Boat Line Governors Approve Rate Hikes

By JULIA WELLS

Citing an unyielding trend of flat car and passenger traffic on ferries to both Islands topped by the high cost of fuel, the Steamship Authority board of governors voted yesterday to approve across-the-board rate hikes aimed at collecting an additional $4 million in revenue next year.

Beginning Jan. 1 Vineyard residents of all stripes will pay more to travel on boat line ferries. Nantucket residents will see a combination of fare hikes and reduced service.

Hot Tin Roof Under Agreement for Sale to Rosenthal Brothers

By JULIA WELLS

The Hot Tin Roof, the 26-year-old Vineyard nightclub that has weathered the bumps of age alongside the baby-boomers who were its first patrons in 1979, is slated to be sold to new owners before the end of the year.

Barry Rosenthal, a West Tisbury resident and marketing and communications executive who is president of B/R Creative, has signed an agreement to buy the Roof along with his brother, Dr. Arthur Rosenthal, a Ph.D. scientist who lives in the Boston area.

An investigation by the Committee on Finance for the United States Senate has thrust The Nature Conservancy and its conservation buyer program unde

State High Court Upholds Edgartown

By JULIA WELLS

In an Edgartown case which is esoteric but has application for small towns across the commonwealth, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that a house on an undersized lot cannot be expanded without a special permit - even if the expansion itself conforms to the requirements under zoning.

He is the Vineyard's own piano man and his story has been told dozens of times, but even in the retelling it is remarkable and ordinary and gifted and funny - all words that describe David Crohan himself. Above all else he is funny, with a relaxed, deadpan humor that spills out unexpectedly and uproariously, some of it quite unprintable.

And suddenly you are laughing along with him and rocking back in your chair and laughing some more.

Steamship Authority Sues to Block Fees: Boat Line Seeks Superior Court Ruling Over Hefty Falmouth Parking Fees; Hearing Monday on Injunction

By JULIA WELLS

In a legal standoff with the town of Falmouth, the Steamship Authority went to court this week to try to block the Upper Cape town from imposing a set of hefty licensing fees on boat line parking lots.