Fans of local bay scallops are in luck; commercial fishermen, not so much.

In the very beginning, when nobody knew anything, everyone was afraid. It was 1986 and Kevin had just been diagnosed as HIV-positive. Many of his friends were dying from AIDS.

“I went to visit my friend Larry in a hospital, who had pneumocystis [a form of pneumonia],” Kevin recalled. “He was at the very end of the corridor and the rooms on either side of him and across the hall were all empty. When I went to visit him I had to put on a mask, a gown, gloves and booties. And then I went into the room and he was in an oxygen tent.”

With the sale of Viking, a 40-foot fishing boat that has plied the waters off the Vineyard for three generations, the Island’s once-vibrant fleet of small wooden draggers is now at the brink of extinction.

Craig Coutinho of Vineyard Haven confirmed this week that he will sell Viking along with his fishing permits.

State wildlife forester Brian Hawthorne has been counting the deer checked in at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. Mr. Hawthorne said, based on what he has seen so far, the deer population is healthy and well-fed.

Admit it, you always knew the trees were talking to you. The branches sway and wave, the wind moves through the leaves whispering words of the ancients. But up until now you didn’t know how to respond beyond a bit of marveling or maybe some brushing of the bark. But this Saturday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. you can learn to deepen your connection with the green world at a workshop entitled Communing with the Tree Spirits