Head up to Aquinnah on any Saturday, rain or shine, warm or frigid. Turn left onto Church street and be on the lookout for a green field. Get out of the car and begin walking along a small path through the trees. At first the woods are still and silent. Then the sounds of children singing drift in from the distance. Keep walking. The voices grow louder, there is a guitar and the smell of smoke. A few more steps and the path opens up to reveal a teepee and a large campfire.

Martha’s Vineyard will be part of a new 9th congressional district under a redistricting plan announced this week.

Shortly after the plan was unveiled by legislative leaders, Rep. William Keating released a statement saying he will change his residency from Quincy to the Cape so he can run in the new district.

Oak Bluffs voters agreed to cut $303,561 from the current fiscal year budget at a special town meeting Tuesday night, as town leaders said the days of financial disarray and instability are coming to an end.

“The elephant that’s in the room here with us is that we’ve had structural deficits over the last several years that have combined together to build into a significant general fund deficit,” said interim town administrator Robert Whritenour. “The time to address those structural deficits starts now.”

The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership will conduct a controlled burn Tuesday afternoon at Pocketpaces, east of Pohoganot Road, in Edgartown. The odor of smoke may be temporarily noticeable in Edgartown during the burn. Smoke also may be visible above the south coast and in the vicinity of Edgartown-West Tisbury Road near the Vineyard Golf Club.

The West Tisbury Public Library will host the first in a series of focus groups tonight aimed at gathering community comment on the proposed renovation and expansion of its facility.

Tonight’s focus group, dedicated to parents, tutors and caregivers of children, will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Howes House, across from Alley’s General Store. Later in the evening, at 7 p.m., the general public is invited to express its views on the proposed library design during a meeting at the same location.

The cause of the huge fire Saturday afternoon at Maciel Marine is believed to be accidental, Tisbury fire chief John Schilling said Sunday morning.

The fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal and state police, who arrived on the Island Saturday after volunteer firefighters mobilized a massive effort to quickly contain the fire in a large, two-story metal building that was the mechanic shop for the boat yard. The building was full of fire accelerants.

A fire that broke out in a large metal boat shed at Maciel Marine on the Lagoon Pond in Vineyard Haven Saturday afternoon was contained by Tisbury volunteer firefighters. The three-alarm call came in between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Saturday that a boat shed at the marina was fully engulfed. Mutual aid responded from Edgartown and Oak Bluffs as well the foam truck from the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

Edgartown attorney Edward W. Vincent Jr. today was placed on two years administrative probation and ordered to perform 100 hours community service after he admitted to sufficient facts on two larceny over $250 charges.

Standing alongside his attorney in Edgartown district court, Mr. Vincent entered the plea on the two charges, which will be continued without a finding. He was also ordered to pay a $50 monthly probation fee and a $90 victim witness fee.

Two additional charges of fiduciary embezzlement were dismissed.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Oct. 28 52 37 .68

Oct. 29 47 38 Trace

Oct. 30 49 34 1.70

Oct. 31 47 30 .00

Nov. 1 54 38 .00

Nov. 2 52 46 .00

Nov. 3 56 34 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 57º F.

New Trial in Old Rape Case

A man who was convicted 20 years ago of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in his Edgartown home, then served a prison sentence and, several years after his release, won a new trial, yesterday pleaded guilty in Dukes County superior court to an assault and battery charge.