Election Season Brings Contests in Four Towns

With the calendar turning to March, four of the six Island towns have now closed their spring election ballots. Only in Aquinnah and Chilmark does time still remain for candidates to return papers and run for elected town office. Where ballots are closed, voters will have choices among candidates for the post of selectman in all the towns. West Tisbury has a race for treasurer, and seats on Island boards of health and planning boards are also attracting some competition.

Housing Plan Hits Water Quality Snag

By JULIA WELLS

Septic discharge from the Bridge housing project could pose a problem for neighboring wells, the Martha's Vineyard Commission water quality planner said last week.

Mac Schilcher Wins Honors on Gridiron

By JONATHAN BURKE

On June 20, Mac Schilcher, a six-foot, three-inch, 240-pound senior who loves to hit, will represent the Vineyard on the football field one last time. Next year, his primary allegiance will move to Wagner College on Staten Island, where he has been recruited to play Division 1AA ball.

Announcing his intent to retire as editor and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette after more than 27 years at the newspaper, Richard Reston this week also named his successor.

Beginning in the middle of March, John W. Walter Jr., a former executive editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, will arrive on the Island and take over the leadership role of the Gazette.

$100-Per-Hour Employee Raises Ire at High School

By CHRIS BURRELL

The full-time administrator's job pays $65,000 a year, but when the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School needed a replacement to fill in for the first five months of the school year, the pay rate nearly doubled.

By the time the interim dean of students clocked out at the end of January, he had earned $37,117 working from a contract that had him working half days from September through January. That's nearly $100 an hour or about $400 a day.

MVC Begins Review of Housing Plan

Ecumenical Group Proposes 32 Units on Tisbury Land

By JULIA WELLS

Calling it a new vision for the Vineyard, a novice Island nonprofit last week unveiled a plan to build 32 units of affordable housing in 16 duplex-style buildings on the Norton family land off State Road in Vineyard Haven.