MVC Wrestles with Golf Plan

Testimony Presents Commission with Unanswered Questions and
Confusion on Critical Issues Before Final Vote

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Amid a fresh spate of tactics aimed at pressuring the Martha's
Vineyard Commission into a quick approval of the Down Island Golf Club,
the developer told the commission last week that an offer to allow
public play at the private golf course is off the table - unless
the commission agrees to support the project.

Work Is Halted on Wind Tower

Court Grants Restraining Order to Stop Cape Wind Associates from
Data Gathering Facility in Horseshoe Shoal Waters

By MANDY LOCKE

A state superior court judge has joined the wrangling over the
197-foot data tower planned for the shallows of Nantucket Sound,
ordering a 10-day halt to work on a monitoring station already approved
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Dukes County Commission initiated a feud with the Martha's Vineyard Airport commissioners by voting unanimously Wednesday evening to devote 24.4 acres of land on airport grounds to a county jail and training facility for emergency personnel.

Put 20 teenagers in a room with no adult telling them what to do, and the result could be chaos.

Some of the winners in the 57th annual Martha's Vineyard
Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby aren't even fishing. Thanks to the
generosity of fishermen and derby organizers, senior citizens across the
Island are eating the freshest-caught fish every night.

Many excellent fish fillets are collected each day by contest
officials.

Criminal charges facing a prominent Quincy developer whose speedboat
killed a close friend in Edgartown harbor on the Fourth of July appear
to be losing steam.

It's the story of one Island family's refusal to gouge
another year-round family struggling to find a home in an expensive real
estate market. It's the story of a real estate broker determined
to find the perfect buyer - a moderate-income Island family
desperate to buy their own home after a decade of shuffling from one
inadequate rental to another.

For once, it's an affordable housing story with a happy
ending.

A tidal wave of numbers, percentages and statistics - the results of last year's state MCAS test - came washing over Vineyard schools, challenging school leaders to avoid comparisons and identify trends that show where teachers are getting it right and where they might be falling short.

Boat Line Unveils Early Plans for New Islander

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Early concept drawings were unveiled last week for a 250-foot,
doubled-ended ferry that will eventually replace the Islander, the
dependable and beloved Steamship Authority ferry that has plied the
route between Woods Hole and the Vineyard for 52 years.

Questioning the need and citing possible negative effects on the
mom-and-pop gas stations up-Island, the Martha's Vineyard
Commission voted without dissent last week to reject a plan for a new
gas station on State Road in Vineyard Haven.

"I don't think we should be building any more facilities
to accommodate the automobile, and this is going to rob Peter to pay
Paul," said commission member Tristan Israel.