Selectmen Will Call Special Election
By IAN FEIN
At a meeting marked by confusion and procedural missteps, West
Tisbury selectmen this week heeded the advice of their town counsel
Ronald H. Rappaport and agreed to call a special town election in May to
fill the vacant seat on the board of assessors.
But they turned a deaf ear on further advice from Mr. Rappaport and
decided to appoint Cynthia Mitchell, a former selectman and town
treasurer, to replace Raymond Houle on the board for the next two
months.
Bill Takes Aim at Wind Farm
Retreating Behind Closed Doors, Lawmakers Debate Amendment Tacked
Onto Coast Guard Bill That Would Ban Turbines
By IAN FEIN
The fate of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm hung in the
balance in Washington, D.C. this week, where a small group of
congressmen met behind closed doors to consider an amendment to a U.S.
Coast Guard bill that would effectively kill the controversial project.
Come-from-Behind Win Sends Boys to Round Two
By MAX HART
NEW BEDFORD - Not even the weather, it seems, can stop the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School boys' basketball
team.
Summer Rental Market Booms Unexpectedly; Brokers Scramble
By MAX HART
Blame it on the economy, blame it on the Republicans, or blame it on
that tried and true scapegoat - the weather. Whatever the reason
- and no one knows for sure - Island real estate brokers
report that the demand for summer rentals has suddenly exploded.
Town Wins Round in Moujabber Case
Superior Court Judge in Dukes County Upholds Decision to Revoke
Permit for Illegal North Bluff Garage
By IAN FEIN
Marking a significant step in the saga surrounding the three-story
garage owned by Joseph G. Moujabber in Oak Bluffs, a Dukes County
Superior Court judge this week ruled that the town zoning board of
appeals and building inspector were correct when they revoked the
building permit for the structure.
Secretary of Commerce Proposes Even Stricter Groundfish Rules
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Concerned about severe overfishing of key stocks in the waters off
New England, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on Tuesday stepped in to
propose strict emergency measures to curtail overfishing this spring.
The proposal supersedes measures enacted by the New England Fishery
Management Council, the regional regulatory body that has struggled over
the last year to meet a federal deadline for developing a sound plan to
save the troubled fishery.
Embattled County Commission Appoints Five to Airport Board
By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer
The Dukes County Commission Wednesday named five people to the
Martha's Vineyard airport commission, even as a replaced airport
commissioner has asked the Cape and Islands district attorney's
office to investigate the matter.
Vineyard Haven Boch Property Is Centerpiece of Future Plan
By JAMES KINSELLA
Nearly two decades ago, the late Ernest J. Boch Sr. paid $600,000 for what he called "a nice little spot" on Vineyard Haven harbor.
Today, despite the property's current scruffy appearance, members of the Tisbury planning board could not agree more.
Board members recently unveiled a master plan for the waterfront and downtown area that identified the parcel, known as Boch Park, as a crucial element.
A harborfront estate in Edgartown sold last week for $25.17 million, setting a new record for the sale of a single-family residence on the Vineyard. This marks the second record-setting real estate sale in less than two months.
David and Michele Hedley of Morristown, N.J., sold their home Top Step in Green Hollow on Feb. 16 to the Edgartown Harbor Nominee Trust. The identity of the buyer is unknown.
Tom LeClair of LandVest in Edgartown who brokered both sides of the sale, said he was bound by a confidentiality agreement to avoid revealing the identity of the buyer.
Even at Age 87 Grace Frye Is Madly in Love
By JAMES KINSELLA
In this pleasant living room, populated by orchids and a poinsettia and a pair of Himalayan cats, Grace Frye sits and recalls a simpler time in Oak Bluffs: of afternoons filled with hopscotch and jump rope, of five-cent ice cream cones on Circuit avenue, of the hot sounds of Louis Armstrong's band coming in at night through the ether from Chicago.
"We had a radio - it was run on car batteries," said Mrs. Frye, 87, who has lived in the town for all but six years of her life.
