An insect species never before recorded on Martha's Vineyard
has attacked spruce trees Islandwide, damaging many and even killing a
few, say area scientists and tree experts.

The pest was identified this month as a Spruce aphid (elatobium
abietinum) by a cooperative effort of scientists at the University of
Massachusetts.

Harbor Festival Sets Stage for Summer

By ALEXIS TONTI

There is no single event that signals the start of summer on the
Island. Something different moves each person to say the season is
finally here: the ripening of strawberries and sweet peas, the first
farmers' market or maybe the first true beach day. That something
could also be the Oak Bluffs Harbor Festival. Falling the day after the
official start of summer, the festival's timing qualifies it as
another sign of the season.

The Martha's Vineyard Commission backed away Thursday night from a push to redraw the Vineyard Golf Club's Island membership plan.

Commission members dropped the issue of the subjective selection process citing not principles, but politics. Commissioners openly acknowledged that pushing for a lottery system could do more harm than good, threatening an already strained relationship with a town board.

Union Wins Key Election to Represent Employees at Community Services

By MANDY LOCKE

Hospital Workers Union gained a seat at the negotiation table at
Martha's Vineyard Community Services Thursday evening after
two-thirds of Island Counseling Center and Visiting Nurse Service
professional employees voted the union into the health and human service
agency during the closely watched election.

There is no drought on Martha's Vineyard. While dry conditions
may continue in other parts of the Northeast, the Vineyard has had
healthy rainfall thus far this year.

But despite spring rains, Vineyard ground water levels are at or
near their 25-year low. This has raised concerns that homes in outlying
areas, those with wells near the coast, may be vulnerable to saltwater
intrusion.

Voters in Oak Bluffs went on a public health rampage this week. Not
only did they reinstate the ban on smoking in town bars, but they also
cut back on the number of mopeds that may be rented in town and made
sure to put a halt to the presence of bicycles, Frisbees and hacky-sack
playing on downtown streets.

New Windemere Administrator Foresees Turnaround at Vineyard Nursing
Center

By MANDY LOCKE

Just past the entrance way of Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation
Center, Philip Hickey sits in a fishbowl.

Island Senator Hits Bias in Boatline Bill Backing New Bedford

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

As a bill to restructure the Steamship Authority moved from the
House to the Senate this week, Cape and Islands Sen. Robert
O'Leary said the proposed legislation is disappointing at best and
was written solely to serve the interests of New Bedford.

County Announces Deep Budget Cuts

Officials at Health, Human Services And Housing Agencies Express
Dismay Over Austerity Budget for FY2003

By JOSHUA SABATINI

A budget that aims to tighten Dukes County's belt in the
upcoming fiscal year was sent off to the state for approval this week
amid criticism from leaders of underfunded agencies.

The Harvard scientists who spent the last four days on the Vineyard
collecting clues that could help them solve the Island's biggest
medical mystery came armed with an unusual tool kit: an aerosol can of
automotive starter fluid, two flowerpots painted blue, a bag of apples
and an empty can of Diet Coke.