Camp Ground Basks in Glow Of Candlelight

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

A thousand happy voices sang Home on the Range and America the Beautiful, and then the lights came on. It happened this year, as it has of old, at the 132nd annual Grand Illumination on the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs.

Relief is expected tonight from the Island's first significant heat wave of the year. Forecasters are predicting the heat wave, which has sent thousands to the beach and created long lines for ice at Vineyard stores, will likely end tonight with the arrival of a cold front from Canada.

Temperatures in the last two days have hit the 90s in the shade, which is rare for the Vineyard.

Fishermen, sightseers and friends filled the Menemsha docks on Wednesday when the fishing boat Quitsa Strider II came in. The word was out.

Leaching nitrogen from residential households remains the single biggest threat to the water quality of Lagoon Pond, according to a recently completed water quality study. In a report delivered to the Lagoon Pond Association, its author found significant increases in nitrates entering the pond. The report is based on a series of water samplings conducted last summer.

Bruce Poole of SP Engineering Inc.

With the American lobster in short supply in Vineyard waters, the state and federal governments are in the early stages of considering new minimum sizes and catch limits. Hearings are planned for later this summer.

Today, the Island's new central transfer facility is doubtless the cleanest in the country.