His feet were sore. His toes and heels threatened to blister. They had taken him across ponds, through wetlands and tall grass, under the cover of pines and oaks, over soft moss and hard asphalt, around the bends, down the valleys and up the hills.

A recent project in Oak Bluffs to cull the population of Canada geese by addling their eggs has been completed. Town shellfish and environmental officials hope the project will reduce droppings on public greens, including Ocean Park, and reduce bacteria levels in coastal ponds, including Sengekontacket and Farm Pond.

Friday Conversation

William O’Brien, chairman of the Dukes County Charter Study Commission, will speak in the Friday Conversations program at the Oak Bluffs Senior Center from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 13. More information is available by calling moderator Robert A. Iadicicco at 508-693-9771.

A glass of wine or beer at the end of the day is relaxing and may have health benefits, it is said.

Hugh and Jeanne Taylor hope the addition of beer and wine sales to the dinner menu at the Outermost Inn will have the same effect on their business.

The inn has been granted Aquinnah’s first limited liquor license and the Taylors hope to begin pouring after a public hearing later this month. The hearing is required by state law.

Paul Strauss of Oak Bluffs will retire on June 30 from his seats on the Dukes County Commission, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and Dukes County Charter Study Commission.

In a letter read at the county commission’s Wednesday meeting, Mr. Strauss stated that his decision to retire “is based solely on age and age-related health care issues.” He did not attend the meeting.

Mr. Strauss, a World War II veteran who has worked in public service for most of his life, is 81.

The gibbous moon moves through the southern sky in the evenings ahead. On Monday night the moon appears right under the bright red star Antares in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. Antares is one of the largest and distant stars visible in our evening sky. The star is 600 light years away, twice the distance astronomy books estimated 20 years ago. The star is 10,000 times more luminous than our own Earth. For purposes of comparison, if Antares were our sun, the star’s size exceeds that of Mars’s orbit. Antares is truly a big star. Among astronomers it is called a super giant.

Student journalists at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School won 10 major scholastic journalism awards at the annual New England Scholastic Press Association conference held recently at Boston University. The 10 journalism awards tied a school record for most awards earned during one school year.

The association program offers awards for excellence in scholastic writing, editing, and publishing, and is open to all New England secondary schools.

The following Tisbury School students received honors for the third quarter:

Sixth Grade High Honors: Callie Jackson, Emily Medeiros, Jacqueline Menton and Barra Peak.

Sixth Grade Honors: Gabe Bergeron, Taymon Brown, Isabella Canham, Aaron Figueroa, Nathaniel Horwitz, Lorrane Menezes, Shane Metters, Jade Pine, Goncalo Rego, Gabrielle Silva, Kyle Stobie, Jennifer Tripp and Kristina Ward,

Exchange Student Program

Seeks Area Host Families

The Academic Foundation for International Cultural Exchange is seeking community representatives and host families for the organization.  Community representatives find host families for cultural exchange students and work with these students during the schoolyear.  Representatives must enjoy working with teenagers and have good communication skills.

Twenty-seven Tisbury School 5th grade students visited the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston on June 4.

The class was invited by Nell Coogan, herself a former Tisbury School student. Ms. Coogan, who lives in Oak Bluffs and Boston, works as associate counsel to the state Senate Ways and Means Committee. Along with fifth grade teachers John Custer and Greg Coogan, she helped organize the trip and visit.