Commission Begins Islandwide Planning
Three-Year Initiative Starts in January as MVC Updates Comprehensive Plan with Eye Toward Deep Study of Issues
By IAN FEIN
The Martha's Vineyard Commission will kick off a three-year Islandwide planning effort in 2005, hoping to develop a comprehensive set of guidelines by which the commission and individual towns can manage future growth on the Vineyard.
"It's long overdue and it's needed desperately," said commission member Nathaniel Orleans, who introduced the idea last spring.
More Students, Higher Scores: High School Cracks SAT Exam
By IAN FEIN
Efforts to improve SAT scores at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School are apparently paying off.
For the second consecutive year the graduating class of seniors posted the school's best average scores on both the verbal and math sections of the key college entrance exam. The class of 2004 also had the highest percentage of Vineyard students to ever take the test - with 152 of 181 graduates, or 84 per cent, giving up a Saturday morning to put their No. 2 pencils to work.
Christmas came three days early for the family of U.S. Army Sgt. Randy Dull.
Early Wednesday evening, as the sun set and lit the sky the color of salmon, Sergeant Dull - who was wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb two months ago - arrived at the Martha's Vineyard Airport to a hero's welcome.
Valuations Go Up in All Towns; Edgartown to Adjust for Flaws
By IAN FEIN
A strong real estate market sent property values across the Vineyard skyrocketing this year, as four Island towns saw total valuations rise by more than 25 per cent.
Tisbury assessments jumped 38 per cent from the last fiscal year, from $1.7 billion to $2.3 billion; Aquinnah is up 35 per cent, from $450 million to $610 million; West Tisbury is up 29 per cent, from $2 billion to $2.6 billion; and Edgartown is up 25 per cent, from $4.3 billion to $5.4 billion.
Top federal environmental agencies found fundamental flaws in the U.S.
Words and emotions filled the air Monday night, when some 350 people packed the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center to air their views about the controversial Cape Wind project planned for Nantucket Sound.
Opinion split nearly straight down the middle among the 50-plus people who spoke at the public hearing, from local fishermen to high school students to powerful politicians. All spoke with passion and conviction.