A proposal to rescind $400,000 in Community Preservation Act money for the hotly debated Bradley Square project was easily defeated by Oak Bluffs voters during a well-attended special town meeting last night.
The funding was approved by voters at the annual town meeting in April and has already been set aside to pay for a portion of the affordable housing component of the Bradley Square project.
The holiday spirit was briefly shattered two weeks ago when three men reportedly stole a Salvation Army can full of donated money from the Vineyard Haven Stop & Shop that was meant to go toward helping needy Island families.
But thanks to deft police work by Tisbury police, especially Det. Mark Santon, the three suspects have been charged and all the money returned to the Salvation Army.
The Dukes County treasurer warned this week that with revenue from the registry of deeds sharply down from last year, county department heads will be required to cut their budgets both during the current fiscal year and the following year as well.
A West Tisbury school teacher was arrested on Tuesday amid charges that he provided alcohol and pornographic materials to minors and hosted underage parties at his Vineyard Haven home.
Daniel K. Johnson, 43, was arrested by Tisbury police at his home on Mariner’s Road and charged with five counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, one count of assault and battery and two counts of dissemination of obscenities to minors. Police also confiscated a personal computer from Mr. Johnson’s home.
Frustrated up-Island cell phone users may be getting an early Christmas present this year: a deal is nearing completion with a Boston-based telecommunications company for a series of remote antennas to be built on existing utility poles to enhance cellular reception in Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission last week unanimously approved plans to convert the old industrial building next to the Oak Bluffs library on Pacific avenue, formerly used as a trash hauling depot, into a place of worship for the Igreja Evangalica Assemblia de Deus church, whose congregation is predominantly Brazilian immigrants.
Although Island construction has been sluggish recently, the business of Brazilian churches has been robust. The newly approved church in Oak Bluffs is one of four Brazilian churches to be built here in recent years.