Expanding County Crisis Poses Tough Challenge for Leadership
By JONATHAN BURKE
Dukes County commissioners are determined to overcome the chaos of
the past few weeks.
"The county is in turmoil right now, but we're doing the
best we can to put everything back on track. We'll get through it
and we'll get through it with good leadership," said Roger
Wey, county commissioner, in a conversation with the Gazette yesterday.
John Alley, county chairman, said he would unveil a plan to move
forward at the commission's next meeting.
A group of Vineyard citizens has launched a new philanthropic initiative, the Martha’s Vineyard Donors Collaborative (MVDC). Its principal goal is to expand the universe of donors contributing to the Vineyard’s nonprofit, voluntary organizations.
Transportation Forum Grapples with Growth; Vineyard Future Requires
Thoughtful Planning
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
The subject was transportation planning, but in the end it was a
night for thinking out loud about growth and all of its attendant
contradictions on an Island seven miles off the coast of Massachusetts.
Chief of Police Is Nominated in Oak Bluffs
By JONATHAN BURKE
Erik Blake was appointed acting police chief in Oak Bluffs by a
unanimous vote of the board of selectmen Tuesday night.
Shifting Hotel Plans Ignite Controversy
By MANDY LOCKE
A flurry of phone calls, letters, accusations and denials shook
Tisbury this week - tremors that followed public suspicions that
construction plans for the Mansion House differ from architectural
drawings the Martha's Vineyard Commission and the town zoning
board of appeals approved in the spring of 2002.
A $1 million project to upgrade and expand the Massachusetts State
Lobster Hatchery in Oak Bluffs is on hold while the state addresses its
fiscal crisis. Massachusetts state lobster hatchery director Mike Syslo
he is not surprised, given the budget cutting going on in Boston.
Two months ago, the hatchery's saltwater pumps were shut off.
Jim Rossignol, the assistant hatchery biologist, has moved back to the
mainland.
For the first time in more than two decades, Larry Mercier is
sleeping past 4:45 a.m. And as snow blanketed the Island Tuesday
morning, Mr. Mercier watched through the window of his North street home
instead of through the windshield of one of Edgartown's snowplow
fleet.
Retirement is a big change for the veteran Edgartown highway
superintendent, who stepped down from his post in early December.
Jail Employees Vote Union Membership After Long Dispute
By MANDY LOCKE
The lowest ranking jail employees offered Massachusetts Correctional
Officers Federated Union (MCOFU) a seat at the county negotiating table
Tuesday afternoon, as seven deputy sheriffs cast votes inviting the
union into the facility.
"Everyone is relieved, but we're anxious to know where
we go from here," said deputy sheriff Phill Fuentes.
County Faces Political Crisis
Leaders Schedule Second Meeting to Wrestle with Turmoil Caused By
Departure of Top Manager; Commissioners Seek Answers
By JONATHAN BURKE
The Dukes County commissioners this week held their first meeting
since the abrupt departure of county manager Carol Borer, and went home
without taking action to address the crisis.
Who needs Broadway when you live year-round on Martha's Vineyard? Turn the camera lens back on the last year, and you can spot enough drama for a dozen plays, both comedies and tragedies.
Ideal grist for the mill, money and power spurred much of the political intrigue and battles of 2002, whether the stage was the Steamship Authority, the Martha's Vineyard Hospital or the southern woodlands, which lived another year in its wild state - free of golf balls and putting greens.
