Even before the lanterns were lit for the 136th Grand Illumination the grounds of the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association were aglow with li

It is the crescendoing sound of summer, the shouts and giggles of children outmatched only by a chorus of tractors and generators humming and chugging in the distance.

It is the sweet smells of August, of cotton candy, fried dough, greasy hamburgers and sticky sno-cones mixing in the thick afternoon air.

It is the centrifugal force of the Sizzler, the lofty arch of the ferris wheel and the rush of air on the face as bodies move higher and faster toward the sky.

Fraud Charged in Tax Hearing

Attorneys for William W. Graham File Motion to Exclude Testimony of Key Witnesses for Town, Cite Ongoing Contradictions

By IAN FEIN

BOSTON - Alleging that West Tisbury assessors and their counsel may have deliberately withheld vital information from their own expert appraiser, attorneys for West Tisbury resident William W. Graham filed a motion yesterday to exclude the testimony of the town's two key witnesses in a complex legal hearing before the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board.

Tashmoo Boaters Bump Up Against Rule Enforcement

By MAX HART

Stricter enforcement of town waterways regulations has caused some ripples in the boating community in Vineyard Haven in recent weeks.

Among other things, the Tisbury board of selectmen has heard a litany of complaints over stepped-up boating regulations in Lake Tashmoo. A new mooring grid system coupled with a more aggressive enforcement campaign has longtime boaters and residents of this quiet inland harbor voicing their displeasure.

An August David McCullough Carries Audience Back in Time

By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer

Millions of American minds carry the image: George Washington, resplendent in uniform, resolute in countenance, gazing steadfastly ahead, the Stars and Stripes partly unfurled behind him, the boatmen pushing ice cakes away from the rowboat in which he is standing.

Save the ice cakes, it is an image that is almost totally inaccurate, historian David McCullough said.

The lack of rainfall this summer has been great for beach vacations, but extremely dry conditions have left trees, gardens and lawns with a powerfu