Oak Bluffs leaders said this week that a special town meeting will be held in late summer where voters will be asked to cut approximately $500,000 from next years’s budget — approved at town meeting only two months ago — in order to ensure that the state Department of Revenue will sign off on next year’s tax rate.
Oak Bluffs police had a busy weekend, among other things responding to a fight on Circuit avenue that involved up to ten people, a wide-ranging vandalism spree and a disruptive house party that led to a fracas with officers and multiple arrests.
Lieutenant Timothy Williamson said police responded to a call of a domestic disturbance on Summit avenue on Friday afternoon that led to the arrest of Mark Alger, 46, of Hyannis. Mr. Alger was charged with domestic assault and battery and threatening to commit a crime.
Smokey the Bear, the trusted and revered advocate for forest fire prevention, was brutally attacked at his Island home at the corner of Barnes and Edgartown-West Tisbury Roads sometime this winter, authorities confirmed this week.
A majority of West Tisbury residents at a packed public meeting on Wednesday spoke against a plan from American Tower Corporation to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns.
Many who attended the meeting cited concerns about safety, questioning whether radio frequency from the towers would pose a danger to humans, while others said they worried a series of new utility poles needed for the system would ruin scenic vistas and infringe on people’s property.
Although persistent drizzle made the playing field slippery on Wednesday, the undefeated Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls’ lacrosse team had no problems finding their footing, easily defeating lower-seeded Oliver Ames in the Division II sectionals of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament to advance to the next round.
Faced with a budget deficit for the current and next fiscal years that could total $1 million or more combined, Oak Bluffs officials are bracing for hard choices likely to include a special town meeting to slash spending as well as laying off some town employees.
