A high-stakes legal battle will ultimately determine whether a bingo parlor can be operated on tribal lands at the western tip of the Vineyard.

The tribe will again argue that it has the right to operate a gambling operation on Martha’s Vineyard, this time at a Dec. 6 hearing in federal appeals court.

Two hiking trails, both leading to a bluff overlooking the ocean in Aquinnah, cannot be connected to create a single loop trail, the state’s highest court ruled in a unanimous decision this week.

Carter Berardi died two and a half years ago from a heroin overdose, just a few days out of rehab. The shock waves still reverberate with enormous intensity among family, friends and acquaintances.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has gained an ally in its legal effort to establish gambling on the western tip of the Island — the U.S. Department of Justice.

An effort to link adjacent properties with a hiking trail has pitted the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank against the owners of the Outermost Inn, whose land must be crossed to access the trail.