Island Community Rallies Around Grieving Families

Hundreds Remember Spirit of Two Friends Killed in Accident

By ALEXIS TONTI

At a time when the school year rushes to a close amid a flurry of
exams and festivities, life at the regional high school stopped this
week as students and faculty grieved for two Island sons, high school
juniors and best friends, who died in a car accident in Katama last
Friday.

Portrait of Close Companions, As Drawn at Oak Bluffs School

By C.K. WOLFSON

"If you can imagine it, you can dream it, if you can dream it,
you can become it," wrote Kevin Hayes (K.J.) Johnson in his Oak
Bluffs School 2001 yearbook.

Missing the Vineyard:

Polly Hill Sends Her Regrets: 'The Trees Will Be Beckoning'

By C.K. WOLFSON

A revered and familiar presence will be missing from the Polly Hill Arboretum this summer. Declaring, "Old age has caught up with me, and I can't deny it," the arboretum's founder, 97-year-old Polly Hill, made the decision to remain at her residential community in Delaware, Md. throughout the year.

Oak Bluffs Terminal Redesign Reflows Traffic, Rebuilds Pier

By ALEXIS TONTI

Two years after the Steamship Authority board of governors first approved a design plan to refurbish the Oak Bluffs ferry terminal, a revised version of the plan is set to come before the town conservation commission for permitting next week.

The $10 million project includes redesigning traffic flow around the terminal to relieve congestion and rebuilding the wooden pier to allow for better mixed use by cars, bikes, passengers and trucks.

English Classes Open Horizons for New Islanders

By CHRIS BURRELL

The morning lesson Tuesday in Matt Malowski's class at the regional high school starts off with calisthenics for the tongue. They are trying to master one of the most common and — for foreigners — one of the most confounding of English words.

"He pulled his tongue in and blew air out," says Mr. Malowski, getting down to the nitty-gritty of lingual mechanics. "Perfect, you just said ‘the' with no accent, just like an American."

Three feet of snow blanketed the ground that day in 1977 when more than two dozen Islanders trudged into the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury, hoping to win a small piece of the Vineyard.

Ann Milstein was pregnant. Pat Carlet had three small daughters in tow. One by one, Vineyard Open Land Foundation (VOLF) officials pulled names out of a box, awarding five Island families the right to buy land in Pilot Hill Farm at a bargain rate.

Years of Talks Pay Off in 62-Acre Conservation Gift Along Middle Road

By JULIA WELLS

A wide swath of rolling farmland and wooded hillside that includes a high ridge perched above the scenic Middle Road in Chilmark and West Tisbury will remain forever wild, thanks to an unusual conservation gift from Virginia Crowell Jones and Everett Noteman Jones to The Nature Conservancy and the Vineyard Conservation Society, the Gazette has learned.

Aquinnah Voters Face Financial Questions And a Choice for Selectman in Elections

By JULIA WELLS

Money is the main theme in Aquinnah next week when voters will take up the question of how much to spend, or more correctly, how much to overspend when it comes to the state-mandated tax cap.

The annual town meeting gets under way on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the historic Aquinnah town hall. Moderator Walter E. Delaney will preside over the session.

Transit Authority Scrambles, Fills Summer Workforce Needs

By MANDY LOCKE

Six weeks ago, Vineyard Transit Authority (VTA) administrators worried they'd be forced to leave some bus riders stranded on the side of the road this summer.

Now, on the eve of the summer season, VTA officials say they have found enough drivers to meet summer demands.

Last month, the public bus system faced a 30 per cent hole in its summer workforce - the result of a decision by federal immigration officials to enforce a limit on temporary visas (H2Bs) for foreign wor

Political Veteran Elected in Chilmark

By MANDY LOCKE

J.B. Riggs Parker is back in the front lines of Chilmark politics.

Chilmark voters returned him to the thick of town affairs Wednesday, electing this longtime official to the post of selectman over political newcomer Mary Murphy Boyd. Mr. Parker secured 306 votes to Mrs. Boyd's 142.

"I'm grateful for the support of the citizens of Chilmark. I look forward to giving what I can to get things done reasonably and creatively," Mr. Parker said yesterday after his victory.

Mr.