A diver who was working with a private team to remove unexploded ordnance from beach areas around the Island was rescued on a remote Chappaquiddick beach in a driving snowstorm early Wednesday afternoon. Calls that went out over the Island communications center emergency radio network reported the man was unconscious when he was pulled from the water and resuscitated by a fellow diver at the scene.

The diver, whose name was not released by police, was working off the jetty at East Beach in the Cape Pogue Wildlife Refuge.

On Monday the 1,590-pound church bell that has rung the hour for Edgartonians for five generations was temporarily relieved of duty. The bronze bell, cast in 1843 and installed in the Edgartown Whaling Church in 1889, was gingerly removed from atop the clock tower by crane, for the first time, on the coldest day this winter.

Members of the Vineyard’s creative community seldom miss an opportunity to support each other, especially when there’s free food involved, as was the case when Island artisans, interior decorators and architects met last week to share notes on sourcing custom-made, handcrafted built-ins and accessories close to home.

Winter Gardening

Ground frozen, snow forecast and the smart birds munching Spanish speaking worms down Mexico or South America way. So, time to start gardening, right?

Crazy as it sounds, it’s true. Waiting on the warmth to start laying the foundation for a summer garden is a quick ticket to a long summer killing time in line at the store for your fruits and veggies.

Tisbury is looking to reduce the cost of health insurance by pushing town employees to shift themselves onto the policies of family members who don’t work for the town.

In return for getting themselves off the town’s health insurance, workers could be offered thousands of dollars toward subsidizing the cost of alternate arrangements.

The suggestion was one of a number of cost-saving and revenue-raising measures which came up at Tuesday’s meeting of the selectmen.

The West Tisbury Grange No. 251, one of the Island’s oldest social and fraternal organizations, has disbanded. The last meeting was held more than a week ago. The master of the Grange, John S. Alley, removed the charter from the building on Wednesday. He plans to return the framed, yellowed 105-year old document to the Boston headquarters.

It was a sad moment for this ordinarily cheerful West Tisbury resident whose memories of the organization go back for many years.

Tisbury selectmen have confirmed the town will abide by the existing funding arrangements for MVTV, thus ending a week of confused speculation that Tisbury could pull its support for the Island’s community broadcaster.

The concerns were fueled by comments from Tisbury’s Department of Public Works director, Fred LaPiana, indicating that the town could claim the $80,000 a year which now goes to MVTV on its behalf, and siphon some or all of the money off for other projects.

A week after a public hearing that saw the abutters of Nip ’n’ Tuck Farm in West Tisbury plead with the town zoning board of appeals to shut down a dirt bike track on the farm, owners Fred and Betsy Fisher have decided to shut the track down themselves.

The Vineyard is generally a safe place to eat. You can visit the fields where your vegetables were grown, you know the roast chicken you’re having for dinner was slaughtered humanely at an Island farm and this is a small enough community where you trust the purveyors.

But not everything Islanders eat is local, and when there’s a baby spinach recall, as there was in 2010, a tomato salmonella scare, as there was in 2008, or a hot dog recall like the one in 1999, questions arise over how safe we really are from foodborne illnesses.

Rising tension over West Tisbury’s responsibility to pay the lion’s share of the Up-Island Regional School District budget led to sharp words at a district school committee meeting this week after the West Tisbury finance committee balked at paying for the school budget.

The finance committee took a preliminary vote last week not to recommend the school budget on the town meeting floor in April. The point of tension centers on the Chilmark School, where enrollment is increasing.