Red Cross Chapter Charts a Fresh Course

By C.K. WOLFSON

Brenda Lehman remembers when she was five, and her family lost
everything in an apartment fire, and again when she was 12, in another
other fire in Dorchester.

"The only people there to help us were the Red Cross and the
Salvation Army," she said. "After Sept. 11 I said,
that's it. I have time for everything else, now it's the
time to volunteer for Red Cross. I want to give back."

Three separate police investigations have led to several major drug
arrests, the Martha's Vineyard Drug Task Force announced this
week.

An Oak Bluffs man was arrested Sunday at the Stop & Shop in
Vineyard Haven, while two separate incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday
led to the arrest of three others. All have been charged with various
drug-related crimes.

West Tisbury Town Hall Wins Makeover

By IAN FEIN

When Sandy Fisher walks into the West Tisbury town hall, she says
the ladies' room smells exactly like it did when she went to
school there about 40 years ago.

"It's probably the original mold," she said this
week.

Sometime soon, however, the bathrooms will begin to smell different,
as the 134-year-old building is set for a dramatic $3.7 million
makeover.

The nation may be split down the middle after Tuesday's presidential election, but the Vineyard was anything but divided when it came to casting ballots for Democrats.

Voters on Martha's Vineyard came out in droves Tuesday, and by margins as wide as three to one, they threw their support behind Sen. John Kerry, the unsuccessful presidential contender, and sent incumbent Democrats back to the Massachusetts Legislature in the face of Republican challenges.

Interviews Set for SSA Post

Dukes County Commissioners Will Meet With Candidates for Boat Line
Governor Wednesday Afternoon

By IAN FEIN

Facing internal ethics issues and arguably their most important
decision of the year, Dukes County commissioners on Wednesday will
conduct public interviews with the seven candidates for Vineyard
Steamship Authority governor.

Incumbent governor Kathryn A. Roessel's three-year term
expires at the end of the December.

The early framers were the Thomas Jeffersons of the Vineyard - visionaries and idealists ahead of their time. They looked down the road, saw trouble and took action, with an eye toward a regional solution.

The result was the Martha's Vineyard Commission, a regulatory commission considered unique in American government, both then and now.

Heading into this year's fall football season, Martha's
Vineyard Regional High School head coach Donald Herman knew his team was
going to face new challenges. He just didn't expect them to come
from off the field.

A string of disciplinary actions - resulting in numerous team
suspensions - has thrown the Vineyarders' season into a
tailspin.

Declaring that her selectmen show no respect for town employees and
have lost touch with the voters, Aquinnah treasurer and town
administrator Beverly A. Widdiss abruptly resigned Monday night in the
midst of a selectmen's meeting.

Her announcement was the first in a series of tense moments between
selectmen and a handful of town residents who filled a small meeting
room in the town hall.

After more than seven years of debate, West Tisbury voters this week soundly approved a $3.7 million renovation project for their town hall.

At a special town meeting held in the elementary school gymnasium Tuesday night, the town hall article, which needed two-thirds approval, passed 119-11, with more than 90 per cent of the vote.

But before the sound of hammers can begin to ring in the town village, voters must first approve the project again at a special town election next week.

This weekend recreational fishermen will take to the shoreline with dip nets and peep sights to search for one of the most prized gifts of autumn. They'll be looking for dinner. In Oak Bluffs and Tisbury recreational shellfishermen will be able to fish Lagoon Pond. Their commercial counterparts will begin fishing on Monday.

The bay scallop season is now open.

The Vineyard and Nantucket are two of the last places where bay scallops are plentiful.