The East Hampton Star Nov. 10 Section A

Housing Gets Solid ‘Yes’ Votes

New .5 percent tax will take effect in January

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH

A community housing fund proposi tion that would authorize a 5 percent tax on some real estate transfers passed in East Hampton, Southampton, and Southold Towns but appears to have been narrowly defeated on Shelter Is land according to unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections Voters in East Hampton Town gave their decisive approval to the ballot proposition, with 68 percent or 7,106 saying “ yes ” The proposition passed with more than 53 percent of the vote in Southampton Town and nearly 59 percent of the vote in Southold but ap pears to have been defeated on Shelter Island, though unofficial results have it failing by just eight votes 889 to 881 The 5 percent tax will be in addition to the 2 percent transfer tax on real es tate transactions for the community preservation fund

The Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act signed into law last year authorized the five East End towns to establish community housing funds to be supported by that transfer tax As suming the unofficial result holds, the fund will become operational in January

Continued on A10

For ‘Seal of Biliteracy’

BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON

Dozens of parents showed up to a spe cial East Hampton School Board meet ing on Monday ready to fight for an in novative dual language program at the John M Marshall Elementary School that for the last four years has laid the groundwork for students to become flu ent in both English and Spanish and eventually graduate high school with the coveted seal of biliteracy

The families who first bought into the program were essentially taking part in a giant experiment: Could na tive English speaking children flourish in reading writing math and even sci ence with fully half their school day taught in Spanish? Data presented Monday night by school administrators showed that by the end of the second grade the kids were indeed doing just that, having made up for shortfalls in their first year in the program But those who geared up for battle instead found themselves at the end of the nearly two hour meeting ap plauding Adam Fine the East Hamp ton School District superintendent, who formally recommended continu ing the program “I think it best serves our population both populations, he said referring to children who are native English speakers and those who are native Spanish speakers

The crowd of at least 100 people at the meeting, some children among it,

was a measure of the program ’ s popular ity For about 15 Spanish speaking peo ple who needed help understanding the presentation and discussion a district employee used a wireless headphone system to translate in real time Karen Kuneth principal of John Marshall, and Tiffany Patterson, direc tor of English as a new language pro grams across the district, explained that the dual language program meets state requirements for bilingual education for non native English speaking stu dents If the district were to discontin ue the program, it would still find itself having to provide significant bilingual resources anyway to more than 40 per cent of its 502 elementary school stu dents There are currently 159 children in the program, which this year runs from kindergarten through third grade Dual language is a more inclusive model, Ms Patterson said, that has been proven to bridge cultural differ ences and language barriers She and Ms Kuneth presented test scores that also measured children s achievement in the general education and integrated special and general edu cation classrooms With an asterisk that some data was collected during the pan demic when classes were virtual and many children struggled, all kinder garteners gained less than a full stan dard grade level of reading skills Both

Continued on A8

‘I Prayed and Mourned’

BY TOM GOGOLA

Appearing before Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro in River side last Thursday morning, Daniel Campbell the driver in a 2021 hit and run in Amagansett was formally sen tenced to 90 days in jail, 90 days of com munity service and five years ’ probation

Mr Campbell was remanded to the Riverhead Correctional Facility at the conclusion of Thursday’s sentencing hearing

He pleaded guilty in August in the Aug 10 2021 hit and run accident on Old Stone Highway that led to the death of Devesh Samtani an 18 year old pedestrian visiting the area with his family

Mr Samtani was poised to join his older brother at New York University that fall

Dozens of his family members and friends from Hong Kong were in court Thursday along with Mr Campbell s parents

Mr Samtani s father, Kishore Samtani, his mother Mala and his cousin Kabir Kurani all had the opportunity to address Mr Campbell in advance of Justice Am bro’s handing down his sentence

Mr Kurani told Mr Campbell that his entire family had been devastated and had “collapsed” following the 2021 accident, which occurred after police broke up a house party on Tim ber Lane that Devesh Samtani had at tended with his cousin

Mr Campbell was driving his father s 2012 Honda pilot with his sister and sev eral of her friends in the car when it hit Mr Samtani He said he panicked and left the scene

Mr Kurani recalled watching Mr Campbell drive away as his cousin lay on the ground with a fractured skull

“You left him out there on the ground to suffer and die,” he said “At what point can we define you as pure evil? You have broken our family ”

Mala Samtani was next at the podium and recollected hearing the news that her son had been gravely wounded Mr Campbell she said had “killed my son and my whole family

Mr Campbell may have gotten 90 days for leaving the scene of an acci dent involving a fatality but Mrs Samtani said her family would be deal ing with a “lifetime of pain ”

Continued on A9

Your Friends May Be Your Only Safety Net

Cancer’s financial toll can outlast treatment

BY JUDY D’MELLO

The good news that Erica Lynn and Alex Huberty received was that Mr Huberty s cancer B cell follicular lymphoma is not terminal But wrapped in that was also some bad news on the financial front

