It is a violation of the Massachusetts Ethics Law for a member of a town community preservation committee who also sits on a private nonprofit board to participate in a decision that grants Community Preservation Act funds to the nonprofit.

This is the opinion of Edgartown town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport, who was recently asked by the town administrator to research the question.

Tommy Osmers’s behavior at the benefit function thrown for him last Sunday night belied the dire state of his health. He cruised the party, chatting, joking and checking out the women. He danced, played a little boogie woogie piano, and even used the occasion to give a little talk on the state of the marine environment.

“I was charged right up,” he said a few days later. “I don’t think I looked a sick man.”

Hope for an ailing Island commercial fishery was on the menu at the Home Port restaurant in Menemsha Wednesday night, along with some hearty chowder and fresh herb-crusted swordfish.

Most of the Island fishing community was on hand for the first annual meeting of the Martha’s Vineyard Dukes County Fishermen’s Association, along with representatives from Cape Cod and Maine.

Paul Bagnall has seen many cuts, the trenches of sand dug to connect pond and ocean, but they’re all a little different.

As shellfish constable Mr. Bagnall oversees the opening of Edgartown Great Pond between three and five times a year. The opening resalinates the pond, purges nutrients and allows shellfish to thrive. It also fills the pond with herring and striped bass, much to the delight of local fishermen.

Budget issues, administrative responsibility and educational philosophy were all topics of discussion at the final interviews for three Chilmark head of school candidates this week.

Hosted by Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss and the up-Island regional school district committee, the interviews took place on Wednesday and Thursday nights at the Chilmark school.

Tisbury selectmen have ordered a comprehensive report into operation of the town police force, driven by internal conflicts which this week forced Chief John Cashin from his job.

Mr. Cashin stepped down from the position on Wednesday, less than a week after he labeled his department dysfunctional and accused selectmen of undermining his authority with the force.

His departure, engineered at two extraordinary meetings of the selectmen on Friday and Monday, came two and a half months before the expiration of his three-year contract.

With a series of lawsuits between two well-known Island businessmen threatening fuel service for boaters in Oak Bluffs harbor this summer, town officials are scrambling to build and operate their own filling station near the Island Queen dock by the Fourth of July.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

May 15 61 54 .10

May 16 62 49 .05

May 17 65 56 Trace

May 18 60 48 .14

May 19 51 41 .05

May 20 65 49 .00

May 21 75 54 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 61 º F.

A thin crescent moon will appear low in the western sky early in the evening on Monday. Only those with an excellent view of the western sky have a good chance of seeing it then, so consider a beach stroll at Menemsha, an ideal spot.

That Stockbridge Crowd

From Gazette editions of May, 1984:

Tom Thatcher of West Tisbury signed papers that officially sold the Lillian Manter Memorial Youth Hostel on the Edgartown-West Tisbury road to American Youth Hostels, Inc. of Washington and the Metropolitan New York Council in New York city. Mr. Thatcher has owned the hostel since 1968, and had managed it since 1964.