As Culinary Probe Proceeds, School Leaders Are Divided

By CHRIS BURRELL

More than a month after regional high school teacher Peter J. Koines
was arrested by Oak Bluffs police and charged with stealing $11,000
worth of school-owned equipment and funds, Island school officials are
now seriously divided over how they should be responding.

It is not easy raising funds for a summer signature event.
Tonight's fireworks will be the biggest display Ocean Park
spectators have ever seen. That is the way it is every year.

Bigger and better than ever is the game plan, according to David
Kelsen of CR Pyro, the Middleton company that is responsible for the
show. He makes a living doing aerial explosions.

Maybe it's the sound: giggling, try-and-catch-me children, laughing adults, backyard party chatter.

Maybe it's the color: pastels and bright hues sprinkled over pathways and porches and suspended in mid-flight like handfuls of confetti.

Maybe it's all the smiles: people on front porch rocking chairs or strolling along walkways; everyone ready to pose for pictures and tell you their names, as if they have been commissioned to talk to strangers.

County Drops Top Job Offer

In Divided Vote, Commissioners Withdraw Offer of Manager's
Position to Laurie Perry; Search Begins Anew

By ALEXIS TONTI

Almost four months after the Dukes County commissioners selected
Laurie Perry, former administrator for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah), as county manager, they voted 4-3 Wednesday night to rescind
the offer.

Deck Collapse Injures Ten in Chilmark; Island Rescue Units in Quick
Response

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

A festive summer cocktail party in Chilmark ended abruptly in chaos,
fright and injuries last night when a second story deck collapsed on a
home overlooking Clam Cove in Nashaquitsa Pond.

Boat Line Ready to Vote on Fast Ferry

By JULIA WELLS

An abrupt announcement by Steamship Authority managers early this
week that they will convert the passenger ferry Schamonchi to a private
operation led to another abrupt announcement yesterday: A license
agreement with a private operator who wants to run high-speed ferry
service between New Bedford and the Vineyard is now set for a vote next
week.

The boat line governors will take a final vote on the license
agreement at the monthly SSA meeting on Nantucket next Thursday morning.

Privatizing Plan for Schamonchi

Steamship Authority Tells Union That Losses Could Be Stemmed If
Another Operator Runs New Bedford Ferry

By JULIA WELLS

After only three years of owning the New Bedford passenger ferry
Schamonchi, Steamship Authority senior managers are now proposing to
convert it back to a private operation, the Gazette has learned.

Amy Bannon is determined to get it right this Illumination Night. Wednesday night marks the 134th year for lighting up the Camp Ground, but for the Bannons, this is just their second try.

And the pressure is on.

"We made some mistakes last year," said Mrs. Bannon. "We were the dimmest cottage in the entire circle."

This time they plan on using real candles.

Katama Association president David Finley made it clear Saturday
that his association, while interested in the future of Katama Farm, is
not a part of the group of aggrieved neighbors seeking to stop FARM
Institute from leasing the 190-acre farm.

Judge Rejects Neighbors' Pleas Over Katama Farm, Supports
Current Usage

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

In a detailed decision that explicitly recognizes the value of a
190-acre, town-owned farm in the Great Plains section of Edgartown, a
superior court judge late last week soundly rejected a request from a
group of neighbors who are trying to shut down Katama Farm.