After years of putting up with scofflaws who stealthily dispose of their household trash in town dumpsters when nobody is looking, Oak Bluffs selectmen have drawn the line, threatening to impose fines of up to $1,000 on anyone caught throwing their trash into a town dumpster without permission.

The trash problems came to a head over Memorial Day weekend, when the town took the unorthodox step of removing all the town-owned dumpsters near the harbor. It was viewed as an experiment, of sorts, to see what would people would do if the dumpsters weren’t there.

As the prevailing summer winds begin to blow, bringing with them an influx of seasonal residents, Vineyard Power, the Island’s nascent energy cooperative, begins its first seasonal membership campaign, flooding local airwaves with advertisements and fanning out across the Island in a series of informal public presentations and question-and-answer sessions. One such presentation was held last Thursday at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury.

When the topsail schooner Shenandoah goes sailing this summer, credit for some of the work this spring in preparing the beautiful wooden vessel for another season goes to a 26-year-old West Tisbury resident. Working in his shop in the woods, Myles Thurlow built and restored several important spars on the 47-year-old Shenandoah.

Martha’s Vineyard’s six towns would make large cost savings and enjoy a better standard of policing, if they agreed to a merge their six police departments into a single force, a consultant’s report has found.

The report was prepared by Robert Wasserman, a part-time Island resident who has done similar work for some of the largest police services in America and overseas. It was commissioned by the Tisbury selectmen, who initially wanted an analysis of the problems within their own poorly functioning police department.

African American Heritage Trail Recognition Award: Small, Kurtis, $500.

Albridge C. and Margaret Righter Smith Scholarship Fund: Pringle, Julie, $1,000.

Alfred F. Ferro and Arthur T. Silva Scholarship Fund: Azzollini, Marta, $450; Moran, Kyle, $450.

Alice Blackwood Memorial Scholarship: Huntington, Shaelah, $275.

Alida Carey Gulick Memorial Scholarship: Silva, Fernanda, $300.

American Legion Ladies Auxillary Scholarship: Fisher, Matthew, $500.

Pottery, papier-mâché and paintings were on display at Sense of Wonder Creations in Vineyard Haven this Sunday, as budding artists and their families gathered for an afternoon of gallery exhibitions, craft-making, and special guest performances.

Pottery, papier-mâché and paintings were on display at Sense of Wonder Creations in Vineyard Haven this Sunday, as budding artists and their families gathered for an afternoon of gallery exhibitions, craft-making, and special guest performances. The event showcased projects from 38 students in Sense of Wonder’s winter and spring art classes and was, said director and founder Pam Benjamin, “the culmination of the artists’ hard work.”

The region’s top authority on sharks, Greg Skomal, is leaving the Vineyard. After 23 years of working on the Island as the state regional sport fishing biologist, much of that time spent researching the mysteries of the deep, Mr. Skomal is moving up within the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

, The Blob! It’s revolting! It’s oozing! It’s sweeping the Island! Will no cedar tree be spared?

“It looks like something you’d see in a horror movie,” says Polly Hill Arboretum outreach coordinator Karin Stanley referring to Cedar-Apple Rust, a ridiculous looking tree fungus that has seen an unusually robust late spring and early summer here on the Vineyard.

They swallow up roadways, stall cars and block traffic — but still there is a sort of begrudging acceptance of those large puddles that form in familiar areas around the Vineyard after heavy rainfall and thunderstorms.

In Oak Bluffs residents named one well-known puddle off New York avenue “East Chop Lake,” while in Vineyard Haven someone posted a sign reading “Canal Street” on Lagoon Pond Road after a recent rainstorm, a tribute to the frequent flooding that occurs near the post office.

Megan Honey Degree

Megan Lee Honey graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration (marketing) from the University of New Hampshire during a commencement ceremony held on May 22.