A prominent local conservation group and a national title insurance company are among an unusual array of parties who have now agreed to sell their land in the old Vineyard Acres II subdivision to a golf course developer, the Gazette has learned.

One week after the bill was laid on his desk, acting Gov. Paul Cellucci yesterday signed into law the change that has been awaited by the Island’s smallest town since almost a year ago. The governor’s signature made it official.

The town of Gay Head is no more; long live the town of Aquinnah.

One of the rarest creatures on the earth, the endangered right whale, was seen near the Vineyard Tuesday. The sighting off the Gay Head Cliffs is for the record books, a first for the Vineyard in a long time.

The Northeast Right Whale is one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals, with only slightly more than 300 known to be in existence. One was observed from an airplane while it was feeding.

The Steamship Authority’s newest acquisition is now sailing between Woods Hole and the Island. Tuesday morning, Capt. James Corbett and his crew steered the loaded freight boat M/V Governor through Vineyard Sound and into her slip with confidence.

“The Governor is not the queen of the fleet, but she grows on you,” Captain Corbett said, standing at her helm. “She’s come a long way since we first picked it up in New York, and so far she’s worked out very well for us.”

The family that plans to build a private championship caliber golf course along the shore of Edgartown Great Pond is fully aware that its plans will be examined with scrupulous care by Island environmentalists.

Members of the MacKenty family in Edgartown are now in the final stages of negotiations to sell some 200 acres of their Edgartown Great Pond land to a group that plans to build a golf course on it, the Gazette has learned.

“We are negotiating, but we can’t comment on much until we have an agreement,” said Jeremiah MacKenty this week. “But yes, I’d say we are fairly close,” he added.

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha's Vineyard recently assembled for a Sunday worship service that was typical for the congregation. It began with brief community announcements, a hymn and the lighting of a chalice.

But when it was time for the sermon, something different happened. Instead of one minister taking time to talk about the Bible or God or even Martin Luther King Jr., as is the tradition on the second Sunday of the year, the Rev. Bruce Kennedy and two guest speakers each told stories about racial injustice and about "conversations" on race they have had during their lives. When they were done, other members of the congregation also spoke, taking turns voicing their own memories and feelings on the issue.

A final draft of a county initiative to move beyond summer gridlock calls on Island officials to replace talk with action and develop a regional, coordinated plan to target growth and traffic problems on the Island.

Susan Wasserman, a planning consultant and the facilitator of the in-depth study of the Island’s transportation problems, presented the results of Transportation 2000: Moving Beyond Gridlock to the county commissioners this Wednesday along with project assistant Juleann VanBelle. A final draft of the report goes to the printer today.