Seth’s Pond in West Tisbury has been closed until further notice due to high levels of bacteria, health agent John Powers announced Tuesday.

The freshwater pond was re-tested today, Mr. Powers said; it will be reopened pending the return of clean water samples.

This is the second time the popular swimming pond off Lambert’s Cove Road has been closed this season. In June the pond was briefly closed when a water sample showed high levels of enterococcus bacteria.

Gary Hoffer, 59, of Pawtucket woke up very early on Sunday morning to fish Lobsterville Beach.

“You need to go when it is convenient for the fish,” Mr. Hoffer said. “If you want to go fishing at 10:30 in the morning, you won’t catch a damn thing.”

Mr. Hoffer said he has been coming to the Vineyard for 38 years and fishing in the early morning for 30 of those years. While his wife Pamela, brother Jack and sister-in-law Deb slept, he soaked up the sunrise and the quietest hour of the day.

On July 4th a group of writers and artists gathered on the beach at the Little Bridge in Oak Bluffs. They were not there to sunbathe or go swimming. Instead, they took turns raising their voices in the wind and reading from a speech first given by Frederick Douglass in 1852 in Rochester, N.Y.

On the day that celebrates the birth of independence and political freedom for this nation, Mr. Douglass’s speech, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro, reminded those in attendance that the nation’s freedom was not a universal experience.

Edgartown selectmen had sharp words for representatives from NStar Monday about the installation of taller utility poles on the Island.

The new utility poles, which are being installed on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and Edgartown-West Tisbury Road, average about 10 feet taller than the previous poles. An NStar representative told the Gazette that about 260 new poles are being installed, 180 on public roadways. Most of the poles are replacing existing poles, though some are new.

Ariana Binney and James Boyle of West Tisbury announce the birth of a daughter, Zelda Eloise Binney, born on July 5 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Zelda weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces at birth.

Emily Reddington and Marty Harris of Edgartown announce the birth of a son, Harold Reddington Harris, born on July 5 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Harold weighed 7 pounds, 2.4 ounces at birth.

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $224,236 for the business week ending on Friday, July 5, 2013. The land bank receives its funds from a two per cent fee charged on many Vineyard real estate transactions.

Summer is heating up, and so are the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks.

With the season midpoint fast approaching, the team holds a 17-8 record and is tied for first place in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League with the Nashua Silver Knights.

Salvage plans are under way for an abandoned 36-and-a-half-foot sailboat that washed up at Norton Point beach on Friday night.

No one was aboard the Running Free, which was abandoned in the Bermuda Triangle on Mother’s Day.

Is it really the Warren House? I see in the Gazette that the Warren House is back in the news. I have to smile. The house had a sign on it, “The Captain Warren House” for as many years as I have been coming to the Vineyard.