Mr Huberty who lives with his wife and their two children in Bridgehampton was diagnosed with this form of non Hodgkin s lymphoma in April after detecting a swollen lymph node that he as sumed was a cyst Luckily, the couple was told that because of the scientific inroads made in de veloping a Covid vaccine, there has been much progress and change in how certain cancers are treated and follicular lym phoma is highly treatable

“The unlucky thing is that the treatment still involved a really primitive form of chemo,” Ms Huberty an artist and writer said on Zoom, her husband at her side

“It’s based on mustard gas they used in World War I It’s in the class of nitrogen mustards, said Mr Huberty, who received his first round of a six month treat ment in early June According to Ms Huberty, the treatment in volved “A day of chemo a day of chemo and monoclonal antibod ies and then a day of a white blood cell inducing shot to make your white blood cells skyrocket to counteract the chemo And then the intravenous four or five hours each time you go in for all these other things from gout medicine and antivirals to Be nadryl, Tylenol, anti nausea, anti anxiety Literally they just like throw a cocktail at you And by the time we got to the end of June Alex had been in bed for three weeks Just from the one week of treatment Mr Huberty 50 an informa tion technology consultant for small businesses on the East End received three more rounds of treatment each with worsen ing side effects that included se vere bone and back pain brain fog and fatigue Unable to work for more than a handful of days since June Mr Huberty suffered substantial income loss

And that s when he received the bad news: He was ineligible Continued on A4

Hochul Bests Zeldin in Close Governor’s Race

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Gov Kathy Hochul has apparently won her race against Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Con gressional District, but in a far closer contest than earlier polls had predicted Shortly after 11 p m on Tuesday NBC projected the race for the gover nor and ABC followed soon after Al though Ms Hochul the former lieu tenant governor who was elevated to the top spot in the wake of Gov Andrew M Cuomo’s resignation in 2021 was com fortably ahead of Mr Zeldin for most of the campaign the race tightened signif icantly in the closing weeks

By yesterday, unofficial results post ed on the New York State Board of Elections website had Ms Hochul and her running mate, Lt Gov Antonio Delgado leading Mr Zeldin and his running mate Alison Esposito 52 7 percent to Mr Zeldin s 47 3, with 93 percent of votes in The board of elections was reporting 2,949,425 votes for Governor Hochul and 2 656 293 votes for Mr Zeldin The New York Times, at 11:30 a m yester day had the governor winning 3,031,877 votes to Mr Zeldin’s 2 727 152 or 52 6 percent to 47 4 percent, with 94 percent of votes in

Should the result hold Ms Hochul New York s first female governor, will have been elected in her own right

The Suffolk County Board of Elec tions website showed Mr Zeldin of Shirley decisively winning in the coun ty With 1,042 of 1,058 election districts reporting as of yesterday morning Mr Zeldin had won 323,960 votes in the county to the governor ’ s 228 532 votes or 58 54 to 41 3 percent

The governor spoke to supporters in Manhattan after the networks called the race “Together we will ensure our val ues are put to work to lift up all and leave no one behind,” she said, “build ing a state where we can afford to raise our families, where we create good pay ing jobs in the industries of tomorrow from Long Island to New York City, to Syracuse to Buffalo where we expand safe, decent housing for all, where our kids succeed in school and reach their full potential, where we live without fear safe in our neighborhoods and our subways with illegal guns off our street where our fundamental rights are pro tected and women can make decisions about our own bodies

Mr Zeldin conceded the race yester day afternoon, congratulating Ms

When Warriors Become Peacekeepers

BY TOM GOGOLA

It s a career route that around 20 per cent of veterans have taken when their military service is up: Join a municipal police force and transition from overseas warrior to domestic peacekeeper There are upsides and potential downsides when it comes to hiring vet erans says East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo, who oversees a force of 66 full time uniformed officers that includes a handful of former active service members

“I understand the dual views and the pros and cons associated with transition from military service to municipal law enforcement said Chief Sarlo via email this week We focus on the positive as pects such as discipline calm and a pro fessional approach of someone who has had the determination and will to suc cessfully complete military training and serve our country honorably

The challenge said the chief is in keeping an eye on the potential pitfall of the warrior mentality For the most part our department culture of commu nity policing and de escalation make that a non issue We have quality peo ple, who have a willingness to serve the community and take the opportunity to transition into a different form of service with a positive approach

One of those quality people is the former Navy SEAL Denis Shea, who has been a police officer with the town since 2011 The Montauk resident who left the Naval Reserve in May, was on active duty starting in 1998 and joined the local police force im

mediately after his discharge on Dec 26 2011

Over his military career, Officer Shea deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and var ious ports of call in Africa including Liberia in 2003, when he assisted with the U S Embassy evacuation that year “So for the most part in the military when you get there you re always getting ready for war especially in the SEAL teams ” said Officer Shea 47 by phone this week He contrasted that ex

perience with the peacekeeper role he now plays with the local police force and described a transition process that was a little tough

