Like an ominous dorsal fin appearing behind unsuspecting bathers set to the familiar theme music from Jaws, debate over the Boston Big Game Fishing Club Monster Shark Tournament resurfaced these past few weeks just as the countdown to the summer season began in earnest.

Town, Tribe Sign Historic Land Use Pact

By IAN FEIN

At a characteristically informal event that was more potluck dinner than Yalta Conference, town and tribe officials in Aquinnah this week signed the intergovernmental land use agreement approved by town meeting voters earlier this month.

About a dozen members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and a half-dozen town officials attended the signing ceremony at the tribal headquarters on Tuesday evening.

An in-depth study by an independent consultant says that it would cost West Tisbury more money to operate its elementary school independently than remain part of the Up-Island Regional School District.

The West Tisbury finance committee believes otherwise - which is why at the April 10 annual town meeting, voters will find an article in the middle of the warrant asking that the town withdraw from the school district.

Land Bank Acquires Beachfront Properties, Inland Sheep Pasture

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank this week announced a series of conservation acquisitions that will expand the size of two of its existing up-Island preserves.

Chilmark poet and stonemason John Maloney can understand why some people might wrongly think one job is a metaphor for the other.

"I know, it seems a perfect metaphor - fitting words, fitting stone," he acknowledged. "But that's not really the way it works."

In response to a recent internal report which concluded the town had no legal authority to award special employment agreements and bonuses to several town employees in recent years, the Oak Bluffs board of selectmen on Tuesday unanimously voted to terminate all personal service contracts as of June 30.