Women are failing their driver's license road tests at nearly twice the rate as men on the Vineyard, according to Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) data from January to September 2007.

While 24 per cent of males failed their road test on the Vineyard so far this year, 43 per cent of females failed. That difference of 19 percentage points is the biggest gender discrepancy of all 38 test locations in Massachusetts - mostly RMVs -for which 2007 data is available.

Prepare yourself before meeting organic beef farmer Scott Lively. You may never want to eat fast food again.

“So you put the trim into a tray, dump the tray into a bucket, and every few hours that bucket gets turned into a bag of meat,” explains Mr. Lively, describing the journey of a hamburger from barn to bun. Trim refers to any and all off-cuts from the animal, once the more favorable parts have been extracted.

A state administrative magistrate has set aside most of the fines assessed by the state Department of Environmental Protection against Joseph N. and Evelyn R. Alosso for alleged septic violations at their home in Oak Bluffs.

In October 2004, the DEP had sought a $28,310 civil penalty against the Alossos for the alleged violations at the house they built on Carol Lane.

One is a magic number as the 62nd annual derby enters its final day of an event with big numbers, bountiful fishing and a short ride through controversy.

Mindfulness on Tape

A taped Mindfulness Meditation practice session by Chas Di Capua begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Unitarian-Universalist Chapel at 238 Main street in Vineyard Haven. The session ends at 10:15 a.m. For more information, call 508-693-2827.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Our island is happily soaking up the recent rain, but I’m sad to see the end of lovely sunny days warm enough to swim without freezing to death. Daylight savings doesn’t go into effect until Nov. 4.

Emily Bramhall had already replaced the incandescent light bulbs at home and in her store with low-watt fluoresecents, helped her daughter buy a hybrid car and taken other steps to reduce her carbon footprint. Now she wanted to go further, and start making her own electricity.

But, as Kermit the Frog once sang, it’s not that easy being green, and Ms. Bramhall’s plan to install a wind turbine on her Chilmark property met some resistance before the town zoning board of appeals this week.

Statistics may not always be reliable, but the writing on the wall seemed pretty legible: many teenagers are having a hard time on the Island. This year’s Island-wide youth survey showed a spike in the number of students who said they attempted suicide in the last year and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital records showed a spike in the number of teens admitted for attempting suicide this year.

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

All of Chilmark was saddened to learn of the death last Saturday of longtime Menemsha fisherman Lenny Jason. He came to Menemsha many years ago as a fisherman from New Bedford. He liked Chilmark and soon moved his young family to property here where he built his home and many sincere and lifelong friendships.

RICK HERRICK

508-693-8065

herricklr@verizon.net

In my professional life, I worked as a political scientist. One aspect of public opinion political scientists like to study is issue recognition. I began to wonder if there was anything about living in East Chop that might affect issue recognition.

With that in mind, I polled my neighbors on several important questions. Who is Britney Spears? Can you describe her recent legal problems? How many children does she have? Who is Kevin Federline? You get the drift.