ROARING SUCCESS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Once in a while, something happens on the Vineyard that makes you take stock of the wonderful place where you live.

That happened to us Saturday, Nov. 10, when we launched our latest children’s book, Thirty Dirty Sailors and the Little Girl Who Went a-Whaling.

Unless you are the world’s biggest fan of déjà vu, you probably do not enjoy the nonstop reruns of late-night talk shows, and it will only get worse as the Writers Guild of America strike marches on.

Scripted shows are now either getting pulled all together or destined to grind to a halt in the middle of the season at the most painful cliffhanger imaginable, leaving you and your family to resort to unspeakable alternative entertainment such as bingo or — gulp — conversation.

It was as cold as charity at 8:30 a.m. on the West Tisbury School soccer fields last Saturday. The wind cut right through you, and it was periodically spitting rain.

The Vineyard’s fall youth soccer season was ending, not with a bang, but with a shiver.

It might have seemed a sad end to the season — particularly considering that the previous week’s play had been abandoned to the remnants of Hurricane Noel — except that the kids didn’t seem to mind at all.

This is our second stint as editors for Sophomores Speak Out. This week we have a different set of opinions on everything from Halloween to school, child abuse and even greyhounds. Enjoy the read.

— Breanne Russell and Troy (85) Small

Why Help Darfur?

By Eric Fletcher >

Vineyard consumers are enjoying the lowest retail prices on bay scallops in at least ten years thanks to a renewed abundance of the tasty bivalve on Nantucket.

The Nantucket resurgence has been pushing down wholesale as well as retail prices on both Islands.

At Menemsha Seafood in Chilmark, owner Stanley Larsen said the retail price for bay scallops is around $16. His cousin, Louis Larsen of the Net Result, a fish market in Vineyard Haven, said the retail price is about the same at his store.

Galleries Host Benefit

Granary Gallery, Gardner Colby Gallery and Field Gallery all are coming together to host a benefit for one of their own. Eighty artists will be donating proceeds of the sale of their artwork to benefit Dee Dee Hagen, wife of artist John Hagen. She was recently diagnosed with malignant melanoma.

The benefit will take place on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Granary Gallery, located on Old County Road in West Tisbury. For more information, call 508-693-0455.

It’s been a season of peaks and valleys for the Vineyard football team.

They shot out to a 5-0 record to start the season and earned a top rank in their division by the Boston Globe. And as if that weren’t enough, a news crew from NBC taped two 30-minute segments that will air later this year during a halftime of the network’s NFL Sunday Night Football program. Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated published a story showcasing the Vineyarders.

Tomorrow night’s first quarter moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Nov. 9 46 32 .00

Nov. 10 50 41 .19

Nov. 11 43 31 .00

Nov. 12 42 26 .00

Nov. 13 54 32 .17

Nov. 14 56 33 .10

Nov. 15 60 46 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 55º F.

Stories in Two Languages

Portuguese/English Story Time is back. Saturday, Nov. 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the Oak Bluffs Public Library. Stories will be about bears, and we’ll have snacks and a craft.

Português/inglêsHistória Tempo volta. Osábado, novembro 17 em 10:30 SOU na Carvalho Blefes BibliotecaPública. Ashistóriasestarão sobre ursos, enós teremos lanches e um artesanato.