers are significantly down.

At a February meeting of the Tisbury selectmen, two selectmen raised the possibility of placing a moratorium on the Richard F. Madeiras herring run at the head of Lagoon Pond. The run is managed by selectmen in both Tisbury and Oak Bluffs.