The Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure confirmed this week it is investigating years-old allegations of ethical impropriety against popular Vineyard veterinarian Dr. Steven Atwood.

Dr. Atwood, the owner of Animal Health Care Associates, resigned last month as chairman of the state Board of Registration in Veterinarian Medicine, the agency that oversees licenses for veterinarians. He gave no reason for his resignation in a brief April 16 letter to Gov. Deval Patrick.

West Tisbury will be the last Island town to decide two marijuana questions next week: one to prohibit public consumption and another to place a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in town.

The two bylaws are on the warrant for a special town meeting that begins at 7 p.m. at the West Tisbury School. Moderator F. Patrick Gregory will preside; there are seven articles on the warrant.

A state law passed last fall legalizing medical marijuana. The law went into effect Jan. 1. The state Department of Public Health issued regulations last month.

When a miniature horse was killed by a dog in the rural outskirts of Edgartown last weekend it clearly struck a nerve around the Island and beyond. As the news was reported on the Gazette website, reaction poured in, most of it civil and heartfelt. People winced at the terrible, violent death of a small horse named Magik.

Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me. The World War Two-era song sung famously by the Andrews Sisters sounds a little dated but the wild apple trees on the Vineyard are right in tune this year, their crooked boughs heavy with pink blossoms everywhere you look.

There is a field across the way

Where dandelions bloom in May.

Like Flanders field, where hopes fly

And dreams too often come to die,

The flowers dot the field like fleets

I was recently invited to give a lecture for the Piano Tuners Association of the UK at their centennial meeting to be held in Bournemouth, England. It turns out that Bournemouth is very close to the place were my ancient ancestor and direct descendant, Phillip Stanwood, is believed to have come from when he sailed to New England in the year 1652. I accepted the teaching invitation and knew that I would finally be able to visit and explore the place of my English roots. Would I find a feeling of resonance and connection?

Last Friday’s compact and nearly complete coverage of the Stop & Shop’s Tisbury expansion made up for the fact that an off-Island appointment made me miss the hearing. If I had been there, and if the applicant did not present information on the scope of substances and services to be put on sale in the final solution, I would have asked a few questions.

We will likely never see your kind face again, your deep-bellowing voice full of confidence and swagger could ice anyone in its path. As a war hero from the Greatest Generation you were shot in Okinawa in April of 1945, then sent home and back to Brown where you met Missy and married her in 1948.

Last week, I drove to Lambert’s Cove Beach for a late-afternoon walk with my dog. I had my purse with me, so I locked the car and stuck the key in my pocket.

p>Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

There is a circus currently being promoted in the Cape Cod area and I know some may think, what a fun outing. Before you go, please consider the following about elephants and any wild animal being used for entertainment.

People like to see elephants at a circus, movie, zoo or in an advertisement because of their magnificence and beauty. If you are seeing an elephant in any of these situations, please know that elephant has been and is being mistreated.