Listening to the banter of benchwarmers in front of the Edgartown town hall, it's hard to tell if it's 1972, 1982, 1992 or 2002.

The U.S.

Gas Pump Prices on the Vineyard Top Most Other Places in America

By MANDY LOCKE

Islanders have endured another summer of steep prices at the gas pump. Another season of shelling out more bucks to get from here to there than Americans across the nation. Another year of trying to figure out how fuel prices managed to jump about 41 cents a gallon in the five-mile trek across the Sound.

Oak Bluffs Approaches Buildout Deadline

By MANDY LOCKE

It all happened without too much fuss.

Now, that's all the town of Oak Bluffs and Island residents can manage to do as the town gets down to the wire - down to the last unspoiled expanses of developable land in the 4,555 acres that make up Oak Bluffs.

"It snuck up on us," said Oak Bluffs resident Renee Balter. "But we've had a steady stream of development. Buildout is occurring at a rapid, rapid pace."

After nearly six months without an executive director, the Martha's Vineyard Commission took the first step Sunday toward securing a seasoned Montreal planner for its top administrative post.

Eight commission members voted unanimously to recommend to the full commission that Canadian planner Mark London be hired as executive director.

Serious Fire Draws Attention to Danger of Junk Car Dump

By MANDY LOCKE

Edgartown's most glaring eyesore became its largest liability Tuesday morning when volunteer firemen responded to a potentially dangerous fire in the town's illegal graveyard for junk cars.