Teacher Admits Thefts; to Repay School Funds, Do Community Service

By CHRIS BURRELL

Faced with a widening police investigation, longtime regional high
school teacher Peter J. Koines admitted yesterday in Edgartown District
Court that he stole school-owned kitchen equipment and funneled $20,000
of school funds into his personal bank account and summer pie business.

Long-Time Chief of Tribe Is Dead

Donald F. Malonson Led Wampanoags for Half Century

Donald F. Malonson, chief of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah), died peacefully at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston
on Friday, August 22, after a long illness. Mr. Malonson, also known as
Chief Running Deer, was the ceremonial leader of the tribe for more than
half a century.

SSA Governors Approve High Speed Ferry License; Service Begins Next
Year

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

NANTUCKET - Amid a complicated tangle of legal maneuvers and
financial acrobatics, Steamship Authority governors voted yesterday to
ink a deal that will allow a private operator to begin running
high-speed passenger service between New Bedford and the Vineyard next
summer.

Edgartown Project Concludes in Time for Return to Classes

By MANDY LOCKE

The white classroom trailer that was parked in front of the
Edgartown School for the last year is finally gone. A few small piles of
debris remain where the hallway connecting the 1929 brick school
building and the gymnasium once stood. A handful of construction workers
is completing an awning covering the new school's entrance.

Capital Boost Needed at Katama Farm

By MANDY LOCKE

After a superior court judge denied initial efforts by a group of
neighbors to evict FARM Institute from Katama Farm, questions remain
about the condition of buildings at the town-owned farm.

Katama Farm - nearly 200 acres of sweeping grassland cradled
in the middle of the town's densely settled south shore community
- has seen better days. Wear and tear brought on by a string of
failed operations over the last 24 years have left this facility's
barns and silos in a state of disrepair.

All bets were off for those who planned to pace themselves during the opening morning of the 142nd Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair.

Dukes County Board May Skip Job Search

Commissioners Agree to Meet Again With Their Runner-Up Candidate for
County Manager Position

By ALEXIS TONTI

At a special meeting held Tuesday night, the Dukes County
commissioners voted to invite E. Winn Davis, who with Laurie Perry had
been selected as a finalist for county manager, back to the Island to
discuss the position.

The commissioners last week voted to rescind Ms. Perry's job
offer and to ask the selection committee to reconvene to find three
qualified candidates.

Understanding the relationships between the ocean and air is
essential if weather forecasting in the future is to be more precise.
Most living on Martha's Vineyard know the ocean keeps the Island
cooler when the mainland is suffering in the dog days of July, and
warmer in the winter when the temperature inland is bitter cold. But
scientists can't be precise about why.

Before Commission, New Dose of Threats

Developer for Southern Woodlands Claims More Lawsuits Are Coming,
Lashes Out at Alleged Conflicts

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

An incomplete plan to build 320 homes in the southern woodlands
section of Oak Bluffs was submitted to the Martha's Vineyard
Commission last week amid a fresh stream of invective from the former
developer of the Down Island Golf Club - who is now threatening to
sue the commission on a variety of new fronts.

A purchase announced by the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank Friday
will conserve roughly 100 acres of dense woods and active farmland in
West Tisbury. The land, sold by Katharine Sterling, is a significant
anchor in the land bank's cross-West Tisbury trail, located
directly between the Wompesket Preserve and Old Holmes Hole Road.