News
Islanders are invited to nominate young people, ages 16 to 23, to serve as delegates to the Stone Soup Leadership Institute’s fifth annual Youth Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held on the Vineyard from June 26 to July 2.
During this week-long program, 50 youth delegates will envision their personal, professional, Island and planetary goals, and develop action plans for sustainable development projects.
Summer shellfishermen will have access to Sengekontacket Pond for the first time in several years, so long as there isn’t a big rainstorm.
The State Division of Marine Fisheries has lifted the pond from a routine seasonal closure.
Sengekontacket Pond is overseen by the Edgartown and Oak Bluffs shellfish departments under the watchful eye of the state.
Though most towns in Massachusetts officially close the bay scallop season at the end of next week, Edgartown shellfishermen can keep going in what has been a banner season for them. With an abundance of bay scallops still out there, on Monday the Edgartown selectmen voted to add another month to the season.
“This season is the best in a while,” said Paul Bagnall, Edgartown shellfish constable. “It hasn’t been this good since the 1990s.
“The down side,” he added, “is the price paid to the fishermen.”
At 8:30 p.m. tomorrow, the Island will go dark. Lights will be turned off, the ambient hum of computers will go silent. Candles will be lit, and people will sit back to enjoy the blaze from the fireplace. For one hour, for the third year in a row, the Vineyard will join with some 800 cities across the globe in flipping the switch, suspending, if only for a short time, our ever-growing energy use.
You Can Be a Referee
Friends of Vineyard Soccer will sponsor a certification class for new referees age 16 and older. The full-day class will be held on March 28 at the Boys’ and Girls’ Club in Edgartown It also includes an online portion. Register in advance online at massref.net/Central/courseofferings.cfm
Certified referees are paid between $20 and $50 per match, and are eligible to work youth soccer and adult leagues.
An Island man arrested this week is facing several charges of rape and indecent assault and battery against a mentally retarded person.
Peter Duart, 41, a registered Level II sex offender as well as a former assistant coach of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team, and an elected, currently serving member of the Tisbury planning board, was arrested by Massachusetts state police on Wednesday in Dartmouth after Oak Bluffs police issued a warrant for his arrest.