MVC Wrestles with Golf Plan

Testimony Presents Commission with Unanswered Questions and Confusion on Critical Issues Before Final Vote

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Amid a fresh spate of tactics aimed at pressuring the Martha's Vineyard Commission into a quick approval of the Down Island Golf Club, the developer told the commission last week that an offer to allow public play at the private golf course is off the table - unless the commission agrees to support the project.

Commission Votes to Reopen Hearing on Gas Station Plan

By MANDY LOCKE

One week after the Martha's Vineyard Commission rejected a gas station slated for Tisbury's State Road corridor, Tisbury Fuel Service principals asked the commission to take a step back and reopen the public hearing for their proposed High Point Lane station.

While commission members wrangled over the details of information they hope to hear in the next phase of the public hearing, a majority of members acceded to the developers' request.

Rainstorms that crossed the Island last month were exactly what the Vineyard needed. After a September that was the wettest month of the year so far, lawns are once again lush and plants are looking healthy.

According to rainfall data collected at the National Weather Service cooperative station in Edgartown, the total rainfall for the past month was 6.15 inches. The Vineyard hadn't seen that much rainfall since the 6.11 inches that fell in August of last year.

Undercover police in Newport, R.I., have busted a ring of alleged drug dealers from Martha's Vineyard, who traveled to Newport last week to buy a supply of the highly addictive prescription drug, OxyContin.

Island Celebrates Rebirth of Agriculture

Farm Day Educates Public on Vineyard Agrarian Tradition

By ALEXIS TONTI

At noon on Saturday, the Jacobs family gathered around the cider press at Nip 'n' Tuck Farm. Wendy Jacobs watched as her daughter, Dana, tried to turn the fussy crank that sent the apple halves through the masher. "It takes a lot of muscle," Mrs. Jacobs said. "Keep it going, use two hands."

Work Is Halted on Wind Tower

Court Grants Restraining Order to Stop Cape Wind Associates from Data Gathering Facility in Horseshoe Shoal Waters

By MANDY LOCKE

A state superior court judge has joined the wrangling over the 197-foot data tower planned for the shallows of Nantucket Sound, ordering a 10-day halt to work on a monitoring station already approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.