Herbert Hancock, 71, Was Chilmark Selectman

Herbert R. Hancock, selectman, lobsterman, builder and artist, died
at home Thursday morning, April 26, after a short, brave battle with
cancer. He was 71.

Chilmark Casts Its Votes

By KATHERINE WILEY

In a meeting which ended minutes before midnight, Chilmark voters
gave the go-ahead to the library renovation and expansion project,
increased traffic control in Menemsha, and a slew of zoning bylaw
changes.

These decisions took place at the Monday evening annual town meeting
where 32 per cent of the town's registered voters - 243
people - filled the Chilmark Community Center to capacity.

Protection for Pond Shorelines

By JULIA WELLS

Amid a proliferation of applications for permanent piers, a new
district of critical planning concern (DCPC) has now been proposed for
the shorelines of two shellfish-rich ponds in the town of Chilmark.

Last week the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted to nominate
the Menemsha and Nashaquitsa Ponds as a DCPC on the Chilmark side.

Site problems, traffic impacts, resentment from two rival business owners and an exceptional program that has sparked a love of tennis in hundreds of Island children - all these were subjects for discussion at a second public hearing last week on the new building proposal by Vineyard Youth Tennis Inc.

West Tisbury voters fed up with rising taxes sent a message last week at annual town meeting when they reduced their town's share of the Up-Island Regional School budget by $250,000. That message, though, is about to be stamped return-to-sender.

Aquinnah Building Triggers Controversy

Tribal Officials and Town Leadership Collide Over Construction on
Indian Property Without Normal Permits

By COLE LOUISON

A shack beside the shellfish hatchery on the Wampanoag Tribe's
property has raised the question of building rights in Aquinnah and
sharp objections from some town officials.

Islanders Lambaste New Bedford Plan

Seabulk Proposal for Private Freight Service to Vineyard and
Nantucket Meets with Forceful Opposition

By JULIA WELLS

Vineyard residents spoke out last night against a proposal by a
private hauler to run year-round ferry service between New Bedford and
the Islands, calling the plan ill-conceived and one more burden on the
port of Vineyard Haven.

Put away the nicotine patch. Smokers who thought they were about to
be pushed out of every bar on the Island may soon find friendly tobacco
turf in Oak Bluffs.

The governor's ferry task force that recently staged a
four-month crash course on the Steamship Authority has now opened the
door for a major overhaul of the public boat line that has served the
two Islands for 41 years.

Pile drivers and backhoes have been rumbling just a hundred yards
away, but the wild ducks on Sunset Lake in Oak Bluffs aren't
budging. The fact is, while the streets in this town have been turned
inside out with pipes, pumps and grinders to make way for a new sewer
system, it's the ducks that appear to rule the road.