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.

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).

Voters in Aquinnah are set to gather next week for a relatively routine special town meeting, but as a swirl of discussion heats up in this tiny town over the Wampanoag tribe's court case on sovereign immunity, the meeting may prove to be not-so-routine.

Five months ago a superior court judge ruled that the tribe could not be sued because of sovereign immunity.

NANTUCKET - The people of Nantucket clashed openly with the Steamship Authority yesterday, raising tough questions about boat line spending and demanding that the SSA abandon a new marketing venture that will allow J. Crew to hand out catalogues on ferries and in terminals during the popular Nantucket Christmas Stroll.

From the sky down, goodbye to a grand old friend.

Aquinnah Deadlocks on Appeal of Tribal Sovereignty Decision

By JULIA WELLS

The Aquinnah selectmen announced this week that they are deadlocked over whether to appeal a superior court ruling that found the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity.

"We are unable to reach a decision on this matter," said board chairman Michael Hebert following an executive session Tuesday afternoon with town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport.