The weekend's torrents of rain may have been too much for beachgoers, but Island farmers were grateful for it. Yesterday morning, Jim Norton of Norton Farm in Vineyard Haven was out under the warm sun planting young tomato seedlings. His assistants, Julie Roza and Lisa Schoonover, were quick to put each one of the dozens of plants into the wet soil.

Largest Moped Agency Fails to Meet Deadline for Renewal of License

By CHRIS BURRELL

After more than a year of tough talk about enforcing moped regulations and showing scofflaw dealers no mercy, Oak Bluffs is now giving a break to two brothers who own the biggest fleet of mopeds in town.

On 28 Island Farms, It's Time for Annual Ritual of Shearing

By C.K. WOLFSON

With their limbs fit snugly against each other, the shearer and the 175-pound Corriedale sheep he holds form a shifting, flesh-and-bone puzzle. It is a single, interlocking sculpture, a hologram of shapes.

Marketing Push Will Be Needed, Say Backers of Fast Ferry Service

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Marketing the Vineyard.

That is the key to developing successful high-speed passenger ferry service between New Bedford and the Vineyard, a partner in a new business consortium has told the Dukes County county commissioners.

Limits on nighttime access to the beach, except for fishing.

Court Dismisses Lawsuit Brought by New Bedford, but City May Sue Again

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Quoting archaic academic political scientists and pointedly avoiding a position on any substantive issues of law, a federal judge this week dismissed a lawsuit between the city of New Bedford and the Steamship Authority.