Trustees Admit Violation With Least Tern Chicks; State Investigates Action

The Chappaquiddick superintendent for The Trustees of Reservations has resigned and Trustees are taking full responsibility for an incident late last month where an unfledged nest of least tern chicks was nearly run over by a Trustees-owned four-wheel-drive truck that was on the barrier beach conducting a natural history tour.

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Director of the E.R. Leaves Unexpectedly

A spokesman for the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital confirmed yesterday that Dr. Timothy Tsai is no longer director of the hospital emergency room, although the hospital could not provide further details about the circumstances that led to his abrupt departure this week.

“Dr. Tsai is on leave from his position as director of emergency medical services,” said hospital spokesman Rachel Vanderhoop. “That is the only statement we are making right now,” she added.

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Vandalism Hobbles Sail MV Program

Vandals have been targeting the boat house at the Sailing Camp Park in Oak Bluffs, leaving a trail of smashed-in doors, broken windows, floats set adrift in the Lagoon Pond — and, in a dangerous turn, the latest offense this week saw gasoline poured around the grounds.

At the receiving end of all this vandalism is Sail Martha’s Vineyard, the community-supported nonprofit program that leases the boathouse on the Lagoon from the town to teach sailing to Island children.

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Nectar’s Aims to Buy Nightclub With Liquor Store Part of Deal

Nectar’s has begun booking musical shows for the coming summer on the Vineyard, and club owners confirmed this week that they are negotiating to lease and eventually buy the building at the airport that formerly housed the Hot Tin Roof and Outerland.

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Annual Drug Sweep Discovers Bumper Pot Crop in Harthaven

State police and federal drug enforcement authorities made their annual helicopter sweep over the Vineyard early this week looking for marijuana plants under cultivation.

Sgt. Jeffrey Stone who works out of the Massachusetts state police barracks in Oak Bluffs, said yesterday that 62 plants were found and removed at six sites in Oak Bluffs, West Tisbury and Edgartown.

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Wind Turbine Moratorium Tops Chilmark Annual Town Meeting

A one-year moratorium on wind turbine applications and an array of housing initiatives, including a bylaw that addresses the thorny issue of inheritance for the children of affordable housing recipients, top the list of business for a double-header special and annual town meeting in Chilmark next week.

The meeting is Monday night in the Chilmark Community Center; longtime moderator Everett H. Poole will preside. The special town meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., immediately followed by the annual town meeting at 8 p.m. There are a total 31 articles on the two warrants.

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Child Care Help is on the Way For Families Struggling to Pay

There was good news this week for Islanders struggling to pay for child care, including preschool: a state grant has come through that will make child care subsidy money available for income-eligible families in five of the six Island towns.

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West Tisbury Finds Compromise on Mill Pond Dredging Dispute

Compromise and congeniality were the hallmarks of the West Tisbury annual town meeting this year, as 210 voters marched through a 48-article warrant in three hours flat, first pausing at the outset to hear the annual reading from the town poet laureate and shower the retiring police chief with accolades and long-stemmed red roses.

“Isn’t this a great town?” beamed moderator F. Patrick Gregory following the reading by Fan Ogilvie.

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Chaos in Menemsha as Fire Destroys Coast Guard Boathouse

A huge fire erupted in the U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha yesterday afternoon, completely destroying the 68-year-old building along with an extended wooden pier that leads to the west dock on the Menemsha harbor. Also destroyed in the blaze were at least one truck and an unknown number of small boats nearby. Miraculously there were no injuries save one minor injury to a volunteer fireman, a Coast Guard public affairs spokesman confirmed last night.

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New Hospital Opens to Public on Sunday

One letter at a time. That was the drill on Wednesday morning this week as the nameplate went up over the entrance to the new Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. A Columbia Construction worker was perched on a ladder to do the job, while project manager Connie Bulman looked on, standing in an empty parking lot awash in unseasonably warm April sunshine. It was one of a flurry of final touches underway as the hospital prepares for its grand opening on Saturday night and Sunday morning this weekend.

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