In the view of Aquinnah police chief Doug Fortes, the turning point came in the fall of 1999, when rangers from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) came back from a trip to the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York, packing a half dozen Glock nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistols.

A formidable Islandwide transportation planning project and a slew of fresh development proposals are expected to keep the newly configured Martha's Vineyard Commission busy in the months ahead.

Closely following the electoral mood of the country, voters in Dukes County turned out in huge numbers this week to cast ballots for national, state and local offices and to add their collective voice to an array of commonwealth initiative petition questions on everything from greyhound racing to universal health care. In a characteristic show of independence, Island voters also bucked a number of the statewide trends, although like the rest of the commonwealth, they voted in large numbers for Vice President Al Gore over Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Bucking the national trend on the Republican side, but closely mirroring the electoral mood of the country on the Democratic side, voters in Dukes County threw their support to Sen. John McCain and Vice President Al Gore in the presidential primary on Tuesday. Texas Gov. George W. Bush did not take a single town in the county - which includes Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands - but former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley did very well here, landing the majority vote on the Democratic ticket in Aquinnah and Chilmark, and trailing by only a few votes in the other five towns.