By LYNNE IRONS

While enjoying my morning cup of Joe, I looked out at my blooming white rhododendron, fragrant viburnum, fully budded miniature lilac, weeping crabbapple, mature old apple in all its glory, the remnants of the flowering quince, and watched a pair of orchard orioles flitting about in the apple tree. Now there is a sight to write home about. I confess I don’t do that as often as I would like. Good thing the folks receive the Gazette weekly. Hi Mom and Dad . . . . Love you!

Estate Planning Talk

An educational presentation on estate planning will be presented by attorney Margot Parrot at 5 p.m. Monday, May 19, at the Tisbury Senior Center, 34 Pine Tree Road, Vineyard Haven. Admission is free. A light supper will be served after the presentation. Reservations are required by Friday, May 16, and are available by calling 508-696-4205.

Launch Operator License

Course Is Set for June

Sail Martha’s Vineyard and Confident Captain-Ocean Pros of Rhode Island will offer a launch operator license class in Vineyard Haven on June 7 and 8.

This 16-hour class meets the U.S. Coast Guard training and exam requirements to enable the operator to apply for the launch operator license. Completion of this course exempts students from having to take the licensing exam at the Coast Guard.

In what may portend a troubling new trend, two prominent Island conservation properties — one in Edgartown and another in Chilmark — along with a third private property in Oak Bluffs have been virtually strip-mined to provide native plants for a billionaire landowner who is building a huge home on the North Shore.

A state environmental official who yesterday inspected all the properties involved confirmed several breaches of the Endangered Species Act.

Legislation designed to protect migrating right whales could have an unintended, devastating impact on ferry services to the Vineyard and Nantucket, the Steamship Authority has warned.

Under draft rules attached to the legislation, any sighting of a right whale would trigger the imposition of a strict, 10-knot speed limit on ships more than 65 feet long, operating within a so-called “dynamic management area” with a 36-mile radius, for 15 days from the time of the sighting.

The smoke may have cleared from the controlled burn performed by the U.S. Navy last Wednesday on Noman’s Land, but questions remain this week as to whether more could have been done to alert the public and prevent the confusion that led to a barrage of calls to the Island communications center.

Officials at the Dukes County communications center last week received between 50 to 100 calls while the fire burned on Noman’s, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Chilmark.

With requests for financial aid from the state falling on deaf ears, the Dukes County sheriff told the county commission this week that he is out of money. “My main concern is payroll. I was totally out of funds as of April 30. I haven’t paid invoices since March,” Sheriff Michael McCormack told members of the county commission at their regular meeting Wednesday.

In a move that sets the stage for the town of Oak Bluffs to break ranks with the controversial Boston Big Game Fishing Club Monster Shark Tournament, a divided board of selectmen on Tuesday voted to deny a one-day liquor license for shark tournaments.

Following the vote, tournament organizer Steven James said the town’s action provides grounds for a lawsuit. He accused selectmen of discriminating against the popular fishing tournament and fishermen in general.

Opting to be good neighbors, Aquinnah voters agreed to go along with the traditional regional assessment formula for the up-Island regional school district at their annual town meeting this week.

Voters also approved wine and beer licensing for two Aquinnah restaurants, authorized selectmen to trade or sell a 3.6-acre parcel of town-owned land worth more than $600,000 and accepted a new pay structure for town employees.

This time last year the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School had no budget. Following months of acrimonious debate, Oak Bluffs had voted for a state tax formula which saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars, but cost other towns considerably. This sent the high school committee budget makers back to the drawing board.