The Edgartown board of health has detected elevated nitrates in water drawn from two private wells in a neighborhood off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road that includes Shady Oak Lane, Price’s Way, Huckleberry Hill Lane and Dubud Lane.

Edgartown selectmen rejected a second application this week by Ron Minkin to conduct tours in the off-season, arguing the town is still too congested even in the shoulder months.

Mr. Minkin, who is president of Martha’s Vineyard Transport, requested a license to sell tickets for his 14-passenger vans through the downtown streets of Edgartown except in July and August. He wants to solicit passengers on Church street. His company is a charter business, not a tour bus company, and he needs approval from the selectmen to conduct ticketed tours.

Too expensive, not necessary, out of character for the Vineyard and unsafe for cyclists. These were the common refrains heard from critics of the proposed roundabout last week, but Oak Bluffs town officials remained bullish, citing safety above all else.

Tisbury town leaders are pushing ahead to find funding for the long-planned connector road between State Road and the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road. On Tuesday selectmen voted to apply for $4 million in state grant money to build the road. The town hopes to build in two phases. In the first, $2.5 million phase, a road would be built between Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and Holmes Hole Road. A second, $1.5 million phase would connect that new road to High Point Lane.

In A Better World, a Danish thriller that won Best Foreign Film at the 2011 Academy Awards, is among the fare being offered up this weekend by the International Film Festival.

In A Better World is one of three choices being shown at 7 p.m. Friday night, this one at the Vineyard Playhouse. Ten international short films, selected by a festival jury, will be shown at the Capawock Theatre, and Marathon Boy, a documentary of a young Indian runner, will be shown at the Katherine Cornell Theatre.

Plant Sale

The Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury is holding its annual late summer/early fall plant sale on Saturday, Sept. 10. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Arboretum staff will be on hand to answer questions and offer advice. Choose from a wide array of trees, shrubs, and perennials, including many Island natives which are suitable for our Vineyard climate, chosen specifically for this sale.

For more details, call 508-693-9426.