Fire Damages Home

A recent rash of unusual thefts involving thousands of dollars worth of stolen construction and landscaping tools from Island contractors ended with the arrest of three young Island men, including two juveniles, this week.

Glenn Goulart, 18, of West Tisbury and two 16-year-olds from Edgartown were arraigned separately in Edgartown district court on multiple counts of breaking and entering, larceny, malicious destruction of property and conspiracy to commit a crime. Mr. Goulart was arraigned on Monday; the two juveniles were arraigned on Tuesday.

The Vineyard Gazette won 17 awards in the annual New England Newspaper and Press Association contest this year, including nine first-place awards for excellence in journalism and advertising. The awards were announced at the annual banquet held by the small newspaper press association in Boston last weekend. The contest saw nearly 3,000 entries from small daily, weekly and biweekly/monthly newspapers in the six-state region of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Newspapers are judged in daily and weekly categories by circulation.

The Edgartown personnel board sent a letter of reprimand to the town planning board last week following a grievance that was filed claiming inappropriate behavior by an elected official toward a town employee.

Planning board assistant Georgiana Greenough filed the grievance against board member Fred Mascolo on Feb. 2, following a heated exchange at a Feb. 1 meeting.

The personnel board letter was sent to the planning board on Feb. 10.

Tara and Daniel Whiting have withdrawn their application to the West Tisbury historic district commission to demolish the Old Parsonage house.

On Wednesday historic district commission chairman Sean Conley said his board had received an e-mail from the Whitings earlier in the week effectively ending their pursuit of a demolition permit.

“It looks like Tara is pursuing something else besides demolition, which is great,” Mr. Conley said.

The Upper Main street business district in Edgartown will see some new enterprise this year following approval by the town planning board of two business projects on Tuesday night.

The board approved a change of use permit that will allow the Edgartown Meat and Fish Market to open in Post Office Square, and also voted to allow a new construction project by the owners of Wave Lengths salon.

Mental Health Grants

The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation is accepting inquiries for its 2011 mental health grant cycle. Organizations located on Martha’s Vineyard that focus on preventing or alleviating psychological disorders in children, adolescents, and young adults to age 26 that address one or more of the foundation’s funding priorities may be eligible for funds. The deadline for inquiries is March 30. For more information, visit thetowerfoundation.org.

On Wednesday, Feb. 23 from noon to 1:30 p.m. there will be a brown bag lunch at the Old Whaling Church entitled An Arts and Cultural Collaborative for Martha’s Vineyard: Lessons from Cape Cod.

The title of the talk sounds intriguing in a friendly neighbor sort of way. Hey, let’s see what’s up on Cape Cod.

But in truth the event is an important milestone for the Island because it is the inaugural meeting of the Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Culture Collaborative.

Dee Dice has been selected to present a workshop at the 38th Annual New England Adoption Conference: Tales of the Journey: Past, Present and Future. Ms. Dice’s workshop will focus on the realities of single parenting.

Let’s Move

Let’s Move Martha’s Vineyard, a community health initiative funded through the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and the Farm Neck Association, will be starting a free, small pilot program that will run for three months from March 13 to June 12. The committee invites people who may be concerned about their weight and that of a child to contact us. The committee plans to assemble 10 teams of three people who are concerned about their weight.