Oyster growers are as competitive as they come. “Insanely competitive,” according to Bob Rheault. As president of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, Mr. Rheault also encounters cultivators of clams, quahaugs and mussels, but none rivals the oyster farmer for competitive spirit.

“We all have this conviction that our oyster tastes the best,” said Mr. Rheault, an oyster farmer himself, “and, if you don’t have this conviction, you probably shouldn’t be in this business.”

Although the three candidates for Oak Bluffs selectmen this year boast vastly different backgrounds — one is a former teacher, one worked for a resource recovery corporation and the other is a former union president — all agree the town is at a crossroads, and must start changing the way it does business.

He is a retired college professor with additional background in journalism and environmental advocacy. As co-chairman of the West Tisbury finance committee he focuses on town finances and long-term financial planning.

And now Richard Knabel wants to be a West Tisbury selectman.

A New York city native, Mr. Knabel was educated at City College of New York and Cornell University before a career as a professor of physical science at the State University of New York, Westchester Community College.

Incumbent West Tisbury selectman Glenn Hearn is an Islander with a no-frills, taciturn personal style.

Born and raised in West Tisbury, he attended Tisbury grammar school and high school. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1959 and holds two master’s degrees, one in engineering from Northeastern University and one in education from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Robert Fynbo, a 49 year-old carpenter from Chappaquiddick, remembers the moment he decided to run for selectman. It was last December following the puffback incident at the Edgartown library, when oily furnace soot coated books and computers and forced the library to set up temporary headquarters in the Edgartown town hall.

A quiet and efficient presence at the weekly Edgartown selectmen’s meetings, Margaret Serpa has spent a long career scrutinizing municipal budgets on the Vineyard.

Born and raised in Edgartown, Mrs. Serpa was a member of the last class to graduate from the old Edgartown High School. She started to work at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 1972 and took over as administrative assistant in 1979, a position she kept until 2006.

Edgartown’s town election will be held Thursday, April 10 at the Baylies Room of the Old Whaling Church. Polls are open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Eleven positions on the ballot are uncontested, with no nomination papers returned for the board of health. In addition to the race for a selectman’s seat between challenger Robert Fynbo and incumbent Margaret Serpa, a five-year seat on the town planning board also will be contested.

West Tisbury voters go to the polls on Thursday, April 10 for the annual town election. One selectman’s seat and two library trustee seats are contested.

Polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. at the public safety building.

Incumbent selectman Glenn Hearn and challenger Richard Knabel are competing for a three-year term as selectman. James Powell, an announced candidate for selectman, recently notified the town clerk that he has withdrawn from the race. His name still will appear on the ballot.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

March 28 51 41 Trace

March 29 45 32 .04

March 30 45 27 .00

March 31 44 25 .00

April 1 49 40 .05

April 2 54 41 .23

April 3 50 28 .04

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 45º F.

An Island man was killed last Thursday after he reportedly drove his vehicle off a 50-foot cliff along East Chop in Oak Bluffs into the shallow ocean water below.

The body of Benjamin Viera, 35, was recovered two days later after a passenger aboard a Steamship Authority ferry spotted the body inside the Vineyard Haven harbor breakwater.

Police this week declined to comment on how Mr. Viera’s vehicle went over the cliff, although there were indications that the incident may have been a suicide.