One of the rarest creatures on the earth, the endangered right whale, was seen near the Vineyard Tuesday.
Aquinnah Reconvenes Town Meeting
By IAN FEIN
Aquinnah voters this week will pick up where they left off one month
ago and reconvene their annual town meeting to try to adopt a balanced
town budget.
The original town meeting adjourned early on May 9 when it became
clear that a large contingent of voters were unhappy with the budget as
presented. This week's meeting, a continuation of the chaotic
first installment, will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the old town
hall.
As secluded white sand beaches become a commodity more precious than oil, the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank this week announced significant expansions at two of its most stunning beachfront properties.
Moshup Beach in Aquinnah will grow by half again as much, and Wilfrid's Pond Preserve in Vineyard Haven will more than double in size.
"The land bank prizes beaches among its very many priorities, and expanding what already is conservation is a good accomplishment for everybody," said land bank executive director James Lengyel yesterday.
Signaling its own interest in a case which has attracted attention
around the country, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC)
agreed this week to hear the Aquinnah court appeal over sovereign
immunity.
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).
In a land-use decision that has potentially far-reaching
implications for every town on the Vineyard, a superior court judge
ruled last week that the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) cannot
be sued because of sovereign immunity.
If allowed to stand, the ruling by the Hon. Richard F. Connon has
the power to turn a landmark 1983 Indian land claims settlement on its
head.
A special superior court sitting is now set for next month in
Edgartown on a case that will ultimately decide whether the Wampanoag
Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has the power to police itself when it
comes to local zoning rules. The case will also decide the much larger
issue of whether the tribe cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity.
The case has attracted little attention, despite the fact that the
outcome could have far-reaching implications for every town on the
Vineyard.
