Put off a day due to the torrential rain, the town of Vineyard Haven staged its birthday celebration with the usual overabundance of food, drink an

Town Attorney Grills Landowner as Tax Hearing Grows Longer

By IAN FEIN

During a tense two and a half days of cross-examination, West Tisbury resident William W. Graham revealed in a legal hearing last week that a private real estate appraiser valued one of his property parcels at a substantially higher price than town assessors.

An appraisal conducted in 2002 for estate tax purposes valued his 50-acre parcel at Mohu off Lambert's Cove Road at approximately $23 million.

The United States Coast Guard has ordered the Steamship Authority and Hy-Line Cruises to increase security measures on their ferries following the

When it comes to telephone service, Cuttyhunk may be going cutting edge. As part of a plan to upgrade service on the island, part of the town of Gosnold, Verizon has proposed putting up a 45-foot pole on town property on Tower Hill Road.

The Vineyard's first tularemia case of the year, a 50-year-old male landscaper, may have contracted the potentially fatal disease after handling a dead rabbit he found while working in Edgartown, state public health officials said this week.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) announced this week that it will not appeal the landmark sovereignty case to the United States Supreme Court.

The decision means that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) decision from late last year will be allowed to stand, and the case will now return to the superior court for a remedy.