Library Airs Debate

On Thursday, Oct. 2 at 9 p.m. the Vineyard Haven library will be showing the Vice Presidential debate. Broadcast from Washington University in St. Louis with moderator Gwen Ifill, the debate will cover both foreign and domestic policy questions to Democratic nominee Sen. Joseph Biden and Republican nominee Gov. Sarah Palin.

Ellen Chambers of the nonprofit group SPEDWatch will conduct a workshop titled Basic Rights: Denied on Monday, Sept. 29 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Manor House School of Cape Cod in South Dennis.

The workshop is suitable for those whose children already receive special education services, and for those who feel their child may have been inappropriately denied eligibility for services.

Library Screens Debates

The Vineyard Haven Public Library will be showing the national debates. If you don’t have cable, want to watch with your friends and neighbors, or discuss the debates with others, the library will open the program room at 8:30 p.m. A debate is scheduled for tonight, Sept. 26; the others are on Oct. 2, Oct. 7, and Oct. 15. For details, call 508-696-4211.

Democratic Council

The Democratic Council of Martha’s Vineyard invites its members and all interested Islanders to meet Dan Larkosh, the Democratic candidate-elect for state representative. Dan will speak at the council’s monthly meeting on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 9 a.m. at the Howes House in West Tisbury. For information, call 508-693-5100.

Craig Hockmeyer, proprietor of Craig’s Cycles on State Road in Vineyard Haven, will demonstrate how to do essential bicycle maintenance and repair on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

Called Easy as Riding a Bike, the presentation will use environmental activist Mr. Hockmeyer’s own green machine, and there will be plenty of time for questions.

In this serialized year-long novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after two decades to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. Abe has a paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the CEO of an off-Island wholesale nursery, Broadway. Convinced that Moby wants to destroy Abe personally, and all Island-based landscaping/nursery businesses generally, Abe is obsessed with “taking down” Moby. Abe has rented a fishing boat for the Derby, knowing that Moby is also fishing.