Christmas Tree Benefit

This year you can get your Christmas tree and spread some much needed holiday help at the same time. Jim’s Package Store in Oak Bluffs is holding what amounts to be a Christmas tree benefit for Linda and Eddie Ben David to help with Linda’s health related expenses.

Trees cost $36, a bargain even before you factor in the good will being given. Additional donations are gladly accepted too.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Tomorrow night, just before midnight, the moon rises in the east. It appears between the two zodiacal constellations Leo and Virgo. For those who wait until later in the early morning, the moon appears higher in the east and is more clearly accompanied by the bright red planet Mars.

HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

Island veterans held a patriotic wreath-laying ceremony at Oak Grove Cemetery last Friday morning before an audience of some 70 children from the Tisbury School. The event was part of a nationwide observance that took place Saturday. Jo Ann Murphy, the Island veterans agent and a Viet Nam era veteran, spoke about those who have served this country and the need for all people, especially the young, to remember. The American flag was raised with the help of Cole Houston, 12, and Maggie Burke, 11 of Vineyard Haven. They assisted Gregory Spain of Vineyard Haven.

Winter Rates Hit Gym

The mercury on the thermometer is dropping, and so are prices at the Mansion House Health Club.

The Vineyard Haven athletic facility is offering reduced winter rates for both walk-in and longterm memberships. One-month memberships are $89; three months, $199, and day passes just $12. Twelve-visit punch cards are available for $99. For more information or to sign up, see mvmansionhouse.com or call 508-693-2200.

As libraries across the country search for new ways to stay relevant in an online world, Vineyard patrons have remained dedicated to their small town libraries, and their access to materials in three towns may soon get even easier.

The libraries of Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury have each applied to join the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing network, better known as CLAMS, a nonprofit cooperative of libraries on the Vineyard, Cape Cod and Nantucket that allows any in-network patron to borrow books and materials from some 36 participating libraries.

While President Obama’s landmark Affordable Care Act awaits scrutiny from the Supreme Court and many of its key provisions do not go into effect for years, Dukes County won’t have to wait to benefit from the bill’s focus on preventive health care. On Wednesday Marina Lent of the Dukes County Health Council announced that the county had received a five-year, $60,000-per-year Community Transformation Grant to promote healthy eating and active living.

There’s a fully furnished kitchen, living room, study area, recording studio, performance stage, pool table and sound booth. Not to mention two pinball machines.

The new YMCA’s Alexandra Gagnon Teen Center may sound like a hip downtown apartment building, but it promises to become a hub of teen life on the Vineyard.

After the opening of the center last Saturday afternoon, Island teens now have a place to call their own. Community members young and old gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate a safe and fun space.

The board of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust has voted to explore the acquisition of the building that now houses the Edgartown library.

By SARA BROWN

The board of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust has voted to explore the acquisition of the building that now houses the Edgartown library.

Chris Scott, executive director of the preservation trust, said the board voted unanimously at its meeting Friday, Dec. 9, to accept the library design committee’s invitation to play a role in deciding the fate of the library, a historic building that was financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.