Island residents and visitors have been warned about the high
prevalence of tick-borne diseases and skin cancer on the Vineyard. But
meanwhile, another medical malady has been quietly eating away at the
health of the Island population.

For reasons that still remain unclear, people on Martha's
Vineyard suffer from fractures of the fifth metatarsal - the small
bone that runs along the outer edge of the foot - in unprecedented
numbers.

Hospital Campaign on Home Stretch

Largest Fund-Raiser in Island History Set to End in Three More
Months; $10 Million Still Must be Raised

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

As summer moves into high gear on the Island, the Martha\\\'s
Vineyard Hospital will launch the final push to raise the rest of the
money for the construction of a new building.

Robert Brustein loves a good fight. His production of Samuel
Beckett's Endgame so enraged the Irish Nobel laureate, he demanded
it be shut down; Mr. Brustein refused, but allowed the playwright a
program note informing audiences they should be disgusted.

Then there was the New York town hall run-in with African-American
Pulitzer winner August Wilson, who called Mr. Brustein "a sniper,
a naysayer and a cultural imperialist."

State Appellate Tax Board Upholds Town Assessors in William Graham
Case

By IAN FEIN

In a highly anticipated decision that reverberated across the
commonwealth, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board ruled unanimously
this week that the values West Tisbury assessors placed on the North
Shore estate owned by William W. Graham were largely correct.

To protect a large group of coastal birds nesting on Norton Point Beach, The Trustees of Reservations have closed the stretch of barrier beach between Chappaquiddick and Katama to off-road vehicles. The closure came Friday when a number of birds hatched, and will remain in place until further notice.

Fishermen, sunbathers and swimmers, however, will find that much of the two-and-a half-mile beach remains open to passive recreation. Access by foot is available from the Left Fork in Katama and from the beach on the Chappaquiddick side.

Public school came to a screeching halt last week - tests and
final projects one day, sweet freedom the next. But at least 16 Island
youths will merely slow their studies, instead of stopping altogether.
Some may not even acknowledge the two-and-half-month academic bump in
the road called summer vacation.

Decision Set for Today in Graham Tax Case

By IAN FEIN

The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board is expected to rule this
morning in favor of the town of West Tisbury and against resident
William W. Graham in a property tax appeal that began three years ago
and has attracted attention across the commonwealth and beyond.

Commission Decides to Review Chilmark Girl Scout Camp Plan

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last week voted to review as
a development of regional impact (DRI) a plan to demolish and expand a
Chilmark summer camp owned by the regional council of the Girl Scouts of
America.

The commission considered the project on Thursday after a rare
discretionary referral by the Chilmark selectmen. The two commission
members from Chilmark said the regional planning agency should grant a
review any time it is requested by a town board of selectmen.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has
found elevated levels of lead in two samples of the Edgartown water
supply, a violation of state clean drinking water standards.

The violation forces the Edgartown water department to perform
additional testing on the public water supply and to inform the public
of the violation. An advertisement alerting residents to the violation
and paid for by the town appears in today's edition of the
Gazette.

Tennis Program Offers Lessons with No Strings

By MAX HART

In 2002 when he first walked onto the court at the Vineyard Youth
Tennis center, four-year-old Connor Downing was barely big enough to see
over the net, let alone hold a racquet.