The trees are tall and the foliage is thick in these woods.
Shards of sunbeams break through the canopy of oaks, scattering light on the dense underbrush below. Ferns sprout up among huckleberry, blueberry and sassafras, hiding an occasional lady's slipper orchid. An old, winding foot path rises to the north beyond deer thickets, frog ponds and beech tree groves. Catbirds and dragonflies patrol the skies, and except for a slight breeze and the distant rumble of an approaching storm beyond Vineyard Sound, it is quiet.
Operating Losses Persist at Steamship Authority; Possible Fare Hikes
Loom
By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer
Continuing operating losses at the Steamship Authority have raised
the specter of possible fare increases later this year, boat line
governors learned yesterday.
At the monthly boat line meeting, held in the Katharine Cornell
Theatre in Vineyard Haven, SSA treasurer Robert Davis said the boat line
had lost $9.5 million through the month of May, $1.25 million worse than
expected.
Middle Line Project Moves Into Next Phase
By JAMES KINSELLA
After settling key questions about the Middle Line Road project at a
special town meeting Monday, the town of Chilmark now must sort through
a number of financial and regulatory questions as it turns the $3.5
million affordable housing development from an ideal into a reality.
Increasing tensions at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School between immigrant and non-immigrant students prompted administrators this week to hold a one-day workshop for 25 students aimed at raising awareness about cultural intolerance and prejudice.
The asking price on the house may top $1 million, but if there aren't enough nails on the deck joist hangers or felt paper under the roof shingles, you can bet Donald Cronig is going to make a stink about it.
Expert Finds Town Assessment Methods Fall Outside Norms, Skewing
Land Values
By IAN FEIN
BOSTON - An expert land appraiser testified in a legal hearing
last week that West Tisbury assessors damaged the integrity of the
town's land values when they manipulated data on a property record
that resulted in irrational increases to some assessments and property
taxes.
Shellfish Markets Report Slow Sales
By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer
The sale of local shellfish has sometimes slowed but hasn't
stopped on Martha's Vineyard, which has become an Island of
harvestable shellfish in a sea of toxic red tide.
Louis Larsen, owner of the Net Result in Vineyard Haven, which
wholesales much of the Vineyard shellfish to local restaurants,
estimates that overall Island demand for shellfish is off 50-60 per cent
from normal mid-June levels.
Bakery Owner Retains Name
Judge Rules in Humphreys Case, Handing a Victory to Mr. Diaz on
Rights to Name, Recipes; Civil Trial Still Possible
By IAN FEIN
Humphreys owner Joseph (Michael) Diaz may continue to use the
bakery's name and recipes at his down-Island locations, a superior
court judge ruled on Friday.
Red Radishes, Green Bok Choy Fill First-of-Season Farm Basket
By RACHEL KOVAC
The West Tisbury Farmers' Market opened Saturday morning under
a gray sky. And while the number of vendors is down this year, shoppers
making a trip to the Grange Hall grounds still came away with the best
of the Vineyard's farms and fields, along with homemade jams,
baked goods, fruits and herbs.
An overflow crowd of Chilmark voters turned out last night to
approve the first-ever town-sponsored affordable housing development for
this rural community whose property values rank among the highest in the
commonwealth.
