NANTUCKET - Walter Beinecke's name is spoken with a sense of awe and an undercurrent of resentment.

The Summer the Music Stopped: Local Venues See Crowds Thin

By CHRIS BURRELL

They're all tuned up and ready to rock and roll. There's only one problem. The dance floor's empty, and there are just three guys standing up against the wall waiting for the music.

Not even the band can avoid commenting on the dismal turnout: "It's a lonely night at the Ritz," says Bear, lead singer in Bear and Company.

New Transportation Plan Is Roadmap for Easing Congestion on Vineyard

By CHRIS BURRELL

The danger zones and hot spots on Island roads are all laid out in a transportation plan unveiled last week by the Martha's Vineyard Commission.

The plan calls for a host of remedies that range from increased home delivery of mail to the construction of new connector roads to alleviate pressure on some of the worst and most heavily-trafficked stretches.

By Air and Sea, the Daily Trip to the Office

By MANDY LOCKE

NANTUCKET - It's 6:40 in the morning. The workmen stepping off an Island Airlines puddle jumper are already through their second cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. In cut-off shorts, steel-toe boots and sleeveless T-shirts, the new arrivals cradle Styrofoam mugs in one hand and coolers in the other.

Fred Abrahams: Human Rights Research Took Him Into Iraq

By C.K. WOLFSON

He used to spend summers on the Vineyard; the son of David Abrahams and Carole Cronig Abrahams, grandson of Mae and Henry Cronig, a family that has become part of the Island's history. But most recently Fred Abrahams has summered in places such as Kosovo, the Czech Republic and Iraq, and he has become a part of global history.

Farmers' Lament: Quarter Inch of Rain

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

The corn is ready and the season's garden tomatoes are not too far behind. Island farmers are in the midst of their season. If one were to summarize the season in only three words, those words might be: dry, deer and arugula.

The weather in the last month has been too dry. Deer are doing a lot of harvesting before the farmhands get out in the morning. And there's a big rush on arugula at the West Tisbury Farmers' Market every Saturday and Wednesday.