Lighted old-fashioned oriental lanterns strung high in gingerbread
house porches weren't the only memorable part of Illumination
Night on the Camp Ground on Wednesday night.

An early morning fire Tuesday caused extensive damage to the Galley
Restaurant on the Menemsha harbor, forcing the popular ice cream and
sandwich shop to close for the remainder of the season.

Barbara Fenner, who owns the shop with her brother Frank Fenner and
his wife Merrily, said yesterday the restaurant will reopen as usual
next spring. But that offers little comfort for the hordes of young
children and other regulars who flock to the restaurant for a burger or
a cone.

Reports of its addictiveness have come all the way from the other
side of the globe - people who used up the stash they got from
their friends or relatives on the Island as a gift, and who need a
refill, fast.

Rural West Tisbury May Favor Hens and Roosters - Legally

By JACK SHEA

West Tisbury is zoned as a rural agricultural town and there is
ample case law, some of it dating to the early 20th century, that
supports the rights of rural property owners to keep a flock of chickens
in the backyard.

This is the opinion of town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport, who told
the town building and zoning inspector in a letter this week that it is
his call to make in a dispute between two Longview neighbors over noisy
roosters.

The storm fencing had been circling Ocean Park for days. No Parking signs had seemed to breed in the seaside streets of Oak Bluffs. By Sunday, cops and volunteers in yellow T-shirts also appeared to have multiplied, and then came the music-lovers (at least for the day), by the thousands, bearing folding chairs and friends from out of town, kids and coolers jammed with sandwiches, gourmet salads and chilled bottles of Sauvingnon blanc.

The Chilmark Road Race is a chimerical beast, part family-oriented
charity jog, part cutthroat competition. Perhaps the contradictory
spirit of the now-legendary institution was best summed up by Willy
Anderson, age 10. When asked about his plans for the race, the
bespectacled youth declared, "I really want to beat my mom.
We'll start out together, but at the end I'll try to beat
her."

Citing a need to preserve old roadways that provide a vital link to
the Island's past, the Martha's Vineyard Commission on
Thursday unanimously agreed to nominate five ancient ways in Edgartown
for inclusion into a special byways protection zone that could limit
their use and future development.

Partners in Fishing and Fishmongering: Father and Son Tied Like
Bowline Knot

The Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday closed a public
hearing for a planned 35,000 square-foot YMCA building, sending the
project into the home stretch with few visible potholes in the road.

As is the custom following the close of a public hearing, the
commission's land use planning committee met last night to discuss
the project and possibly begin drafting a list of conditions for
possible approval.

It's been 34 years since the landmark court case that stamped
out most state and federal laws banning or restricting abortion.

But a few of New England's highly regarded women's
rights activists, who gathered in the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown
for a panel discussion on Wednesday night, told the audience that Roe v.
Wade may not live to see 34 more years.