State highway engineers have begun a new monitoring regime on the Lagoon Pond drawbridge after it apparently shifted on its pilings and would not close, blocking traffic for several hours over the busy Memorial Day weekend.

The bridge was stuck in the open position for about three and a half hours from 5 p.m. on Sunday, forcing traffic to detour along Barnes Road. The malfunction caused traffic jams and delays, and created a substantial backup at the blinker light intersection in Oak Bluffs where many cars were detoured.

Reflecting the hard financial times being felt across the nation, Oak Bluffs voters at a special town election on Wednesday defeated three funding measures for Proposition 2 1/2 overrides and debt exclusions for next year’s operating budget, while narrowly approving three others.

Ten smiling students will appear in the Gazette next week as the top-ranking academic performers in the 2008 graduating class of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, following a decision by high school principal Margaret (Peg) Regan to continue a longstanding tradition.

It is hoped a costly new regime of water quality tests for Sengekontacket Pond, which began this week, will identify the source of its water quality problems and may allow the pond to be open more often for shellfishing.

Following a string of poor water quality test results last year, the state Division of Marine Fisheries imposed a mandatory summer closure period on the pond. That period begins this Sunday, June 1, and runs to October.

Tomorrow the Rev. Mr. Robert D. Edmunds and his wife Deborah leave the Island after 15 and a half years of ministering to the community. The rector at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of Edgartown and his wife have new jobs and they’ll need their passports.

They’re heading for Jerusalem.

While in Edgartown, Reverend Edmunds oversaw 234 baptisms and 186 burials. He performed his most recent Island wedding, the 100th, early this month.

With gas prices on the Vineyard hovering above $4.50 a gallon for regular and almost $5 a gallon for premium — some of the highest fuel costs in the nation — more Islanders are leaving their cars at home and taking the Martha’s Vineyard Transit Authority busses.

West Tisbury should receive payments in lieu of taxes from tax-exempt property owners such as land trust organizations, finance committee chairman Al DeVito told selectmen this week.

“West Tisbury only receives money from the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority. I understand they do this in other towns as well because they feel it’s the right thing to do,” he said, adding:

At their regular meeting last week, the Chilmark selectmen took up the ordinarily routine business of making annual appointments and used the opportunity to make some changes.

Selectmen considered 48 staff appointments and the makeup of some 26 committees.

In the end they eliminated one staff position and postponed reappointing the town clerk, the assistant to the executive secretary and receptionist who also serves as the assistant town clerk and the plumbing and gas inspector.

A key subcommittee of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission has recommended that the commission deny a proposal from the Vineyard Golf Club to build nine luxury houses for club members plus a new employee dormitory and bathroom on the course along the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road.

The commission land use planning committee on May 12 voted 5-1 with two abstentions to recommend denial of the proposal. Although it is not bound to follow the recommendations of the committee, the full commission usually gives the recommendation considerable weight when voting on a project.

Following on the great response to the April vacation adventure, the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Collaborative looks forward to another week of fun, creative learning experiences for children in the Island’s loveliest natural settings: the FARM Institute, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Polly Hill Arboretum and The Yard. Camp will take place June 23 to 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and is open to all Island children entering grades one through five.