This coming Sunday, August 12 at 10 a.m., the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock will be the guest preacher at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. Rev. Warnock travels here from Atlanta, Ga., where he is the senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. It was there, from the pulpit of its Heritage Sanctuary, that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached his ministry of nonviolence. Now, from that same pulpit, senior pastor Warnock continues Ebenezer’s legacy as a church at the forefront of the fight for social justice.

Want to mingle with the cast of The Wire while showing your support for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign? On August 15, longtime Obama supporters and Oak Bluffs residents Judy and Ron Davenport will host a fundraiser at their Oak Bluffs home featuring the cast of the hit HBO show. Actors Jamie Hector, Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce Andre Royo, Sonja Sohn and Michael K. Williams are expected to attend, as is senior presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett. The president, however, will not be making the trip.

Tomorrow is an important time in the summer for those who love to look up at night. The Perseid meteor shower takes place, with the best viewing after midnight. It is possible to see a lesser number of meteors from that shower throughout the weekend, including tonight.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

August 3 83 70 Trace

August 4 85 73 .00

August 5 85 72 .00

August 6 84 72 .52

August 7 87 65 Trace

August 8 81 64 .00

August 9 82 66 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 79º F.

Chilmark had a busy week. The Monday night special town meeting, although not heavily attended, gave those present a good opportunity to explore the various opinions of their fellow voters and the majority approved the plan for changing the Menemsha docks presented by town boards. It is a step into the future, always a time to depend on leadership and technical expertise. Chilmark seems to have its share of both.

The Aquinnah Cultural Center will present Vanderhoop Homestead house tours today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The annual Feast & Fundraising dinner will feature traditional foods provided by Sly Fox’s Den of Mashpee. There will be a special presentation by Professor and Abenaki tribe member Lisa Brooks of Amherst College. She will speak on her book, The Common Pot: Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast.

The weekend weather was just beastly hot here; we saw television pictures of storm destruction elsewhere in the commonwealth. The beaches were pleasantly full on Sunday, many cookouts were held over the weekend. The school, firehouse and town playground were busy. Next week brings Illumination night on Wednesday, the 151st annual Agricultural Fair begins next Thursday and the Oak Bluffs fireworks on Friday, so activity will pick up in this town.

Welcome Sawyer

Tracy and Nick Briggs of West Tisbury announce the birth of a son, Sawyer Willis Briggs, born on August 3 at home. Sawyer weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces at birth.

Capping weeks of debate around town about whether a harbor improvement plan was in keeping with the character of Menemsha, Chilmark voters approved the plan at a special town meeting Monday night.

The vote was 40 to 25 to back the plan for rebuilding the dock and pier system in the heart of the historic fishing village. The project will be funded by a $629,000 grant from the Massachusetts Seaport Advisory Council.

A total of 77 voters turned out for the special session at the Chilmark Community Center Monday. There were two articles on the warrant.

Sengekontacket Pond will re-open for shellfishing Friday morning following state tests that came back clean, Edgartown shellfish constable Paul Bagnall confirmed.

The pond was closed to shellfishing on July 31 after more than two inches of rain fell, and remained closed this week.

Water testing in the pond was done on Wednesday by the state Division of Marine Fisheries.