The state-backed home insurance provider of last resort for most Vineyarders is called the FAIR plan, but most Island residents readily complain that their ever-increasing premiums and deductibles are anything but fair.

In fact, at a special public forum at the Tisbury Senior Center on Monday, many Vineyarders were crying foul about their FAIR plan rates.

Though it is brief and stated without much detail, an article on the warrant for Tisbury’s special town meeting on Tuesday puts forward a radical idea.

The proposal foresees an energy future for this part of the world in which the people would own the means to produce their own electricity.

All the article seeks is approval to apply for membership in the Cape and Islands Electric Cooperative Inc., and authorization for the selectmen to negotiate terms and conditions.

Correction

An obituary and news article in last Friday’s Gazette about Herbert Putnam 3rd incorrectly reported a piece of written verse given to him by a friend during Mr. Putnam’s battle with cancer. The piece was not the Prayer of St. Francis as printed, but rather a Sanskrit poem of hope. The Gazette regrets the error.

The blood alcohol level of 20-year-old Island woman Brandy Gibson was over twice the legal limit when she was killed in a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Edgartown-Vineyard Haven and County Roads on Jan. 29, according to a toxicology report released this week by the Oak Bluffs police.

A Vineyard Haven woman was arrested and charged with felony attempted murder Saturday night after she allegedly attacked and violently choked the girlfriend of her infant’s father in a fit of jealousy.

Silvana Dias deCampos, 31, was arrested by Tisbury police after she reportedly went to the home of a 20-year-old woman on Lagoon Pond Road and attacked her.

Ms. deCampos initially was held on a $7,500 cash bail and was arraigned in Edgartown district court on Monday.

It’s bigger than butterflies, changing clocks, crocus, or — arguably — even pinkletinks. Nothing marks the coming of spring quite like a gang of kids running at full bore for the Edgartown Dairy Queen.

In this Island’s version of Pamplona’s running of the bulls, children pelt down from the Edgartown School to be first in line at the soft serve ice cream outlet when it opens in March.

A new home has been found for the Family Planning of Martha’s Vineyard clinic, which provides Islanders with reproductive health and family services on a sliding fee scale.

Earlier this month, the Friends of Family Planning, a community group which supports the clinic, purchased a condominium at 517 State Road Condominiums in Vineyard Haven. Renovations are under way and the clinic is expected to be operating in its new premises April 11.

The applicant for a controversial proposal to expand the baseball facility at Veira Park has officially shifted its focus to a new site, adjacent to the Oak Bluffs wastewater plant, which might be expanded into a town-wide recreational facility with a playground and basketball courts as well as a pair of baseball diamonds.

Flying Horses to Open

The Flying Horses Carousel will open for its 133rd season on Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Easter Bunny will be visiting on Sunday with treats for the kids. Catch a brass ring and win a free ride!

The carousel will also be open on weekends until school vacation week, and every day of that week, April 19 to 27.

The Chilmark shellfish industry can expect a bumper 2008 scallop season and a broader revitalization, given the early successes of its experimental shellfish propagation program launched last summer, town selectmen heard Tuesday.

The town’s shellfish propagation officer, Isaiah Scheffer, presented selectmen with a 34-page report of his work to date.