News
The time has come for Edgartown to pay its overdue bill to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
Last spring the town selectmen decided to put the town’s annual assessment to the commission on the April ballot as an override question. It was meant to be a symbolic gesture following some disenchantment in town over how the commission handled its budget process during the year.
But the ballot vote failed and the $274,000 payment was left hanging.
And now, five months into the fiscal year, the debt still stands.
Despite heated debate and pointed criticism aimed at certain town leaders, Oak Bluffs voters during a standing-room only special town meeting on Tuesday agreed to cut nearly $500,000 from the current town budget and spend $2.4 million for wastewater improvements that will connect the regional high school and new YMCA to the town sewer system.
A total of 163 voters packed the Oak Bluffs school cafeteria at the start of the meeting, a high number for a special town meeting.
American Tower Corporation, the company that wants to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns, formally submitted revised plans to Chilmark last week that include a letter from the wireless carrier T-Mobile expressing interest in leasing space on the new system.
Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, Chilmark and Aquinnah are all looking forward to a good bay scallop season this fall. With the commercial season still a week or two away or more, depending on the town, fishermen are readying small boats, drags and other gear.
Forecasters, aka shellfish constables, are cautiously optimistic.
“Nobody wants to forecast a better season than we actually get,” said Paul Bagnall, Edgartown shellfish constable. “I’d rather err on the other side, be conservative,” the longtime constable said.
Falmouth Honors
Three of the ten Falmouth Academy students honored by the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program are Martha’s Vineyard residents.
Clea C. Baumhofer is a National Merit semifinalist, and Lily J. Cronig and Lagan Trieschmann are commended scholars.
They earned this recognition because of their high scores on the SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
As the fall athletic season heads into the home stretch, the field hockey and boys’ soccer teams this week moved closer to a berth in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament.
Meanwhile the football team stumbled with a crushing loss to Somerset last Friday, while boys’ and girls’ cross country each posted wins against Bishop Stang and Barnstable as they wrap up another stellar season under coach Joe Schroeder.
Cross Country