An eye-popping derby to be sure but no eyes popped wider than junior angler Chris Morris’s when his key sprung open the padlock that awarded him the 19-foot Boston Whaler complete with a 115-horsepower Mercury motor and a trailer last Sunday at the 2007 62nd annual striped bass and bluefish derby awards ceremony at Outerland.

Chris, with the top shore bluefish, was one of eight division winners lined up on stage with a key and a chance to win either a 2008 Chevy Silverado four by four truck or the fishing boat.

Rayssa Arrives

Cristiane and Rubons Moraes of Edgartown announce the birth of Rayssa Pessotti Moraes on Oct. 6 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Rayssa weighed 10 pounds, 14 ounces at birth.

JUNE MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

Al Alley of Boston recently visited with his father Forrest Alley and with mom Emily Packish Frank in Vineyard Haven.

Joseph Bozyczko, his wife Vicky and their children Michael, Mikayla and Matthew were at their Lighthouse Road home over the long weekend.

An increase in special needs students is driving Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss to seek hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new combined elementary program targeting children with autism or severe communication disorders.

Announcing Kellry

Kenia Aredes and Jean M. da Silva of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Kellry Marques Aredes, born Oct. 4 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces at birth.

Women are failing their driver's license road tests at nearly twice the rate as men on the Vineyard, according to Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) data from January to September 2007.

While 24 per cent of males failed their road test on the Vineyard so far this year, 43 per cent of females failed. That difference of 19 percentage points is the biggest gender discrepancy of all 38 test locations in Massachusetts - mostly RMVs -for which 2007 data is available.

Prepare yourself before meeting organic beef farmer Scott Lively. You may never want to eat fast food again.

“So you put the trim into a tray, dump the tray into a bucket, and every few hours that bucket gets turned into a bag of meat,” explains Mr. Lively, describing the journey of a hamburger from barn to bun. Trim refers to any and all off-cuts from the animal, once the more favorable parts have been extracted.

A state administrative magistrate has set aside most of the fines assessed by the state Department of Environmental Protection against Joseph N. and Evelyn R. Alosso for alleged septic violations at their home in Oak Bluffs.

In October 2004, the DEP had sought a $28,310 civil penalty against the Alossos for the alleged violations at the house they built on Carol Lane.

One is a magic number as the 62nd annual derby enters its final day of an event with big numbers, bountiful fishing and a short ride through controversy.

Mindfulness on Tape

A taped Mindfulness Meditation practice session by Chas Di Capua begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Unitarian-Universalist Chapel at 238 Main street in Vineyard Haven. The session ends at 10:15 a.m. For more information, call 508-693-2827.