Last Thursday night, having turned off the lights after the first full day’s trading at the newly-reopened Bunch of Grapes bookstore, Katherine Fergason sat down in the aisle, in the dark, in the silence and cried.

Happy tears this time.

It was not just that the bookstore was back — albeit in temporary form and in a temporary location — after the July Fourth fire.

It was the smell of 4,000 brand new books. And the smiles of scores of old customers.

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Joseph B. (Joe) Hornbuckle 3rd is feeling deeply thankful this week. Mr. Hornbuckle, 38, who earlier this year returned from spending six months in Southern Afghanistan, shared his stories of travel with Chilmark schoolchildren on Tuesday. It was also a time for him to say hello and thanks to all his Island friends.

Island emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are ready to welcome new people to the ranks. Tri-Town ambulance (West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah) volunteers are people just like you, who wanted to make a difference. Meet them and learn more at an open house on Saturday, Dec. 6 from 9 a.m. to noon at the West Tisbury Station (across from Up-Island Cronig’s). Representives from the down-Island squads also will be on hand to help with questions specific to their towns.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard will hold their annual meeting on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 5:30 p.m. at the Vineyard Housing Office, 346 State Road in Vineyard Haven. It is open to the public. Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard is a nonprofit organization with a mission to build simple, decent housing for families in the lowest qualifying income range.

After receiving a notice of noncompliance from the state confirming that treated effluent is seeping to the surface at Ocean Park, the Oak Bluffs wastewater commission earlier this month voted to ban all new hookups to the town sewer system until the cause of the effluent problems is identified.

In the latest chapter of what is already a prolonged application process, supporters and opponents of the controversial Bradley Square renovation project emerged last week from nearly two months of negotiations with a revised plan for the project. The changed plan, which now goes back before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for fresh review, includes more on-site parking, smaller buildings and one less affordable housing unit.

The scene of justice for now 150 years — where Island chicanery, plunder and families torn asunder are presented equally before law — the Edgartown courthouse commands a certain grandeur.

So when Dukes County superior court begins its 150th year there, Sheriff Michael McCormack, like the 21 county sheriffs before him, will open the session wearing a tuxedo with tails.

Tisbury town government lacks direction.

That’s not a political criticism, just a statement of fact. If you tried to set your bearings by the magnificent copper, brass, bronze and gold leaf weather vane on top of town hall, you would end up lost.

The vane itself shows which way the wind is blowing all right, but the attached compass, the bit which should point north, south, east and west, doesn’t point in those directions and has not for an indeterminate period of time.

One evening at around this time last year Sandy Grant walked into Our Market in Oak Bluffs and came out a few minutes later scratching her head. She appeared to have won $10 million.

Ms. Grant went back inside to get a second opinion on the Billion Dollar Blockbuster ticket. The cashier confirmed it: she was officially the biggest winner in the history of scratch cards.

In the wake of a heroin bust in Vineyard Haven last Tuesday that led to the confiscation of nearly $70,000 in cash and illegal drugs and the arrest of six people — three from the same family — came warnings that heroin use is a serious problem on the Vineyard.

The Island community reacted to the arrests with shock, sadness and in some cases outrage in reader forums of both Island newspapers. Another reaction was surprise — not only about the amount of drugs seized and number of people arrested, but about the drug involved, heroin.