With little fanfare, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on Jan. 17 unanimously approved a $1.3 million operating budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The budget represents a 4.3 per cent increase in spending over last year; town assessments will go up 3.5 per cent overall.

A majority of the commission’s income comes from the assessments, which are calculated using a formula based on equalized valuations.

The Dukes County commissioners Wednesday night reappointed Marc Hanover of Oak Bluffs to his second three-year term as Martha’s Vineyard governor at the Steamship Authority.

Three candidates came in front of the commission to throw their hats in the ring for the position. The commissioners heard from Rodney Eldon, a former executive at Hendy International Corporation with extensive maritime experience; Rick McElhinney, a former SSA employee with 22 years of experience at the boat line; and the current governor, Mr. Hanover.

Inhaling water poses the greatest threat of death, far above hypothermia, for someone accidentally falling into cold water.

At a talk on cold-water immersion, a Vineyard doctor warned a gathering of 40 boat enthusiasts that the best way to stay alive is to keep your head above the water at all costs, especially in that first critical moment.

“You can be one of the best swimmers,” said Dr. Michael Jacobs, but unless you can keep your head above water in that first instant of immersion, you could drown.

West Tisbury Library

Receives Generous Gift

Summer resident Betty Franklin has donated $50,000 to the Friends of the West Tisbury Library, one of the largest gifts ever made on behalf of the library.

Susan Wasserman, president of the Friends, announced the gift at a joint meeting of the library trustees and the Friends on Jan. 17.

Auditions for One Acts

Island Theatre Workshop will be presenting two programs of one acts on the second and third weekend in March.

Open auditions for these productions are on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. Katharine Cornell Theatre.

Leslie Stark, who made his directing debut in last year’s one act program, will return with another new play, This Seat Is Taken. Xavier Powers will offer Eugene O’Neill’s Sniper. Artistic director Lee Fierro and Kevin Ryan have not selected the works they will present.

The Aquinnah landfill is legal.

Selectmen last week said the town received a landfill license on Jan. 14 from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Receipt of the license ends a year of environmental department reviews and inspections, which followed a town paperwork snafu several years ago that led to a failure to renew the license.

Selectmen also voted to place three articles on the Feb. 12 special town meeting warrant.

Just about every game this season for the boys’ high school basketball team has gone right down to the wire, which has provided last-minute thrills for some fans but conversely has caused something like an ulcer for coach Mike Joyce.

“All these games seemingly are decided by a single shot in the final seconds,” Mr. Joyce said following the Vineyarders’ 86-85 loss to Wareham on Tuesday. “It may be great for the fans, but it’s not easy on the coach. I think they’re trying to give me a heart attack.”

The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital’s Center for Women’s Health has announced that Nancy Leport, a certified nurse midwife, has joined the center’s medical practice.

Ms. Leport, a longtime Island resident, completed her midwifery training at Columbia University in 1997. She previously served the Vineyard community as a nurse in the maternity department of the hospital.

In 1964, spurred to action> by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a group of Vineyard residents from all walks of life and all ethnicities joined together to carry on the charge for change and hope the president had urged. They held their initial meetings at St. Andrew’s Episcopal church in Edgartown and quickly became the first and only Island chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Dean’s List

Jacqueline Panek of Vineyard Haven made the dean’s list at Nichols College in Dudley for the fall 2007 semester.