Steamship Authority Board Interviews Strong Field of Finalists for
CEO Position
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
The key to success for the Steamship Authority, a Coast Guard
admiral said yesterday, is to be clear in its own vision.
"I would set the vision for the organization," said Rear
Adm. George Naccara. "But I also need to know what the board
expects from me - what is your long-term vision?"
The purple and white bumper stickers are somewhat primitive,
produced on a home computer with no stickum, so they have to be fixed to
bumpers with Scotch tape. But if bumper stickers that fall off in the
rain carry a message about the group that made them, then in this case
the message is grass roots and underfunded.
Final Debate Opens in Senate on Bill to Restructure Boatline
By JULIA WELLS
State Senate action on a hostile bill to restructure the Steamship
Authority was delayed in eleventh-hour maneuvering by Cape and Islands
Sen. Robert O'Leary yesterday, and with just two days left in
formal session at the state legislature, the bill will be taken up again
by the Senate today.
Glenn Hearn Is Elected to West Tisbury Board in Startling Upset Win
By JULIA WELLS
In a stunning upset that rocked the old guard political network on
the Vineyard, Glenn Hearn ousted four-term West Tisbury selectman
Cynthia Mitchell in the annual town election yesterday, beating her by
just 20 votes in a tight race that drew a huge crowd of voters.
Torn down the middle for the third time in three years, the expressions eloquent and heartfelt on both sides of the street, a strained and weary Martha's Vineyard Commission voted 9-8 to reject the Down Island Golf Club plan for the southern woodlands late on Wednesday night.
"The applicant has come back with changes to the plan and the word is that he has addressed all of our concerns. But he hasn't ever addressed my main concern and that's my concern about the character and identity of Martha's Vineyard," declared commission member James Athearn.
Vineyard Democrats broke ranks with the rest of the commonwealth
this week, throwing their support to former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert
Reich over state treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien in the primary race
for governor.
Blockbuster First Novel Surprises Modest Author Stephen Carter
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
He is a law professor first and a novelist second, but he is also a
lot of other things, in no particular order: a loving husband and
father, a deeply religious African-American, a constitutional scholar, a
conservative among liberals, a writer, a writer, a writer.
Martha's Vineyard Commission Responds to Technical Problems
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Amid a ripple of allegations about possible open meeting law
violations on two separate fronts, leaders at the Martha's
Vineyard Commission this week turned to their attorney for help.
Eric Wodlinger, a partner at Choate Hall & Stewart in Boston,
recommended that the commission follow the advice of the Cape and
Islands district attorney and take a second vote on the written decision
for the Down Island Golf club plan.
Early Retirement Program Attracts 26 County Officials
By JULIA WELLS
A highway superintendent, an executive secretary, a librarian and a
jail administrator are among a long list of Vineyarders who will take
early retirement this year under a program made possible by an act of
the state legislature.
Approved last spring as a cost-cutting measure and signed into law
by acting Gov. Jane Swift, the law cleared the way for towns and
counties to offer early retirement to employees.
Oil Spill in Edgartown Harbor Kills Million Baby Oysters and Fouls
Waters
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
An oil spill of unknown origin sullied the pristine water of the
outer Edgartown harbor yesterday, ruining an entire crop of juvenile
shellfish at a hatchery owned by the Martha's Vineyard Shellfish
Group and posing a possible threat to the rich bay scallop beds off the
north shore of Chappaquiddick.
