Backers of a plan to build a community swimming pool are suffering
from sticker shock, having learned last month that the
38,500-square-foot complex would cost $8.85 million to construct, nearly
twice the amount projected in a study done six years ago.

An after-prom party near Black Point beach in Chilmark turned violent in the early morning hours last Sunday when police who were called in to break up the party tried arresting a teenager and were forced to retreat under a barrage of beer bottles.

The Aquinnah building inspector filed a lawsuit this week against
the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to test the question of
whether the tribe must follow local zoning rules.

"A genuine controversy exists on this issue requiring judicial
guidance," wrote Aquinnah town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport in the
complaint.

There is good news on the Vineyard Haven waterfront. Douglas Rock,
an extremely dangerous hazard to navigation, has - finally -
been marked.

The rock, as big as a Volkswagen Bug and close to the surface in
waters off West Chop, is now identifiable by a tall spile and sign that
says: "Rocks."

The marking brings closure to a struggle that has gone on for years.

New Bedford Run Fails

No on License

By JULIA WELLS

Gazette Senior Writer

Steamship Authority governors voted without dissent last week to
deny a license application from a private freight hauler to run
year-round service between New Bedford and the two Islands.

"Our focus clearly needs to remain on providing for the
Islands," said SSA general counsel Steven Sayers. Mr. Sayers was
point man in the staff recommendation to deny the license application
from Seabulk International Inc.

SSA Debate Spits Islands

Stormy Waters

By JULIA WELLS

Gazette Senior Writer

Calling a virtual mandate from some 800 people on Nantucket
uninformed, Vineyard Steamship Authority governor and board chairman
J.B. Riggs Parker said last week that he will press ahead with the
ambitious new service model for the public boat line.

"I believe I am not informed enough to make a statement on
these issues, and if I am not informed, it would be unusual to conclude
that communities as a whole are informed," declared Mr. Parker.

Legislation Proposed To Ban Jet Ski Use

Cape and Islands Rep. Eric Turkington Presses Effort to Lmit
Watercraft On Waters Less Than 500 Acres

By JOSHUA SABATINI

Harbor masters, town officials and many Island residents consider
them a safety hazard and an annoyance. Users buy and rent them as
recreational vehicles and for the fun of riding Vineyard waters at high
speed.

A lobster pot filled with a bouquet of colorful flowers adorned the
top of the casket for one of the Island's best-known fishermen,
selectmen and friend. Hundreds stood in silence during the graveside
service for Herbert Hancock on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Hancock died April
26 at the age of 71.

An osprey flew high above Chilmark Pond. Friends and family stood
below on a grassy knoll at the Abel's Hill Cemetery.

Affordable housing, Island health care, and the cost of education were a few of the hot spots Tisbury voters endured at their annual town meeting Tuesday evening.

Citizens plowed through 18 articles and four hours of discussion inside the Tisbury School gymnasium in a meeting which began at 7:30 and at continued past 11 p.m., when the floor voted down the option to take a recess.

SSA Problems and Rate Hikes

By JULIA WELLS

Steamship Authority governors will be asked this morning to consider
a mid-season fare hike, as the boat line faces escalating costs from
legal bills, rising debt and projected operating losses on the new ferry
run between New Bedford and the Vineyard this summer.

The proposed fare hike is set for discussion only; no vote is
planned until next month. If it is approved, passenger fares and the
popular auto excursion fares for Island residents will all go up.