Cape Cod Scholarships

Several students from Martha’s Vineyard were awarded scholarships by the Cape Cod Community College Educational Foundation at a ceremony on Wednesday, May 26, in the Tilden Arts Center Auditorium.

Rebecca Tremblay received the Weezie Foundation Scholarship presented by the Weezie Foundation.

Paula Corts received the Thomas H. and Barbara Lee Endowed Scholarship presented by Thomas and Barbara Lee.

Baptist Pastor Installed

The First Baptist Church of Vineyard Haven and the Community Baptist Church of Gay Head in Aquinnah will celebrate their new ministry at the Installation Service for their covenant pastor, the Rev. Ellen P. Tatreau, on Sunday, July 17, at 3 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on the corner of Spring and William streets in Vineyard Haven.

Renaissance House in Oak Bluffs is opening a branch in Harlem, offering the same retreat it offers here.

Renaissance House was founded in the memory of lifetime summer resident Helene Johnson, and Dorothy West, a legendary Vineyarder. Both writers were members of the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic movement in the 1920s and 30s. The writers were cousins who lived in Oak Bluffs; both lived in Harlem during the period of the Renaissance.

Aquinnah voters will be asked at a special town meeting Tuesday night to restore the town’s full share of the Tri-Town Ambulance Service budget and pay for a portion of an affordable housing study.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the old Aquinnah town hall. Michael Hebert will preside over the short, three-article warrant. A quorum of 39 voters is needed to convene the meeting.

It’s not surprising that Edo Potter’s favorite piece of conservation land is the next one. For decades she has been instrumental in acquiring plot after plot on her beloved Chappaquiddick for public use and enjoyment by future generations. She’s confident about the future of conservation on Martha’s Vineyard because of the health of the Island’s numerous environmental groups and their remarkable track record, both of which owe in large part to her tireless efforts.

Where the Coast Guard boathouse once stood in Menemsha harbor, the shore slopes slowly down to the sea, revealing a beach long hidden from view. Stretching out from this new landscape stands a concrete dock, a gray slab cutting across the view to the Sound.

This panorama, a significant alteration of how this small fishing harbor looked for almost 70 years, comes into view one year after the massive fire that ravaged the Coast Guard boathouse and much of the drive-on dock.

To glimpse far into the future on the Vineyard, just visit the house of Ted Bayne in West Tisbury. Nothing levitates, lycra unitards are not standard and it is by all appearances much the same as any other typical Vineyard house circa 2011. The only difference is that, energy-wise, Mr. Bayne and his family are almost entirely self-sufficient, thanks in large part to a century-old and decidedly unsexy piece of equipment: the heat pump.

A bill which has been quietly making its way through the state house could dramatically affect the future ownership of some of the Vineyard’s pristine barrier beaches, moving them from private hands to public.

The bill, which consists of just a single paragraph, relates to the barrier beaches that separate the Island’s Great Ponds from the ocean. Many of these beaches are privately owned and also are retreating into the ponds as they are eroded on their seaward side.

As details came to light this week about even more alleged violations to state public bidding laws in Oak Bluffs, town selectmen were set to meet again this morning behind closed doors to consider the possible dismissal of their town administrator who is at the center of the controversy.

The executive session, the fifth in a series of closed-doors sessions to discuss the performance of Michael Dutton, is set for 9:30 a.m. today.

Upset at the prospect that they will lose their much-loved and widely-respected principal, two members of the Tisbury school committee this week lashed out at the Vineyard schools superintendent for his decision to move principal Richard Smith to the Oak Bluffs School.

At an emotional meeting Tuesday, committee members Janet Packer and Colleen McAndrews said they were disappointed and angry that Dr. James H. Weiss did not include them in the decision.