With cannons firing from three wharves around the harbor, a Navy warbird lacing the sky overhead with trails of white smoke and a piper sending her down to the sea to the tune of Scotland the Brave, the schooner Rebecca was launched from the Tisbury Marine Railway Company late Tuesday afternoon.

Before Sheila and Charlie Flathers sat down for dinner and a couple of cold beers at Papa's Pizza Wednesday night, they seriously pondered over the specials that weren't on the menu - a thick wooden table for $120 or a chair for 15 bucks.

Backers of a plan to build a community swimming pool are suffering from sticker shock, having learned last month that the 38,500-square-foot complex would cost $8.85 million to construct, nearly twice the amount projected in a study done six years ago.

An after-prom party near Black Point beach in Chilmark turned violent in the early morning hours last Sunday when police who were called in to break up the party tried arresting a teenager and were forced to retreat under a barrage of beer bottles.

A lobster pot filled with a bouquet of colorful flowers adorned the top of the casket for one of the Island's best-known fishermen, selectmen and friend. Hundreds stood in silence during the graveside service for Herbert Hancock on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Hancock died April 26 at the age of 71.

An osprey flew high above Chilmark Pond. Friends and family stood below on a grassy knoll at the Abel's Hill Cemetery.

Harbor masters, town officials and many Island residents consider them a safety hazard and an annoyance.