New Hospital Costs Going Up

$50 Million Is a New Estimate; Leaders Plan Public Meeting for This
Saturday to Unveil Update on Their Thinking

By JULIA WELLS

Leaders at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital are moving forward
with an ambitious plan to replace the badly decayed 30-year-old hospital
on Linton Lane in Oak Bluffs - but they got a hard reality check
recently when they saw the price tag attached to the new plan.

Reversing a downsizing of seven years ago, the U.S. Coast Guard soon
will expand its Vineyard presence, including resumption of full use of
the Menemsha Coast Guard station.

As part of that process, Chilmark selectmen have been told the town
police department, now a tenant at the old historic station, located on
the hill overlooking the Home Port restaurant and Menemsha Pond, must
find a new home by May 1.

At Aquinnah Town Meeting, the Emotions Frame Museum Debate

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The subject was a plan for a cultural museum in a historic homestead
high on a windswept bluff in the town of Aquinnah. But the discussion
that swirled for more than an hour and a half at a special town meeting
Tuesday night was layered with the emotion of a town torn down the
middle.

Underneath it all lay the central topic of the day: the recent court
ruling on sovereign immunity for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah).

Public Hearing Set for Monday on Appeal of Sovereignty Case

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Under pressure from a growing group of townspeople to appeal the
controversial superior court decision on sovereign immunity, this week
the Aquinnah selectmen agreed to call a public hearing and take a new
vote on whether to appeal the ruling.

The hearing will be held on Monday at 5 p.m. in the Aquinnah town
hall.

They are on camera more than any soap opera actor, and their fan base extends all the way to Europe. But they coudn’t be more clueless about their fame. That’s because they are chickens, and their every daylight move is being broadcast over the worldwide web from a backyard camera in West Tisbury.

Sweet Revenge: Vineyarders Recapture Cup

By ALEXIS TONTI

After winning the 26th annual Island Cup and clinching the
Mayflower Large League title last Saturday, the Vineyarders now
advance to the playoffs, where they will compete for a spot in the
Division VI superbowl.

The playoff game is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m.
at White Stadium in Franklin Park, south of Boston. The Vineyarders
will face East Boston, which defeated South Boston 36-16 in a game
played yesterday.

Voters in Aquinnah are set to gather next week for a relatively routine special town meeting, but as a swirl of discussion heats up in this tiny town over the Wampanoag tribe's court case on sovereign immunity, the meeting may prove to be not-so-routine.

Five months ago a superior court judge ruled that the tribe could not be sued because of sovereign immunity.

Oak Bluffs Weighs Zoning Issues

By CHRIS BURRELL

You won't actually need to bring a hammer or architectural
blueprints to next week's special town meeting in Oak Bluffs, but
nearly the entire warrant is devoted to issues around building and
zoning.

Voters who come out Tuesday will decide questions about
leasing the old town hall, redesigning the new town hall, hiring a
fundraiser for the library building project and protecting historic
buildings from the wrecking ball.

At a public hearing on Monday, MassHighway officials told
Islanders to expect the temporary drawbridge across Lagoon Pond to
stay in place for six years.

Stunned at the prospect, Islanders immediately urged the
project engineers to finalize a design for the new drawbridge before
beginning construction on a temporary replacement.

In Divided Vote, Board Denies Merit Pay Raise To Superintendent Cash

By CHRIS BURRELL

For the first time in his eight-year tenure here, Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash failed this week to win the school board’s backing for a merit pay increase.