Difficult Issues Confront MVC

Regional Land Use Commission Searches for Fresh Approach to Regulate
Trophy Houses, Protect Neighborhoods

By IAN FEIN

Following back-to-back Martha's Vineyard Commission meetings
that centered on the impacts that out-of-scale homes can pose on their
neighbors and the rest of the Island, leaders in the regional planning
agency are now confronting the question of what to do.

Victim in Theft, British Library Pushes for Tougher Sentence

By JAMES KINSELLA

The British Library, one of the institutions victimized by rare-map
thief E. Forbes Smiley 3rd of Chilmark, has urged the court to increase
the severity of his pending sentence.

The library, whose 1520 Apian world map was stolen by Mr. Smiley,
has called on U.S. District Judge Janet Arterton to sentence him to 78
to 97 months in prison. The government and the defense have agreed that
his sentence should range from 57 to 71 months.

How have the wind and choppy seas affected the fishing during the first week of the 61st Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby? That depends on whom you ask.

Not one taker stepped forward Wednesday to put in a bid on the
Steamship Authority's high-speed ferry, the Flying Cloud.

The lack of interest in the vessel, for which the boat line hoped to
obtain at least $5 million, is the latest chapter in the Flying
Cloud's mostly troubled six-year history at the boat line. The SSA
paid $8 million for the ferry in 2000.

Steamship Authority Considers Increasing Rates on All Fares

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Steamship Authority managers plan to recommend across-the-board rate
increases of about five per cent for the coming year.

State Primary Is Tuesday; Polls Open Until Evening

By JAMES KINSELLA

The key prelude to the state election in November arrives Tuesday
with the Democratic and Republican party primaries. Polls will be open
in each of the Vineyard towns from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

As a general contractor based on Chappaquiddick, Richard S. Knight
Jr. recognizes that the Vineyard will inevitably reach a point where all
the land is accounted for and there is no more room to build.

"We're an Island, and there's only a finite amount
of land left, so eventually we'll hit buildout," Mr. Knight
said. "Sooner or later, it's going to come. And I think
we're coming down to the end of it."

Commission Declines to Review House as Development of Regional
Impact

By By IAN FEIN

After three and a half hours of debate, the Martha's Vineyard
Commission late last night decided that a proposed 15,575-square-foot
north shore home in West Tisbury does not warrant a full commission
review.

Perhaps the best indication of the kind of summer Andrew Woodruff has endured these past months can be found inside his covered vegetable stand at Benson's Thimble Farm.

Against the back wall, five enlarged photographs of crops ravaged by animals tell part of the story. Three show watermelons with neatly carved circles bored out of the rind by crows, their insides siphoned dry. The others depict the carnage that took place in Mr. Woodruff's cornfield: ears of corn, still on the stalk, devoured by raccoons. Only bare cobs remain.

Island Fall Fishing Classic Begins with Thirteen-Pound Striped Bass

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Vying to be the first to weigh in a fish in the 61st annual
Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, a sleepy Jim
Cornwell arrived at the downtown Edgartown weigh station at 4 a.m.
Sunday. Armed with a striped bass caught on East Beach on
Chappaquiddick, Mr. Cornwell - a 69-year-old retired chemist from
Edgartown - proceeded to wait for the opening at 8 o'clock.