Cheerleading Signups

If you are interested in having your daughter or son participate in the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools junior high cheerleading program, please contact Sue Costello this summer at 508-627-9568. The program is open to students in grades six through eight. Sign up now for the fall season.

The Holmes Hole Sailing Association continued its summer season of handicap sailboat racing from Vineyard Haven Harbor with two harbor races on July 24, 2011.

The overflow crowd gathered at the Chilmark Public Library to hear renowned Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz on Wednesday evening did not know it going in, but they were about to hear from an indicted felon.

An international criminal, if you will, for his offense was not committed in this country but in Italy.

In summary, the circumstances are these: Several years ago an Italian newspaper contacted him, seeking his views on an Italian judge who had freed a group of terrorists, on the basis that they were actually “freedom fighters.”

Fifty years ago last month, National Geographic did a full spread on Martha’s Vineyard. There were beautiful photographs and an article written about the iconic character of the place. The June 1961 issue, edges worn, cover faded, is still tucked onto bookshelves in many old Island family homes. Copies have passed from one generation to the next as a keepsake, like an old Vineyard book.

Thirty-one pages in the magazine brought international notoriety to the Vineyard as a special place, well before the Chappaquiddick incident.

Meals-on-Wheels

Got wheels? The Meals-on-Wheels program really needs you. Regular and substitute drivers are needed to deliver Meals-on-Wheels on Martha’s Vineyard. Drivers are needed Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Individuals, teams of two or more, or groups and businesses may adopt a route. Delivery routes include up-Island, in and around Oak Bluffs, including Woodside, Edgartown and Vineyard Haven. Mileage reimbursement is available.

In the summer of 1963, America was on the brink of being split apart by the tumult of the Viet Nam War, the Civil Rights movement and Bob Dylan going electric.

The folk music revival was in full swing and was making a big impact in the popular culture. Martha’s Vineyard got caught up in the folk music movement that summer when David Lyman, the manager of a coffeehouse in Boston, and Philip Metcalf, a college student with a car and knowledge of the Vineyard, opened a coffeehouse called the Moon-Cusser.

A Vineyard Haven man is being held without bail on charges including rape of a child under 16 with force, following a series of incidents at his home on Saturday.

Winning Swimmers

Three swimmers from the Martha’s Vineyard YMCA’s Makos Swim Team, 11 and 12-year-old category, recently competed in the Bay State Games, held July 9 and 10 at Harvard University and featuring swimmers from around the state.

Patrick Best took a bronze medal for third place in the 200-meter breaststroke, and Lia Potter was a member of the third-place-winning 200-meter medley relay team. Renee Goodale competed in the 100-meter breaststroke and finished 10th out of a large and competitive field.

Oak Bluffs finally closed the books on fiscal year 2010 on Tuesday after selectmen conducted an exit interview with town auditors from Powers and Sullivan.

It wasn’t an altogether damning report from the accounting firm given the town’s recent fiscal woes but accountant Jim Powers did single out some areas that may still need to be remedied.

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

An 18-year-old conch crewman was revived after being pulled overboard from his boat, submerged and brought back onboard on Wednesday morning, a few miles from Lambert’s Cove Beach.

The youth was pulled underwater from the 34-foot fishing boat Helen Irene, when his leg became entangled in the warp line. He was brought back onboard “unresponsive” and was given CPR, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The call for help on the marine radio happened at 11:35 a.m.