Enthusiasm for fishing runs rampant at the derby weigh station. Anglers will tell their stories. Occasionally someone sneaks in and posts a note or a drawing on the old building.

This morning a poem was posted on the wall, written by R. Gross:

I’m a fisherman can’t you see.

That’s all I really wanted to be.

Women or man the fire is lit.

In the boats and beaches we all have to hit.

The thrill of it all as we searched the ocean shallow and deep

A Chilmark police report on Middle Road traffic is in and the results are not flattering: of the 14,500 vehicles clocked in a 13-day period last June on the road which stretches from Beetlebung corner into West Tisbury, more than 87 per cent were speeding.

According to police chief Timothy Rich, who presented the data at a selectmen’s meeting last Thursday, the main offenders were local.

Occupying almost every available seat in the Chilmark Community Center, voters rejected a $2 million purchase of the Home Port restaurant at a special town meeting last night, flouting months of effort on the part of selectmen to acquire the Menemsha restaurant and surrounding property for public use.

As a result of last night’s vote, the longstanding Menemsha seafood restaurant will now likely go to Robert and Sarah Nixon, private buyers who signed an alternate purchase agreement with the current owners.

Larger striped bass moved closer to shore in the past weekend, as the 63rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby entered its second week. The month-long fishing contest continues through Saturday, Oct. 18.

The Soul Doctors are hosting the Second Vineyard Triathlon for Kids and Teams on Saturday, Sept. 27. There will be categories for different age groups and for teams, with very small courses beginning in Lagoon Pond and looping around Hines Point.

Those wishing to have a parent or peer go with them, or those who may need some support, are encouraged to enter the team category. Teams are permitted to get themselves through the course any way they see fit — so be creative. Adults who feel compelled may do the course at the end.

Dennis Lehane took a piece of Boston history, the stuff of legend in the city’s neighborhoods for nearly 90 years, and has written it as an epic novel.

Called The Given Day, the novel will be released today by William Morrow.

Following an investigation into the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament in July that included undercover surveillance and videotaping, the Humane Society of the United States announced yesterday that it had evidence of high-stakes illegal gambling activities occurring during the controversial fishing tournament.

The society, which opposes the tournament, has sent a letter to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley calling for an investigation into the alleged illegal gambling.

It was a day for schooners at the annual Pat West gaff-rigged and schooner race on Saturday. Twelve boats competed, and when it was all over, three big schooners took the top prizes.

Jim Lobdell of the well-known 42-foot Alden schooner Malabar II was the winner overall.

Second place went to the 65-foot Island-built Juno, captained by Scott DiBasio, and third place went to the 50-foot Perception, captained by Jamie Weisman.

By PHYLLIS MERAS

M ore than 150 friends and supporters of retiring State Rep. Eric T. Turkington honored him with a farewell party at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Hall in West Tisbury Sunday afternoon. Mr. Turkington, who has represented the Cape and Islands for the last 20 years, is stepping down to run for register of probate in Barnstable county in November.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of September, 1933:

Cap’n Harty Bodfish, slayer of seals, sea-otter, reindeer and right whales, leaned out of the offshore window of Cromwell’s store and took in the details of a yacht race. Beside him stood the hardware salesman from the far west, and sundry others, actually listening as if expecting to hear the clicking of the veteran whaleman’s intellect as he checked off the various points of seamanship thus exhibited.