A final draft of a county initiative to move beyond summer gridlock calls on Island officials to replace talk with action and develop a regional, coordinated plan to target growth and traffic problems on the Island.

Susan Wasserman, a planning consultant and the facilitator of the in-depth study of the Island’s transportation problems, presented the results of Transportation 2000: Moving Beyond Gridlock to the county commissioners this Wednesday along with project assistant Juleann VanBelle. A final draft of the report goes to the printer today.

If you ate a raw oyster last summer on the Vineyard, chances are it came from either Canada or Long Island. But for oyster lovers, the summer ahead offers another treat: the Vineyard oyster.

Across the Island, hundreds of acres of beautiful land were designated as conservation property and protected from development.

Still, prominent conservationists joined together to make a dire prediction, that all the Vineyard's undeveloped land will be built upon by 2005.

Meanwhile, throngs of cars were increasingly viewed as villains on the Island's two-lane roads.

This weekend, the Island remembered a time when many of its residents were bilingual -- when Vineyarders spoke both English and sign language and for over 250 years the deaf were accepted, not stigmatized by society.

It is a remarkable part of Island history, yet it seldom is the cause for celebration as it is a history that has been largely forgotten in recent years.

Until last Friday. On Friday, Vineyard residents and visitors were reintroduced to the Island’s signing history at the very first Sign Language Heritage Event, held at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown.

Although it is still without furniture and there are files on the floors, the new $1.4 million Tisbury Police and Ambulance Facility was open for business this week. Still located on Water street and 10 times the size of its 700 square foot predecessor, it shadows the four parking spaces where the old station was once situated.

"I am extremely pleased now that we have something decent to work in," said Tisbury police chief John McCarthy. "We have a building that will serve the community for a minimum of 20 to 30 years. It's great."

Designs for the new Menemsha School met with considerable support and some opposition this week at the Chilmark selectmen's meeting.

Charles Rose of Thompson and Rose Architects presented the designs for the new school to the selectmen for the first time Tuesday evening. The designs are ones selected by the Chilmark school building committee last week based on four schemes Mr. Rose presented to them.