By PETER BRANNEN
Add a triathlon in Oak Bluffs to the long list of long-distance events available to Island athletes. On Tuesday this week the Oak Bluffs selectmen voted to allow a triathlon that will take place next year on the morning of Sept. 11.
After a tepid response from Chilmark, race coordinator Matthew Brackman had to redesign what was originally an up-Island race. The event now will include a one-mile swim along State Beach, a roughly 25-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run that is hoped to attract up to 500 competitors.
Dock street in Edgartown will be partly closed to vehicle traffic for the next three weeks as a project gets under way to replace an underwater electric cable in the harbor channel to Chappaquiddick. Construction crews began setting up large equipment this week, and drilling is set to begin on Monday.
Chappaquiddick ferry traffic will unload onto Daggett street, which will be two-way during the construction project. Dock street will be closed from the Mayhew Lane intersection to the ferry during construction.
Project Lifesaver
On Thursday, Dec. 4 at 1:30 p.m., the Tisbury Senior Center will host a presentation on Project Lifesaver, a device that helps find people who may have wandered off and become lost.
Donald Rose will demonstrate the device and be available for any questions. The idea behind Project Lifesaver is not only to save people, but also to reduce anxiety for families and caregivers.
The senior center is located at 34 Pine Tree Road in Vineyard Haven.
For details, call 508-696-4205.
Police Chief Interviews
The West Tisbury selectmen have rescheduled a public forum for the three police chief candidates for tonight at 7 p.m. at the Howes House. Selectmen will hold interviews with the candidates on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m.
The three candidates for the position are acting West Tisbury police chief Dan Rossi; Canton, Conn., deputy police chief Donald B. Hull; and Christian Pedoty, police lieutenant for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York city.
On Monday night, the gibbous moon appears right near the bright planet Jupiter. The two move high in the east together as the evening unfolds. The two celestial objects are in the zodiacal constellation Pisces. Though appearing together, the moon is more than 251,000 miles away and Jupiter is 418 million miles away.
Next Tuesday voters in cash-strapped Oak Bluffs will be asked to decide a number of tax and spending questions, and one question on the size of town government itself.
A petition signed by 159 Oak Bluffs taxpayers calls for reducing the number of selectmen in town from five to three. Oak Bluffs is the only town on the Island with a five-member board of selectmen.
The Aquinnah selectmen voted this week to approve a conservation restriction for newly-acquired property by the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation on Menemsha Pond.
The 5.8-acre parcel abuts land that Yvette Eastman gave to the foundation over a period of years. The foundation has purchased a restriction on the property for $300,000 with a view easement on land next door. The restriction means the property will remain open and undeveloped forever.
Summer is long gone, and sports enthusiasts are shifting their attention to football, hockey and basketball. But some of the best deals come during the off-season, and a Vineyard collegiate summer baseball team is one of them.
Hello Zoé
Priscilla Tucker and Joshua Tucker of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Zoé Elizabeth Tucker, born on Nov. 4, 2010, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Zoé weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces at birth.
