Cheryl Andrews-Maltais’s landslide victory as chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) last Sunday stunned some tribal members, and while the chairman-elect was surprised by her margin of victory, her opponent said he was not.

By the time the new permanent Lagoon Pond drawbridge is finished in Vineyard Haven sometime in the next decade, it will be one of the most expensive projects in Vineyard history with a total price tag well north of $30 million. It will also likely go down as the longest gestating project in Island history; the drawbridge plan has been stuck on open for nearly 20 years now.

If the bay scallop fishery can be restored to places like Cape Cod and Long Island, the Vineyard may be able to take credit for it.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) is in the midst of a multi-year scientific experiment in Menemsha Pond that could have a wide-ranging impact on the future of bay scallops in the region.

Geraldine Brooks has never written an entirely fictional book. She does not even think she could. She spent too many of her writing years, she says, “in service of the facts,” practicing journalism.

In a way she still does practice journalism, for her novels are born of news judgment rather than imagination. The initial inspiration for every book is invariably a true story, and a particular sort of story, in which only a few compelling facts are known, but the detail is missing.

Realtor Advances

Lynn Buder of Coldwell Bank Landmarks Real Estate in Vineyard Haven recently received the designation of graduate realtor institute from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. The designation signifies 90 hours of advanced, in-class real estate education.

After a brief public hearing and a whirlwind deliberation session, the Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a community center for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Black Brook Road.

The community center is in fact already partially built. The tribe first broke ground on the center in the spring of 2004; the building remains half-finished.

Free concerts are scheduled for Nov. 27 and 29 at the Performing Arts Center at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

A regional high school instrumental concert featuring the concert band and the string orchestra is set for the center at 7 p.m. Nov. 27. Selections will include Greek Folk Song Suite, a contemporary selection by Cesarini, Chant and Jubilo, a dramatic piece for symphonic band, and Corelli’s Concerto Grosso, a classic example of Baroque orchestra repertoire.

Edgartown School First

Quarter Honor Roll

The following Edgartown School students received honors for the first quarter:

Eighth Grade High Honors: Korrine Altieri, Eva Faber, Elizabeth Francis, Meghan McHugh.

School Wins Shade Grant

From Melanoma Group

Students at the West Tisbury School have won a $1,500 shade grant from the Melanoma Foundation of New England for designing a television spot to promote protecting skin from the sun.

The school was selected as a winner among hundreds of entries. At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, the foundation will present the school with a grant to use toward creating shade, such as planting trees.

Shortly before he voted with two other Steamship Authority governors to give himself free ferry travel for life, New Bedford governor David Oliveira on Tuesday defended the perk by noting the world was an unfair place.

So employees of the boat line could not travel free after they retired, but governors could? That’s just the way it is.

At least, that was the message Mr. Oliveira, who is the chairman, conveyed, although what he actually said was: