After six years of battling controversy over his golf driving range in Oak Bluffs, owner Timothy Creato now wants the nets to come down and see houses go up.

His plan to turn the ten-acre Windfarm Golf range, west of the so-called blinker light, into a six-lot housing subdivision will have to win approval from the Martha's Vineyard Commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

His workbench is situated under a tree for good reason. Russell O. Steele 2nd needs those tree branches to support the ropes and chains, pulleys and counterweights.

All that gear is critical for holding a bicycle up in the air.

Welcome to Russell Steele's used bike shop, where everything in sight is a pile of junk just waiting for resurrection.

Capping off a year of intense expansion and its first foray into the mainland marketplace, the Black Dog Tavern, Inc. is now trimming back one of its three Island food outlets - shutting down the cafe on State road in Vineyard Haven for the off-season.

Oak Bluffs Water Has Chlorine Boost

By CHRIS BURRELL

The tap water in Oak Bluffs has tested clean for a week now, but the chlorine added to combat bacteria levels detected early last month has left town water tasting and smelling like a swimming pool.

"The chlorine is very strong, and it's not pleasant," resident Selena Roman told the Gazette yesterday. "We typically drink tap water, and we're not drinking it now. It's horrible."

With Vineyard Heading Back to Class, Dozen Teachers Enter Their Last Year

By CHRIS BURRELL

For a dozen Vineyard public school teachers, the new academic year that opens this week is a huge benchmark for them and a big headache for administrators.

The reason? All 12 teachers will lay down their chalk at the year's end, their collective retirements forcing principals and the Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash to recruit replacement teachers at a rate nearly three times the level in a typical year.

Tabernacle Requires More Fixes; Architects Call for a New Roof

By CHRIS BURRELL

The bill to restore the Tabernacle was supposed to run just $1 million and cover the basics: new stained-glass windows, re-flashing the roof and a serious scrape-and-paint job of the rusting iron structure.

But three years after mounting an ambitious fund-raising campaign to pay for the project and start up an additional endowment fund worth $1 million, leaders in the Camp Ground now say they need almost twice the money to do the job right.