A family walks along Memorial Wharf eating ice cream, the children wearing Martha's Vineyard sweatshirts, one red, one white and two blue.

Thirty years ago, two young women walked into the offices of the Vineyard Gazette on South Summer street in Edgartown looking for employment.

One of the women, just graduated from Smith College, was so shy that her friend had to guide her hand into the hand of general manager Dan West.

Mr. West hired the women for part-time work, inserting inside sections into the front section of the Gazette.

Boat Line Bill Moves Quietly

Joint Transportation Committee Hosts Surprise Public Hearing on Legislation Believed Dead; Marc Hanover Will Protest

By JAMES KINSELLA

A sleeper bill to change the governing board of the Steamship Authority, reportedly sent into limbo earlier this year, emerged last week for a surprise public hearing before the Joint Committee on Transportation.

Martha's Vineyard may have an affordable housing crisis on its hands, but it also has the community support and political will to address the issue

Norton Point Closed to Vehicles to Protect Piping Plover Chicks

By JAMES KINSELLA

Over the past four days, public and private officials have closed sections of Norton Point and East Beach to four-wheel-drive vehicles to protect newly hatched piping plover chicks and nests with eggs yet to hatch.

In Massachusetts, the piping plover is a threatened species. After hatching, the chicks take about 30 days before they fly, making them vulnerable to the tires of four-wheel-drive vehicles driving along a beach.

The deaf pilot whose single engine airplane crashed last Thursday on a runway at Katama Airfield in Edgartown remained in critical condition yesterday in the intensive care unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.