“Initially it wasn’t hard ” he said The military bearing and the weapons that goes hand in hand But when you went in to hit a target with the SEALS we re going to win You didn’t have a 15 year old telling you to go eff yourself

T h e T a n g l e d T a l e o f T w o T o w e r s

BY CHRISTOPHER GANGEMI

The East Hampton Town Planning Board was poised last night to approve a new 185 foot emergency communi cations tower including antennas for the four main personal wireless carri ers at Camp Blue Bay in Springs Eric Schantz, the assistant East Hampton Town planning director said it could be operational by Memorial Day

I would think that once they get plan ning board approval they’re set to go to the Building Department and apply for a permit The Building Department should expedite it Weather permitting, I think construction could begin within a month or so ” he said in a phone call No one would have guessed at the Oct 19 public hearing concerning the tower that not only would all the comments be positive but nearly all of them would re late to another application altogether for a tower at the Springs Fire Department Many of the public comments seemed to indicate that the fire depart ment pole could simply be “switched

on, alleviating cellphone and emer gency communications problems in the surrounding area “ ‘Switch it on ’ is a neat slogan It’s not quite that easy but the tower con tractor can quickly mount antennas, said Carl Irace an attorney for the Springs Fire District s board of com missioners “Those forums were all Manny s ideas Manny Vilar, the chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee and head of the lobbying firm Ac cabonac Strategies held two “informa tional sessions at the fire department in September and October Even though the meetings were held at the fire department, Mr Vilar does not rep resent the department

They could fit cell service equip ment on the tower now, said Mr Schantz “However they have yet to seek the necessary approvals for the cell equipment They can’t fit the town s emergency services equipment Physically, the existing tower is not built for that ”

In a phone call Mr Vilar claimed that the town has engaged in a “ pur poseful and willful attempt to prevent the fire department from bringing that tower on ”

Riling people up to speak at a public hearing for a different application was unproductive commented Ian Calder Piedmonte, a planning board member The fire department hasn’t been in front of the planning board since Sep tember 2021 Back then its application included the town’s emergency equip ment But in December 2021, the town board voted unanimously to place that equipment at Blue Bay, so that aspect of its application, at least, is obsolete

“We welcome the fire department to submit something that s going to im prove cell service in the Springs ” Mr Schantz said Until September, we thought we still needed a 180 foot pole ” said Mr Irace for the emergency equipment We did n’t have reason to prioritize review of a shorter pole We do now We’re review

Congressman conc e d e d y e s t e r d a y a f t e r n o o n

November sea November sky

Max Philip Dobler

John Marshall program will continue past third grade

As Blue Bay moves ahead, path for Springs Fire District becomes clearer

Denis Shea a retired Navy SEAL seen here in Iraq in December 2007 is one of several military veterans now serving with the East Hampton Town Police Department Courtesy of Denis Shea

Tearful Campbell addresses victim’s bereft family

RATTRAY

E

631 324 7827

Are We Alone?

The Hamptons Observatory will host a free online talk tonight about the search for extraterrestrial life Jill Tarter, a co founder of the SETI Institute, will discuss the age old question “Are we alone in the universe? at 7 Registration is at Tarter Talk eventbrite com

Ms Tarter was a scientist for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project s High Resolution Microwave Survey and has led programs at radio observatories worldwide Fun fact: She inspired the character played by Jodie Foster in the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film “Contact ” SETI and other projects like it search for technosignatures that could have been produced by intelligent civiliza tions beyond our own There are a vast number of potentially habitable planets to explore beyond the solar system, and

For Volunteers

a 5:30 p m

Long

tatives of the Stony Brook Southampton Hospital cancer centers will talk about their services on Tuesday at 1 p m

Joyce Raimondo will lead an online drawing class on Tuesday at 4 p m Par ticipants will need a mirror, three sheets of paper a pencil a sharpener and an eraser Ms Raimondo is the education coordinator at the Pollock Krasner House and Study Center in Springs Mel Brooks s 1976 Silent Movie will be shown in the Baldwin Room on Wednesday at 5:30 p m In addition to Mr Brooks it features Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise The screening is part of an ongoing appreciation of the filmmaker, whose High Anxiety will be shown on Friday, Nov 18, at 1 p m

Main Beach Lockers, Pickleball Rules

BY CHRISTOPHER GANGEMI

Despite the approach of winter, the East Hampton Village Board turned its attention to Main Beach and summer recreation issues at Friday’s work session

about losing them entirely pointing out that many people use the spots to load and unload beach gear through the day However, replacing two full day spots with 15 minute spots was al so a problem

on

at

Library There is a sign up form at

surfrider org

a radio and print jour nalist

The New York Times, will dis cuss Mr Green s collaboration with Mary Rodgers on her memoir “Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers ” this evening at 5:30 via the library s Zoom stream Robyn Carr an author whose work led to the Virgin River series on Net flix will be joining East End Libraries of Long Island by Zoom on Saturday at 1 p m to speak about her life and work In another online program, represen

