BRAD FLIGOR

Margaret Knight escaped the confines of Chappy this week. She was last seen boarding a plane bound for San Francisco. Chappy marshals have been dispatched and we understand that she will be returned to the Island within a week. In the interim, I am filling in for her as the Chappy Tattler.

JUNE MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

Congratulations to my fellow staff members at the Vineyard Gazette for receiving accolades and returning home with 12 awards during the New England Press Association annual award dinner and exposition held in Boston over the weekend. It is rewarding to be among those high achievers in journalistic excellence!

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Our push through February is demanding that we remain in winter mode. There have been cold and icy days this week past and a sunny and warm day that encouraged even the daffodils to make an appearance. I found several of my flowers up at least a quarter of an inch! It was enough to rally my spirits.

KATHIE CASE

508-627-5349

(kathleencase@comcast.net)

It feels like we are going through the January thaw in February this year. The warm weather is teasing us into an April fool’s joke. But we will take it and it was nice to see the snow leave in one day.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Feb. 6 20 6 .00

Feb. 7 38 13 .00

Feb. 8 44 35 .00

Feb. 9 54 28 .00

Feb. 10 40 24 .00

Feb. 11 48 32 .00

Feb. 12 56 40 .16

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 41º F.

Craig Kingsbury Hangs

In Moakley Federal Court

A portrait of the late Craig Kingsbury of Vineyard Haven, who died in 2002, can be seen on the Web site of the John Joseph Moakley federal courthouse in Boston. The oil painting is the work of Elizabeth Henshaw of Wakefield, Mr. Kingsbury’s granddaughter. The portrait, entitled Memory Hat, shows Mr. Kingsbury in a characteristic pose in his garden, surrounded by greenery.

Citizen Police Academy

The Oak Bluffs police department will host its second annual citizen’s police academy this year. The academy gives ordinary citizens the chance to observe the daily operations of the police department. It will include training sessions with officers, discussions and an optional ride in the cruiser, trip to the firearms range ad marine patrol operation.

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age. The academy runs for eight weeks and begins in March.

Midlife Is Not a Crisis

Are you a person beyond mid-life who has been wondering how to make the most of the rest of your life? Join a new discussion group which meets at the West Tisbury library on the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 8 to 9:30 a.m.

Venus, the goddess of love, is high in the western sky tonight and for the nights ahead. The showing doesn’t get any better than this, especially since it coincides with Valentine’s Day tomorrow. The planet is high in the west at sunset, speeding along through the stars, keeping ahead of the movement of the sun.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) shelter was tight-lipped about details behind the decision to close the Vineyard branch of the financially troubled organization this week.

The MSPCA announced last Thursday it would close the Katharine M. Foote memorial building in Edgartown on May 1, along with two other Massachusetts branches, in the wake of a crippling 25 per cent loss in endowment money for 2008.