The luxury steamship The City of Columbus sleeps deep in the shifting sands at the edge of Devil's Bridge, about a mile from the Gay Head Cliffs. The 275-foot vessel sank more than a century ago in one of the worst maritime disasters to occur in Vineyard waters, and last Sunday, on a clear autumn morning, three divers went down to see her for the first time.
Buried mostly, the ship is a shadow of herself, and only a few on the waterfront know precisely where she sits.
Chappy Landowners File Formal Appeal to State Tax Board
By IAN FEIN
More than two dozen Chappaquiddick landowners took their property
tax disputes to the state last week, filing formal appeals of their town
property assessments at the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board.
The 26 property owners are challenging the values of 46 individual
parcels, currently assessed by the town of Edgartown at a total of $116
million.
Taking Cues from Nature's Design
By TOM DRESSER
Native plants are the keynote of the landscaping at Up-Island
Cronig's in West Tisbury. There is woodland with viburnum, beach
plum, winterberry and high bush blueberry, as well as aroria and
shadbush. An intermittent wetland can be found by the parking lot drain,
where beetlebung, shadbush, iris and joepye weed flourish. Native pine,
sheep fescue, inkberry, switchgrass and little blue stem grow on the
edge of State Road.
Two Suspended County Guards Set for Criminal Trials in Court
By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer
Two guards suspended from the Dukes County House of Correction are
scheduled to be tried separately next month in Dukes County Superior
Court on a charge of conspiring to persuade one inmate to attack
another.
One of the suspended guards, Teejay Roginski, is set to face trial
Oct. 5. The other suspended guard, Michael Trance, is scheduled to go to
trial Oct. 17.
Gabe Bergeron almost had a great story about the one that got away.
Fishing Sunday morning with his father, Mark Bergeron, at the annual
Kids' Derby on the Steamship Authority wharf in Oak Bluffs, the
nine-year-old angler hooked a large dogfish that locked him in an
intense eight-minute battle. But the pratfalls of pier fishing cost the
young fisherman his catch.
Jordanian School Principal Pays Visit
By RACHEL KOVAC
Ibrahim Shhab trekked across the world to arrive on Martha's
Vineyard last Wednesday as part of a Fulbright program which takes
school administrators from around the world and sends them to different
countries to learn about education.
Grand Slam Tests Mettle of Derby Anglers
By MAX HART
When Thomas Ronan started fishing the Martha's Vineyard
Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby in the late 1980s, he never thought much
about catching anything other than striped bass.
State officials who oversee the hunting and management of deer will host a rare meeting tomorrow afternoon on the Vineyard - and while there is no formal proposal on the table, spokesmen for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife said they will accept public comment on the subject of extending the shotgun season for deer.
Questions Continue to Pile Up for Cozy Hearth Housing Plan
By IAN FEIN
The Martha's Vineyard Commission last week stepped up its
scrutiny of an unusual affordable housing subdivision proposed for
Watcha Path in Edgartown.
After taking almost two hours of testimony in its third public
hearing session on the project, the commission sent applicant William
Bennett of Chilmark away last Thursday with a growing list of questions
and asked him to return with more detailed answers at another public
hearing next month.
Town waterway regulations were the topic of discussion on Tuesday night when members of the Tashmoo management committee, the harbor management committee and the general public met with the Tisbury selectmen.
In a special working session, the selectmen asked for public comment to clear up confusion over town mooring regulations, especially in Lake Tashmoo. The meeting was scheduled after a summer that saw several public disputes over increased rule enforcement at Lake Tashmoo.
