Love Story: Couple Makes Sweet Music for Valentine's

By C.K. WOLFSON

Jacob Weissman, 89, gingerly joins his wife, Nikki Langer Weissman,
80, next to the large Steinway and softly asks, "Do you think I
can still do it?"

She shifts to make room beside her on the bench - "Of
course you can."

Sixteen-year-old Hans Buder isn't the Island's most
enthusiastic baseball player, but he certainly is an authority on the
physics of the sport. Mr. Buder won last weekend's regional high
school science fair by putting a lot of balls on a single bat.

County Assistant Claims Harassment

By JONATHAN BURKE

A legal complaint filed on Monday in Dukes County Superior Court
alleges that Carol Borer, former county manager, threatened to kill
Marsha Smolev, executive assistant, after Ms. Smolev inadvertently
knocked her foot against Ms. Borer's desk.

Ms. Smolev is seeking damages for emotional distress, defamation,
assault and battery and civil rights violations from Mrs. Borer and her
husband, Steven. She alleges that Mrs. Borer displayed a pattern of
harassment against her.

A&P Sells Both Vineyard Supermarkets in Nine-Store Deal with
Stop & Shop

By MANDY LOCKE

After more than eight decades of selling groceries to Vineyarders,
the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) will abandon its
Island foothold - selling both the Edgartown and Vineyard Haven
stores to the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company.

The transaction - together with the sale of four others in the
state - is part of a larger move by the A&P to withdraw from
all operations in Massachusetts.

Town and Tribe Collide in Court

Case Set for Wednesday Hearing Has Far-Reaching Implications;
Outcome Hinges on Issue of Tribal Sovereignty

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Wastewater System in Tisbury Places Limits on Town Growth

By JONATHAN BURKE

The day Tisbury's new wastewater system goes online next year,
it will be running at its full capacity. That's right: No headroom
or provision for growth has been designed into the municipal system now
under construction in the Island's main port town.

This means that a homeowner will not be allowed to add a bedroom and
a restaurant owner will not be allowed more tables unless such expansion
would have been feasible under Title V septic regulations.

Mansion House Project Is Revised; Commission Drops Plans for Review

By MANDY LOCKE

The Martha's Vineyard Commission agreed last night, after a
brief discussion, to meet Tisbury Inn owners halfway - voting
unanimously to not require a fresh review of a reconstruction project
that stirred controversy in recent weeks because of design changes
following MVC approval of the project.

The latest survey of moped, bicycle and motorcycle accidents on the Island won't show the broken ribs, the punctured lungs or the "whole body rubbed raw" by a case of road rash, said Dr. Alan Hirshberg, the director of emergency services at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital.

Under pressure, John Alley this week resigned his position as a member of the Dukes County Contributory Retirement System.

"It's all foolishness and I resigned. I didn't attend enough meetings over the course of the three or four-year span," he said.

Following his reappointment to the retirement board at last week's meeting of the county commissioners, Mr. Alley, county chairman, came under fire from Noreen Flanders, retirement board chairman and county treasurer.

High School Faces Unexpected Bills

By CHRIS BURRELL

The regional high school has already racked up nearly $40,000 in
legal bills, negotiating a potential lease of school-owned land for an
aquatics center project that is still in the planning and feasibility
stages.

News of hefty legal costs connected to the proposed swimming pool
plan came amidst other troubling budget figures, showing roughly $90,000
in cost overruns so far this year.