The two-week shotgun season for deer got off to a strong start this week. Hunting began Monday morning and at press time yesterday, hunters had harvested 217 deer. Bow season, which finished last week, saw more than more than 200 deer taken.

The Edgartown Wastewater Facility has been named the recipient of the New England Water Environment Association’s 2011 Energy Management Achievement Award for its efforts to reduce energy use in the treatment of wastewater.

Facilities manager Joe Alosso has utilized more than $300,000 in state and federal grants to fund cost-saving improvements at the treatment plant.

Aquinnah Town Meeting

Aquinnah selectmen have called a special town meeting for next Wednesday seeking voter approval for them to sign a lease with Vineyard Power for a solar project at the town landfill.

Moderator Michael Hebert will preside over the special session Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. at the old town hall. The solar lease is the only article on the warrant.

The long-planned connector roads in Tisbury hit another speed bump last week when the town learned that it had been turned down in its application for $4 million in state funds to build the roads which aim to create a bypass from the congested State Road business district to the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.

Engraved bricks, literary speakeasies and musical summer evenings have all added up, and the West Tisbury Library Foundation passed the $1 million mark last week in its fund-raising campaign for a new library.

Two months out from a Jan. 31 deadline, the foundation is nearing its $1.5 million goal.

And head library trustee Dan Waters credited others for the success.

It’s been said that we might need a bigger Island, and in August few can argue with that. Now you can add Jawsfest: The Tribute to your August planning calendar, a special four-day series of events that will explore just about every aspect of the making of the movie Jaws. And as they did in 2005 for the first Jawsfest on the Vineyard, Jaws afficionados from around the world are expected to travel to this festival.

Sense of Wonder Crafts

Sense of Wonder Creations is holding a special holiday crafts event for children ages five and older on the next two Monday, Dec. 5 and 12, to benefit Heifer International.

Vineyard All-Stars

Vineyard fall athletes made an impressive showing in the Eastern Athletic Conference All-Star selections, announced earlier this week.

Cross country: Jeremy Alley-Tarter, Cooper Chapman, Kyle Joba-Woodruff, Hannah Moore, Michael Schroeder.

Field hockey: Maggie Johnson, Meghan McHugh.

Golf: Mike deBettencourt, Chris Morris.

Football: Delmont Araujo, Tyler Araujo, Michael Montanile, Conor Smith.

Boys’ soccer: Rodrigo Honorato, John Marcal, John Oliveira, Jack Roberts.

With the team competing in just three home meets and eleven regular-season meets overall, the accomplishments of the Vineyard cross-country squads can get a bit, well, lost in the woods.

A 20-foot abandoned recreational powerboat washed up on East Beach on Chappaquiddick on Wednesday morning. Paul Schultz, assistant superintendent for The Trustees of Reservations, discovered the boat, which had a big crack in it, in the surf at 8:45 a.m. during his daily rounds.

Mr. Schultz called the Edgartown harbor master and the U.S. Coast Guard.

From the registration numbers on the boat, the Coast Guard was able to find the owner and contact him to learn the nonemergency circumstances that brought about the boat’s discovery.