The Vineyard Gazette, the family-owned weekly newspaper that has been a prominent, much-decorated and enduring chronicle of Island life for 164 years, will be sold to new owners, the newspaper’s publisher Richard Reston announced today.

Our hot tub broke down last Monday, making it no longer hot. On Wednesday, my grandfather’s clock jammed; it takes six months to clean and repair. You guessed it: on Friday Michael deBettencourt gave the last rites to my 15-year-old, 275,000 mile Geo/Prizm/Toyota. It was a long week.

THE TAX MAN

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The front page article in Friday’s paper titled “Tisbury’s Taxes Sharply Higher” may have given the casual reader the impression that Tisbury’s taxes will be sharply higher. In fact, while our 2011 taxes will be higher, the 14.5 per cent increase cited in the article applies to the tax rate, not to our tax bills. In 2011, even if our tax bills were to stay exactly the same as in 2010, our tax rate would be seven per cent higher. How is this possible?

It was thirty-five years ago that I wrote my first editorial for the Vineyard Gazette, an editorial so important that today no one remembers the message. The thoughts behind that editorial essay were of no particular significance, except perhaps to mark the beginning of a journalistic journey through a profoundly important period of Martha’s Vineyard history.

Emily Bramhall’s many labors for Islanders has earned her this year’s Spirit of the Vineyard Award. The honor, sponsored by Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, thanks volunteers who have put their hearts and souls into service to their community.

The decision when is tied to the weather. Either tomorrow or Sunday a small fleet of rowers will depart from Little Harbor in Woods Hole and they’ll row to the Vineyard, stopping in Lagoon Pond.

The event, called The Row to Remember, is being organized by Rick Brown of Far Cry Boat Shop in Vineyard Haven. Mr. Brown is a local boat builder who specializes in building ornate and handsome looking crafts principally of wood. He has organized the event to raise money for the Alz-heimer’s Association.

Let’s be honest, not everything gets better with age. But fortunately for Islanders, Mermaid Farm’s feta cheese does. The flavor gets richer, the texture softer, and if it’s covered in brine, the feta can last up to a year.

Farm owner Allen Healy and cheese maker Jackee Foster are showing people the way real feta is supposed to taste.

“We’re trying to change people’s perception of what feta traditionally is,” Ms. Foster said, taking a break from pouring brine into the pints containing perfect prism shapes.

On Oct. 9, 2010, a glorious, sun-filled October day, John Walker (Nino) McCoubrey and Leslie Dale (Lee) Polychron were married on Keith Farm, Chilmark, just down the road from the McCoubrey house on Little Oak Lane.

Transportation Meeting

A public meeting will be held at noon on Wednesday, Dec. 1, to discuss the 2011 Martha’s Vineyard Regional Transportation Plan.

The plan to provide a more balanced, safe and affordable integrated transportation system for the Island is being prepared by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in cooperation with the Martha’s Vineyard joint transportation committee, made up of representatives of all Island towns.

Mr. and Mrs. Allan R. Keith are very pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter, Lucy Ward Keith, to Mr. Tomas Diagne of Senegal, West Africa, on Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Keith Farm on Middle Road in Chilmark.

Lucy is the granddaughter of E. Bradford and Lucile Keith, formerly of Westwood, and of Hugh Allen and Margaret Ward, formerly of New York city.