Acting well out of the public eye, Dukes County sheriff Michael McCormack quietly agreed last month to allow Kelly McCarron, the young woman who was drunk and driving the car the night 18-year-old Jena Pothier was killed in June 2009, to leave a Barnstable correctional facility for women less than seven months into a one-year term. Ms. McCarron has returned to the Vineyard to serve out the remainder of her sentence at home under electronic surveillance.

The Oak Bluffs selectmen kicked off their first meeting of the new year on a sour note as town officials scrambled to slash money from a budget that is already $238,000 in the red.

“The good times are not going to come for a couple years,” predicted selectman Ron DiOrio gloomily.

More than nine years after plans for a huge wind farm in Nantucket Sound were first revealed, the final regulatory approvals for Cape Wind have been granted.

The exhaustive review process began in 2001. It ended last Friday, with granting by the Environmental Protection Agency of a permit relating to potential effects on air quality of emissions from vessels engaged in operations to do with construction and operation of the 130-turbine development on Horseshoe Shoal.

Correction

A story in last week’s Gazette about the high school swim team was inaccurate in its history reporting. There was a swim team on the Vineyard in the 1970s that traveled off-Island for meets and practiced in the pool at the hotel that is today the Mansion House. The Gazette regrets the error.

Two Chilmark farms were recently granted permits for large-scale wind turbines under a presumed agricultural use exemption. Abutters have asked the zoning board of appeals to review the permits, calling for more thought and a public process.

Current Chilmark zoning bylaws prohibit the zoning board of appeals from issuing special permits for such turbines over an abutter’s objection — and/or if the turbine does not “preserve and enhance existing . . . natural features as well as vistas, water views and historic locations . . .”

By SUSAN KLEIN

Having lived a full life, Barbara Lipke was many things to many people. In addition to wife, mother, educator and author, she was also a storyteller. Her beguilingly gentle telling style would erupt into something bolder and humorous, delighting her listeners and showcasing her considerable skills.

Did you know that the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School has a Brazilian history class? Well, we do! The whole purpose of this class is to teach students who came to the U.S. at a very young age the main points about their home country. It’s not only about learning history, but the class teaches students to work together and develop a way of showing everyone that Brazilians are not as bad as they think we are. So far, we have been a successful class. We have been on task and have been able to achieve our goals.

Far from the Island's shoreline lies a harbor in the woods. Edgartown's innermost harbor has all the elements of a waterfront, minus the water, the swift-moving currents and high-priced real estate.

LETTER FROM HAITI

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Three well-known Vineyard residents will be recognized for outstanding community service and a noted author and history professor will deliver the keynote address at the 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. membership and awards dinner on Monday night, Jan. 17 at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown.

The annual event is sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard branch of the NAACP.