Sixty-year-old Kenny Metell of Edgartown has never caught a winning fish in all his years as a participant in the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, but on Sunday he hit the ground running. Mr. Metell weighed in the first fish of the derby.

A recreational fisherman died yesterday in the water around Quick's Hole after his power boat caught fire and sank.

The name of the victim had not been released at press time pending notification of next of kin.

Guiding Lights: New Principals Are on the Job at Two Schools

By CHRIS BURRELL

It's the day before school starts, and these two new
principals - on the job just four days - barely have even a
few minutes to stop and talk.

But in a short amount of time, Michael Halt and Diane Gandy manage
to reveal something about themselves - a worldliness they share
from experiences outside the realm of education and a giddiness about
where they've landed.

Take Mr. Halt, for starters.

Wampanoag Sovereignty Arguments Are Heard at State Supreme Court

By JULIA WELLS

Attorneys on both sides of the sovereign immunity dispute in the
town of Aquinnah took their arguments to the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court this week, in a landmark case whose outcome is expected
to have far-reaching implications for every town on the Vineyard.

In the end the case will test the strength of the historic 1983
Indian land claims settlement agreement in this tiny town that is home
to the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).

The ashtrays at two private clubs in Oak Bluffs - the
Portuguese-American Club and the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall -
came off the bar counters and table tops this week and were moved to the
front porch.

The last bastions for smokers who liked to light up while hoisting a
beer with friends are now smoke-free zones. The Oak Bluffs board of
health voted unanimously Tuesday to ban smoking in the two private
clubs.

Kindergarten In Primary Colors on First Day

By C.K. WOLFSON

The real world has summoned. Parents, properly awed, understand that
the occasion is momentous, and are freeze-frame struck by the sudden
awareness of time having passed. Cautiously they enter room 119 at the
Edgartown School, their children clinging to them like velcro.

A high-priced real estate market coupled with changes in the way property assessments are calculated has fueled a sharp rise in the value of waterview and waterfront property in Edgartown this year.

The start of the 59th annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby may be only two days away, but the planning and preparation go back a year. This Sunday at 12:01 a.m. the first wave of avid anglers will head for their boats and the shore in pursuit of fish. It is the start of the annual pilgrimage to the water. No matter what their vocation, as many as 3,000 fishermen will share a common avocation, competing for daily, weekly and grand overall prizes for the biggest striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and bonito.

Ripples of Hurricane Frances left a tragic mark on a remote section
of Chilmark's south shore Friday afternoon. A rip current is being
blamed in the drowning death of a 58-year-old woman from Cambridge who
was swimming with a friend.

Gwenneth Knight, a consultant to the Harvard University Art Museums
on Indian and Islamic acquisitions, died Saturday after being airlifted
to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston from the
Martha's Vineyard Hospital.

Richard Reston, president of the board of directors at the Vineyard
Gazette, has announced changes in the editor and publisher positions at
the newspaper. Mr. Reston, a longtime editor and publisher of the
Gazette, will resume his role as newspaper publisher.

Julia Wells, who has been the lead writer on the paper for 20 years
and a resident of the Vineyard for 30 years, takes over as the new
editor of the Vineyard Gazette.

The change in leadership at the newspaper is effective immediately.