The quiet lead up to Christmas on the Island was shattered this week with the revelations that gross mismanagement had led to allegations of fraud at the Edgartown wastewater treatment plant. A criminal complaint has been issued against an Edgartown septic hauler, who admitted to police that he took advantage of a system that was extremely lax, with little or no oversight or checks on how much the haulers were actually dumping at the plant.

Birds play games. Of course they do. At Sepiessa Point a cluster of black birds moves about the air like a school of fish. They change direction as one and shapeshift at will; a jellyfish, horse’s head, grandma Jane, the patterns becoming lighter and darker depending on the density of the flock.

A smaller cluster of birds hovers at the treetops edge. The groups merge and then disappear beneath the horizon line, the whoosh of their exit the only sound on an otherwise still afternoon.

Seminars Revival

It was the Vineyard’s first and only institution of higher learning, founded by three retired Island academics in 1974. Their idea was to create a small liberal arts college centered around a tall old house on North William street in Vineyard Haven. The first full academic year was in 1975.

House Rules

No one gets it right all the time, including this newspaper. We heard from several readers who thought the Gazette editorial last week unfairly suggested that our towns already have sufficient tools to regulate so-called megamansions and simply have not been tough enough. Not so, they said.

Big Houses, Small Island

They are the guzzlers of the built environment, and like sport utility vehicles, McMansions have become an object of derision in many circles in an age of heightened consciousness about wasteful consumption of finite resources. Much as big cars guzzle gas, oversized houses gulp electricity from an overloaded grid, block scenic vistas and occupy valuable coastal wetlands, sometimes to ruinous effect.

Special Delivery

As off-Island subscribers to this newspaper know only too well, the U.S. Postal Service has been in decline for many years. With subscribers in 47 states and several foreign countries, we often hear horror stories of papers not arriving for days or weeks after they are mailed.