Aquinnah Reconvenes Town Meeting
By IAN FEIN
Aquinnah voters this week will pick up where they left off one month ago and reconvene their annual town meeting to try to adopt a balanced town budget.
The original town meeting adjourned early on May 9 when it became clear that a large contingent of voters were unhappy with the budget as presented. This week's meeting, a continuation of the chaotic first installment, will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the old town hall.
As secluded white sand beaches become a commodity more precious than oil, the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank this week announced significant expansion
Signaling its own interest in a case which has attracted attention around the country, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) agreed this week to hear the Aquinnah court appeal over sovereign immunity.
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).
In a land-use decision that has potentially far-reaching implications for every town on the Vineyard, a superior court judge ruled last week that the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity.
If allowed to stand, the ruling by the Hon. Richard F. Connon has the power to turn a landmark 1983 Indian land claims settlement on its head.
A special superior court sitting is now set for next month in Edgartown on a case that will ultimately decide whether the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has the power to police itself when it comes to local zoning rules. The case will also decide the much larger issue of whether the tribe cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity.
The case has attracted little attention, despite the fact that the outcome could have far-reaching implications for every town on the Vineyard.