A List of Suspects in Threats at School

Graffiti Writer Would Face Expulsion; Videotape from a Hidden Camera Was Used for Investigation

By CHRIS BURRELL

Relying on videotape and handwriting samples, Oak Bluffs police and officials at the regional high school said they have narrowed down the list of girls suspected of writing a threatening message in a school bathroom last Thursday.

O, Christmas Tree! Park Landlord Says It Must Come Down

By MANDY LOCKE

A graceful Christmas tree is caught in a tug-of-war between Edgartown leaders and the Benjamin Hall family.

The full-bodied spruce stands 20 feet tall in the center of a treasured park on Main street. The Halls - who have leased the so-called mini-park to the town for decades - are demanding the tree come down.

In Passionate Session, Aquinnah Makes It Official: Not Appealing

By JULIA WELLS

A passionate and sharply drawn discussion in the village of Aquinnah fell silent this week when the town selectmen voted without dissent to abandon a court appeal of the sovereign immunity case - and along with it a 20-year-old landmark Indian land claims agreement.

"This community is the tribe and sovereignty is something I must uphold," declared selectman James Newman, who changed his vote in a surprise move at the close of a public hearing on Monday night.

New Hospital Costs Going Up

$50 Million Is a New Estimate; Leaders Plan Public Meeting for This Saturday to Unveil Update on Their Thinking

By JULIA WELLS

Leaders at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital are moving forward with an ambitious plan to replace the badly decayed 30-year-old hospital on Linton Lane in Oak Bluffs - but they got a hard reality check recently when they saw the price tag attached to the new plan.

Public Hearing Set for Monday on Appeal of Sovereignty Case

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Under pressure from a growing group of townspeople to appeal the controversial superior court decision on sovereign immunity, this week the Aquinnah selectmen agreed to call a public hearing and take a new vote on whether to appeal the ruling.

The hearing will be held on Monday at 5 p.m. in the Aquinnah town hall.

At Aquinnah Town Meeting, the Emotions Frame Museum Debate

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The subject was a plan for a cultural museum in a historic homestead high on a windswept bluff in the town of Aquinnah. But the discussion that swirled for more than an hour and a half at a special town meeting Tuesday night was layered with the emotion of a town torn down the middle.

Underneath it all lay the central topic of the day: the recent court ruling on sovereign immunity for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).