Vineyard Is Viewed as Costly ‘Red Spot’ for Home
Insurers

By ALEXIS TONTI

Over the past decade, insurance companies have become increasingly
skittish when it comes to writing policies for Island homeowners. For
many, the risks - namely a catastrophic hurricane - outweigh
the benefits. And for those who will do business here, their gamble
comes at an increasing cost to Vineyard residents, who find themselves
hit with new deductibles and higher rates.

In these waters there is not a more celebrated fish than the coastal
striped bass. Beginning Sunday, anglers in the Martha's Vineyard
Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby will begin their pursuit of bass,
bluefish, Atlantic bonito and false albacore. They will fish along the
Island's shoreline and in a variety of boats offshore.

The thousands of Vineyarders who flocked to the Island's south
shore this weekend found a new respect for Mother Nature, whose wrath
carved out monstrous swells along the southern coast in the wake of
Hurricane Fabian.

Saturday's 26th annual George Moffett Race in Vineyard Sound
was a tough sailing contest. A fleet of 64 sailboats started, but only
28 were able to finish. It wasn't that the weather was horrific.
Hugh Schwarz, the co-organizer of the race, said that light winds were
the challenge this year.

The sapping humidity that plagued the Island for much of August
washed away with last week's heavy rain. Friday broke clear and
crisp for the home opener of the high school fall sports season. Four
minutes into the soccer game that afternoon, striker Lucas Brewer found
the net, all the boys' varsity team needed in their 1-0 victory
over Sandwich.

Duel Goes on in Woodlands

Planning Commission Hearing Is Closed, While the Developer Continues
to Press Case on Multiple Fronts

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The gavel came down one more time late last week and a public
hearing was closed on a plan to build 320 homes in the last unbroken
stretch of oak and pine forest in Oak Bluffs.

When the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby
begins this Sunday, there will be more prizes than ever before in the
event's 58-year history. This year's contest is offering
$300,000 in prizes over the course of the tournament, which runs three
days longer than last year.

Another Flap Over Cape Wind; Coast Guard Remains Neutral

By ALEXIS TONTI

In the latest war of words over a proposed wind farm for Nantucket
Sound, a newspaper article has quoted a Coast Guard official calling the
Cape Wind project a "manageable" risk - but the Coast
Guard says the emphasis in the article is wrong.

Coast Guard officials reiterate that they have taken no official
position on the project, and are only beginning to review its potential
impacts.

Fabian, the season's worst hurricane so far, is expected to
pass far out to sea this weekend, to the relief of many Vineyarders. The
threat of an approaching big storm and a summer of gray skies kept
weather in the fore as a topic this week.

Wednesday, Sept. 3: Freshman Orientation Day at Martha's
Vineyard Regional High School. It is gray and oppressive outside, the
dark sky a harbinger of later months, when yellow buses will gather the
Island's teenagers from street corners and the ends of dirt roads
before sun-up.

Last week, weather like this would have been a tragedy. But this
morning, it's a comfort to the ninth graders: whatever their fate
within these walls, no one is missing a beach day.