If there's a paradox in the Possible Dreams Auction, it's
that the folks who run Martha's Vineyard Community Services count on
the money it raises as a definite reality.

They need the funds, and over the past 22 years, this auction
peddling wild and far-fetched dreams has anchored the development
efforts at Community Services and enabled the agency to make daycare
affordable to working Islanders and to offer counseling and substance
abuse treatment to people with no insu

Four weeks after her younger sister was killed in a moped
accident in Oak Bluffs, Christina Dunnet Davis is vowing to join any
campaign that will rid the Vineyard of mopeds.

It began with a suburban-style subdivision plan, polished
like a shiny apple: Maximum density, 54 luxury homes, two beach clubs
with swimming pools.

It ended last week with a record real estate sale and a
subdivision plan of a markedly different color: Six new luxury homes
added to five existing homes and a vast sweep of farmland saved
forever.

But between the beginning and the end of the Herring Creek
Farm story there is another story.

When Steven McCormick was a law student, he asked a professor
to explain the exact meaning of the word perpetuity. The law
professor's reply to the young student was simple and direct. "It
means forever - and a day," the professor said.

Forever and a day is exactly how long the farm fields will
now be preserved at the Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown, and on the
Vineyard this week Mr.

Voters in Aquinnah Give Strong Backing to Tribe On Cliff Lot Lease Rights

By JOSHUA SABATINI

At a special town meeting in Aquinnah Wednesday night, 122
voters, or 37 per cent of all those registered, decided that the town
should continue to lease its commercial lots at the cliffs
exclusively to Wampanoags.

By a margin of 10 votes, 66 to 56, Article 9 passed.

Mother Nature is keeping the Vineyard Golf Club under construction until the next summer season.

Even though the fairways and contours of the course are beginning to glow in a shade of bright green, the caretakers of Vineyard Golf Club refuse to open the 71-acre facility until they know it can sustain foot and cart traffic.

“We agreed to do this the right way. It’s really a labor of love,” said Owen Larkin, managing partner of Vineyard Golf Club.

Fishermen, sightseers and friends filled the Menemsha docks
on Wednesday when the fishing boat Quitsa Strider II came in.
The word was out. They had hit the jackpot.

Capt. Jonathan Mayhew, 50, of Chilmark and his crew had 31
harpooned swordfish on ice aboard. It has been years since a
local fishing boat did so well. Hours later, his brother Gregory
Mayhew and his crew on the fishing boat Unicorn landed 16 of the
same.

These were big fish: Their average dressed weight was around
200 pounds.

Record Swordfish Landings

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Fishermen, sightseers and friends filled the Menemsha docks
on Wednesday when the fishing boat Quitsa Strider II came in.
The word was out. They had hit the jackpot.

Capt. Jonathan Mayhew, 50, of Chilmark and his crew had 31
harpooned swordfish on ice aboard. It has been years since a
local fishing boat did so well. Hours later, his brother Gregory
Mayhew and his crew on the fishing boat Unicorn landed 16 of the
same.

These were big fish: Their average dressed weight was around
200 pounds.

Record Swordfish Landings

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Fishermen, sightseers and friends filled the Menemsha docks
on Wednesday when the fishing boat Quitsa Strider II came in.
The word was out. They had hit the jackpot.

Capt. Jonathan Mayhew, 50, of Chilmark and his crew had 31
harpooned swordfish on ice aboard. It has been years since a
local fishing boat did so well. Hours later, his brother Gregory
Mayhew and his crew on the fishing boat Unicorn landed 16 of the
same.

These were big fish: Their average dressed weight was around
200 pounds.

Ending months of speculation and more than a decade of bitter warring over development plans - both in and out of court - the 215-acre, ecologically rare Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown was sold this week for a record $64 Million.

The new owners of the storied Great Plains farm include The Nature Conservancy, the FARM Institute and three private buyers.