House Backs New Bedford Vote on SSA Board

Whaling City Wins Most Issues; Two Islands Get Little in Return

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

BOSTON - Ending a four-year hostile crusade by the city of New Bedford to restructure the Steamship Authority, state legislators finally surrendered this week, approving a bill that meets nearly all the demands of the Whaling City, including an immediate voting seat on the boat line board of governors.

Adelphia Troubles Worry Vineyard Customers

By JOSHUA SABATINI

The concerns of the more than 9,000 Vineyard subscribers to Adelphia cable and the six Island towns who last year signed a 10-year contract with the cable company have come to the forefront as the company faces possible bankruptcy and a potential buyout.

Seventh and eighth graders on the Island are consuming alcohol, smoking marijuana and having sex at rates far higher than middle schoolers from two years ago.

Vineyard Joins Cape Community in Compact to Offer Mutual Aid in Disaster Conditions

By MANDY LOCKE

Martha's Vineyard emergency rescue crews will no longer be left to battle disasters alone.

A simple phone call from an Island fire chief mobilizes additional manpower and equipment to the Island - thanks to a mutual aid agreement finalized this spring among Vineyard fire departments and emergency responders on Cape Cod.

The Vineyard could see as many as 7,032 more homes on its 17,475 remaining acres of developable land, officials from the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) said at an Island forum held Thursday night.

"That's a relatively short time frame to be faced with some tough choices," said Christian Jacqz, director of Massachusetts Geographic Information System, in a presentation to Island officials at the Howes House in West Tisbury.

State Official Hit on New Bedford Stand

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

A prominent Boston attorney who represents the Steamship Authority fired back yesterday at the state attorney general for climbing into bed with the city of New Bedford in the latest political gambit around the public boat line that is the lifeline to the two Islands.