Senate Debates Housing Bank

Legislation Laid on Table Twice, but Senate Vote Expected Soon; Robert O'Leary Speaks Out for the Cape and Islands

By IAN FEIN

Special legislation to create a Martha's Vineyard Housing Bank is nearing a vote in the Massachusetts state senate.

Shrugging Off Conventional Rules, Miss McCarthy Writes Own Script

By MAX HART

Ask high school valedictorians around the country what they like to do in their free time, and you will likely hear a variety of conventionally high-brow answers: write poetry, play a musical instrument, paint watercolors, perform community service.

Now ask Simone McCarthy, valedictorian of this year's graduating class at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, what she likes to do when free from the constraints of studying.

Selectmen Appoint Veteran Patrolman to Be Acting Chief

By MAX HART

The Tisbury police department remained in the spotlight this week, as selectmen appointed one of the town's veteran officers to serve as temporary chief of police after outgoing chief Theodore (Ted) Saulnier announced he would step down three weeks earlier than anticipated.

They have won prestigious awards in art, journalism and sports and have played a stronger role in student government than any class before them, taking the first strides against racial tension in the school.

When the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School class of 2006 graduates on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. under the shelter of the Tabernacle on the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs, 204 young men and women will leave their school a better place than when they first arrived.

Offshore Energy Project Eyes Submerged Turbines Near the Middle Ground

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

A development company has quietly filed plans to build a large underwater tidal hydroelectric farm with up to 150 submerged propeller units between Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands in Vineyard Sound.

The applicant is Massachusetts Tidal Energy Co. of Washington, D.C., whose backers are largely unknown.

Cozy Hearth Project Backers to Appeal

Hotly Debated Owner-Built Home Plan for Watcha Path Area of Edgartown Will Go to State Housing Board

By IAN FEIN

At its first public hearing in May of last year, affordable housing advocates hailed it as a model grassroots effort that would allow working class residents to stay on the Vineyard, while conservationists warned that it would set a dangerous precedent for development density in an environmentally sensitive area.