thedailyocean.blogspot.com
Dan’s Papers January 20, 2012 danshamptons.com Page 15
God Angry If East Hampton Won’t Do It, God Will Take It On Himself By Dan Rattiner A powerful winter storm smashed up Georgica Beach in East Hampton last weekend, with dunes being torn out, sand washed away and rocks exposed. This is the same beach where Molly Zweig, an oceanfront West End Road home owner just to the west of the road end, installed metal poles on the beach in front of her home last September with the intention of fencing it off. Never mind that nobody in 20 miles in either direction has ever built hard structures on the beach. It’s against the law to block beach strollers or sunbathers from using a part of a
public beach. The beach is for the people. The current storm at the beach last week is considered by many people to be the wrath of God, inasmuch as the Village of East Hampton has yet to come up with an effective plan to take down Zweig’s fencing, which, as it turns out, is still standing after four months of breaking the law. God has told these many people that he is tired of waiting for the Village to act. The law is clear. You can’t build on the beach. What are they waiting for? Apparently the village attorneys are waiting for some kind of legal clearance from higher ups that would show that
the laws involving regulations on the beach override the considerations of a homeowner who lives in a house where, because of erosion, part of the waterfront property line is now on a public beach. Practically all beachfront property lines everywhere in the Hamptons are on the public beach. Why are these metal poles still out there at Georgica? God thundered. He then ordered this storm to come in and take them out. But whoever executed this order screwed up. The crashing sea came in and took out the beach (continued on next page)
Shots Fired in Morton National Wildlife Refuge? By David Lion Rattiner Last week the office of Dan’s Papers was flooded with calls and e-mails from concerned residents who live near the Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge outside Sag Harbor. The complaint was that they heard gunfire that seemed to be coming from the preserve, possibly from hunters. It was quite dramatic, with one woman even speculating that due to the recession, people were going to great lengths to get food and resorting to hunting. That, my friends, is a crazy thought. Nobody is hunting in the woods with a rifle or shotgun because it is cheaper than buying food in the grocery store. The cost of gasoline to get to the hunting site, the cost of a shotgun shell or rifle bullet and the cost of getting a hunting license far outweigh the cost of buying food
in a grocery store. So no, nobody is out there hunting due to the recession. They are out there hunting because it is one of the greatest American pastimes. According to AllStateParks.com, the Morton refuge preserves a 1.5 mile-long peninsula that separates Little Peconic and Noyac Bays. The refuge is arguably the most picturesque of the Long Island refuges. It’s deer hunting season folks, and if you live on the East End of Long Island, you may be hearing a few gunshots or two. While it is very much illegal to hunt on the Morton Wildlife Refuge, if you own private property near the refuge and are a hunter, hunting on it is completely legal during hunting season, and shotgun season for deer is during the month of January. According to the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation, 85% of the state of New York is privately-owned and over 90% of all hunters will hunt on private lands during the hunting seasons. Big game hunting is still available on Long Island with an abundant population of white-tailed deer in much of eastern Suffolk County. Public hunting is a needed management tool as serious depredation problems occur annually in agricultural fields, nurseries, and to many gardens and ornamental plants. Some areas also have problems with car-deer collisions. I don’t think there is a single person in the Hamptons who hasn’t had to deal with dodging a deer while driving. We are currently in the shotgun hunting (continued on page 20)