Public Denounces Political Campaign to Force Changes in SSA
Legislation; New Bedford Ferry Position Draws Fire

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The people of the Vineyard turned out in force this week to vent
their views about the Steamship Authority at an old-fashioned democratic
forum. The forum revealed sharp differences between the populace and a
group of local elected officials who have been lobbying the state
legislature to change the boat line enabling legislation.

NAACP Gathering Honors King Legacy

Judge Ann Williams Asks Equal Justice for All Citizens

By MANDY LOCKE

The only thing missing from Tuesday night's NAACP dinner was
the guest of honor: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It was just the sort of gathering the civil rights pioneer would
have loved, according to the keynote speaker, federal judge Ann Claire
Williams.

Surgeon Resignation Spurs Public Uproar

Citizens Plan Open Forum to Discuss Troubles at the Vineyard
Hospital; Early February Meeting Discussed

By JULIA WELLS

Heated opinions continue to percolate in the Vineyard community this
week regarding the recent conflict between the chief executive officer
of and a leading surgeon at Martha's Vineyard Hospital.

A giant among Vineyard businesses - in terms of people on the
payroll and a profile that virtually spans the globe - the Black
Dog Tavern Inc. is showing some serious chinks in its armor.

SSA Forum Gives Voice to Public

A public forum to hear Vineyard residents' ideas and questions
on Steamship Authority issues will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 23. The
forum opens at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, and is expected to last
two hours.

For the last several years, it's been the traditional one-way
street walked by most every immigrant: You come to a foreign country and
struggle to learn a new language.

New SSA Governor Faces New Bedford Outburst

By JULIA WELLS

Steamship Authority freight service between New Bedford and
Martha's Vineyard remained in limbo yesterday as New Bedford city
solicitor George Leontire reviled a newly constituted boat line board of
governors with a fresh burst of insults and accusations.

"We now have Winken, Blinken and Nod up there now," Mr.
Leontire bellowed at the governors before he was called out of order by
board chairman and Falmouth governor Galen Robbins.

On any summer day a few years ago, a light breeze
could carry a thick stench miles from the peak of the overgrown Madaket
landfill. Today, to a viewer atop the grassy mound three stories high,
only a few pieces of lingering debris around the perimeter recall the
22-acre landfill so noxious that the state forced its capping in 1999.

Trustees at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital scrambled to
contain the damage this week in the aftermath of last week's
announcement by a respected Vineyard surgeon that he will sever his
contract with the hospital.