Today's lesson is turtles.

A tiny boy wearing a T-shirt, shorts and cap stands up suddenly and
shades his eyes with his hands.

"I can't see, Gus - sorry!" he exclaims.

Something really big and different is about to happen at the Colonial Inn in Edgartown, but so far, the people who know what it is - the hotel's primary owner and a Tisbury real estate outfit involved in the deal - are keeping their lips locked.

They won't say a word until tomorrow and then again Thursday at cocktail parties in the Daniel Fisher House in downtown Edgartown. Party invitations read like a movie trailer voice-over script, enticing guests to the "grand unveiling," where they will "experience the ultimate," so "come see what it's all about."

State transportation officials are committed to abolishing rotaries
across the commonwealth, but that's not stopping them from
spending more than $300,000 to construct a smaller-scaled version at one
of the historically worst intersections on the Vineyard.

Formidable Trio at Possible Dreams Auction

By ALEXIS TONTI

When Rick Lee and Susan Klein first stepped behind the podium of the
Possible Dreams Auction in 2000, they thought it was a one-time deal, a
way to support longtime auctioneer Art Buchwald, who was still
recovering from a stroke, and to keep the momentum rolling for the
annual benefit.

But when Mr. Buchwald returned the next year, he decided he wanted
to turn the auction into something of a three-man show -
indefinitely.

Under the Lights: Hoops by Night Is No Longer a Boys' Game

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By CHRIS BURRELL

They call themselves the Bad Boys, but it's truly a misnomer
for this undefeated basketball squad that plays two nights a week under
the darkening sky of Oak Bluffs.

Building Inspector to Face Questions by the Selectmen

By CHRIS BURRELL

Less than a week after the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals
denounced the process that permitted a controversial three-story garage
to be built on the North Bluff, Oak Bluffs selectmen now intend to ask
their building inspector to explain publicly how it all happened.

Video Suspect Is Found Dead

No Formal Charges Were Filed, but Landlord Allegedly Spied on
Vineyard Haven Tenant; an Apparent Suicide

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

A sordid Vineyard story turned tragic this week, when a local
electrician who was under police investigation for allegedly videotaping
a female tenant in her bathroom was found dead in his home on Wednesday
night.

Richard T. Lehman, 50, lived on Franklin street in Vineyard Haven
next door to a home he had rented out for many years.

Blue Skies, Ferris Wheels, Fireworks, Bonito: the Promise of August,
and Now It's Here

By MAX HART

"There will be cool nights, and the mist drifting over the
plain.
New crowds will come on the steamboats bringing their cars, and all
the large, glossy cars will not go to Nantucket, but some will glide
ashore here. The cicada will sing, and the human race will feel lazy,
and the sunny afternoons will be as timeless as space itself."

Henry Beetle Hough,
Advertisement for August

Aquinnah Leaders Discussing What Next After Override Fails

By JULIA WELLS

Money is tight these days in the town of Aquinnah - extremely
tight - but town officials say they plan to soldier on with a
drastically reduced operating budget for the current fiscal year.

For the second time in four weeks, town voters rejected a
Proposition 2 1/2 override request last week.