Water Company Defends Pacts
Commission Chairman Speaks About Contracts and Practices in an
Interview with Gazette Before Closed-Door Session
By MAX HART
Tisbury selectmen and water commissioners met behind closed doors on
Tuesday night to try to resolve a dispute over personnel contracts and
operating practices that has created a deep rift between the two town
departments.
Island Melts Beneath Heat Wave as Temperatures Push Near 100
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Temperatures on the Vineyard climbed into the mid-nineties this
week, as the Island joined the rest of the Northeast in staggering under
an oppressive three-day heat wave that was forecast to break last night.
A high temperature of 96 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded Wednesday at
the National Weather Service Cooperative Station in Edgartown.
Polly Hill Arboretum Hosts Botany Expert Peter Raven
By IAN FEIN
If development continues at its current pace, our planet will stand
to lose roughly two-thirds of its species by the end of the century,
according to renowned botanist Peter H. Raven.
The dreams are coming to town. Exotic, international dreams.
Adventurous, open-ocean dreams. Exhilarating celebrity-filled dreams.
Delicious gourmet dreams.
They all arrive on Monday afternoon in the gardens of the Harborside
Inn - more than 50 experiences and items that pretty pennies could
not buy unless they are bid on Monday night at the 28th annual Possible
Dreams Auction to benefit Martha's Vineyard Community Services.
Tribal Member Has Deep Sense of Place
By IAN FEIN
Durwood (Woody) Vanderhoop knows all too well the encroaching
pressures imposed on the average Vineyard resident - like a lack
of affordable housing, eroding environmental resources and a loss of
cultural traditions.
They are the same things his ancestors in the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay
Head (Aquinnah) have been struggling with for the last 350 years.
Land Court Denies Bid to Halt Affordable Homes
By IAN FEIN
A Massachusetts Land Court judge last week solidly denied a motion
for reconsideration from a group of neighbors who are trying to fight
three affordable one-acre homesites on Chappaquiddick.
Edgartown town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport yesterday said the ruling
- which directly rejected a series of claims made by the
neighbors' attorney - speaks volumes about the nature of the
case.
The Massachusetts house of representatives dealt a crippling blow to Vineyard affordable housing advocates last week, voting 91-64 on Thursday to defeat legislation that proposed creating a public housing bank on the Island.
The vote was especially stinging because the proposal - which would have taxed real estate transactions to fund affordable housing initiatives - was already effectively dead for the year. Even if the house had approved the bill last week, it would have been subject to a gubernatorial pocket veto with no chance for an override.
Private Ferry Companies Draw Increasing Share of Passengers
By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer
The popularity of Steamship Authority ferries with trucks continues
to grow.
But the number of people riding the Authority ferries compared with
last year is essentially flat. The number of automobiles, which the boat
line defines as including sport utility vehicles, has dipped a bit.
Deadlines of All Kinds Loom for State Attorney General
By MAX HART
With less than two months to go before the state primary and only
minutes before he is due at a political fundraiser, Massachusetts
attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Thomas F. Reilly
is more worried about his next 24 hours as a Red Sox fan.
"Any trades yet?" Mr. Reilly asked Sunday afternoon,
less than one day until Major League Baseball's trading deadline.
"Do we have any new pitchers?"
An evening of Motown on Saturday night was like a time warp,
bringing the packed audience at Outerland back to the 1950s and 1960s,
when bands and artists like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The
Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson Five were
topping charts and forever changing the face - and soul - of
American music.
