At Tony's Market in Oak Bluffs this week, the cashier is suddenly not just a celebrity but a good luck charm. Charlene Radcliffe, the one behind the counter wearing a Santa hat and a big grin, just scratched her way to one humongous Christmas gift.

Vineyard Haven has led the Island into the new year for nine years running, but next week's celebration figures to be the loudest ever. Organizers of Last Night, First Day 2003 have planned a more sensational fireworks show as part of the three-day family festival spanning New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

A huge storm that caused troubles for much of the nation ended up sparing the Vineyard its worst wrath. Though the Christmas Day northeaster passed over the Vineyard and Nantucket on its path out to sea, it dropped an inch of snow and lots of rain. The National Weather Service cooperative station recorded 1.41 inches of melted precipitation.

For the first time since the mid-nineties, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) is looking at favorable odds in its bid to build a high-end casino in southeastern Massachusetts.

After first voting unanimously to leave the door open for the possibility of a jail on airport land, the airport commissioners this week approved the master plan.

A few of the dozen people in attendance at Wednesday night's meeting had wanted more. They argued that the airport commission owed the public more than three weeks time to review a document three years in the making.

Charitable Giving Declines on Island

Vineyard Institutions Worry the Squeeze Will Eliminate Services in Competitive Market for Needed Contributions

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

It's known as the giving season, but as holiday lights glow along darkened main streets and the clock winds down on 2002, an array of vital Vineyard institutions report a troubling trend: Charitable contributions are down this year.