Navigator Restaurant Closes for Summer

The Navigator restaurant in Edgartown will not open for business
this summer due to unforeseen complications in transforming the building
into an exclusive private club.

Small Town Girl, Big Ideas: Valedictorian Samantha Rabin

There was no fighting to the top this year. No tooth and
nail-clawing to inch past the next-highest class rank, no daily status
updates with the guidance department computer system, no strategic
scheduling of classes to yield a higher-weighted grade point average,
regardless of interest in the subjects.

Revisiting Viking Myth on Island, Noman's Expedition Is Planned

Riding the wave of a sudden renewed interest in a possibly ignored
chapter of Vineyard history, an expedition made up of researchers,
diving experts and history buffs plans to travel to Noman's Land
this summer to help determine if Vikings visited here around the year
1000 A.D.

West Tisbury Approves High School Budget

West Tisbury on Tuesday night became the third of four towns needed
to ratify the budget for the Martha's Vineyard Regional High
School.

Lottery Gives Three Residents Chance at Low-Cost Housing

Three Island residents walked away from the Tisbury selectmen’s meeting this past week with the opportunity to buy a home close to downtown Vineyard Haven for a dramatically reduced price.

It’s been two years since Island Housing Trust began the affordable housing project at 150 State Road. The Dukes County Housing Authority organized the lottery, held this past Tuesday night.

Dukes County and Cooperative Banks Will Announce Merger

Dukes County and Cooperative Banks Will Announce Merger

By JULIA WELLS

The Dukes County Savings Bank and Martha's Vineyard
Cooperative Bank - two respected community banks whose presence on
the Vineyard reaches back for more than 50 and nearly 100 years
respectively - plan to announce this week that they will merge,
the Gazette has learned.

It is understood that employees and corporators at both banks were
informed yesterday about the planned merger, which is still subject to
approval by state and federal regulators.

Charter Graduates Praise Their School

This past Saturday, the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter
School held its seventh high school graduation. Seven students graduated
in the year 2007.

"We were going to do it on July seventh," said Sam
Berlow, president of the school's board of trustees, "but we
decided that was too much."

Regional High School Principal Paints Stark Picture if Budget Fails to Pass

Speaking bluntly, Martha's Vineyard Regional High School
principal Margaret (Peg) Regan told a large gathering of Island
selectmen and finance committee members last week that if the school
does not have a budget approved by July 1, it will mean salary freezes,
hiring freezes, no new buses and a halt on scheduled maintenance at the
school.

Land Bank Hike Traverses Sanctuaries

Comfortable shoes selected. Sunblock and bug spray applied. Water
packed and muscles stretched.

This was the checklist for the 40 walkers gathered on Jetty Beach in
Oak Bluffs early Saturday morning. Ahead was the Cross-Island Walk, a
hike sponsored by the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, led every year
to celebrate National Trails Day and to expose people to the
Island's conservation lands and the paths and back roads that
connect them.

Rural Legend of Viking Presence Endures

It is either the biggest hoax or the most ignored chapter in Island
history.

There are people who believe that the mysterious - almost
mythic - Viking people once visited, and perhaps even colonized
Martha's Vineyard, hundreds of years before Bartholomew Gosnold
made land here and named the Island after a family member.

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