In Passionate Session, Aquinnah Makes It Official: Not Appealing
By JULIA WELLS
A passionate and sharply drawn discussion in the village of Aquinnah
fell silent this week when the town selectmen voted without dissent to
abandon a court appeal of the sovereign immunity case - and along
with it a 20-year-old landmark Indian land claims agreement.
"This community is the tribe and sovereignty is something I
must uphold," declared selectman James Newman, who changed his
vote in a surprise move at the close of a public hearing on Monday
night.
One More Time, Fellows: The Vineyarders Play in Championship Match
Tomorrow
By ALEXIS TONTI
For the fourth time in five years, Vineyard football is set to play
for the state title. After defeating East Boston 17-12 in this
week's playoff contest, the Vineyarders now will face Manchester
Essex in Saturday's Division VI Super Bowl.
Tiring of Those Who Short Cut, Neighborhood Considers Gate
By MANDY LOCKE
In about eight minutes, a driver taking a shortcut from the West
Tisbury Road to the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road can get from the
entrance at Metcalf Drive to the exit at Dodgers Hole. It takes only six
minutes if he ignores the 15 mile per hour speed limits painted on the
asphalt between speed bumps on the narrow residential streets of the
cut-through.
New Hospital Costs Going Up
$50 Million Is a New Estimate; Leaders Plan Public Meeting for This
Saturday to Unveil Update on Their Thinking
By JULIA WELLS
Leaders at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital are moving forward
with an ambitious plan to replace the badly decayed 30-year-old hospital
on Linton Lane in Oak Bluffs - but they got a hard reality check
recently when they saw the price tag attached to the new plan.
Reversing a downsizing of seven years ago, the U.S. Coast Guard soon
will expand its Vineyard presence, including resumption of full use of
the Menemsha Coast Guard station.
As part of that process, Chilmark selectmen have been told the town
police department, now a tenant at the old historic station, located on
the hill overlooking the Home Port restaurant and Menemsha Pond, must
find a new home by May 1.
At Aquinnah Town Meeting, the Emotions Frame Museum Debate
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
The subject was a plan for a cultural museum in a historic homestead
high on a windswept bluff in the town of Aquinnah. But the discussion
that swirled for more than an hour and a half at a special town meeting
Tuesday night was layered with the emotion of a town torn down the
middle.
Underneath it all lay the central topic of the day: the recent court
ruling on sovereign immunity for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah).
Public Hearing Set for Monday on Appeal of Sovereignty Case
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
Under pressure from a growing group of townspeople to appeal the
controversial superior court decision on sovereign immunity, this week
the Aquinnah selectmen agreed to call a public hearing and take a new
vote on whether to appeal the ruling.
The hearing will be held on Monday at 5 p.m. in the Aquinnah town
hall.
They are on camera more than any soap opera actor, and their fan base extends all the way to Europe. But they coudn’t be more clueless about their fame. That’s because they are chickens, and their every daylight move is being broadcast over the worldwide web from a backyard camera in West Tisbury.
Sweet Revenge: Vineyarders Recapture Cup
By ALEXIS TONTI
After winning the 26th annual Island Cup and clinching the
Mayflower Large League title last Saturday, the Vineyarders now
advance to the playoffs, where they will compete for a spot in the
Division VI superbowl.
The playoff game is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m.
at White Stadium in Franklin Park, south of Boston. The Vineyarders
will face East Boston, which defeated South Boston 36-16 in a game
played yesterday.
Voters in Aquinnah are set to gather next week for a relatively routine special town meeting, but as a swirl of discussion heats up in this tiny town over the Wampanoag tribe's court case on sovereign immunity, the meeting may prove to be not-so-routine.
Five months ago a superior court judge ruled that the tribe could not be sued because of sovereign immunity.
