A wide range of Island leaders — including selectmen, public health officials and police chiefs — gathered on Wednesday for a special meeting hoping to finally designate an emergency dispensing site for the Vineyard in the event of a terrorist attack or outbreak of infectious disease.

And although the meeting, held at the Vineyard Transit Authority building, was marked by a spirit of cooperation and good will, no consensus about a site was reached.

West Tisbury oysters were on the market during the holiday season, but they are unavailable now. Tom Osmers, town shellfish constable, said there were three commercial oyster fishermen out on the pond. The season opened on Monday, Dec. 15 and was closed on Wednesday, Dec. 31. The fishermen were limited to one bushel a day, a sparse amount compared to years ago when the fishery was healthy and more productive.

John J. McCormick of Vineyard Haven believes he is the fastest bricklayer in the country. And while the ground is frozen and the air outside is bitter cold, he is practicing in the basement of his house in Vineyard Haven to prepare for a national bricklaying competition in Las Vegas next month. He will attend the annual World of Concrete and World of Masonry Trade Show, held in the first week of February. Its a big event in the trades and attracts thousands.

A plan to apply vigorous environmental protections to five Edgartown ancient ways met with little opposition at a public hearing Tuesday. If approved, the measure would give Edgartown more special ways than the remainder of the Island combined.

Chairman of the byways committee William (Boo) Bassett is a driving force behind a project to identify and legally protect all remaining ancient ways in Edgartown.

Dardanella Slavin told him they were happy tears but her 20-month-old son Quinlan was having none of it. He began crying soon after selectman chairman Frank Fenner drew the winning ticket for a 2.1 acre plot of land in Chilmark’s High Meadow development and bawled through much of the remaining lottery draw, drowning out the selectmen in the process.

“He saw me crying and that made him upset,” said a widely grinning Mrs. Slavin after the draw.

The West Tisbury Community Preservation Committee has received nine applications that are eligible for funding in the next financial year. These projects will be reviewed and discussed at a public hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 14, from 7 to 10 p.m. in Howes House.

A faulty fire sprinkler system has been blamed for a flood which severely damaged two Main street Vineyard Haven businesses last week, forcing them to close probably at least until mid-February.

Water flooded Ronni and Peter Simon’s gallery and also parts of Louisa Gould’s adjoining gallery last Friday night after water in a sprinkler pipe apparently froze, rupturing it, and later thawed, releasing a torrent of water.

For weeks the solemn sound of a foghorn has spread its message across the Vineyard. Day and night, under clear skies, in snowstorms and rain showers, the horn has been heard on the north shore in West Tisbury, across Vineyard Haven, in Oak Bluffs and in Edgartown.

The Nobska Light foghorn in Woods Hole has sounded four times every minute since before Christmas. It finally stopped yesterday, after being fixed.

The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and state environmental authorities have finally reached agreement on a restoration plan for two areas of land from which trees and other plants were removed last year, in breach of the Endangered Species Act.

The settlement provides that Sheriff’s Meadow will improve more than five times as much land as was affected by the removals, which were done by an Island landscaping firm for the benefit of a north shore landowner, and will set aside $27,000 in perpetuity for the ongoing management of the land.

The town of West Tisbury, a breeding ground for property tax rancor in recent years, had a record high $289,000 in tax abatements in 2008 based on approximately $68 million in total adjusted property values.

While town officials say the high number of abatements can be tracked directly to the current triennial real estate revaluation and a spike in waterfront property values, some residents insist that they signal a continued level of discontent with the current assessment system and the company hired to help conduct the revaluations.