Registration for most library pro grams is with the reference desk staff or via easthamptonlibrary org

The East Hampton Village Board’s next meeting will be at 11 a m on Fri day Nov 18 in the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street

Looking ahead to Nov 19 the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society will take a tour of Northwest Woods at 10 a m Laurie DeVito will lead a five mile hike through the Grace Estate and past Scoy and Alewife Ponds, then into Cedar Point County Park The meeting place is the pull off on Northwest Road about half a mile from the Alewife Brook Road intersection

Apparently, many of the 176 lockers at Main Beach go unused However the parking passes for Lot 1 that are tied to the lockers are always used Christopher Minardi, the deputy mayor, brought up the idea of separating the locker rental from the Lot 1 parking pass He hoped that by doing so people who were only using the parking and not the locker would give up their lockers freeing them up for others

“Families outgrow their lockers but don t want to give up the parking pass, said Mr Minardi

It now costs $500 a year for a locker and a Lot 1 pass and there is a waiting list for beach lockers

Michael Tracey, the village police chief spoke about an idea to move the Americans with Disabilities (A D A ) parking spots closer to the A D A ramp at the Main Beach pavilion At present, the spots are on an incline He suggested moving them into the 15 minute park ing zone “I think we’d make a lot of handicap folks happy, he said The board discussed where to move the 15 minute spots instead Ms Doyle seemed particularly concerned

Marcos Baladron, the village adminis trator said that the village engineer would make a diagram of the parking lot so that board members could have a clear idea of a potential spot reconfigu ration

The board agreed to revisit the matter at its next work session on Dec 2 The lesson Mayor Jerry Larsen learned from toying with the idea of planting red cedars on village land that would block the view of the Main Beach parking lot for a private residence was that people value the view of Hook Pond

Dave Collins, the superintendent of public works said one way to open the view more would be to remove the non native species of shrub that have prolif erated along the edge of the pond

I d be in favor but is there any ben efit the pond gets from those shrubs?” asked Mr Minardi

“You’re removing nonnative shrubs there s no harm in that, said Billy Ha jek the village planner Mr Collins said the area has become infested with weeds and it would be eas

Jonathan Baker, Village’s First Mayor

BY ANDREA MEYER

Item of the Week

BY ANDREA MEYER

Jonathan Baker (1853 1923) was born to Capt Ed ward M Baker and Rosalie Miller Baker three years before his father died in 1856 His widowed mother raised Jonathan and his older brother Edward Mulford Baker (1849 1910), alone, taking boarders into the fam ily home at 118 Pantigo Road

Rosalie continued to take on boarders until at least 1870, according to the census, and that year, in addition to boarders and her two sons her home also included Edward s wife and baby

By the 1880 census Jonathan had married and was operating a farm on the property Rosalie no longer took in boarders, and Edward lived in another house nearby That same year Jonathan ran for public office becoming East Hampton Town supervisor, a position he held until 1890 In 1882 he began building a new house on the family lot expanding it four years later It s not clear if the new house is shown in Childe Has sam ’ s 1882 etching of Jonathan’s farm but it gives a sense of what a more rural Pantigo Road looked like One might wonder if their childhood experiences colored the brothers’ choices later in life since Jonathan and Edward both took on roles in which they oversaw public services for the poor Edward served as East Hampton s overseer of the poor, and Jonathan served in that role for Suffolk County, as well as su perintendent of the county’s almshouse and chairman of its Child Welfare Board

Jonathan and his wife the former Sarah Jane Peters raised two daughters, Rosalie and Mary By 1900 the family officially resided in Brookhaven, where Jonathan’s work with social services and local govern ment had led him to move He retained the property on Pantigo Road throughout those years and even though the family appeared as Pantigo Road residents

in Bellport

Thank you to Volunteers For the Community Pollinator Garden At East Hampton Town Hall

Mill Road to Be One Way?

BY CHRISTOPHER GANGEMI

At Friday’s East Hampton Village Board work session, held at the Hunt ting Inn Michael Tracey the village po lice chief spoke about the merits of turning Mill Road into a one way street Mill Road bisects the Village Green separating its bioswale from Town Pond and the South End Cemetery Traffic would continue to head from James Lane to Route 27 but drivers heading on Route 27 would no longer be able to turn onto Mill Road

“It would be an immediate win ” Chief Tracey told the board Accident data from the last six years at that loca tion showed that Twenty times in the last six years we had cars stopping and getting hit, or turning and getting hit, in the vicinity of Mill Road and Route 27 ”

“By making it one way we’d elimi nate a fair amount of accidents at that location ” he said

That road is very narrow, said May or Jerry Larsen “You can’t pass two cars on that bridge

“Plus there’s no turning lane ” said Christopher Minardi, the deputy may or I m concerned about stopping my car on 27 to make that turn Too many people are on their phone and distract ed I completely agree about making it one way I think we can get rid of it al together ”

