SSA Set to Vote on Fare Hikes Thursday at Cornell Theatre

By JAMES KINSELLA

When the Steamship Authority board of governors convenes next Thursday morning at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, Vineyard governor Marc Hanover anticipates voting for across-the-board rate increases to fund next year's $78.3 million budget.

But he said it will be the last time.

"We really have to get a handle on this," Mr. Hanover said earlier this week about the budget, slated to rise $4 million next year. "We can't keep absorbing these additional costs."

Movies are scheduled to return Nov. 1 to the screen of the long-dark Capawock Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

Chilmark Man Jailed for Rare Map Theft

U.S. District Court Judge in Connecticut Sentences E. Forbes Smiley 3rd to Three and a Half Years

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In the end, cooperating with the government carried more weight for map thief E. Forbes Smiley 3rd of Chilmark than the calls for punishment from the institutions he had wronged.

Cape Air Stops Service to Providence Earlier Than Planned: Columbus Day

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Cape Air will suspend service between the Vineyard and Providence after Columbus Day this year, rather than flying the route through Thanksgiving, its president said, but the airline also is considering new discounted off-season fares targeted at Vineyard residents.

The Steamship Authority likely will accede to a requested two-month delay in the delivery of its new 255-foot passenger and vehicle ferry, the Isla

Dukes County Is Due for Test of Its Charter

By JAMES KINSELLA

Hopes were high over a decade ago when a newly reorganized government went into effect for Dukes County.

Voters in the county had bought the vision put forward by a charter study commission in 1992 that reorganizing rather than eliminating county government offered an effective way to confront regional issues, such as solid waste disposal and affordable housing.

Years later, the vision retains its appeal.