West Tisbury Assessors Lose Tax Challenge

By ALEXIS TONTI

The Massachusetts Court of Appeals this week overturned a decision by the state Appellate Tax Board and ruled that the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank is exempt from all taxation, upholding the power vested in the conservation agency by its enabling legislation.

The case is an appeal of a decision first made by the West Tisbury board of assessors that ordered the land bank to pay about $700 in taxes on property bought in fiscal year 2002.

The ruling was issued Wednesday.

Regina Weichert has come to dread the part of the day that brings her to the Edgartown post office, and as she emerged from the facility yesterday afternoon with a pile of mail, she could only sigh.

"Do you want to know how bad the line is?" she asked as she made her way to her car. "It's terrible. It's always terrible."

Court Ousts Trash Company in Oak Bluffs Neighborhood

By ALEXIS TONTI

More than three years after a superior court judge ruled on the issue, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals this week upheld a decision ordering the trash hauling company Browning Ferris Industries (BFI) to clear out of its Oak Bluffs depot.

The court of appeals rejected the challenge to the superior court decision and declared commercial use of the property to be illegal under Oak Bluffs zoning bylaws.

The Vineyarders are off and running.

And running. And running some more.

Featuring an unrelenting rushing attack and with several key defensive plays, including a decisive turnover with less than a minute to play, the Vineyard football team rumbled past Carver's Crusaders, 21-14, in their season opener Friday night in Carver.

A recreational fisherman died yesterday in the water around Quick's Hole after his power boat caught fire and sank.

Sixty-year-old Kenny Metell of Edgartown has never caught a winning fish in all his years as a participant in the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, but on Sunday he hit the ground running. Mr. Metell weighed in the first fish of the derby.