Clawing their way through two nights and a combined seven hours of town meeting action, Oak Bluffs voters narrowly approved a decision to retain residential trash collection in town and call for a tax override.

Task Force Reports

By JULIA WELLS and RICHARD RESTON

The governor\'s task force that has been studying the complicated issues surrounding ferry service to the two Islands will this morning recommend sweeping change on the Steamship Authority board of governors, including voting seats for New Bedford and Barnstable, the Gazette has learned.

FedEx: Not on Chappy

By JULIA WELLS

The company motto is The World On Time, and the phrase was good fodder for the recent Tom Hanks blockbuster, Cast Away. But there is now one place in the world where Federal Express is not on time.

In fact, it is more accurate to say that Federal Express is not On Time, which is coincidentally the name of the Chappaquiddick ferry.

Chappaquiddick? No Federal Express delivery here.

Not On Time or anytime.

Deep discussion was far from the minds of Edgartown voters this week, who skipped lightly through their annual town meeting in less than two hours, pausing only briefly for a bit of discussion before approving a plan to allow building on substandard lots in the name of affordable housing.

"It's an oxymoron to say it is satisfactory to build on a substandard lot," declared town resident Walter Burns.

Task Force Reports

By JULIA WELLS and RICHARD RESTON

The governor's task force that has been studying the complicated issues surrounding ferry service to the two Islands will this morning recommend sweeping change on the Steamship Authority board of governors, including voting seats for New Bedford and Barnstable, the Gazette has learned.

The 1979 Jeep that crashed on County Road in Oak Bluffs just over two weeks ago, killing 18-year-old Eric MacLean, had no seatbelts, no emergency brake, a defective steering column and a phony inspection sticker, according to Oak Bluffs police.