After Delay, Work Nears Completion On a New Police Station for Tisbury

The Tisbury police and ambulance facility is nearing completion. According to police chief John J. McCarthy, the department will move into the $1.4 million building within three weeks. "I do see the light," he said. "And that's the first time I've ever said that."

The chief and Allen M. Lieb Architects of Marblehead currently are tracking all expenses to date, giving them an idea how much money they have left for furnishings.

New Teaching Format at Charter School Is Designed to Offer Balanced Education

Students at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School will receive a more balanced education during the new school's second year thanks to a new teaching format adopted by the staff.

Last year, students studied all the core subjects established by the state, but they did so on an intermittent basis. For example, instead of studying all the core subject areas simultaneously and year-round, a student might have taken English and history during the first trimester, math and a language during the second and science during the third.

Charter School Opens for the Year

The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School welcomed 30 new students, a new director and three new teachers last Thursday as it opened for its second year of operation.
 
The addition of a new class of eight-year-olds is the primary factor accounting for the school's increase in enrollment. Since last year's 14-year-olds will continue on as the 15-year-old age group, the addition brings the school one step closer to reaching its maximum teaching capacity: 180 students ranging in age from five to 19.

Author Dorothy West Is Celebrated at 90

Dorothy West, the great African-American writer who turned 90 this summer, was the guest of honor at a spectacular birthday party Friday afternoon inside the Union Chapel. Well over 500 people gathered, including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
 
Miss West, a 50-year resident of Oak Bluffs, is the author of many short stories and two novels, and she is the sole remaining member of the Harlem Renaissance. At Friday’s party, she was thanked for her work by an impressive list of officials.
 

Panel on Race Defines Issues

The opinions were as varied as they were emphatic: There have been great opportunities lost in the area of civil rights. Poverty affects 43 per cent of all black children in the United States, the same proportion as it did the year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Still, African-American people are better off than ever before, and a recent poll showed that most are, in fact, content.
 

Ceremonies at Shearer Cottage Dedicate Historic Site on African American Trail

Shearer Cottage in Oak Bluffs was the first inn on Martha’s Vineyard, and among the first in the nation, to be owned by and cater to black people. It now has been dedicated to the man for who founded the inn, and is a key stop on the Vineyard’s Heritage Trail.
 
Named for Charles Shearer, the cottage is the culmination of this man’s journey to prosperity.
 

Shellfish Group Meets Biological Success, Fiscal Crisis

It is a record year for baby shellfish growing up at the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, but the 21-year-old institution is facing severe financial troubles, its worst in years.

There is another contradiction. The hatchery, highly regarded in the national aquaculture industry, the recipient of federal grants and accolades from the science community, is dealing with an image problem before Island town selectmen and financial committees. Town officials like the work but they don’t want to help it financially.

Polly Hill Arboretum Awarded $300,000

State environmental affairs secretary Trudy Coxe this week contributed the state’s share of $300,000 towards the preservation of the Polly Hill Arboretum Inc.
 
Before an audience of 60 people at the Barnard Inn Farm in West Tisbury on Tuesday, the state environmental affairs secretary praised the efforts of Polly Hill and the unusual partnership that has arisen with David H. Smith and his foundation.
 

Chilmark Stages Run for the Lobster

A mammoth, six-pound lobster was released on Saturday, after Craig Gemmell of Hyannis Port won the 20th running of the Chilmark Road Race.
 
Mr. Gemmell’s 16:04 finish in the 3.1-mile race earned him the day’s largest lobster. While he said he enjoys an occasional crustacean, Mr. Gemmell, a biology teacher, said he could not comfortably feed on such a large old lobster.
 

Chilmark Road Race Is Now 20

It was a Saturday in September, and somehow Hugh Weisman persuaded Priscilla Cohn and Morgan Shipway to enter his race down Middle Road. They weren’t competitive runners, but this was just five kilometers. Do it and spend the day recovering at Lucy Vincent Beach.
 

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