University Graduate

Allison Brown of Vineyard Haven received a master’s of science in accounting degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on Feb. 1. Allison is the daughter of Jeffrey and Karen Brown of Vineyard Haven.

On Wednesday West Tisbury selectmen learned that they would have representation during the $1 million-plus project to repair the West Tisbury School in the coming years, but it wasn’t enough for some.

In a letter to the selectmen Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss asked the selectmen to appoint a town representative to work with the up-Island regional school district committee during the rebuilding project.

Citing increased summer rental activity, the Aquinnah board of health decided this week to open the landfill an additional day during the summer season. The selectmen requested the landfill be open on Saturdays to accommodate the weekly turnover day for renters.

A project to improve cell phone coverage in the up-Island towns is moving forward after a meeting between service providers and NStar this week took place to measure poles for the distributive antenna system (DAS).

If all goes as planned, up-Island residents could see improved cell coverage by July 1. Chilmark executive secretary Timothy Carroll met with Verizon, Comcast and NStar Wednesday morning to evaluate what needed to be changed on the existing poles in order to incorporate the system.

Chilmark police are investigating the theft of 21 solar panels from the Grey Barn on South Road stolen sometime over Presidents Day weekend.

According to the police report, the crate containing the panels weighed over 1,000 pounds. The 270-watt panels are valued at $14,000. Farm owners Eric and Molly Glasgow are currently outfitting their four new barns with solar panels, about 300 of which have already been installed.

The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital announced this week that it will soon begin to provide anesthesia services as a collaborative venture with its affiliate Massachusetts General Hospital. Beginning in June, anesthesia coverage for both the surgical and maternity departments at the Island hospital will be provided by the Mass General department of anesthesia, critical care and pain medicine. The collaboration will mean enhanced coverage that will allow the Vineyard hospital to manage two surgical emergencies at the same time, a hospital press release said.

The Tri-town Ambulance Service is requesting a 41 per cent increase for its operating budget next year due to a new state mandate that requires full-time paramedics for the service.

The budget, now pegged at $641,735, up from $453,000 last year, allows for two new full-time positions. It has been trimmed from an earlier draft that called for a 60 per cent increase.

If all three towns approve, the total cost of the service will go up $188,000 and each town assessment will go from $104,268 to $160,278, a 53 per cent increase.

Passing through the second electronic security-armed gate on the way to Squibnocket it begins to dawn on you: This place is important.

What follows is an edited selection of reader comments from the Gazette Web site last week.

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Court Rules No Price Fixing on Gas

PURE JOY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Life seldom makes sense, especially when those we love are taken from us in ways that are as terrible as they are inexplicable, and such was Joy Flanders’s untimely passing as the end result of a 15-month battle with melanoma which she waged so bravely.