By LYNNE IRONS

You would be hard-pressed to find someone further politically left than me. However, the other day I was potting up some plants and listening to old bluegrass tapes (Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.) They have a song called Let’s Keep Old Glory Waving and Never Let It Touch the Ground. I was thinking about the American flag and what it means.

A few weeks ago in this column I wrote that other than by contributing photos, I had not ever reported an unusual bird sighting to the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee, the authority for such matters in our state.

Neighborhood Convention

The next meeting of Neighborhood Convention is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 10:45 a.m. at the tribal council headquarters, 20 Black Brook Road, Aquinnah.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) will host the program, which is titled Keepers of Our Ancient Cliffs.

Please bring a bag lunch. Dessert and beverages will be provided. More information is available by calling Mary-Jean Miner at 508-696-8589.

Receive Degrees

Two Vineyard residents have received degrees from Western New England College in Springfield.

Erik G. Blake of Oak Bluffs, who is the police chief in that town, received a bachelor of science in law enforcement degree with magna cum laude honors.

Margot N. Parrot of West Tisbury received a master of laws in estate planning and elder law degree.

College Students Will Help

Build Island Habitat House

Students from Lasell College in Newton are scheduled this weekend to help Vineyard Habitat for Humanity continue to build a house off Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Vineyard Haven.

The organization welcomes volunteers to join with the Lasell students to help construct the house. Habitat invites volunteers to come work on the house Fridays and Saturdays.

The town of Aquinnah, known for being progressive in planning, this week moved a step closer to adopting a townwide energy conservation district.

Town selectmen on Wednesday submitted a nomination to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to designate Aquinnah as an energy district of critical planning concern (DCPC). The nomination was filed by Camille Rose, chairman of the selectmen.

The Edgartown selectmen two weeks ago quietly gave a nod of approval to a plan which would convert an area of the inner harbor between the Reading Room and the Edgartown Yacht Club into a marina with up to 100 slips.

A provisional plan for the marina was presented to the selectmen by Edgartown resident Michael Berwind at a Friday morning meeting on Oct. 19, three days before the regular selectmen’s meeting. The Friday meeting was legally posted.

Early reports indicate a solid but not spectacular bay scalloping season on the Island this year, and shellfish constables report a healthy crop of seed for next year’s harvest.

Commercial scallopers are enjoying early success outside town harbors in Edgartown, Vineyard Haven, Chilmark and Oak Bluffs, and near-record opening prices of $18 per pound for their catch.

Shellfish constables are not expecting a banner year on the ponds.

A group of Oak Bluffs residents filed a lawsuit against the town last week to block the release of $200,000 in Community Preservation Committee funds approved at town meeting for the Veira Park expansion project.

The sudden resignation of Martha’s Vineyard Museum executive director Matthew Stackpole has shaken the 85-year-old county historical society as it plots a move from its home base in Edgartown to West Tisbury.