Town officials gathered Wednesday to review plans for the repair and reinforcement of part of the old pay beach, in hopes of preventing a large portion of town waterfront from literally falling into the ocean — perhaps taking sidewalk and state highway along with it.

Frank, Peter and Heidi Dunkl produce Chilmark Spring Water, the Island’s own bottled water. But this winter, the siblings’ attention went beyond water.

They’ve been working on one of the Island’s most revered 19th century buildings, the old bandstand at Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs. From their plant at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Business Park, they’ve worked on five new oak replacement posts.

The new posts are critical pieces for the troubled 19th-century building.

Daylight Saving Time arrives at 2 a.m. Sunday. Remember to turn your clocks, and your computers, ahead one hour. In more signs of spring, woodcocks have been spotted in Edgartown.

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Backlash to Vision Appraisal Technology’s 2008 real estate revaluation in West Tisbury continued this week, drawing sympathetic comments from public officials, including selectmen.

The drumbeat of criticism, largely provided by resident Joan Ames in recent weeks, drew comments from town finance committee chairman Richard Knabel and a promise by selectman chairman Glenn Hearn to reach out to town assessors to discuss the process.

Studying Overseas

Audrey F. Furlong is participating in St. Lawrence University’s International Study Program for the spring 2008 semester.

Furlong graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. She is studying in the International Student Exchange Program at Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland.

St. Lawrence is a coeducational liberal arts and sciences institution of 2,000 students in Canton, N.Y.

Last call at The Ritz last weekend was a bittersweet harmonic of Island memories, fellowship and the final touching of a central force of Island life for four decades.

In anticipation of an expected sale later this month by Janet King to restaurateur David Ryan, the most local of Vineyard watering holes hosted a last-call weekend that drew several hundred communicants from four states to say their sayonaras.

Ms. King was overwhelmed by the swan song which, in typical Island style, began on Saturday and extended into Sunday.

Fiscal Squeeze

In Aquinnah, the hours of operation have shrunk for the town landfill and the library. In Oak Bluffs, the town is facing an operating deficit of as much as $2 million.

The scale may be different. But the service cutbacks in Aquinnah and the serious fiscal shortfall in Oak Bluffs are part of the same picture: a slowing economy, rising costs and Island towns caught in the middle.

Investigating a Tragedy

When Benjamin Sutherland, an eighteen-year-old high school graduate, fell thirty feet from the rigging of the sailing vessel Alabama on a calm day in July two thousand six and later died from his injuries, the Coast Guard launched an investigation into what had happened and what, if anything, could have prevented the tragedy.

In a careful and thorough report, the service now has concluded that no violations of Coast Guard rules occurred.

ISLAND HOME FLAWS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

This letter has been sent to Wayne Lamson, general manager at the Steamship Authority:

My family and I have had occasion to travel on the new Island Home several times since she was introduced to the run between the Vineyard and Woods Hole. Although she does emulate — in some ways — our much-loved and missed Islander (the double-ended configuration and drive-through, etc.), she has some very curious design and construction features. Here are a few things that I noticed.

Heavenly Phenomena

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of March, 1958: