On Wednesday, as nearly a thousand members of our Island community crowded the Agricultural Hall to honor F. Patrick Gregory, it was impossible not to sense a collective longing for the simple virtues of respect and kindness.

It took a pickup truck flying into the harbor from the ramp of the Chappaquiddick ferry slip to highlight something Vineyarders can often take for granted — the exceptional readiness of the men and women who are called on to respond in an emergency.

It was a good week for land trusts and other members of the conservation community on the Vineyard, beginning with an acquisition of coastal farmland on Chappaquiddick by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and ending with a decision from the state Supreme Judicial Court that affirms the inherent value of open space.

We applaud Stop & Shop’s decision this week to withdraw its proposal to expand the Vineyard Haven store.

It took the town of Oak Bluffs forty years to accept what the Centers for Disease Control calls one of the ten great health achievements of the twentieth century — community fluoridation of water.

Chilmark voters have spoken, voting by a slim margin at the annual town meeting Monday to send the town back to the drawing board on the restoration project for Squibnocket Beach.