I grew up near Glens Falls, N.Y. Even though Glens Falls was a city of only 20,000 residents, there were two daily newspapers, The Post-Star in the morning and The Times in the afternoon. Most people read both. And almost everybody read at least one. It was the 1950s and television was just breaking into our living rooms. Radio had become somewhat commonplace following the hour-by-hour reports of “the War” a few years earlier. The newspapers charted local, national, international and personal life for most Americans, including the people in my hometown.

HUNDRED-DAY HAUL: 27,000 Miles in 100 Days. By Chris Huff. Vitallight Press. 285 pages. Soft cover, $19.90.

M aybe you know Chris Huff because back in the 90s he mowed your lawn. Or because in that same party-hardy epoch, you and he knocked back some serious drinks at the Lamppost, the Rare Duck and the Ritz. Or you joined the throngs who donated, over the brand new World Wide Web, cash to fund the guy’s road trip throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states, this madcap laying of rubber to take place in the last hundred days of 1999.

Sea Breeze

Alas! the flesh is sad; the books I’ve read already —

O to run away! To flee! I feel with birds their giddy

Flights between unknowns: sea-foams and skies!

And nothing, not old gardens mirrored in bright eyes,

Can now hold back this heart — o sea-drenched nights!

Nor, on this empty paper, lamp-light’s

Desert clarity, whose whiteness keeps it undefiled;

Two days before my longtime friend, Stan Hart, died, I had the distinct pleasure — and pain — of paying him a final visit. He was hooked up to an oxygen tube and was very frail. But he was very brave as well. He had wanted the Vineyard Gazette to interview him for a story in the paper about the publication of his two new books that he could see while he was still with us. The paper came out last Friday, with a fragile photo of him taken by myself holding those two books. And then Stan died the next day.

The Oak Bluffs Public Library, in conjunction with the annual celebration of Della Hardman Day on Saturday, July 31, is sponsoring a photography contest to select 14 images featuring Martha’s Vineyard that reflect Della Hardman’s legacy theme “savor the moment.” The winning entries will be published in the Oak Bluffs Public Library calendar for 2011.

Two people were injured in a three-car accident Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Old County and State Roads in West Tisbury. The accident occurred ironically just hours before town selectmen discussed an ongoing state plan to change the layout of the intersection for safety reasons.

West Tisbury police, fire fighters, Tri-Town ambulance and Tisbury ambulance were all called to the scene at about 2 p.m Wednesday.

An Island man was transported off-Island for medical treatment on Tuesday afternoon following a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of Skiff avenue and the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Vineyard Haven.

In addition to Tisbury police, Oak Bluffs police, Tisbury Ambulance and Massachusetts state police also responded.

By JIM HICKEY

The Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force arrested Hannah Garde, 24, of Vineyard Haven, on new drug charges last Wednesday after executing a search warrant at a home where she was staying on Fisherman’s Knot Road in Edgartown.

Police found drug paraphernalia and two grams of cocaine hidden on her person.

The warrant was issued as a result of an ongoing narcotics investigation stemming from neighbor complaints of drug activity at the home at 36 Fisherman’s Knot Road.

Tisbury selectmen are expected to hold the first hearings on beer and wine licenses on July 15, as some restaurant owners rush to complete the approval process in time to catch the summer trade.

The public hearings will consider applications from Zephrus restaurant at the Mansion House on Main street, and Saltwater restaurant on Beach Road, the first to have filed their applications.

The detailed application packages were only made available by the town a week ago, but those two establishments had begun compiling the necessary information in advance.

Built on Stilts

The Built on Stilts dance and performance festival is now accepting registrations for 2010. Application deadline is July 1. Festival dates are Thursday, August 12 through Sunday, August 15 and Saturday, August 21 through Monday, August 23. Please see builtonstilts.org for guidelines and registration forms.