Signaling its own interest in a case which has attracted attention around the country, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) agreed this week to hear the Aquinnah court appeal over sovereign immunity.

SSA Governing Board Postpones Its Decision On New Security Rules

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Under heavy fire from the people of the Vineyard over a new policy that will bar people from staying in their cars on board ferries, a fractured Steamship Authority board of governors yesterday postponed any decision on the policy for one more month.

School District Shows Strains

West Tisbury Finance Committee Pushes for Drastic Measures, Proposing the Dissolution of Up-Island District

By CHRIS BURRELL

Concerned at the prospect of spiraling educational costs, dwindling state aid and declining enrollment, the West Tisbury finance committee is pressing school officials up-Island to consider drastic measures - among them, shutting down the Chilmark School.

A Soldier's Scrapbook: Kevin Devine Returns from Iraq with Vivid Combat Memories

By CHRIS BURRELL

Kevin Devine is not sugarcoating anything about his last 11 months as a soldier in Iraq. The photographs stored on his laptop computer are proof of that.

"You couldn't use these," the U.S. Army Ranger tells a reporter Wednesday morning after breakfast at Linda Jean's in Oak Bluffs as he clicks through some pictures that depict the horror of war.

Leaders Take Stock with Full Inventory of County Services

By ALEXIS TONTI

Following a year that saw Dukes County officials embroiled in controversy on several fronts, the county manager and commissioners now are setting policy to strengthen their ranks internally and to educate Islanders about county services.

As part of the plan to improve communication, the county commissioners last week invited four department heads to their regular meeting to talk about their programs and goals; the remaining eight will give presentations in the coming months.

Chappy Land Gets Management Plan

By JULIA WELLS

It's not so much about the land anymore, it's about the people - especially the neighbors.

This is the central theme that runs through a new management plan released this week for two key properties owned by The Trustees of Reservations on Chappaquiddick.

Little changed from a draft that was released last spring, the new plan sketches the outlines for a future Cape Pogue Wildlife Refuge and Wasque Reservation that could include: