The Vineyard Gazette won the George A. Speers Newspaper of the Year
award for 2004 last weekend at the annual New England Press Association
winter convention in Boston. The coveted honor was given to five
newspapers in five separate circulation categories this year, including
two weeklies, one alternative weekly and two small dailies.
The Gazette has won the award seven times since 1990.
Since last fall Estelle T. Burnham has had a new friend, a companion in hard times. Confined to a wheelchair, Ms. Burnham, 64, of Edgartown spends her day with a dog.
His name is Braun, and this one-and-a-half-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever offers her attention and care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Aquinnah Town Leaders Scramble Anew for Fresh Revenues to Replace
Shortfall
By MAX HART
Aquinnah selectmen learned this week that the town now faces another
financial dilemma: a $25,000 budget shortfall for fiscal year 2005.
Wastewater Board Explains Mercury Mishap
By JAMES KINSELLA
The Oak Bluffs wastewater commission declared this week that the mercury exposure incident at the town treatment plant is no cause for public alarm and is being handled responsibly by plant superintendent Joseph Alosso.
"We are on top of this thing," said commission chairman John Leite 3rd. "Our manager has been on top of it. We don't micromanage. We give him latitude to run the plan. He has called us every step of the way. We are going to solve this problem, if it exists."
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has denied a petition by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to hold a new hearing on the much-watched sovereignty case, closing the door on the last option for the Wampanoags at the state level.
In a one-sentence ruling issued late in the day on Wednesday, the state supreme court denied the motion by the tribe to rehear the case.
The tribe will now pursue an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
Text of this article is missing.
Tea Lane Residents Clamor for Paving Ancient Town Byway
By MAX HART
Fed up with the ruts and potholes on their dirt road, residents
along historic Tea Lane in Chilmark are pleading with town leaders to
consider paving the 242-year-old byway.
"This is not just a colonial road anymore," Thomas
Rivers, a resident who lives off Tea Lane, told the Gazette this week.
"This is a colonial road in modern times, and it is failing its
residents. It is past time that the town responds accordingly, and some
of us think that means paving it."
After the Storm, Sledding Is Fine Sport from Farm Neck Fairways to
Tashmoo
By MAX HART
The snowdrifts near the tee box on the third hole at Farm Neck Golf
Club in Oak Bluffs are deep, very deep.
So deep, in fact, that they rise up past the waist of an
average-sized adult, a good three to four feet of snow. Trying to wade
through them is an exercise in absurdity; it's nearly impossible
to navigate without falling on your face.
Road Crews Tackle Epic Storm Cleanup
Highway Departments in All Six Towns Labor Tirelessly Around the
Clock to Remove Mountains of Snow
By JAMES KINSELLA
Vineyard road crews worked through the teeth of last weekend's
storm, battling white-out conditions and drifting snow to keep the
public ways clear.
When the snow slowed, workers in down-Island towns began hauling
away tons of the white stuff, building small mountains in designated
dumping areas.
Amid an escalating political climate around the controversial Cape Wind project, the Martha's Vineyard Commission decided last week to finally step into the fray.
While commission members were clear they would not take a position on the project itself, they unanimously agreed to take up as a cause the inadequate regulatory framework for permitting offshore wind farms.