Betsy McIsaac, a long-time seasonal resident, heard that the Vineyard was getting a charter school when she read about it in the paper last summer.

Today, she is part of its educational advisory group. Because Mrs. McIsaac worked as a school administrator for 30 years, her expertise has been greatly appreciated by charter school organizers.

They came, they saw, they squished.

Using their clumsy "Squish the Grapes" battle cry, the Nantucket Whalers rumbled into Oak Bluffs Saturday and pounded the Martha's Vineyard high school football team 30-13 in a predictable, impressive triumph. The victory before 2,500 Island fans marked the third consecutive Island Cup win for the Super Bowl-bound Whalers.

Near Chappaquiddick Point lies an unassuming summer house with a big mission. Over the last summer, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group has converted the two-bedroom home into a shellfish nursery complete with swirling pools of saltwater and millions of baby bay scallops. And although the project is not yet complete, the hatchery has already helped raise millions of tiny shellfish for distribution to the Island’s coastal ponds.

The Flynn family has concluded the sale of more than 175 acres to The Job's Neck Trust for more than $6 million.

The property is near but not adjacent to the 800-plus acres that the Flynns recently transferred to the state to become part of the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest.

The fields are still fallow, the silos completely gone to ruin. Operating licenses and permits have long since expired, and nearly a year after the Edgartown Conservation Commission announced it had agreed in principal to lease Katama Farm to entrepreneur David Moore there still is no lease.

And no farming operation at the 190-acre, town-owned farm on the vast, windswept Katama Plains which for years supported an active dairy operation.

A man participating in this weekend's Oak Bluffs Monster Shark tournament was injured Friday afternoon when a blue shark bit him on the forearm.

Peter Phillips, 36, of Taunton was fishing more than 10 miles off the Island's South Shore in the boat Sea Tern when he landed a large blue shark, tournament officials said. When he attempted to bring the shark on board the boat, Mr. Phillips was struck on his outstretched forearm.

"Apparently, the shark just lunged out at him," Edgartown deputy police chief Paul Condlin said.

A Vineyard recreational fishing boat took the title in the ninth annual Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament held over two days this weekend. Tom Furino of the 34 1/4 foot fishing boat Fish Finder out of Oak Bluffs won the tournament with a catch of two large sharks. On Friday Mr. Furino and his charter crew caught a 320-pound blue shark and on Saturday they caught a 302-pounder of the same species.

Founders of the Martha's Vineyard Charter School have come a long way and they candidly admit they still have a long way to go before they open the school doors in September 1996.

Martha's Vineyard was one of 21 communities across the state to be granted a charter last March by the state Executive Office of Education under the provisions of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (ERA).

The Wasque Reservation sandplain curves downward to the dunes disappearing into the indigo waves of Katama Bay off Chappaquiddick. The white-crested breakers recede into fog above the ocean. A large pick-up truck, which has been converted to a safari vehicle, rumbles along sandy roads and onto the beach, past Wasque Point toward Drunkard’s Cove. Its riders are jostled about in the back. They bump shoulders and exchange good-natured smiles, their fingers wrapped tightly around their binoculars. Five-year-old Anna Brody thinks the ride in the safari truck is the best part of the trip.