Fabian, the season's worst hurricane so far, is expected to pass far out to sea this weekend, to the relief of many Vineyarders. The threat of an approaching big storm and a summer of gray skies kept weather in the fore as a topic this week.

Walter Cronkite, who has for months publicly opposed the Cape Wind project being proposed for Nantucket Sound, yesterday announced he has reconsidered - and his commercials on the subject will be withdrawn from the airwaves. Mr. Cronkite said he now prefers to be a more objective observer of both the process and project.

Opposition to this project, he said, "may be premature."

Understanding the relationships between the ocean and air is essential if weather forecasting in the future is to be more precise.

Some Things Return and Others Change as Fair Gets Underway for 142nd Time

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Rotting beams caused the collapse of a deck which injured several people at an evening party in Chilmark last Thursday night.

It is not easy raising funds for a summer signature event. Tonight's fireworks will be the biggest display Ocean Park spectators have ever seen. That is the way it is every year.

Bigger and better than ever is the game plan, according to David Kelsen of CR Pyro, the Middleton company that is responsible for the show. He makes a living doing aerial explosions.