Chilmark School Work Nears Completion, But First Days' Classes
Will Be Elsewhere
JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Repairs at the Chilmark School will not be completed in time for
opening day, and yesterday school and town leaders were busy with
last-minute arrangements for an alternative site for the children to
attend school.
Opening day is Thursday for all five elementary schools on the
Vineyard.
It's going to cost a fresh pile of money, but Chilmark
selectmen said this week that they now have a handle on the source of
the physical plant problems at the town grammar school - and are
on track to repair them.
But first voters must agree. A special town meeting is set for next
Wednesday, when voters will be asked to approve another $200,000 for
repairs at the Chilmark School.
Nantucket SSA Governor Approaches Beacon Hill on Boat Line Break-Up
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
A gulf of tension between the two Islands over Steamship Authority
issues grew noticeably wider this week, when news surfaced that
Nantucket Steamship Authority governor Grace Grossman has privately
approached state officials about the possibility of splitting the boat
line into two separate entities.
Grace S. Grossman, the diminutive and crusading Nantucket Steamship
Authority governor whose love and work for her island knew no
boundaries, died last Thursday after a brief illness. She was 80.
"It's about the Nantucket people. I represent what the
Nantucket people want," she said in an interview with the Gazette
in January.
Steamship Authority chief executive officer Fred Raskin said this week that reports of his impending resignation are premature, although he did admit that the decision is now at hand: Will he stay in the top post at the boat line that he stepped into barely two years ago, or leave?
"I haven't made a final decision, although I think I will shortly and I'll talk to the board about it before I make a final decision," Mr.
Draft Legislation on Boat Line Break-Up Prompts Furor and Charges of
Bad Faith
By JULIA WELLS and ALEXIS TONTI
An underground group that wants Nantucket to break away from the
Steamship Authority is now circulating draft legislation on Beacon Hill
to establish a commission to study splitting the public boat line in
two.
The group is led by Nantucket SSA governor Grace Grossman, a
well-entrenched Democrat with powerful connections in the state house.
SSA Board Meets for First Time Since Nantucket's Decision to
Explore Secession from Authority
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Steamship Authority news has been dominated by power and politics in
recent weeks, but when the boat line board of governors convenes for its
monthly meeting this Thursday morning, much of the discussion is
expected to center on rules - new rules for dogs, old rules for
excursion travel and some rules that are top secret in the name of
national security.
The Aquinnah planning board will seek criminal charges against two
seasonal residents and a local landscape company who topped a large
swath of trees off Lobsterville Road without permission this summer.
With a contract that expired more than a year ago and no real end in sight at the bargaining table, tension has begun to escalate between management and vessel workers at the Steamship Authority.
Union workers picketed SSA terminals on both sides of the sound over Memorial Day weekend, waving signs that put the spotlight on a simmering and now long-running dispute over manning levels, wages and retirement benefits.
