Have you ever wanted to meet a real-life spy and ask her about the most dangerous situations she’s been in? Maybe you always wanted to drive an Indianapolis 500 race car? Or maybe all you’ve ever wanted is to be able to have a magical pass that gets you on to any beach on the Vineyard? These dreams will become realities for the lucky few on Monday evening as Martha’s Vineyard Community services hosts the 32nd annual Possible Dreams auction.

For Doug Liman, directing is like navigating a class five river rapid. As you see the rapid in the distance, you have 15 seconds to figure out the best course of action. There’s no time to stop and think about it; you must act on impulse. He has the same experience showing up on the set of one of his film or television shows.

Vineyard ponds may be in peril, but somebody forgot to tell that to the Tisbury Great Pond which is loaded with wild oysters this year, the biggest natural spawning of oysters in recent memory.

“It is huge,” said Rick Karney, who has been director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group for over 30 years. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mr. Karney said.

The grass growing up through the pavers, the three plastic pots sprouting weeds, the weathered facade, peeling paint and unswept sidewalk of the Golden Dragon restaurant on Water street, Vineyard Haven, do not promise a fine dining experience.

Nor, for that matter does the interior, with its ill-assorted collection of tables and chairs and decor including a Coke machine with spare stock stacked beside it. But it’s the outside which so concerns the Tisbury selectmen.

After a year of talks that both sides said took longer than usual in these economically straitened times, the All-Island School Committee and the two Island teachers’ unions have inked a contract that will hand teachers an approximate eight per cent increase in pay and step wages over the next three years.

Menemsha Pond Reopens

Menemsha Pond and Nashaquitsa Pond in Chilmark were reopened to shellfishing yesterday by the state Division of Marine Fisheries. The ponds were closed by the state following the July 12 massive fire at the U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha due to debris and oil in the water. The Chilmark town hall and shellfish constable were notified yesterday by the state that the ponds would reopen to shellfishing at dawn.

Following a road safety audit held earlier this month between state and local representatives regarding the dangerous intersection at State and County Roads in West Tisbury, the state has gone ahead and installed permanent reflectors in the area, without first informing town officials.

“We had just had a meeting with the state about what to do about that intersection, and then the state went ahead and did that,” said executive secretary Jennifer Rand yesterday.

Oak Bluffs selectmen this week aired complaints about noise and trash from the annual monster shark tournament, a three-day event held last weekend that attracted more than 100 fishing boats to the town harbor and throngs of onlookers.

The organizer of the tournament is Steven James of the Boston Big Game Fishing Club.

Wind Rules

Three generations of the Oliver family of Edgartown had sailed their 22-foot Hereshoff Seasons from Mattapoisett on Tuesday, catching three nice bluefish for dinner on the way, when six-year-old Elizabeth Oliver became the center of a confrontation with the U.S. Coast Guard that devolved into a noisy standoff over individual rights, maritime authority and child safety, not to mention the issuing of six violations and numerous threats of legal counteraction.