The clash between Island aesthetics and improved utilities has come to a head on the Vineyard over the last several weeks as new, larger utility poles started popping up on Vineyard roads.

Residents and town officials have criticized the new poles as unsightly and out of keeping with the Vineyard’s character, referring the project for review by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. NStar, the utility company installing the poles, said this week that the poles are necessary to improve electric service and meet demand.

It was the summer of 1974 and John and Judy Belushi pulled up to the Woods Hole ferry terminal with a guidebook, a sense of adventure and no ferry reservation. The two were working for National Lampoon at the time and were enjoying a real vacation for once in New England.

On Sunday, July 7, Margaret H. Marshall, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, will be the featured speaker at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. Her talk begins at 10 a.m. and is entitled Immigration and Justice.

The Unitarian Universalist Society hosts guest preacher Rev. Arlene Bodge this Sunday, July 7, at 11 a.m. Ms. Bodge is a longtime Islander and a retired Methodist minister who formerly served in Chilmark and Edgartown.

The Vineyard Gazette this week announced the publication of its second annual Martha’s Vineyard Real Estate Yearbook, a free resource guide for anyone interested in buying or selling property on the Island. Published in partnership with LINK, the primary multiple listing service for Martha’s Vineyard, the yearbook provides a comprehensive look at property transactions by town and neighborhood over a 12-month period that ended April 30, 2013. The yearbook also includes an analysis of real estate trends, and information about purchasing property on the Island.

South Beach reopened to swimming Thursday after several Portuguese man-of-war stings forced the town to close the beach to swimming on July 3. “They are dangerous, they are prolific,” said Edgartown parks administrator Marilyn Wortman Wednesday morning, just hours after two lifeguards were stung and sent to the hospital. “Don’t go in,” she said, “you’re going to get stung.”