West Tisbury Assessors Return to Tax Board

by IAN FEIN

The sense of deja vu was unmistakable at the Massachusetts Appellate
Tax Board in Boston this week.

West Tisbury assessors and their attorney were back before the tax
board on Tuesday to defend the values they had placed on north shore
properties near Paul's Point.

Momentum Builds For Energy District

by IAN FEIN

Island voters this spring will be asked whether they wish to take
the Vineyard's energy future into their own hands.

Aquinnah selectman James Newman this week authored a nonbinding
referendum for the coming town meeting season aimed at creating an
overlay district to promote and regulate energy efficiency and renewable
energy across the Island.

People visiting the village of Edgartown this weekend may feel as if they’ve stepped through a magic portal into a world of Christmas past that is one part Charles Dickens novel and one part Frank Capra movie.

With the return of Christmas in Edgartown, a longtime tradition that had largely faded until recently, there will be children jingle-belling, marshmallows for toasting and much mistletoe-ing.

So be of good cheer — because as organizers of the holiday extravaganza will tell you, this truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Danish Study Is Boost for Wind Farms

By IAN FEIN

In the most comprehensive scientific analysis on offshore wind farms
to date, a Danish government report released last week found little or
no environmental impacts from the world's two largest offshore
projects.

The findings are significant for the Nantucket Sound wind farm
proposal because they address many of the environmental concerns raised
about Cape Wind - the first offshore project proposed in the
United States.

Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss had a full house in the
Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven on Wednesday night for a
conversation leagues away from the blockbuster film that put both him
and Martha's Vineyard on the map: reintroducing civics to the
public school curriculum.

The seats were filled with teachers, school administrators,
politicians, historians, authors, educational programming directors and
parents - and many travelled long distances to attend.

Presidential Medal of Freedom Awarded to David McCullough

David McCullough, the prize-winning historian and West Tisbury
resident whose acclaimed works of nonfiction have all been written from
his home off Music street, will receive the prestigious Presidential
Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony next week.

Patricia N. Nanon, the feisty choreographer who founded The Yard as
an informal dance theatre project in 1972, next month will grant full
ownership of her multimillion dollar property in the wooded hills of
Chilmark to the singular Island arts colony.

MVC Approves Hospital Plan

Commission Vote Is Unanimous Despite Stubborn Reservations Over
Location of Building; Offsite Parking Is Out

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last night unanimously
approved the $42 million renovation and expansion of the Martha's
Vineyard Hospital despite widespread misgivings with the existing
location.

Patricia N. Nanon, the feisty choreographer who founded The Yard as
an informal dance theatre project in 1972, next month will grant full
ownership of her multimillion dollar property in the wooded hills of
Chilmark to the singular Island arts colony.

Patricia N. Nanon, the feisty choreographer who founded The Yard as
an informal dance theatre project in 1972, next month will grant full
ownership of her multimillion dollar property in the wooded hills of
Chilmark to the singular Island arts colony.