Opting to be good neighbors, Aquinnah voters agreed to go along with the traditional regional assessment formula for the up-Island regional school district at their annual town meeting this week.

Voters also approved wine and beer licensing for two Aquinnah restaurants, authorized selectmen to trade or sell a 3.6-acre parcel of town-owned land worth more than $600,000 and accepted a new pay structure for town employees.

This time last year the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School had no budget. Following months of acrimonious debate, Oak Bluffs had voted for a state tax formula which saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars, but cost other towns considerably. This sent the high school committee budget makers back to the drawing board.

Montessori Fundraiser

Big Night Out, a fundraiser for Vineyard Montessori School, will be held Friday, May 16 at Farm Neck Golf Club from 6 to 10 p.m. The evening will feature gourmet hors d’oeuvres, desserts by Rickard Bread Company and live and silent auctions. Some auctions to be auctioned will be trips to Nevis and Costa Rica, shopping sprees and a cow. Yes, a cow. Tickets are available on ticketsmv.com, at the door, or by calling 508-693-4090.

In a surprise move, Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday unanimously agreed to extend last call and closing time at town bars and nightclubs by one half hour on a trial basis, meaning patrons can now get a drink up until 1 a.m. and stay in an establishment until 1:30 a.m.

Dukes County government will receive only minor polishing and not a complete overhaul, if voters heed the recommendations of the county charter study commission.

With less than three weeks left before they make their final recommendations public, the study group voted unanimously last Thursday to keep much of county government just as it is.

Island homeowners who already pay some of the highest home insurance rates in the nation received some rare good news last week when the state insurance commissioner rejected a proposed 25 per cent rate hike for the FAIR Plan, the state-backed insurance provider of last resort for most Vineyarders.

In her May 8 decision, insurance commissioner Nonnie Burnes said FAIR plan officials failed to demonstrate a need for the proposed rate hike.

Sales Coordinator

Edgartown resident Teresa Yuan has been named an executive coordinator as an independent distributor for Market America, a product brokerage and Internet marketing company.

Overcast, rainy skies last Saturday morning did little to discourage the Vineyard’s youngest fishing enthusiasts from attending the early morning start of the 34th annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club trout tournament.

Scores of young children lined the shoreline of Duarte’s Pond in West Tisbury at first light to catch a fish and win a prize.

Adversity can make us stronger, better people if we continue to set goals, focus on achieving them and live according to our value system, former Boston University hockey player Travis Roy told a rapt audience of 750 students and families in the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School this week.

Mr. Roy, 33, spoke from a wheelchair on Wednesday morning, more than 12 years after a freak accident in his first collegiate hockey game left him a quadriplegic. Mr. Roy has no feeling below his shoulders and limited movement in his right arm.

The former West Tisbury library director who abruptly resigned last March after less than a year on the job pleaded guilty last Thursday in Salem superior court to two counts of rape, stemming from an incident while he was a Boy Scout leader in Haverhill over 20 years ago.