Oliver Joins the Crowd

Brett and Sarah Hopp Marcotte of Seekonk proudly announce the birth of their first child, Oliver Edward Marcotte, on April 9 at the Women’s and Infant’s Hospital in Providence, R.I.

Oliver weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long at birth. His grandparents are Mary Follas of Edgartown, Alfred Hopp of Vineyard Haven, and Sandra and Edward Marcotte of Seekonk.

A small business workshop called How to Grow Your Business in a Recession is set for tomorrow, Saturday, May 2, at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown. Professional business coach Ron Melbourne promises an interactive program showing how small businesses can implement market­ing plans and cash flow strategies to capitalize on their uniqueness. The idea is to use the current, challenging marketplace to grow business by setting yours apart from the competition.

Calling their late-night robbery of an elderly Capawock Theatre ticket-taker a cowardly crime of violence, the Hon. Cornelius J. Moriarty yesterday sentenced Michael B. Ellis, 21, to two years’ incarceration in the Barnstable County Correctional Facility and Brett Geddis, 18, to a year in the Edgartown House of Correction.

Gas

Prices for regular unleaded gas as of Apr. 28:

Edgartown

Airport Mobil $2.679

Depot Corner $2.699

Edgartown Mobil $2.759

Oak Bluffs

deBettencourt’s $2.679

Jim’s $2.729

Vineyard Haven

Citgo $2.679

Tisbury Shell $2.699

West Tisbury

Up-Island Automotive $2.609

Menemsha

Menemsha Texaco $2.599

After 21 years in the job, Ralph Packer lost his position as a Tisbury water commissioner in this week’s annual town election.

Mr. Packer’s defeat by Roland Miller, by a margin of 359 to 191 votes, was the only upset of the election; all the other candidates standing for reelection were returned.

The town ballot was otherwise marked by a lack of controversy and of voter enthusiasm.

Editor’s Note: It’s not sophomores this week — it’s juniors and seniors. Guest columnists are members of the Irish History and Culture class at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. They write about their trip to Ireland over April vacation.

Ireland — I’ll Be Back

By Troy Small>

Around the globe, people were shocked by the recent attack by Somali pirates on the U.S. cargo ship the Maersk Alabama, and the abduction of Capt. Richard Phillips. The story was riveting. Who knew there were still pirates?

Pirates have always prowled the ocean. As Capt. John Smith wrote in 1630: “As in all lands where there are many people, there are some theeves, so in all Seas much frequented, there are some Pyrats.”

The image of course that springs to mind is more romance than horror, colored by Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

The film is a musical. Shortly after the movie begins, a brave but nervous girl walks onto a nearly completed stage. High overhead workmen are rigging electrical wire and so on. In a bored voice an assistant director says, “Okay, kid.” A pianist launches for the 89th time into the audition song. And there it is! A voice that comes along once in a generation.

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Of anyone that I know, Michael McManus deserves an addendum to his obituary, especially after seeing his photo published two weeks ago, taken about 25 years ago. The current photo, taken by my son Christian Billotto, is the Michael that we all knew.

This time last year I was adding the final touches to my solar car. My partner, Lucas Amarins, and I were fixing a few engineering problems, enhancing the appearance, and testing it out on the Tisbury School blacktop under the watchful eye of our helpful science teacher, Mrs. Gatchell. We named it Ra, after the Egyptian Sun God, and in test runs it worked great (aside from the minor issue that it kept careening off to the right, causing multiple collisions with the other cars).