Carrie Doyle, a trustee, was initially circumspect “If you ’ re coming out of Dunemere how do you get to 27?” Cars are now blocked from shooting across 27

from Dunemere to drive north on Route 114 toward Sag Harbor

We re not eliminating Mill Road, said Mayor Larsen “That road would still be one way to 27 The problem is the traffic traveling west on 27 that stops to make a left They get rear ended Mr Larsen saw an added benefit to encouraging people up Mill Road from Dunemere “People would make a left on James and then a right on Mill Road and then a right on 27 to get to 114 Good thing about that is there s a left turn lane there to get on 114 ”

Tackling the issue at Mill Road doesn’t solve all the traffic problems there, however The other place we see a problem is people trying to turn left from 114 towards Main Street They can’t make that turn so a lot of people make a right, then a left down Mill Road and then the left on James We d eliminate that by making Mill Road one way ”

That could lead to a potential prob lem as traffic backs up on Buell Lane before turning east on 27

If Mill Road went one way, three stop signs all where Mill Road meets James Lane, would be removed The stop sign at Mill Road and Route 27 would re main

All board members thought the change would reduce the number of ac cidents A public hearing will be an nounced at the next meeting on Nov 18 and will be held at the Dec 16 village board meeting

ChangeHampton together with the Town of East Hampton organized our first big day in the Community Pollinator Garden at East Hampton Town Hall on Saturday, Nov 5.

We want to thank all the volunteers who helped to make the day such a success, especially Aubrey Peterson, Karen Defronzo and Pamela Sandoval, social worker and teachers of the East Hampton schools, along with more than 30 students from John J Marshall Elementary, East Hampton Middle and High schools as well as the Ross School.

The Custodial teams at JMMES and the high school, led by LC Nelson and Curt Ottman as well as the kitchen teams at both schools, led by Chef Joe Lupo and Carol Fitzgerald, were instrumental in helping to gather and store truck loads of cardboard for our process.

John J Marshall Elementary School Science teachers, Lisa McKee and Robin Lewis, were helpful in the gathering of cardboard and teaching our method of weed suppression in their classes.

Volunteers, including Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, joined in the edging of beds, donating and preparing cardboard for the Sheet Mulching “Lasagna” method of suppressing weeds and lawn over winter. With direction from our garden designer, Abby Clough Lawless and Paul Muñoz, Chair of the Energy & Sustainability Committee, volunteers then placed cardboard over the beds, watered it, and raked layers of leaf mulch and compost on top.

The crew of Paul Muñoz company, Eco-Harmony, also planted five trees and many shrubs donated by Whitmores for the garden. Fowlers in Southampton donated rakes and gloves. Thank you!

A big shout out to Tony Littman, Director of Buildings and Grounds, for the invaluable help from his department and staff!

The Community Pollinator Garden at East Hampton Town Hall is a public/private partnership between ChangeHampton and the Town of East Hampton.

Gail Pellett, Stephan Van Dam, Leonard Green, Paul Gartside & Paul Muñoz ChangeHampton www.changehampton.org

In recreational news unrelated to the beach the board again discussed draft legislation for pickleball court restric tions which had been raised at the Oc tober work session The village legisla tion was heavily influenced by new rules adopted by Sagaponack Village in the spring

The new legislation would allow pickleball courts only on lots that are 60,000 square feet (1 37 acres) or larger To reduce noise pollution, all courts would have to be sunk four feet below grade when measured from the lowest adjacent natural grade” and have a six foot sound attenuation wall installed around three sides of the court An ex isting tennis court could be converted if it used the same noise mitigating strategies Courts could not be lighted for night play

A public hearing could be held on the legislation as early as Dec 16

Bennett

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131:011:186:457:45

141:552:137:418:35

185:375:5211:2411:42

DAVID

the 21st century will be the one in which we will find some answers, Ms Tartar has said

The Surfrider Eastern

Island Chapter will discuss volunteer opportu nities during

meeting

Tuesday

the East Hampton

volunteer

David Alpern,

and Jesse Green chief theater critic for

Webb and Clavin Wed

James Latham Sherrill Webb, a son of Dr Sheppard Webb and Tania Eliza beth Emma Webb of East Hampton and East Setauket and Meredith Ann Clavin, the daughter of Nancy and Charles Clavin of Miller Place were married on Saturday at Mary Immacu late Catholic Church in Bellport Ms Clavin was attended by Jessica Gomes of Port Jefferson as maid of hon

or and the groom s sister, Staff Sgt Ade laide Webb of Baltimore as a brides maid The brother of the groom Lloyd Ronald Caneega Webb, also of Balti more, served as best man The bride is a preschool teacher and the groom works in business manage ment The couple will make their home in Port Jefferson

From the East Hampton Librar y Long Island Collection

in the 1920 census Jonathan’s profession was described as superin tendent of the almshouse In October 1920, he became the newly incorporated East Hampton Village’s first board president (a role later known as mayor) serving until 1922 He died the following year

Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is the head of the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection

Amagansett

CHRISTOPHER WALSH cwalsh@ehstar com

The East Hampton Lions Club will hold a blood drive at the American Le gion Hall on Wednesday from 11:45 a m to 7:45 p m The hall is on the corner of Montauk Highway and Abraham s Path In order to give blood people must be at least 16 (16 year olds need a signed parental permission form) and weigh 110 pounds or more

The East Hampton Trails Preserva tion Society will host two hikes in Am agansett in the coming week Eva Moore will lead a two mile walk along a stretch of Gardiner s Bay on the grounds of the Smith Meal Fish Factory on Sat urday at 10 a m Hikers have been asked to meet in the parking area at the inter section of Cranberry Hole Road and Na peague Meadow Road Ms Moore can be contacted at 631 238 5134 or on Sat urday, at 631 681 4774

The Amagansett Lanes equidistant to the ocean and the hamlet s commer cial district will be explored as Jaine Mehring, founder of Build In Kind, leads a discussion on Wednesday at 10 a m Those interested in participating have been asked to meet at Indian Wells Beach An East Hampton Town permit is required to park there and hikers have been advised to take water Irwin Levy can be contacted at 516 456 1337 or irwintlevy@gmail com for more information

The South Fork Natural History Mu seum will host an exploration of the Walking Dunes on Sunday at 10:30 a m Melanie Meade will lead the walk in search of cranberry bogs and sundews a type of carnivorous plant The walk is for adults teens and children 5 and old er, and is free for SoFo members There is a $15 fee for nonmembers $10 for children Reservations are required by calling 631 537 9735 or sending an email to info@sofo org

The Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee will meet on Monday at 6:30 p m at the Amagansett School The meeting is open to the public

The

chief

The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers ” today from 5:30 to 6:30 p m via Zoom video conference Regis tration is at bit ly/3hdeFJi

The library will be closed tomorrow in observance of Veterans Day

Another East End Libraries Zoom presentation “Indigenous Music: More Than Drums and Flutes happens on Sunday from 1 to 2 p m Craig Harris, a musician radio host and author of Heartbeat, Warble, and the Electric Powwow: American Indian Music” and the forthcoming Rise Up: Indigenous Music ” will talk about the multifaceted reach and resilience of Indigenous mu sic, historically and today Registration is required at bit ly/3sSk5wd

The library will host a Library for All interactive program for adults with dis abilities next Thursday from 11 a m to noon Adults with disabilities and their caregivers have been invited to play games make crafts find books and en joy their time at the library Registration is not required

Also next Thursday the Mystery Book Club will meet from 4 to 4:45 p m

This month’s selection is “Breathless” by Amy McCulloch Copies are avail able at the circulation desk

New fiction titles at the library are “Dark Music” by David Lagercrantz, “The Night Ship” by Jess Kidd and Next in Line by Jeffrey Archer New in nonfiction are “American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America s Jack the Ripper” by Daniel Stashower

How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication” by Tom Mustill Off With Her Head: Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power” by Eleanor Herman and Starry Messenger: Cosmic Per spectives on Civilization” by Neil de Grasse Tyson

crew members and salvage workers, died in the disaster and 10 of them were Shinnecocks Shane Weeks, a member of the tribe, will also speak The talk will take place at the Nathaniel Rogers House There will be time for questions and John Ludlow a descendant of a member of the Mecox lifesaving crew will provide entertain ment on saxophone Reservations can be made by emailing events@bhmuse um org or calling the museum Tickets are $20, or $15 for members

Small Town Nurse

Robyn Carr, whose books became the basis of the “Virgin River” series now in its fourth season on Netflix, about a nurse practitioner in a small town in Northern California, will give a talk from 1 to 2 p m on Saturday for the Hampton Library Registration is required for this Zoom program by calling the reference desk

The library board will meet on Wednesday at 3:30 p m in the program room

The library will be closed tomorrow for Veterans Day

The South Fork Natural History Mu seum offers beach or trail cleanups every month and would be happy to have help The latest is on Saturday at 10 a m If you’d like to take part info@sofo org can be emailed or the museum can be called to find out the location

ß

Montauk

JANE BIMSON janeb@ehstar

com

The Dock restaurant is having its an nual Closing Run on Sunday at 11:30 a m The 3 3 mile course begins at the Montauk Post Office and ends at the Dock Registration will be at the post of fice beginning at 11 a m on Sunday, and pre registration is taking place at the Dock whenever it s open There will be raffles with locally donated items and a 50 50 cash prize An entry fee of $30 in cludes a T shirt and a beer All proceeds will benefit the Montauk Community Senior Nutrition Center and the Mon tauk Food Pantry Walkers will be wel comed; unicycles will not, according to the organization

The Montauk Library s Armchair Travel book club will discuss “The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell on Tuesday at 4 p m The book to read for December is “Travels With a Don key in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson The Friends book club with Sally will discuss Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett on Sunday at 1 p m

