Memorial Day Was Busy and Crowded, Good for Businesses

By JULIA RAPPAPORT

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.

Tisbury Town Officials Receive a Wide Array of Complaints as
Redesign Project Begins at Lot on Water Street

Under construction but still open - that is the tag line for
the Water street parking lot in Vineyard Haven, which was the subject of
widespread complaints before the Tisbury selectmen this week.

The real estate market on the Vineyard has swung strongly in favor of buyers, as record stocks of unsold properties force agents and owners to begin to heavily discount prices.

Figures for the first quarter of this year showed the total inventory of residential property up more than 40 per cent over the same period a year ago.

The median sale price also continued a decline which began last year. For the March quarter this year it was $688,750, compared with $705,000 in the same quarter last year and $702,000 at the end of last year.

The capital campaign to fund Martha's Vineyard's new
hospital has ended with more than $46 million raised in cash and in
pledges over the next five years.

Confirming the successful conclusion of the fund-raising effort this
week, capital committee cochairman Warren Spector said $22 million of
the funds was in cash, and $6.9 million had been contributed by Island
residents.

Island Veterans Groups Withering Away

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Vineyard veterans are disappearing. Membership in all three of the
prominent Island veterans' organizations is at its lowest in
decades.

As of Wednesday this week, the Steamship Authority was booked solid
for seven straight days. With sunny days and warmer weather, traffic
already has begun piling up at the Bourne Bridge. "It's a
big hurrah for the season," said Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs
terminal manager Bridget Tobin. "It's a prime weekend to
open houses."

The signs of impending summer are all around. Azaleas are out, the
oaks are coming into leaf and Tom Major is readying himself for
Entrain's Memorial Weekend gig.

It's been 14 summers now since Mr. Major decided to put
together a band based on the simple idea of "tons of drums,"
and to put his New York-based career as a freelance musician on hold for
one summer while he tried it out.

From his perch in Poole's Fish Market, which he ran for half a
century, Captain Everett H. Poole watched Menemsha harbor fade from
being one of the busiest fishing ports on the East Coast.

Embattled Dukes County manager E. Winn Davis formally resigned his
post on Wednesday.

Following a tense county commission meeting that included a nearly
two-hour executive session, the county manager, who has come under fire
in recent weeks for a failed gambit to use federal disaster funds to
repair the breach at Norton Point beach, read a brief letter announcing
his resignation effective Sept. 14.

The bluefish are in. For at least one fisherman, the arrival was
like an old-fashioned Wasque bluefish blitz.

On Monday, Ed Amaral drove to Chappaquiddick to get his line wet and
perhaps catch the first bluefish of the season. While he didn't
get the first one, he certainly got more than he expected.