Pomp and Circumstance: Regional High School Seniors Ready for Commencement Day

By RACHEL KOVAC

The members of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Class of 2005 stand on common ground in the last few days before graduation. But as the seniors reach for their diplomas Sunday, they will be marking the moment when everything changes. Many will spend the next few years earning degrees from colleges across the country; others are immediately joining the work force, while still others are unsure what the future holds.

Bakery Lands in Court Feud

Heir of Bartlett Humphreys Sues Claiming Name, Recipe Rights; New Shops Open Down-Island but North Tisbury Is Dark

By IAN FEIN

Humphreys, the Vineyard bakery that has been a North Tisbury landmark for more than half a century, is now at the center of a tangled court dispute over the rights to its name and recipes.

When Paul Garcia looks back at that hectic summer 31 years ago, he mostly remembers a lot of standing around, talking baseball with the lead actor and waiting to be called to the set. For Lynn Murphy, that summer meant time in the Valerie N. towing boats, barges and shark cages across Island waters. And for Hershel West it was the summer his dog Chipper won him a speaking role in one of the biggest films of all time.

Eric Herman sits down Tuesday at a booth in Linda Jean's Restaurant in Oak Bluffs for a lunch of chicken fingers and French fries, and admits a half-hour later that his stomach is still a bit topsy-turvy.

West Tisbury, Chilmark Divide Deepens Over School District

By IAN FEIN

After a two-hour joint meeting called this week to discuss the status of the Up-Island Regional School District, the West Tisbury finance committee and regional school committee did not appear any closer to resolving their differences about the fate of the district.

The two boards, which have a history of emotional disputes, traded barbs during the discussion and in the end could not even agree whether the meeting was worthwhile.

Tick-Borne Diseases See Rise; Task Force Studies Prevention

By IAN FEIN

To many Vineyard visitors, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer.

But to an ever-increasing percentage of the Island population, it represents the start of the tick-borne disease season.

And early reports suggest that the Island may be in for an especially tick-ridden summer. Deer ticks thrive in damp environments, which the wet spring and winter weather has certainly provided.