Wednesday, Sept. 3: Freshman Orientation Day at Martha's
Vineyard Regional High School. It is gray and oppressive outside, the
dark sky a harbinger of later months, when yellow buses will gather the
Island's teenagers from street corners and the ends of dirt roads
before sun-up.

Last week, weather like this would have been a tragedy. But this
morning, it's a comfort to the ninth graders: whatever their fate
within these walls, no one is missing a beach day.

Fast Ferry Deal Set, Ending a Long Path

Dockage and Parking Agreements Part of the Package that Will
Establish New Service Starting Next Spring

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The high-speed ferry deal is done - or almost done.

Final agreements were signed this week that are now expected to
clear the way for high-speed passenger service between New Bedford and
the Vineyard beginning next summer.

County Contract Signed; Davis Starts on Tuesday

By ALEXIS TONTI

After an exhausting search process that began in January, the Dukes
County commission signed a three-year $71,000 contract with the new
county manager Thursday afternoon.

The first day of school at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School feels almost like a block party: people hugging each other; adults carrying vases of flowers and trays of snacks; children buddying up; first-name basis all around. The occasion is balanced between a sense of celebration and nonchalance.

Capping off a year of intense expansion and its first foray into the
mainland marketplace, the Black Dog Tavern, Inc. is now trimming back
one of its three Island food outlets - shutting down the cafe on
State road in Vineyard Haven for the off-season.

Taylor Toole's Film Will Appear in Boston Festival, Island
Theatres

By MANDY LOCKE

Fourteen months ago, when he was begging and borrowing his way
through 12 grueling days of directing his first film on Martha's
Vineyard, Taylor Toole had doubts about finishing the project.

Let alone making it onto a selective list of short features
premiering at the Boston Film Festival this weekend.

Oak Bluffs Water Has Chlorine Boost

By CHRIS BURRELL

The tap water in Oak Bluffs has tested clean for a week now, but the
chlorine added to combat bacteria levels detected early last month has
left town water tasting and smelling like a swimming pool.

"The chlorine is very strong, and it's not
pleasant," resident Selena Roman told the Gazette yesterday.
"We typically drink tap water, and we're not drinking it
now. It's horrible."

The shed behind the Tisbury Marketplace was built to house the
construction of Rebecca back in 1997. The shed was just big enough to
accommodate the schooner as her builders laid the keel, sawed out the
frames and installed the bowsprit and boomkin that would help fasten her
spars and rigging to hull and deck.

With Vineyard Heading Back to Class, Dozen Teachers Enter Their Last
Year

By CHRIS BURRELL

For a dozen Vineyard public school teachers, the new academic year
that opens this week is a huge benchmark for them and a big headache for
administrators.

The reason? All 12 teachers will lay down their chalk at the
year's end, their collective retirements forcing principals and
the Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash to recruit
replacement teachers at a rate nearly three times the level in a typical
year.

County Manager Choice Quit Law Practice After Facing Fund
Allegations

By ALEXIS TONTI

Three days before the new Dukes County manager will sign his
contract, news surfaced that he gave up his license to practice law amid
allegations of professional misconduct.

The county commissioners said yesterday they had learned about the
incident several months ago, when E. Winn Davis, the executive secretary
of the town of Hanson, was first named as a finalist for the position.