In three of the four town meetings held on the Vineyard this week, proceedings began with a recitation of some fine words celebrating American values. In the fourth, it began with the actual exercise of the core American value — democracy.

But that decision in favor of democracy caused some grief for Tisbury town moderator Deborah Medders.

Named to Dean’s List

Clea Baumhofer of Vineyard Haven was named to the dean’s list for the fall 2010 semester at Johns Hopkins University. She is the daughter of Mark and Kimberly Baumhofer.

In sharp contrast to the previous night’s special town meeting, Tisbury breezed through Wednesday’s annual town meeting, approving all 38 articles, including the $20.45 million budget, in little more than two hours.

Only a handful of the warrant articles aroused any discussion at all, and among those the only significant disagreement was a reprise of the previous night’s debate about measures to deal with the unfunded entitlements of town employees.

Bouquet for Boatline

The Steamship Authority on Tuesday received a 2011 Energy Star award for the Vineyard Haven terminal. Energy Star was introduced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as a voluntary market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased energy efficiency.

Parents’ Night Out

With no school next week, parents may want to stop, breathe and regain their personal equilibrium — or perhaps prepare a strategy for entertaining the kids while keeping their day jobs — before things really get going. So parents, take tonight off and pack your children (with bathing suits and towels) off to the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard.