Edgartown selectmen this week directed town highway superintendant Stuart Fuller to shave down a berm on Curtis Lane that has proved problematic for drivers. The Massachusetts highway department and the department of transportation have already approved the work. The berm was installed to prevent water runoff onto Curtis Lane, but at Monday’s selectmen’s meeting Curtis Lane resident Sylvia Thomas said that she was afraid of hitting the undercarriage of her car every time she passed over it.

The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership plans to conduct controlled burns today, Friday, April 8, at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife property in Edgartown, west of Katama Airpark along Herring Creek Road.

Smoke may be visible Friday morning west of State Road, between North Road and Panhandle Road. In the afternoon, smoke may be visible above Katama. The odor of smoke may be temporarily noticeable as far as Edgartown center.

A man who was convicted of rape in Dukes County 20 years ago has been granted a new trial. Chad Edward served time in state prison after a jury found him guilty of rape in 1991 following an incident in the Dark Woods section of Edgartown in the summer of 1990 involving a 15-year-old babysitter.

A Cairn terrier that killed chickens and a cat will be allowed to move out of state, Chilmark selectmen agreed this week. After killing four hens, badly maiming another and killing a cat, the 12-pound terrier owned by Heather and Geordie Gude has taken refuge in a New York city home. The Gudes said the terrier will never return to the Island but, just in case, selectmen, on the recommendation of dog officer Chris Murphy, have ordered the dog to be euthanized should it ever return.

Tisbury police are hopeful they have ended a long string of Peeping Tom incidents with the arrest of a man, spotted peering into a house in Franklin Terrace, on Monday night, chased and detained by neighbors.

Reginaldo DeSouza of Clough Lane in Vineyard Haven was arraigned in Edgartown district court on Tuesday on a charge of disorderly conduct and in violation of a town bylaw on Peeping Toms.