Labor Day Weekend Sends Island Toward Final Phase of Summer

By JOSHUA SABATINI

Celebrated each year on the first Monday in September, Labor Day is
dedicated to the achievements of American workers. In truth, the holiday
is probably better known as the impetus for one final long weekend
before the kids head off to school, and marks the occasion after which
workers start to bear down until summer rolls around again.

Craig Johnstone Kingsbury, 89, of Vineyard Haven, died Friday
afternoon, August 30, at Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in
Oak Bluffs. He was attended by the caring and skilled staff. Craig died
suddenly and without pain; he had been a patient at Windemere since
April.

The vocal critics and Monday morning analysts peddle doomsday
scenarios about the Steamship Authority with increasing regularity, and
while the voices may vary, the message is unchanged: The financial
condition of the boat line is precarious, the future is riddled with
uncertainty, and there is no money to pay for future capital projects.

Blame it on terrorism, the stock market tumble or the fine weather that kept tourists on their beach blankets and away from downtown shops. Whatever the reason, it's been a lackluster summer at the cash register for most, but not all, Island businesses.

John Ferguson Guides Hospital Into the Future

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

He's the quiet guy from New Jersey who kept his head down for
nearly two years while the Martha's Vineyard Hospital lurched from
one crisis to the next, unable to right itself in a stormy sea of bad
faith and poor community relations.

Now John Ferguson is the man at the helm, and he is determined to
steer the Island's only hospital in a new direction.

Manning the front lines of the Island economy, Vineyard harbor
masters often see business trends before merchants do. As summer draws
to an end, four of the five Island harbor masters told the Gazette that
a season typically busy in some regards was even busier than normal in
others.

Edgartown Great Pond Receives State Assistance

By MANDY LOCKE

Edgartown's beloved Great Pond, a delicate balance of fresh
and salt water that has become fragile as a result of the burdens of
development, is at the top of the state's priority list to receive
a comprehensive estuary restoration plan.

"They will essentially hand us the tools for managing the
watershed and an understanding of the mechanics of doing that,"
said Tom Wallace, president of the Great Pond Foundation, a nonprofit
group formed in 1999 to protect the health of the pond.

Barbara (Bobbie) Nevin Dies at Age 79; She Was Realtor and Towering
Island Figure

By NICOLE GALLAND and TOM DUNLOP

Flags all across Edgartown - at Memorial Wharf, the county
courthouse, Memorial Park and the American Legion Post 186 - flew
at half-staff this week to mourn Barbara B. Nevin, a leading citizen of
the town, who died unexpectedly on Friday at Cape Cod Hospital in
Hyannis. Mrs. Nevin was 79 and the widow of Dr. Robert W. Nevin.

Having been a female reporter in Vietnam, Denby Fawcett said, "We belong to an exclusive club that can accept no new members. Vietnam made me braver, it made me more skeptical. I went thinking it was all always going to be all right. I left knowing that was not always so."

"Every day was different, and there was always a wild card in the deck," reporter Laura Palmer said. "The truism was that nothing was ever as it seemed. Just when you thought you understood, everything shifted."

Tough-talking members of the regional high school committee
questioned last week whether they want to play the high-stakes game
known as MCAS and make passing the standardized test a requirement for
graduation.