Tension Inside Oak Bluffs Fire Department Leads to Emergency
Services Separation

By JAMES KINSELLA

Following mounting dissension in the Oak Bluffs fire department, the
chairman of the board of selectmen moved this week to make the ambulance
service a separate department.

Selectman and board chairman Gregory Coogan said he made a
management decision Wednesday to split the two services, a move he said
was long overdue.

"I think there are inherent problems in the two
departments," Mr. Coogan said. "I think they have been at
odds over time."

Direct Sale of Fish Eyed at Menemsha

Chilmark Selectmen Explore Options on Waterfront

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

The Chilmark selectmen are exploring ways to enable fishermen to
sell their catch directly at the Menemsha dock, part of their ongoing
search for ways to support the fishing fleet and boost the village
economy in general.

One idea is to attract another market to town, in particular one
that would sell fresh fish caught by the Menemsha fleet, with the rest
shipped to the mainland by truck, the old-fashioned way.

An esoteric case that has implications for the future of small parks in Oak Bluffs and throughout the commonwealth was argued at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Monday.

A decision is expected sometime in the next three months.

On its surface the case is about three small wooded lots behind Crystal Lake on East Chop, and whether the current owners can build there, though the lots have been labeled as parks since they were set out in an original 1872 subdivision.

State Study Panel Hands High Marks to Charter School

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

A state education inspection team has given a mostly glowing
evaluation of the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School in West
Tisbury.

The team's 42-page report, based on a visit to the school from
Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 last year, will be among the information
considered by the state board of education at its Feb. 28 meeting in
Malden on whether to renew the school's charter for the next five
years.

If you want to find Basil Welch, just pull into his Chilmark
driveway and follow the signs.

Pass the one on the right that says Caution: Old Hunter Crossing,
tacked to the tree on the edge of the yard.

Stay left of the working outhouse with the crescent moon cutout and
the signs that read Turnips and, below that, Selectmen's Meeting
Room.

The floors of the houses tend to be linoleum or older carpet, or perhaps cheap pine. The windows often are nondescript, the detailing undistinctive, and the lots small.

But if you can lay hold of between $400,000 and $500,000, chances are that one of these less-than-pristine homes on Martha's Vineyard - the bottom of the Island real estate market - can be yours.

"They're a good opportunity to get into the market . . . especially for a young couple who can put in some sweat equity," said Alan Schweikert, owner of Ocean Park Realty Inc. in Oak Bluffs.

West Tisbury selectmen this week put the brakes on plans to scale back the troubled town hall renovation project.

The deadlocked 1-1 vote on Wednesday cut off funding for the redesign and effectively killed the renovation - at least for now.

Selectman John Early said that although he still wants the existing town hall to be renovated, he did not believe the scaled back project could be completed within the $3.7 million budget. He said he would not proceed without additional support from town voters.

A pedestrian walkway that stretches along the perimeter of the harbor. Traffic patterns aimed at easing congestion in the Island's most notorious intersection. Improved public transportation routes that will offer passengers more alternatives. A town hall nestled in the heart of the village.

Renee Balter is a celebrant of art, of Mini Cooper automobiles and especially of her adopted home town of Oak Bluffs - its downtown, its architecture, its Camp Ground, its parks, and something harder to define.

"The feeling here. There's just such a wonderful sense of community," Mrs. Balter said.

If she celebrates Oak Bluffs, the town celebrates her: the Connecticut native who over the past 15 years re-energized the town's business community and its ties to the town at large.

A vote by the New England Fishery Management Council this week to
further restrict the number of days fishermen can pursue cod and
yellowtail flounder drew sharp reaction from fishermen around the
region, including one on the Vineyard.