Free Books for Travelers

Beginning in June, the Friends of the Vineyard Haven Public Library will be offering free books to travelers at the Steamship Authority terminal in Vineyard Haven. A selection of free books will be made available on a library cart, along with bookmarks featuring information on library hours, services and scheduled programs. The books have been given to the Friends as donations or were surplus library inventory. For more information, call 508-696-4210 extension 11.

The American Red Cross will hold an adult and child CPR/AED and first aid class on May 29 at the Farm Institute at 14 Aero avenue in Edgartown.

The CPR/AED class will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and costs $55. The first aid class follows and lasts until 4 p.m. and costs $65 for the full day of instruction and certification.

Memorial Day. It’s a federally-mandated Monday off from work, a long weekend that arrives during a time of year when the lingering sun still surprises; the temperature is rising but still falls well short of oppressive. The air is sweet with scents specific to the season: blossoms, freshly-mowed grass and barbecues. Lots of barbecues.

The weekend on the Vineyard is stuffed with sales, receptions, fairs, festivals and performances, plus events that give the people a chance to remember, to reflect and to honor those who fought and died.

Theatre Classes

Island Theatre Workshop announces classes for children and adults starting Monday, June 1, at their new home on Music street in West Tisbury. For details, 508-693-2769.

Vineyard resident and business owner Kati Johnsen recently took part in Indigenous Voices at the United Nations, a 10-day forum. She accompanied a village elder from a remote village in Peru who was invited to the forum last fall. Ms. Johnsen has been working in Peru for 25 years, employing and mentoring women in impoverished mountain villages. The indigenous woman is Marleny Callaunaupa, a Quechan Indian who is a prominent member of her small town, Chinchero, and who has been instrumental in keeping traditional crafts alive in her Andean community.

Martha’s Vineyard school authorities have confirmed the exclusion of four high school students for six months over alleged drug infractions, although the exact nature of the offenses remains vague and contentious.

The four were barred from the school for the remainder of this school year and the first three months of next year, as a result of an investigation which began in early April.

According to the superintendent of schools, Dr. James H. Weiss, who this week completed a review of the cases, they involved a small amount of marijuana.

There was a formal change of command ceremony yesterday at U.S. Coast Guard Station Menemsha.

Under crisp blue skies, with a gentle breeze accompanying the clear view of the Elizabeth Islands and Vineyard Sound, chief boatswain’s mate Jason Olsen was installed as the new chief of the station. Now officer in charge here, Mr. Olsen’s last assignment was in North Carolina, where he was executive petty officer at the station Fort Macon.

In the nearly 10 years that one Island war memorial has been mothballed in the artist’s backyard, tens of thousands of American soldiers have been killed or wounded in controversial wars being fought far away. Veterans hospitals have been overrun, new names have been given to the traumas of those returning from foreign fronts, protest groups have formed, a President was elected promising to bring troops home, promising hope and healing. And still the memorial has stayed away from the Vineyard public.

Kelly McCarron, the teenaged driver behind the wheel during an accident last June that claimed the life of her passenger, 18-year-old Jena Pothier, was sentenced to a year in state prison last Friday by an Edgartown district court judge.

Part of a plea bargain with the Cape and Islands district attorney, the sentencing took place in an emotional courtroom after Ms. McCarron, 18, pleaded guilty to a charge of motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of alcohol.

The latest victim of an economy that is increasingly running on empty, Family Planning of Martha’s Vineyard will close its Vineyard Haven clinic for two days this month in order to meet a mandatory work furlough before the end of the fiscal year.