The longest-running residential tax dispute in Massachusetts history, over the $51 million valuation of a West Tisbury property owned by William W. Graham, has finally ended with a win for the town assessors.

The last chapter in the long legal story closed on Friday with a unanimous decision by the Massachusetts Court of Appeals upholding a 2006 decision by the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board against Mr. Graham.

After five years, a pile of lawsuits and more public meetings than anyone could count, Joseph G. Moujabber’s illegal three-story garage in the North Bluff section of Oak Bluffs started to come down this week.

Merit Scholar

Elin R. Nelson, a senior at Falmouth Academy, has been recognized by the 2009 National Merit Scholarship program after scoring high on the qualifying test. Elin was named a commended student. She is the daughter of Jeffrey Nelson and Dawne Charters-Nelson of Vineyard Haven.

By LYNNE IRONS

I guess that you could say that I am on a roll.

If you read last week’s column, you may get the pun. For those that missed it, the article was a thanks giving to yeast and the bread and booze that it provides. While it wasn’t my intention to continue the thread (another pun that will soon be clear), I find that, after a CSI-style investigation, I am back on the fungus track.

There has been a fallout of snowy owls on the Vineyard. It all started on Nov. 7 when one was spotted in the Squibnocket area. Now there have been sightings of this large and powerful white owl in Chilmark, West Tisbury, Edgartown and Chappaquiddick. Gus Ben David and I figure there have to be at least two different snowy owls on the Vineyard and possibly three.

Daniel Waters will read new and old poems, formal and informal, at a free reading on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

Also known as DAW, the prize-winning Mr. Waters’ work has appeared in the Vineyard Gazette and Yankee Magazine, and is regularly broadcast on the Cape and Islands National Public Radio. He has published several books of poetry and is poet laureate of West Tisbury.

The Vineyard Playhouse invites everyone to a seasonal gathering for drinks and good cheer, with a small awards ceremony, on Sunday Dec. 7 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the playhouse on Church street in Vineyard Haven.

The playhouse will be offering soul-warming libations in the form of tempting treats, fortified wines and a selection of fine teas. Entertainment will be provided.

In this year-long serialized novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after two decades to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. His staff includes Mott, the big-brotherly general manager, and Quincas, a cute Brazilian. Abe has a paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the CEO of an off-Island wholesale nursery, Broadway.

The stage will fill with mice and soldiers, snowflakes and fairies as Children in the Arts of Martha’s Vineyard presents the Nutcracker Gala this weekend at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center. This is a joint production of the Martha’s Vineyard School of Ballet, directed by Beth Vages, and the Atlantic Coast Ballet, formerly the Cape Cod Ballet, directed by Tanya Vincent.