When four-year-old Dashiell Christy begins his day at the Chilmark Preschool, he decides which activity he wants to do first - playdough, blocks, or maybe making a pot of pretend coffee in a miniature kitchen.

This morning, Dashiell - or Dash, as his classmates call him - chose blocks.

Choice is a central tenet of the Chilmark Preschool philosophy, as laid out by director Christine Abrams.

With less than four minutes left in the Martha's Vineyard-Nantucket football game Saturday, several Vineyard players snuck up behind special teams, linebacker and tight end coach Stephen Barbee and doused him with a large Gatorade bucket full of ice water.

The traditional prank was a fitting end to the afternoon for a coach who saw all three of his units play a starring role in the Vineyard's convincing 27-12 win over the archrival Whalers on a bright but chilly day at McCarthy Field.

West Tisbury Voters Veto Legal Bills in Tax Case, Reject Town Hall
Funds

By IAN FEIN

An overflow crowd of West Tisbury voters this week delivered a
stinging mandate to town officials, rejecting a $1.8 million cost
overrun on the town hall renovation project and $250,000 in legal bills
for the ongoing tax case between town assessors and resident William W.
Graham.

The special town meeting on Wednesday night saw a record turnout of
288 voters, more than attended the annual town meeting in April.

School Budget Talks Highlight Steady Rise in Cost of Education

By RACHEL KOVAC

The merits of forming a single regional school district came to the
forefront of an all-Island school committee meeting this week, as an
increase in the budget for the Vineyard schools superintendent prompted
discussion once again about ways to manage rising costs in education.

Town Meeting Sends a Difficult Mandate

Fallout Begins on Day Following Vote; Many Questions Remain
Unanswered for Both Tax Case and Town Hall

By IAN FEIN

With a town hall renovation project in tatters, unpaid bills stacked
high and a legal expense account on empty, the question left hanging in
West Tisbury yesterday was: What next?

Town Meeting Sends a Difficult Mandate

Fallout Begins on Day Following Vote; Many Questions Remain
Unanswered for Both Tax Case and Town Hall

By IAN FEIN

With a town hall renovation project in tatters, unpaid bills stacked
high and a legal expense account on empty, the question left hanging in
West Tisbury yesterday was: What next?

With over 50 years of inter-Island competition and more than 25 years of battling for the coveted Island Cup, it is hard to believe there is a fresh angle when it comes to the Vineyard-Nantucket high school football rivalry.

What storyline remains to be written?

Home Port Purchase Set for Decision

IAN FEIN and JAMES KINSELLA

For decades, the Home Port restaurant in Menemsha has been the
epitome of a traditional Yankee seaside restaurant, with its lobster
dinners and stunning sunset views.

On Monday night, Chilmark voters will decide whether to set aside
another Yankee tradition - frugality - and buy the Home Port
from owners Will Holtham and Madeline Moore for $3.9 million.

Construction on Islander Replacement Resumes at Full Tilt After
Hurricane

By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer

While work has resumed on the Steamship Authority's new Island
Home car and passenger ferry, the vessel will not be delivered until a
year from now.

The vessel, which is slated to replace the Islander on the
Vineyard-Woods Hole run, originally had been scheduled for delivery next
June.

After two months of studying a scientific report documenting a severe decline in key stocks of fish from Georges Bank to the Gulf of Maine, the New England Fishery Management Council this week was unable to agree on new measures to protect the resource from overfishing.