Hearings Open on Luxury Golf Club Plan; Public Packs Hall for Hours of Testimony

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Torn down the middle, their emotions rubbed raw after two years of bitter debate, an irascible crowd of Oak Bluffs citizens gave the Martha's Vineyard Commission a new earful on an old subject this week: the Down Island Golf Club plan to convert the southern woodlands to a luxury golf and housing project.

They Sweep Oak Bluffs Streets in the Dark and Sleepy Hours

By MANDY LOCKE

At three o'clock in the morning, Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs belongs to Herbie Landers.

Slurred catcalls and police whistles faded hours ago to the swish of Herbie's broom sliding across the sidewalk. A handful of bartenders and waitresses, trudging home on sore feet, file past Herbie, offering a "good night" and a firm slap on his stooped back.

School Doors Open for Returning Students

At the High School: Freshmen Arrive One Day Early

By ALEXIS TONTI

Wednesday dawned cold and foggy with a light drizzle, an ideal morning to hide under the covers and sleep in. Unfortunately for students, that particular luxury is gone until next summer. The school calendar does not abide the weather, and high school freshmen (back a day early) had no choice but to face the grayness. Orientation began at 7:40 - a.m.

Military veterans and Island police, firemen and emergency medical technicians will take time out in the days ahead to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001. This Sunday the services begin with the dedication of a new monument at Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven, along the Avenue of Flags.

Observances are also planned for next Wednesday, a year after the tragic attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Island churches are planning services.

Opponents to Wind Farm Mount Suit to Block Tower in Nantucket Sound

By MANDY LOCKE

Offshore wind farm opponents took their case to federal court Friday - urging the U.S. district court to overturn the United States Army Corps of Engineers's approval of a 197-foot monitoring tower to be erected by private energy developer Cape Wind Associates in the shallows of Nantucket Sound.

Heavy rains last Thursday night ended the Island's long stretch of rainless weather, and even more precipitation arrived in the form of showers yesterday.

Last Friday morning, the Vineyard community awoke to the first evidence of significant rainfall all summer. There were puddles on roadsides, and some dirt roads appeared washed out by the flash of heavy rain.