This past Saturday, the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter
School held its seventh high school graduation. Seven students graduated
in the year 2007.

"We were going to do it on July seventh," said Sam
Berlow, president of the school's board of trustees, "but we
decided that was too much."

Speaking bluntly, Martha's Vineyard Regional High School
principal Margaret (Peg) Regan told a large gathering of Island
selectmen and finance committee members last week that if the school
does not have a budget approved by July 1, it will mean salary freezes,
hiring freezes, no new buses and a halt on scheduled maintenance at the
school.

Comfortable shoes selected. Sunblock and bug spray applied. Water
packed and muscles stretched.

This was the checklist for the 40 walkers gathered on Jetty Beach in
Oak Bluffs early Saturday morning. Ahead was the Cross-Island Walk, a
hike sponsored by the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, led every year
to celebrate National Trails Day and to expose people to the
Island's conservation lands and the paths and back roads that
connect them.

It is either the biggest hoax or the most ignored chapter in Island
history.

There are people who believe that the mysterious - almost
mythic - Viking people once visited, and perhaps even colonized
Martha's Vineyard, hundreds of years before Bartholomew Gosnold
made land here and named the Island after a family member.

Plans for a YMCA Go to Commission for Formal Review

By IAN FEIN

Proponents of the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard go before the
Martha's Vineyard Commission this week with their plans for a
35,000-square-foot recreational facility behind the skate park in Oak
Bluffs.

YMCA officials are hoping to break ground this fall on the
community-funded project, which originated roughly five years ago with
an effort to build an indoor pool.

Caterpillars Munch Away on Island

By IAN FEIN

Armies of caterpillars made their annual spring emergence on the
Vineyard this week, munching away on Island foliage and swinging down on
silken threads to stick to unsuspecting passersby.

Codfish Nursery Plan Promoted

Tom Osmers of West Tisbury Leads Effort to Bring Back Cod Through
the Use of Saltwater Hatcheries on the Island

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Cod, once the most valued fish in Vineyard and New England waters,
has been in severe decline for years.

Now, to help the fish recover, a group of Island fishermen are
moving ahead with a plan to open and operate a cod nursery on the
Vineyard.

The sudden resignation of county manager E. Winn Davis last week was
followed by a noticeable atmosphere of calm and quiet this week.

Mr. Davis read his letter of resignation during a tense county
commission meeting last Wednesday that included a nearly two-hour
executive session and an accusation from one commissioner that a
subgroup of commissioners had somehow influenced Mr. Davis to resign.

The steadily increasing cost of home insurance has been a bone of
contention on the Vineyard for years, but a proposed increase to the
rates of the FAIR plan - the state-backed insurer of last resort,
and the only insurer for over 40 per cent of homeowners on Cape Cod and
the Islands - has many Islanders now crying foul.

Traffic was up, sales were up and spirits were up to match as
business owners across the board reported a generally busy Memorial Day
weekend and a healthy start to the season this year.

Steamship Authority traffic to the Vineyard between Thursday and
Saturday was up four per cent for passenger traffic and two and a half
per cent for car traffic over last year. And Saturday alone saw a 19 per
cent increase in passenger traffic from the previous year.