Hearings Open on Luxury Golf Club Plan; Public Packs Hall for Hours of Testimony

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Torn down the middle, their emotions rubbed raw after two years of bitter debate, an irascible crowd of Oak Bluffs citizens gave the Martha's Vineyard Commission a new earful on an old subject this week: the Down Island Golf Club plan to convert the southern woodlands to a luxury golf and housing project.

MVC Launches Golf Hearings

Third Round of Deliberations on Controversial Development Proposal Begins Tomorrow; Voters Urged to Attend

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The high-stakes crusade to convert the last unbroken stretch of woodland in the town of Oak Bluffs to a luxury golf course and housing development will come out from behind closed doors and into the public spotlight this week when the Martha's Vineyard Commission opens a pair of back-to-back hearings on the controversial development plan.

John Ferguson Guides Hospital Into the Future

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

He's the quiet guy from New Jersey who kept his head down for nearly two years while the Martha's Vineyard Hospital lurched from one crisis to the next, unable to right itself in a stormy sea of bad faith and poor community relations.

Now John Ferguson is the man at the helm, and he is determined to steer the Island's only hospital in a new direction.

The vocal critics and Monday morning analysts peddle doomsday scenarios about the Steamship Authority with increasing regularity, and while the voices may vary, the message is unchanged: The financial condition of the boat line is precarious, the future is riddled with uncertainty, and there is no money to pay for future capital projects.

The stage is now set for a fresh round of debate on the third plan in two years to convert the last stretch of unbroken woodland in the town of Oak Bluffs to a luxury golf club and housing development.

Shellfish May Survive Edgartown Oil Spill; Emergency Seen as Serious Wake-up Call

By JULIA WELLS

The director of the Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group said there may be good news for a crop of about a million baby oysters that were threatened by an oil spill in the Edgartown harbor early this week.

"I don't want to say that we are out of the woods entirely, but the oysters may survive," said shellfish group director Rick Karney on Wednesday this week.