Two farmers and three developers are among 13 candidates who will
vie for nine elected seats on the Martha's Vineyard Commission in
the state election this November.

Final West Tisbury Buildout Adds 3,000 Citizens to the Population

By MANDY LOCKE

West Tisbury's development spurt in the 1970s felt more like a
surge to the year-round community of 500 living in the up-Island rural
township.

The fast and furious growth, which tripled the housing stock and
nearly quadrupled the permanent population, loomed over West
Tisbury's 17,372 acres through the 1980s. And the townspeople
watched beloved farmland, which made up nearly half of the entire town
in 1950, dwindle from 710 acres in 1970 to just under 500 by 1990.

State public health officials have confirmed that a dead crow found in Tisbury last Tuesday has tested positive for West Nile virus, marking the first appearance of the potentially deadly disease on the Vineyard.

FALMOUTH - - At a tense meeting that was marked by scattered
calls for his resignation, Falmouth Steamship Authority governor Galen
Robbins defended himself last night against a stream of accusations that
he has defied the selectmen who are his appointing authority, especially
on the subject of New Bedford ferry service.

Laughter and money seemed to go hand in hand at last night's Possible Dreams auction in Edgartown. The better the one-liners, the higher the bids.

Fortunately, there were some pretty glib celebrities willing to
stoke the fire, and in the end, the 24th annual auction of 53 dreams had
pulled in more than $376,000. That figure fell short of last
year's take of just over $400,000.

A 54-year-old pilot was killed when a plane he had built himself
crashed south of the Vineyard on Saturday afternoon. Timothy L. Crawford
of Idaho Falls, Ida., was piloting a single-engined, two-seater Long-EZ
aircraft from Barnstable Municipal Airport when for no known reason the
plane crashed about four miles south of Long Point, West Tisbury.

If global warming is a subject that fails to grab you, or feels too
distant to be real, the next time you eat pancakes or French toast,
consider the source of your maple syrup.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, in the 1930s the
maple sugar industry was centered in Virginia. In the 1950s the industry
was centered in New England. Today it is centered in Canada.

Citizen Health Care Role Called Critical

By ALEXIS TONTI

If the Island wants better health care, its citizens must demand it.

This simple but straightforward directive was one of the chief
messages of the second annual public symposium, Changing Our Health
Care: Options for the Vineyard, held Sunday night at the Performing Arts
Center.

Striped bass is one of the Island's favorite seasonal fish.
And its season in fish markets and restaurants is about to close for
another year.

SSA Reorganization Bill Passes Senate; New Bedford, Barnstable Win
Seats; Governor Expected to Sign Law Soon

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The state Senate followed the lead of powerful New Bedford Sen. Mark
Montigny and turned a deaf ear on Cape and Islands Sen. Robert
O'Leary this week, voting overwhelmingly to approve a hostile bill
to restructure the Steamship Authority.