Elizabeth Phelps, J.D.

Elizabeth Phelps graduated from Yale Law School on June 2 with a Juris Doctor degree.

A 2000 graduate of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, Ms. Phelps is the daughter of Susan Phelps and the late Richard Phelps of West Tisbury.

By JIM HICKEY

After years of largely fruitless discussion, a plan to create a single set of taxi regulations for the Island is finally coming into focus, although uniform fares appear still to be on a distant horizon.

Spearheaded by the all-Island selectmen, a subcommittee headed by Oak Bluffs selectman Duncan Ross and Tisbury selectman Jeff Kristal has drafted new regulations for selectmen in all the towns to review.

Swimming classes, water aerobics, yoga and summer camp will be in full swing after this weekend’s official opening of the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard. The new Y will be marking its grand opening with a small ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow welcoming members of the community into the much-anticipated facility.

If you wake up seeing double in the wee hours Tuesday morning you will no doubt want to go to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital to be seen by a doctor. But once there, you may find yourself seeing double all over again. For a brief few hours before dawn on Tuesday, the hospital will finally make the big move — from the old 1972 building to the new, $52 million 2010 building that was just completed two months ago.

Working as a paramedic on a mobile intensive care unit in New Jersey, Robert Bellinger remembers well the morning when a friend came into the diner where he was eating breakfast to tell him that something was amiss in Manhattan. A plane had crashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, a mere 12 miles from where Mr. Bellinger sat.

After years of putting up with scofflaws who stealthily dispose of their household trash in town dumpsters when nobody is looking, Oak Bluffs selectmen have drawn the line, threatening to impose fines of up to $1,000 on anyone caught throwing their trash into a town dumpster without permission.

The trash problems came to a head over Memorial Day weekend, when the town took the unorthodox step of removing all the town-owned dumpsters near the harbor. It was viewed as an experiment, of sorts, to see what would people would do if the dumpsters weren’t there.

As the prevailing summer winds begin to blow, bringing with them an influx of seasonal residents, Vineyard Power, the Island’s nascent energy cooperative, begins its first seasonal membership campaign, flooding local airwaves with advertisements and fanning out across the Island in a series of informal public presentations and question-and-answer sessions. One such presentation was held last Thursday at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury.

When the topsail schooner Shenandoah goes sailing this summer, credit for some of the work this spring in preparing the beautiful wooden vessel for another season goes to a 26-year-old West Tisbury resident. Working in his shop in the woods, Myles Thurlow built and restored several important spars on the 47-year-old Shenandoah.

Martha’s Vineyard’s six towns would make large cost savings and enjoy a better standard of policing, if they agreed to a merge their six police departments into a single force, a consultant’s report has found.

The report was prepared by Robert Wasserman, a part-time Island resident who has done similar work for some of the largest police services in America and overseas. It was commissioned by the Tisbury selectmen, who initially wanted an analysis of the problems within their own poorly functioning police department.

African American Heritage Trail Recognition Award: Small, Kurtis, $500.

Albridge C. and Margaret Righter Smith Scholarship Fund: Pringle, Julie, $1,000.

Alfred F. Ferro and Arthur T. Silva Scholarship Fund: Azzollini, Marta, $450; Moran, Kyle, $450.

Alice Blackwood Memorial Scholarship: Huntington, Shaelah, $275.

Alida Carey Gulick Memorial Scholarship: Silva, Fernanda, $300.

American Legion Ladies Auxillary Scholarship: Fisher, Matthew, $500.