SSA Set to Vote on Fare Hikes Thursday at Cornell Theatre

By JAMES KINSELLA

When the Steamship Authority board of governors convenes next
Thursday morning at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, Vineyard governor
Marc Hanover anticipates voting for across-the-board rate increases to
fund next year's $78.3 million budget.

But he said it will be the last time.

"We really have to get a handle on this," Mr. Hanover
said earlier this week about the budget, slated to rise $4 million next
year. "We can't keep absorbing these additional
costs."

Enrollment in the Vineyard public schools has dropped for the sixth
year in a row, according to school census figures released this week.

Oak Bluffs Innkeeper Challenges Commission Decision in Court

By IAN FEIN

A Dukes County superior court judge yesterday heard arguments in a
one-day trial that explored the limits of commercial expansion in an
eclectic residential neighborhood of Oak Bluffs.

Town resident Jack E. Robinson Sr. is challenging the Martha's
Vineyard Commission denial of a proposed 10-bedroom expansion to his inn
and tennis center on New York avenue. The commission reviewed the
project in the summer of 2005 as a development of regional impact (DRI).

The water is swirling in the narrow channel connecting Cape Pogue Pond to the Edgartown outer harbor. Minutes before the tide hit bottom, the pond was as low as gets, and now the waters of the ocean are running back in.

Two Edgartown homeowners who tore down a historic backyard barn on
their property at the corner of Cooke and Summer streets in March of
2005 without town approval have agreed to pay the town $10,000.

Regional Formula Set for Discussion

State Education Officials Travel Here for Public Meeting on
Anticipated Changes in District Assessments

By IAN FEIN

With selectmen across the Vineyard weighing in on expected changes
to the way their towns pay for the regional school districts, education
officials from Boston will travel to the Island next week to field
questions about the state-driven shift.

In many ways, this year's Martha's Vineyard Regional
High School boys' soccer team is a study in contradictions.

While most of the players have been kicking the ball together since
they were children, coming up together through the ranks of youth soccer
and the recreation and travel leagues, other key players joined the team
only recently, after moving to the Island from other countries like
Brazil.

Movies are scheduled to return Nov. 1 to the screen of the long-dark Capawock Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

Capawock co-owner Benjamin Hall Jr. told a meeting of the Tisbury Business Association last night that renovations at the cinema are nearly complete.

Mr. Hall said the theatre has new seats and new bathrooms, and will offer improved sound. The Halls also plan to shift digital movie equipment from the Island Theatre in Oak Bluffs to the Capawock, where they plan to show digital movies once a week, he said.

Aaron Tweeten Flies Island Skies Aboard Cape Air

By SAM TELLER

As Vineyard Haven came into view thousands of feet below in the
early afternoon on a warm and clear September Tuesday, Cape Air Flight
309 veered west toward Chilmark, crossed woodsy West Tisbury, and banked
back towards Edgartown, before landing gently at Martha's Vineyard
Airport. The passengers politely applauded the pilot of the 10-seater
Cessna 402.