The town of Oak Bluffs has at least 10 employees working under
personal service contracts, multiple year employment agreements
negotiated on an individual basis that usually reward the worker with
additional perks and a higher level of pay than other municipal and
union employees.
Piano notes ring out and fill the empty main room of the Outerland nightclub. Rather than enjoying the sunny Monday afternoon, the five-member cast of Ruthless!, an Off-Broadway musical that debuted here Thursday evening, is in full costume.
The epic six-year battle over control of the Martha's Vineyard
Airport has ended not with a bang, but with the mailing of checks.
In the end, the court case at the center of the battle cost at least
$608,374 - in payments to the two airport managers who brought the
lawsuit and in legal fees charged by the attorneys.
Patrolman to Chief: Meet Timothy Stobie
By MAX HART
You can call him chief, you can call him acting chief - you
can even call him police chief pro tempore if you must.
Just don't call Timothy Stobie, Tisbury's acting police
chief, newsworthy.
"I have never considered myself newsworthy, I can tell you
that," he said Wednesday. "Must be a slow news week."
A Middlesex Superior Court judge last week upheld the validity of a unique townwide planning and zoning district in Aquinnah.
The decision, which was entered on Friday by the Hon. Julian T. Houston, found in favor of the town and the Martha's Vineyard Commission against a developer who is seeking to open access to and subdivide parcels of vacant land off Moshup Trail. The developer, James J. Decoulos, has filed more than 10 different legal challenges against the town, a number of which are still ongoing.
Power Research Institute Challenges Practicality of Tidal Energy
Project
By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer
Engineering analysis has raised questions about
the practicality of a proposed tidal energy farm near the Middle Ground
in Vineyard Sound.
Roger Bedard, ocean energy leader at the Electric Power Research
Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., said the tidal flow through the Sound is
not fast enough to make a tidal turbine energy project feasible.
Boat Line Pursues Government Grants
Oak Bluffs Ferry Terminal Renovation Is Delayed Until Steamship
Authority Acquires State and Federal Funding
By JAMES KINSELLA
The $10.1 million renovation of the Oak Bluffs ferry terminal and
several other major Steamship Authority projects will remain on hold
until the boat line succeeds in landing state or federal government
grants.
p> After over a week of cool temperatures, rain and fog, the clouds
parted on Sunday morning just in time for the 47th annual commencement
of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School. Before the ceremony
even began, Tyler Meyst was beaming.
Aquinnah Voters Adopt Balanced Budget
By IAN FEIN
It took a month and a good dose of grief, but Aquinnah voters last
week completed their annual town meeting and adopted a balanced $2.6
million town budget.
The approval did not come a moment too soon for town officials, who
needed to have a budget in place for the start of the 2007 fiscal year
only three weeks away.
Did you know that it is illegal to roller skate on most parts of
Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs? Or that all raw milk and cream sold in
Edgartown is supposed to come from cows certified by the town inspector
of milk?
And don't even think about driving your horse at a furious or
immoderate gait in Tisbury or at an unreasonable rate in Oak Bluffs.
Both are also illegal, and could net you a fine, or worse, a night in
jail.