JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

Margaret Knight>

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

KATHIE CASE

508-627-5349

(kathleencase@comcast.net)

So, Mother Nature did some housecleaning this past weekend. We had one large branch that went thud in the night. It was big enough that the highway department had a man with a chainsaw to clean it up. I am thankful that Islanders weren’t among those who lost their power for many days.

The Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard awarded $27,550 in grants to 12 Island organizations this fall. The grants will help support the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Martha’s Vineyard, Island Grown Initiative, Island Housing Trust Corporation, Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, Sail Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Bellydance and Revue, Vineyard House, Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and the Yard.

HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

This isn’t political commentary, just fact: No one I know in the whole wide world of Oak Bluffs wants the roundabout. Oh, one exception: At a brunch a couple of months ago, a visiting transportation guy from Boston, when his back was shoved to the wall, said he was for it, but even his wife weighed in with a thumb’s down.

The basic objections to the roundabout are threefold: 1) It’s ugly, 2) It’s expensive, 3) It’s unnecessary.

NANCY GARDELLA

508-693-3308

(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)

How dare she? How dare she? Dolly Campbell retiring from the Thrift Shop? That’s like a day without sunshine. Well, the rest of the staff is excellent, so we’ll just have to make do. A big party was held in her honor last Friday evening at the Thrift Shop. Next stop, New Zealand!

There apparently is a lot more Vineyard sole left to be fished.

For the first time, Massachusetts commercial fishermen failed this year to reach their quota for harvesting fluke. As a result, the commercial fluke fishery, which normally closes by the end of the summer, is still open.

Dan McKiernan, deputy director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, called it a “success story.” But local fishermen said the facts are more complicated.

Results are in from Octoberfish, a fishing contest sponsored by Larry’s Tackle Shop after the annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

Jeff Komarinetz caught the biggest striped bass from a boat on Oct. 19. The fish weighed 26.85 pounds and was caught from a kayak.

Tony Rezendes Jr., caught the largest shore striped bass on the first day of the month. The fish weighed 25.79 pounds.

Before probing the outer reaches of our galaxy, alien hunters would be well-advised to turn their telescopes around, training them on Earth’s own cephalopods instead. The group of animals includes squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautiluses and were seemingly jury-rigged by evolution, armed with suction cups, beaks, ink, jet propulsion, camouflage and an intelligence entirely unlike our own.

Wooden Whaleship Restored

Shipwrights have installed the last plank in the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship of the 19th century housed in Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. The wooden ship that began its 80-year career hunting whales with an Edgartown whaling captain, Thomas A. Norton, and many Vineyard crewmembers, is undergoing a $5 million restoration.

Last Friday afternoon shipwrights installed the shutter plank on the 106-foot vessel, which is expected to sail again in 2014.