Finance Committee Assails Legal Bills

Board Reverses Position Before Meeting, Deciding to Recommend
Against Payment to Lawyer in Tax Case

By IAN FEIN

West Tisbury town officials this week brought mounting
assessors' legal bills under intense scrutiny during a flurry of
last-minute meetings before the Nov. 16 special town meeting where
voters will be asked to approve more than a quarter-million dollars in
legal expenses.

Library Group Tries Fresh Tack, but Is Rebuffed by Selectmen

By RACHEL KOVAC

The Edgartown library expansion project took another turn this week
when a joint advisory committee reviewing the $11.5 million project
asked the town selectmen for $35,000 to study the possibility of
converting the old elementary school to a library.

The proposal, which is not supported by library trustees, was
quickly shot down by selectmen.

Dropout Rate Sees a Decline

State Report Reveals Vineyard Students Are Staying in School; Strong
Network of Support Cited as a Key Factor

By RACHEL KOVAC

The student dropout rate at the Martha's Vineyard Regional
High School has been steadily declining over the past five years and now
stands at just 1.7 per cent, compared with the state average of 3.7 per
cent.

Engineering Report Targets Bridge Safety

By MAX HART

The committee charged with studying the replacement of the Lagoon
Pond drawbridge approved an engineering consultant's report on the
condition of the bridge this week, but the central question of whether
to replace the bridge in two phases or one remains unresolved.

Biga Bakery Is Leavened with Much Friendship

By IAN FEIN

During the most of their nine years together at Biga Bakery, owners
Beth Kramer and Douglas Reid, who are married, rarely saw each other.

Ms. Kramer would work through the night - putting in more than
15 hours to bake as many as 1,000 loaves per night - while Mr.
Reid would spend 14 hours behind the Biga counter during the day,
cooking countless breakfast sandwiches.

Finance Committee Withholds Endorsement of Project Spending

By IAN FEIN

The West Tisbury finance committee shared some sharp words with
members of the town hall building committee last week, before voting not
to recommend the extra funds needed to keep the $5.5 million renovation
project moving forward.

West Tisbury Leaders Question Legal Bills

By IAN FEIN

Facing more than a quarter-million-dollar price tag for what has
become the costliest legal case in town history, some West Tisbury town
officials are now questioning the validity of the legal bills and the
town's obligation to pay them.

More than a year after the Tisbury planning board first floated its
ambitious proposal to link State and Edgartown-Vineyard Haven roads,
voters this week endorsed the layout for a connecting system of streets
that would ease congestion on the heavily trafficked corridors.

The commercial bay scallop season began this week in four of the six Island towns. And David A. Searle of Vineyard Haven was in his element.

On Wednesday, he was up at 4 a.m. and down at his 20-foot Midland boat by 6:30 a.m. The 65-year-old scalloper was jubilant at the prospect of a season that may last well into the winter.

A swelling inventory of unsold Vineyard properties is translating into choosier buyers and tenants.

Demand remains alive for real estate on the Island. Results compiled by LINK, a Vineyard Haven business that tracks the Vineyard market, shows that 122 Island properties with buildings on them sold in the quarter ended Sept. 30. That is one more property than the comparable period a year ago.

But LINK also reports that the inventory of such properties on the Vineyard climbed to 390 for the quarter, 25 per cent higher than the same period last year.