Acclaimed TV reporter and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault will be presented with the Stone Soup Leadership Institute’s 2012 Walter Cronkite Award on August 2.

Ms. Hunter-Gault, a part-time resident of the Island, has been a TV reporter for CNN and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and is author of the new book, To The Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement.

State police are seeking charges against the driver of a Jeep involved in a fatal Fourth of July car accident.

Cape and Islands district attorney Laura Marshard said state police issued a complaint for two charges of motor vehicle homicide against Thomas C. Jones of Dummer, N.H., after a two-car crash on Barnes road between the Jeep Wrangler he was driving and a Volkswagen Tiguan driven by a 19-year-old New Hampshire man.

Jessica and Afonso Arantes of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Guto Arantes, born on July 21, 2012 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Guto weighed 6 pounds, 14.5 ounces at birth.

This Sunday, July 29, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. will be the guest preacher at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs.  Reverend Forbes, Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church, is founder and president of the Healing of the Nations Foundation. He is also the Harry Emerson Fosdick Distinguished Professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York city.

Vineyard resident and Black Dog CEO Robert Douglas placed first overall at the 2012 International Kite Association World Speed Championships held July 6-15 in Salin du Giraud, France. Mr. Douglas now has the distinction of holding and winning both the outright world speed sailing record (55.65 knots) and the 2012 World Kitespeed Sailing Championship simultaneously.

He is sponsored by The Black Dog, Edgartown resident Bill Lynch of Lynch Associates, Cabrinha Kites and CornerFive Surf Company.

Zachary Waller of Edgartown graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern Studies from Cornell University on May 27.

Chilmark is holding on tight as we whip around the corner into August. Before I bring you up to date on all the social activities available to you in the coming week, I am taking time out for some old-fashioned chat. I hope you read two essays that I enjoyed in last Friday’s Gazette.

The Aquinnah Cultural Center will be hosting the annual Native Artisans Festival on Saturday, July 28 in Aquinnah Circle from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day will be filled with exhibits, sales, demonstrations, food and entertainment. Native artists from several different nations will be in attendance with many different arts for purchase. Arts include wampum jewelry, beadwork, leatherwork, pottery and dreamcatchers. There also will be drumming and dancing with the Black Brook Singers. Try delicious pizza from the wood-fired outdoor stone oven of the Orange Peel Bakery. Fun for the entire family to enjoy. The VTA bus stop is just a few feet away from the activities.

It’s time to read again! My favorite clock has been placed across from the old Bunch of Grapes building to the front of the new Bunch of Grapes. What a pleasure.

I spent Wednesday afternoon with my two assistants, Cheyenne and Monique Cormier, playing tourist. We had a blast shopping on Main street. We entered stores I have never had time to see, as well as some of our best standbys, and bought trinkets and gifts for all our family members.

We now are at the beginning of tenant turnover weekend. It is time to say goodbye to all the July visitors and wish them a fond farewell. We trust you have had a good summer vacation and hope that you will come back and visit us next year. At this time we extend a warm and hearty hello to all of our new visitors.