On Wednesday the library will show the documentary Hockeyland at 2:30 and 6 p m The film looks at Minneso ta s extraordinary connection to hockey: It has more skaters than any other state in the country On Monday at 12:30 p m a case man

ager from the East Hampton Town Hu man Services Department will be avail able at the library to assist senior citi zens in applying for county, state, and federal programs Appointments can be made at 631 329 6939

The next selection in the library s classic film series will be “The Stranger by Orson Welles on Friday, Nov 18 at 5 p m Edward G Robinson stars

The library will be collecting nonper ishable food items for the Montauk Food Pantry throughout the month of November

The library is closed tomorrow for Veterans Day

Registration is open for the 46th an nual Turkey Run for Fun race on Thanksgiving Day starting at 10 a m at the downtown green People can choose to run or walk three or six miles Bib pickup will be on Thanksgiving morning at the Montauk Chamber of Commerce Proceeds and donations will go to the Montauk Food Pantry the Springs Food Pantry, the East Hampton Food Pantry and Meals on Wheels Registration is at bit ly/3NOtwGr

The Ladies Guild at the Montauk Community Church is urging shoppers to stop by on Saturday from 9 a m to noon and get an early start on the holi days The church rummage sale has new and gently used items, including men ’ s women ’ s and children’s clothing kitchenware, linens, toys, artwork, and a large selection of jewelry

A Veterans Day celebration will take place at the Montauk Playhouse Com munity Center Foundation tomorrow at 11 a m There will be a flag ceremo ny and a wreath laying ceremony with local Brownie troops and Boy Scouts, and music by Nancy Atlas Light re freshments will be served outdoors af ter the ceremony

ß

Sag Harbor

CHRISTOPHER GANGEMI cg@ehstar com

Sag Harbor will celebrate men and women who served in the armed serv ices with a Veterans Day parade to morrow morning at 10 beginning at the Civil War monument on Main Street and ending at Marine Park, across the street from the American Legion post on Bay Street

The Noyac Civic Council will hon or veterans at the American Legion on Bay Street on Wednesday from 7 to 9 p m Bill Stafford the post com mander, will lead a tour of the legion s museum which highlights the serv ice of local veterans

Tonight at 5 p m the Sag Harbor Vil lage Historic Preservation and Architec tural Review Board meets in the Mu nicipal Building Sag Harbor village offices will be closed tomorrow in observance of Veter ans Day

On Tuesday the village zoning board of appeals meets at 5:30 p m , in the Municipal Building All meetings are al so live streamed on the village s YouTube channel

The author Tom Clavin will speak about his new World War II book “The Last Hill, tonight at 6 p m at the John Jermain Memorial Library In it Mr Clavin and his co author, Bob Drury, ex plore “the history of ‘Rudder’s Rangers,’ the most elite and experienced attack unit in the United States Army Books will be available for sale and signing The event will take place in the lower level program room

On Sunday the library will host Martha Potter for a discussion about the history of immigration at 2 p m Some words to ponder in advance from the li brary’s website: “From our nation’s first years through today s new restrictions, for every wave of immigrants whether French, Irish, German, Eastern Euro pean, Italian, Asian or Central American, we have opened our arms and turned our backs, often at the same time

The composer Bruce Wolosoff will di rect a concert featuring Art Baron and the Duke s Men celebrating the music of Duke Ellington on Saturday at 7:30 p m as part of The Church’s Reflections in Music concert series Tickets cost $40 The first half of the program will

Your Friends May Be Your Only Safety Net

Continued from A1 for Social Security disability unem ployment due to health reasons or un employment disability, simply be cause his cancer is treatable The fact that the treatment was so toxic and de bilitating that it rendered him barely able to function and entirely unable to work, did not factor into the equa tion Outside of insufficient state funds for medical disabilities, there was no financial support system avail able for him and his family

According to Disability Benefits Help, a website that provides information on applying for Social Security disability benefits: “While cancer is a disability re gardless of how long it puts you out of work, only some people will qualify for disability benefits through the Social Se curity Administration This is because Social Security disability eligibility re quires you to have a terminal illness or a disability that has or will prevent you from working for at least 12 months In the end, assistance came from the East End community In September Cindi Crain, a family friend, set up a GoFundMe page helped by commu nity members such as Almond Zig mund and other Hayground School parents A goal of $50 000 was set; al most $38,000 has been raised to date In an email to The Star Ms Crain wrote, My daughter went to the Hay ground School with the Huberty kids and I got to know both Erica and Alex well through play dates and school com mittees Even though the kids are at dif ferent schools now, our friendship en dures I knew what it meant to the fam ily that Alex couldn t work nearly as much while in treatment Friends and I surmised that if we put out a plea for support, a pretty large community might respond And wow did it ever! It takes a village and thankfully we have an awesome one here on the East End ”

