Daily fast ferry service between Oak Bluffs and Quonset Point, R.I. begins today. Yesterday the founder of the service, Charles A. Donadio Jr., told a crowd at the Oak Bluffs dock anyone using his new ferry service will cut hours off their car trip to and from the Island. And at a cost of $24 per adult, they'll save money.

Fire Safety Ratings Slide to a New Low, Insurance Costs Up

By MANDY LOCKE

As insurance bills make their way into the post office boxes in West Tisbury this month, homeowners are facing some steep premium hikes.

The increases - reported to be as low as eight per cent and as high as 100 per cent - come less than two months after the town's fire safety rating dropped to the lowest possible score.

The Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust received an extraordinary financial boost from contributors participating in the 18th annual Taste of the Vineyard on Thursday and the Patrons Party and Auction on Saturday night. As of yesterday the preservation trust reported income of $170,000 from both events after expenses.

The weekend's torrents of rain may have been too much for beachgoers, but Island farmers were grateful for it. Yesterday morning, Jim Norton of Norton Farm in Vineyard Haven was out under the warm sun planting young tomato seedlings. His assistants, Julie Roza and Lisa Schoonover, were quick to put each one of the dozens of plants into the wet soil.

The Memorial Day weekend may be everyone's start to the summer season, but for the veterans of the Island it is also a sojourn into the memories of war and a meditation on the price of peace. This year's Monday morning parade will take place in Vineyard Haven. The march starts from the American Legion Hall at 11 a.m.

A flap has arisen in Aquinnah over the illegal shooting of a large number of cormorants earlier this month on tribal land. The killings took place near the historic herring run, the oldest operating herring run on the Island. The incident raised questions about how laws are enforced by the tribe.