This was a great season for Vineyard farmers. There was plenty of
warm sunshine and enough rainfall throughout most of the growing season.
It was more normal than normal, says Jim Athearn of Morning Glory Farm
in Edgartown.

The hour is ripe - just around midnight Friday - and Edgartown police officer Mike Delis, cruising up Airport Road, knows what he's looking for.

Athletic Field Plans Call for Expansion at the High School

BY JOSHUA SABATINI

Two diamonds each for baseball and softball and four soccer-sized
athletic fields is what athletic director Paul Harrison envisions at the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.

At a meeting last week of the school's land use subcommittee,
Mr. Harrison presented an initial layout for his proposal. He said it
could become a reality in five years.

"This is terrific," committee member Ralph Friedman
said, looking over the plans.

SSA Board Sinks New Bedford Ferry Plan; Shaky Financial Footing
Collapses Proposal

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

In a 2-1 vote that left Vineyard Steamship Authority governor J.B.
Riggs Parker visibly seething, the SSA board yesterday killed a trial
high-speed ferry project between New Bedford and the Vineyard that would
have cost $10 million over the next three years.

"A $10 million investment over three years with no market
study? This is not the right deal or the right time," said
Falmouth SSA governor Galen Robbins.

Getting gypped out of a screenwriting credit for a movie that has grossed over $300 million and won seven Oscars would put anyone on edge. It's a good thing that Don Ethan Miller is an expert at tai chi, and he knows how to relax.

Island beaches may look deserted by this time of year, the streets
empty after midnight. But T.J. Hegarty knows better.

From the very start it had all the markings of a political campaign
- go heavy on the sales pitch, work the numbers to make them fit
the pitch and filibuster to silence anyone who questioned the
information.

More land, less impact on the ponds and a pledge to be better
neighbors this time around - those were the promises made to the
Martha's Vineyard Commission last night from developers who want
to build an 18-hole private, luxury golf club in the last unbroken
stretch of woodlands in the town of Oak Bluffs.

Crowding Plagues Day Care Centers

By MANDY LOCKE

For far too many Island parents, the joy of bringing a baby into the
world becomes clouded by the anxiety of securing and affording a quality
day-care provider.

Each parent seems to have a horror story.

One mother returns to the sitter to pick up her infant, who waddles
in a sagging diaper six hours old. Another - after a full year of
trying to find a care provider for her two-year-old - begs her
mother in law to move to the Island.

First Anthrax Scare Triggers Emergency Response on Island

Editor's Note: State public health officials reported Saturday that testing of the substance found in the envelope delivered to Vineyard Gazette editor and publisher Richard Reston was negative and showed no trace of anthrax. Officials called the test definitive and closed the case.

An anthrax scare turned up on the Vineyard this week when the editor
and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette received a suspicious envelope in
the mail that contained a gray granular substance.