Voters Consider Housing Initiative

"The Tisbury Police Department environment is dysfunctional, at best, with continual tension between police officers and management," declares a new report made public at the Feb. 27 meeting of the Tisbury board of selectmen. The 22-page report is the product of a four-month study commissioned by selectmen and undertaken by seasonal Island resident Robert Wasserman of the consulting firm PSComm LLC.

Report Issued on Tisbury Police

"The Tisbury Police Department environment is dysfunctional,
at best, with continual tension between police officers and
management," declares a new report made public at the Feb. 27
meeting of the Tisbury board of selectmen. The 22-page report is the
product of a four-month study commissioned by selectmen and undertaken
by seasonal Island resident Robert Wasserman of the consulting firm
PSComm LLC.

Hockey Coach Reinstated

Hockey Coach Reinstated

By COLE LOUISON

Mike Jackson was reinstated as head coach of the hockey team Monday
after serving a week-long suspension for destroying a second-place
trophy following a tournament game against rival Shrewsbury on Feb. 18.

"I made a mistake," Mr. Jackson told the Gazette.
"And I learned from it, there's no doubt about that."

Mr. Jackson met with principal Peg Regan on Feb. 20 and admitted to
smashing a tournament trophy with a hammer, the action for which he was
suspended.

Habitat for Humanity Celebrates

Officials from the Martha's Vineyard chapter of Habitat for Humanity announced this week that they have signed a purchase and sales agreement to buy two acres of land in Edgartown.

The land is located off the West Tisbury Road near Bennett Way and, if all goes as planned, the group hopes to begin constructing two houses there late this spring.

It's apt that this news comes now, since this week also marks the completion of the chapter's first house on the Island.

Basketball Team Wins

Basketball Team Wins

By KATHERINE WILEY

Tuesday afternoon, the Martha's Vineyard boys' varsity
basketball team showed what a burst of energy, a dose of teamwork and a
foundation of hard work can do. It can get you a win in the preliminary
round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA)
Division 3 basketball tournament.

The Vineyarders kept the fans on the edge of their seats, overcoming
a large deficit and beating 19t-seeded Old Rochester 55-51 in a
hard-fought game at the Vineyard's regional high school.

Chilmark Actor Joins TV Cast

Lenny Clarke steals doughnuts from co-workers' desks, sleeps in the office when his sister in law is visiting and would rather nap than watch for crooks.

At least that's the case when he's playing detective Frank Harrigan on the new comedy, The Job, that debuts Wednesday, March 14 at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.

In real life, Mr. Clarke drinks tea, enjoys a daily swim in the summer and is a year-round Chilmark resident.

Tribe, Town Collide

In the view of Aquinnah police chief Doug Fortes, the turning point came in the fall of 1999, when rangers from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay
Head (Aquinnah) came back from a trip to the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York, packing a half dozen Glock nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistols.

Hockey Coach Suspended

Head varsity hockey coach Mike Jackson is serving a five-day
suspension after an incident following Sunday's Fairleigh
Dickinson tournament at the Martha's Vineyard Arena that left the
team's trophy in pieces and the hockey community sharply divided.

Tularemia Forum Held

Tissue samples taken last September from a Chilmark skunk and a Katama rat tested positive for tularemia, the rare disease that infected 15 people on the Island last year, killing one man who did not seek medical attention in time.

Vineyard Addresses Task Force

Vineyard Addresses Task Force

By JULIA WELLS

The governor's ferry task force had a three-and-a-half hour
lesson in local politics, economics, transit systems, self-governance
and the cost of butter last night when some 300 Vineyard residents
turned out for the final public hearing of the now-celebrated
fact-finding committee.

"Most of our year-round constituents are middle-class working
families, and the Steamship Authority is their lifeline to the
mainland," declared West Tisbury selectman Cynthia Mitchell.

Pages