Signaling an abrupt shift in direction on the
ambitious new service model, Steamship Authority general manager Armand
Tiberio said yesterday that the boat line will ax two key elements of
the model, including the controversial scheme to replace all three
ferries on the Nantucket run with one multipurpose high-speed ferry.

SSA Drops High-Speed Ferry Idea

By JULIA WELLS

NANTUCKET - Signaling an abrupt shift in direction on the
ambitious new service model, Steamship Authority general manager Armand
Tiberio said yesterday that the boat line will ax two key elements of
the model, including the controversial scheme to replace all three
ferries on the Nantucket run with one multipurpose high-speed ferry.

"If we are not going to be able to use technology - if
the position is that a high-speed vessel is not okay, then so be
it," Mr. Tiberio said.

MVC Defers Chappy Decision

By JULIA WELLS

After listening to more than two hours of bitterly divided testimony
from an overflow crowd, the Martha's Vineyard Commission postponed
a decision last night on a proposal to designate the entire island of
Chappaquiddick as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC).

"I will tell you that Chappy is a finite place, and because of
its size what happens on this island affects everything else - the
beaches, the roads, the ferry," declared Don Crocker, president of
the Chappaquiddick Island Association.

Edgartown selectmen this week affirmed the use of fire as a land
management tool as long as members of The Nature Conservancy continue to
work closely with the town's fire chief.

Joel R. Carlson, a fire manager for The Nature Conservancy, came
before the selectmen to answer concerns about the risk of setting fires
in wooded areas. The meeting was attended by representatives of the town
conservation commission and the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest.

Island police are looking into the possibility that a brawl involving off-duty National guardsmen on the night of May 10 at the Atlantic Connection in Oak Bluffs is connected to the vandalism of National Guard trucks three nights later in Tisbury.

With cannons firing from three wharves around the harbor, a Navy
warbird lacing the sky overhead with trails of white smoke and a piper
sending her down to the sea to the tune of Scotland the Brave, the
schooner Rebecca was launched from the Tisbury Marine Railway Company
late Tuesday afternoon.

Before Sheila and Charlie Flathers sat down for dinner and a couple of cold beers at Papa's Pizza Wednesday night, they seriously pondered over the specials that weren't on the menu - a thick wooden table for $120 or a chair for 15 bucks.

Herring Creek Farm, the storied and richly diverse Great Plains farm
in the rural coastal perimeters of Edgartown, is now set to be sold for
a record price to an eclectic group that includes two nonprofit
conservation organizations and two private buyers.

Island Charter School Prepares To Honor First Graduating Class

By JOSHUA SABATINI

The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School is holding its
first ever graduation in June. The school, in its fifth year, has a lot
to celebrate.

Backers of a plan to build a community swimming pool are suffering
from sticker shock, having learned last month that the
38,500-square-foot complex would cost $8.85 million to construct, nearly
twice the amount projected in a study done six years ago.