In a move that has outraged Island homeowners and their elected state representatives alike, the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, with only scant publicity, recently agreed to hike to the roof certain deductibles for people insured under the FAIR plan.
It is impossible to determine the total deer population on the Island, although most hunters readily agree to two things: the deer are out there, they are just harder to reach.
With the Island deer shotgun season scheduled to start Monday and run through Dec. 8, there are reasons to expect a healthy if not record-setting number of deer to be taken. For starters, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife last year agreed to expand the season from six to 12 days to help reduce the number of deer ticks, the primary transmitter of Lyme disease.
By the time the new permanent Lagoon Pond drawbridge is finished in Vineyard Haven sometime in the next decade, it will be one of the most expensive projects in Vineyard history with a total price tag well north of $30 million. It will also likely go down as the longest gestating project in Island history; the drawbridge plan has been stuck on open for nearly 20 years now.
Even before the 30th annual Island Cup game began on Saturday, things didn't look good for the visiting Whalers from Nantucket.
When the players in blue and white stormed the field before the game and tried to plant their flag, the wooden mast snapped in half and the Whalers' banner fell onto the ground.
Things only got worse for the Whalers after that.
The Vineyard exploded for 28 second quarter points, all fueled by Nantucket turnovers, to put the game out of reach early en route to a 48-6 drubbing.
REGGAE SCRAPBOOK. By Roger Steffens and Peter Simon. Insight Editions. San Rafael, Calif.. 2007. 154 pages. $45 hardcover with DVD.
After a brief public hearing and a whirlwind deliberation session, the Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a community center for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Black Brook Road.
The community center is in fact already partially built. The tribe first broke ground on the center in the spring of 2004; the building remains half-finished.
