Caleb’s Crossing, By Geraldine Brooks, Viking, 2011, Hardcover, 320 Pages, $26.95, in bookstores May 3.

Prescription Drug Collection

On April 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Tisbury police department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your medications for disposal to the Tisbury police station on Water street in Vineyard Haven. The service is free and anonymous — no questions asked.

The Dukes County commission approved a $5.57 million budget at their monthly meeting on Wednesday, a three per cent increase over last year.

The increase is due to a larger Martha’s Vineyard airport budget and a two per cent cost of living increase for county employees. County employees have not received a COLA in the past two years and $10,000 has been set aside for the adjustment.

Incumbent Aquinnah selectman Camille Rose will face a challenge in the annual town election this year, as Beverly Wright has thrown her hat into the ring as a candidate. Mrs. Wright is former chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Ms. Rose, the current chairman of the selectmen, is seeking a third term.

The election is Wednesday, May 11; the annual town meeting is Tuesday, May 10.

There are no other contested races on the ballot.

Sewering the Ocean Heights section of Edgartown could go a long way toward restoring Sengekontacket Pond, a prominent marine scientist told the Martha’s Vineyard Commission this week.

Town Provisions owner Brion McGroarty told the Edgartown selectmen this week that he is making another attempt to build a liquor store near the airport.

The selectmen gave Mr. McGroarty their blessing to proceed with the permitting process to build an addition to the building now owned by Nectar’s and the Vermont pizza company Flatbread. Mr. McGroarty will need approval from the town, airport commission, the state alcoholic beverage control commission and likely the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

At the end of a discursive three-hour Oak Bluffs selectmen’s meeting on Wednesday emotions bubbled to the surface about the role of the shellfish constable and the state of the town’s shellfish department in general.

“I think right now the shellfish department is a disgrace,” said fisherman Steve Amaral. “You go up to the town highway department building and the boats are up there, the racks are up there, the flotation devices are up there. It looks like a junk yard.”

If the weather finally> turns a corner toward spring balminess in the coming weeks it may be nudged by the overwhelming outpouring of warmth seen at the West Tisbury School for principal Michael Halt, who returned to the school this week after a 15-month tour of duty with the U.S. Marines Corps Reserves in Afghanistan.

Brynn Elizabeth Arrives

Casey and Dan Bennett of Franklin announce the birth of a daughter, Brynn Elizabeth Bennett, on March 20. The maternal grandparents are T.O. and Shellie Johnson of Edgartown, previously from Marblehead. Paternal grandparents are Kevin and Denise Bennett of Ayer.

HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

This week I’ve been thinking of the Last of the Yankee Ladies on this Island — Louise Aldrich Bugbee of Oak Bluffs who wrote for this paper for over 30 years and who died in January of 2008. Now, I know what you’re thinking: There are other Yankee ladies who are still alive and putting up beach plum jam and saving rubber bands in the top right-hand drawer of their grandpa’s desk whose rolltop hasn’t worked down since the Eisenhower years.