Ferry Governor Disabled

The MV Governor lost power with one of her two engines while coming into Wood Hole on the 4 p.m. trip from Vineyard Haven Wednesday. The trip was delayed for more than an hour.

To address the need of postnatal support a group of Island moms, doctors, maternity nurses, midwives, health, yoga and childcare practitioners, and members of the Martha’s Vineyard Family Network have created a free monthly series entitled Nurturing Our Babies and Ourselves, an educational series to enhance the parenting journey.

The series takes place on successive Thursdays, beginning June 2, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Family Center located in the Regional High School.

Vineyard Vines Spread

A second Island Vineyard Vines retail store is opening, adding an Oak Bluffs location to its Edgartown location. The new store, at 56 Narragansett avenue, will have complete offerings for men, women and children along with some exclusive Vineyard and Oak Bluffs-specific apparel. Ian Murray, chief executive and cofounder with his brother, Shep, said, “We hope Islanders and visitors alike will come ... and we’re optimistic for a great season for everyone on the Vineyard.”

The Martha’s Vineyard Airport is getting new runways. But the work you’ve seen going on out there all spring is only phase one.

“To you guys it’s probably just asphalt and drainage but to airport people it is something that will last a long time,” airport manager Sean Flynn said on a tour of the new construction this week.

The total cost of the project is $12.5 million, 95 per cent of which is funded by the federal government. The state and airport split the difference in the remaining five per cent.

Things will begin to return to normal in Menemsha next week when the town reopens the new West Dock, nearly 11 months after it was destroyed in the Menemsha Coast Guard boathouse fire last July 12.

Railings still need to be installed and the dock cleaned up before the public can use the pier, but Chilmark selectman Warren Doty said yesterday he expects the dock to open June 3. Electric and water lines still need to be installed after that and are expected to be done by June 15. Mr. Doty said commercial fishermen can begin using the dock on June 3.

After a long winter of trying to beat the red lights between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, Islanders can look forward to a summer without traffic signals on Beach Road. On Tuesday highway department supervisor Richard Combra confirmed that stoplights at the two bridges on Sengekontacket would be gone for Memorial Day weekend as work wraps up on their reconstruction this week.

Charter School Reunion

The Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School will be holding an Alumni Reunion Party for all past charter school students (older than high school-age) on Friday, June 3 at 6 p.m.with dancing, dining and celebration.

This year’s graduation ceremonies for the charter school will be held on Sunday, June 5 at 1 p.m.

Aquinnah police are readying a new beach safety program this summer that will involve placing numerical markers on beaches for use when calling for help in the event of an emergency.

Det. Ryan Ruley described the plan to the Aquinnah selectmen at their meeting last Thursday. He said police will line town beaches with numbered placards that will help emergency dispatchers identify a person’s location.

The police and fire departments, Tri-Town Ambulance and Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) are all involved in the project.

Ambulance Chief Search

The Tri-Town Ambulance Service committee will restart the search for a new chief after the top choice withdrew his application.

The committee was set to ask the Chilmark selectmen to approve hiring Timothy Morrissey of Connecticut to head the ambulance service and begin duties in the next month. Ambulance committee chairman and Aquinnah police chief Randhi Belain said Mr. Morrissey contacted him last week to say he could not accept the position.

It was the seventies, and Julie Robinson was 27, divorced and “trying to figure out what the heck to do with myself,” as she puts it now. “I wanted to do more with my life.”

Unfettered and newly a member of the women’s liberation movement, she drove out to California to visit a friend on her boat. “I met my husband, Dennis [White], on the boat next to ours,” she recalled, perched on a plush sofa in a back room of her business, Julie Robinson Interiors.