On any summer day a few years ago, a light breeze could carry a thick stench miles from the peak of the overgrown Madaket landfill. Today, to a viewer atop the grassy mound three stories high, only a few pieces of lingering debris around the perimeter recall the 22-acre landfill so noxious that the state forced its capping in 1999.

Shirley McCarthy Faces Fight for Special Family

By MANDY LOCKE

At 30 Lagoon avenue, strollers and tiny tot trucks have reserved parking at the foot of the front steps. Two signs - "Welcome to the Funny Farm" and "Be nice to your children because they will pick your nursing home" - hang from the front door, preparing newcomers for and reminding regulars of the unusual life led by the woman on the other side of the door.

While the Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District committee negotiates costs, facility capacity and logistics with the Rhode Island-based Waste Options company to build a composting facility on the Island, many Islanders seek answers to more basic questions.

Housing Crisis Spurs Initiatives

Grim Housing Needs Assessment Underscores Important Search to Ease Lack of Affordable Shelter on the Vineyard

By MANDY LOCKE

Twenty-eight million dollars.

It's less than five per cent of the $6 billion Vineyard housing market. It's only $6 million more than the recent $22 million sale of the former Sharpe house in Edgartown. It's but a $233 contribution from each seasonal and year-round resident.

You know exactly who they are - your son's second grade teacher, your neighbor whose spouse left last year, the EMT who revived your father last mo

Officials in Tisbury and Oak Bluffs Say They're Willing to Rejoin Refuse District

By MANDY LOCKE

Tisbury and Oak Bluffs selectmen voted Monday afternoon to rejoin the Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal and Resource Recovery District as customers if the district completes negotiations to build a composting facility.

The decision could bring all the Island's trash to a single facility for the first time since eight and a half years ago, when Oak Bluffs and Tisbury pulled away to start their own transfer station at the Oak Bluffs landfill.