BETTYE FOSTER BAKER

508-696-9983

(bdrbaker@comcast.net)

The children’s last fingerprints and smudges have been reluctantly removed from the glass doors, the sandcastle toys and umbrellas have been stored away and school beckons an end to summer’s delicious freedom and ushers in the reality and joy of yet another school year.

As of 2 p.m. Thursday most Island towns had declared a state of emergency due to the oncoming approach of hurricane Earl, according to an announcement that went out via the Island Code Red system.

Hurricane Earl is growing in size and remains on track to pass close to the Cape and Islands, bringing hurricane winds to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Cape Cod, the National Hurricane Center director Bill Read said Thursday afternoon.

In a media conference call, Mr. Read said he anticipated the eye of the storm would be “huge” by the time it got here, making for a much larger area of destructive winds.

Emergency preparations are under way all across the Vineyard, as Hurricane Earl crawls up the eastern seaboard, a powerful category four storm. Earl is expected to brush the outer islands along the Carolina coast late Thursday; forecasters are now calling for the storm to pass the Cape and Islands sometime Friday night.

Inkwell Beach in Oak Bluffs has been closed to swimming after water tests showed unacceptable levels of bacteria.

Signs have been posted to warn bathers of the bacteria.

David Caron, chairman of the Oak Bluffs board of health, reported that water samples taken Monday had come back with an enterococci count of 159 parts per milliliter; the maximum acceptable is 100.

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank is seeking legal advice on whether major changes being carried out to Crow Hollow Farm by its new owner breach an agricultural preservation restriction (APR) on the property.

The land bank acquired the APR from the previous owners, the Look family, in 2002, for $403,000. Until recently Samantha Look ran a riding school on the property.

The toughest competition the Let’s Move Martha’s Vineyard community kickoff festival faced this past week may have been the weather. A three-day northeaster forced event organizers to reschedule the festival for a date four days later. The new date, Saturday, dawned bright and sunny — perfect for going to the beach.

Sea Art at Pep Art

Pep Art will open a new exhibition, Sea Art, this Friday, Sept. 3, featuring ocean field paintings by Clifford Smith. Other exhibiting artists include Elizabeth Cecil, Jennifer Langhammer, Suzanne Schireson, Carrie Mae Smith, Greg Watson and David Wright.

All are invited for the artists’ reception on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. The Pep Art gallery is located at 7 Beach street extension (Five Corners) in Vineyard Haven. For details, call 508-693-2236.

Burning Bush

Clean Water Talk

The head of the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative will discuss a host of water issues — including wastewater planning and treatment, the Estuaries Project, and the law suit that was filed late last week by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Coalition for Buzzards Bay to push Cape Cod towns and federal regulators to reduce nitrogen that is flowing into the region’s coastal waters — on the Vineyard this week.