Aquinnah voters this week agreed to create the town’s first personnel board and employee classification system but indefinitely postponed a vote on creating four additional affordable housing units.

The action came at a special town meeting on Tuesday night in the Aquinnah town hall.

The Vineyard Gazette won 14 awards for excellence in journalism at the New England Press Association annual better newspaper competition, including five first place awards. The awards were given out on Saturday night at a dinner at the Marriott Copley in Boston. The competition included more than 5,000 entries from more than 300 small newspapers throughout New England.

The Gazette captured 12 awards in editorial and two in advertising.

In what is fast becoming a winter tradition, opponents of the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament appeared before Oak Bluffs selectmen Tuesday to again ask that the town end its involvement with the controversial sport fishing tournament held each summer.

The purchase of an 18.9-acre conservation restriction last week will expand the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank’s holdings at Sepiessa Point Reservation on the Tisbury Great Pond.

The land bank commission announced that it paid $654,500 for the restriction. The seller is Elizabeth Brown Bayer.

The property includes 2,180 feet of frontage on Tiah’s Cove, and is surrounded by the land bank’s 164-acre Sepiessa Point Reservation. Development on the property will be limited to a single building envelope around an existing home.

Announcing Leah

Nicole and Joseph deBettencourt of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Leah Nicole de Bettencourt, born Jan. 31 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Leah weighed 6.9 pounds at birth.

Repairs to the Dukes County courthouse roof could cost the county $148,000 at a time when the county commission is cutting regional services and scaling back expenditures.

The roof has been leaking since a storm in early winter, and at times water was seeping into the courthouse lights.

It was not the slamming of lockers or the shouts of students that filled the hallways of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Monday night. It was the sweet smell of roasting garlic.

Hastily drawn signs with arrows pointing toward the culinary arts department were few and far between. But had they plastered the halls, no one would have noticed. The scent alone was enough to guide anyone with a nose and an appetite.

Announcing Gustavo

Simone Chaves Riso and Alessandro Goncalves of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Gustavo Chaves Goncalves, born on Feb. 9. Gustavo weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces at birth.

Three candidates will run in April for the West Tisbury selectman’s seat currently held by chairman Glenn R. Hearn.

Richard Knabel, a member of the town finance committee, and James Powell, town representative on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, have taken out nomination papers, as has Mr. Hearn who is seeking reelection. Mr. Knabel publicly declared his candidacy last week. Mr. Hearn and Mr. Powell have already filed candidacy papers, according to town clerk Prudence Whiting.

The annual town election is April 10.

In April the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls’ lacrosse team has a trip of a lifetime planned. Fifteen student athletes from this year’s team will be proud representatives of the Island community as they compete internationally playing lacrosse against the best high school teams in England.