The Vineyard voted in line with the rest of the commonwealth Tuesday, backing Democratic U.S. Cong. Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former naval special warfare lieutenant commander, in the state primary to replace Sen. John Kerry, who resigned in January to become secretary of state.

Town clerks reported relatively low turnout, around 19.5 per cent Islandwide, with slightly higher turnout in Chilmark and Tisbury, which also held town elections. The two town elections featured no contested races but several ballot questions related to spending, all of which passed.

The West Tisbury selectmen this week denied a request to remove more trees to accommodate construction of the new West Tisbury library and adjacent parking lot.
Building committee chairman Linda Hearn told the selectmen Wednesday that her group recently learned from NStar that the company needs to build an underground electrical vault near the road. Three additional trees need to be removed to make way for the vault, Mrs. Hearn said.
“I have to say I find this totally unacceptable. We went through an agonizing process,” selectman and board chairman Richard Knabel said.

The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital announced this week that it will buy the Thorncroft Inn in Vineyard Haven to house traveling medical professionals, including doctors and nurses.
“The hospital spends more than $800,000 per year in costs related to housing medical professionals who travel to the Island to provide necessary patient services at the hospital. Most of the costs for housing occur during the s
ummer months,” the hospital said in a brief announcement about the purchase.

The purchase price is $2.35 million, including land, buildings and furniture.

Representatives from the Providence VA Medical Center will meet with veterans during a visit to the Island next week.

A town hall meeting is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, at the American Legion Post 257 in Vineyard Haven. The director of the medical center and other staff members will be on hand to see how things are going with the new contract for medical care for Island veterans, and to take any questions.

The community center at Woodside Village is a comfortable place with a decorated tree in one corner and a wall of drawings. “You are my BFF,” reads one.

The drawings are created by children in the afterschool programs at the YMCA who visit Woodside once a week as part of the Island Elderly Housing Bridging program, the brainchild of Blueberry Van driver Kevin McFarland.

“It’s a long walk,” said kindergartner Kamari Clements of the journey from the Y to the community center next door.

Off a dirt road in West Tisbury, 18 people slept in a four-bedroom house. Five beds in one room, three in another. But it was not high summer. It was not even June. It was the Off Season.
Off Season is the name of an independent film that just finished shooting on the Island. The writer of the movie, Erik Lieblein, is familiar with the Vineyard’s quiet season. For most the cast and crew, though, it was their first experience with the empty beaches, quiet roads and closed restaurants of the Vineyard in early spring. For some it was their first visit to the Island during any season.

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $136,193 for the business week ending on Friday, April 26, 2013. The land bank receives its funds from a two per cent fee charged on many Vineyard real estate transactions.

It was a tough winter on the Vineyard. One place where this was keenly felt was the Island Food Pantry. Armen Hanjian, food pantry coordinator, said that while the number of people served at the pantry this past winter was slightly down, the pantry spent considerably more than ever before: $106,007, up $10,661.

The annual children’s trout tournament starts tomorrow morning at “first light.” But securing a choice fishing spot can often require a wander in the dark with a flashlight. The fishing contest at the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank’s Duarte’s Pond, off Lambert’s Cove Road, is for children 14 years old and younger and its free. There are plenty of prizes on the line including two brand new bicycles.

The spectacle of an eight-thousand-square-foot home being moved back from an eroding cliff can give a skewed impression of the hardship to the Vineyard caused by Hurricane Sandy and the nameless February storm that succeeded her.