The fact that so many Americans have to resort to internet donations to meet basic needs like food housing medical attention, and financial support, exposes the lack of a social safety net In June 2021, in an article about the surge of

focus on Ellington s concert music; the second half is a 1940s dance party

Southampton

CHRISTINE SAMPSON csampson@ehstar com

Donate Warmth

Starting Monday, the Southampton Town Police Department will be col lecting donations of winter coats, gloves hats and

crowdfunding in the wake of Covid 19, The New York Times posited that the prevalence of mass online charity drives might actually reduce people’s interest in addressing the root causes behind why so many people need to turn to on line donations GoFundMe s chief exec utive Tim Cadogan underscored that point by reiterating that the company was never intended to be a substitute for effective social services

But for the Huberty family there was simply no other way We were very reluctant at first But people were just amazing and incredi bly generous, said Ms Huberty “We are ridiculously lucky ” added her husband But we shouldn t have to go through GoFundMe ”

Exactly People kept saying, No, it’s fine you deserve it You’ve given to so many other people and you guys are valuable members of the community You ve done soup kitchen stuff of course we’ll give you the money ’ But why should they have to? Our friends shouldn t have to help us And literally at the same time we ’ re giving to the GoFundMe of our other friend who has cancer and I’m thinking ‘Oh my God it s an entire community of people who have to support each other because there s no support system in place and we ’ ve all just come to accept this as normal, said Ms Huberty

In October Mr Huberty contracted Covid, putting his cancer treatments on hold He is able to work in a re duced capacity but is currently on drugs to boost his blood count, which he said causes “ridiculously crazy headaches Being in this holding pat tern of not knowing what’s next makes it difficult for the family to plan ahead, emotionally and financially

We keep meeting more and more people that are going through the same thing, this kind of epidemic, for lack of a better word of no safety net no so cial, financial, employment safety net, no health safety net no support nurs ing It’s really odd You’re really on your own, said Ms Huberty

Manna at Lobster Inn, Sen, Wolffer Kitchen, and many others Doors will open at 11:30 for pickup in advance and online ticket holders only The general public will be ad mitted at 1

Speaking of the Springs Food Pantry, Word Hampton Public Relations is ac cepting donations for the pantry of non perishable goods, which can be dropped off at its office at 512 Three Mile Har bor Hog Creek Road through Monday

The South Fork Natural History Mu seum and Nature Center has organized a tour of the Leiber Collection on Sat urday at 1 p m Led by a docent from the collection the tour will highlight Ju dith Leiber’s celebrated clutch bags many of which featured nature motifs, and Gerson Leiber’s paintings and prints

The fee is $15 for adults, $10 for chil dren and free for SoFo members Pre registration is required at info@sofo org or 631 537 9735

Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor has organized a tour of the studio of the late Springs artist Ellen Frank for Sunday at 10:30 a m both in person at 73 Squaw Road and via Zoom A reg istration link for the Zoom talk is on the temple’s website

The Springs School s eighth Annual Turkey Trot which raises money for the school s field trips, will happen on Nov 21 and the PTA is looking for sponsors Sponsorships can be bought on the school s website or by mailing a check payable to Springs School PTA to 48 School Street East Hampton 11937

Enchanted Worlds Amy Zerner a “collage artist fashion designer and tapestry expert” who lives in this hamlet, and her husband, Monte Farber an author of spiritual works based on astrology and tarot “will dis cuss their shared inspiration and cre ative journey,” according to a release, as well as their 2021 book “Enchanted Worlds: The Visionary Collages and Art Couture of Amy Zerner,” next Thurs day at 6 p m at Ashawagh Hall

The free talk is part of the Springs Historical Society and Library s Meet the Author series

Amagansett Library as part of the East End Libraries network, will present a discussion between the radio and print journalist David Alpern and Jesse Green

theater critic for The New York Times about the latter’s collaboration with Mary Rodgers on her memoir Shy:

When chemotherapy for a non Hodgkin’s lymphoma rendered Alex Huberty unable to work, he learned he was not eligible for Social Security disability benefits because his cancer is not terminal Huberty Family Photo

Dear Councilpersons,

Thank you for all your efforts to establish Town control over the Town’s airport. A CRUCIAL DEADLINE IN THIS EFFORT FAST APPROACHES.

Like you, we are extremely disappointed by the ruling of a single judge against your carefully considered plan to convert the airport into a private facility, controlled by its owner, not federal bureaucrats.

The FAA has given a green light to your process for privatizing the airport. But recently, massively funded lawsuits, along with an ongoing campaign of falsehoods and personal attacks, have halted the process.

We cannot allow self-interested for-profit aviation lobbies, Blade, and their various front groups to dictate to the Town what the Town can do with its own airport!

We implore you to stay the course in defending the Town’s rights through vigorous legal efforts – all of which will continue to be paid for, as they have from the beginning, out of airport revenues, and not by taxpayers.

The deadline to file a notice of appeal of this egregious ruling is Friday, November 18.

We are confident that you will promptly direct your attorneys to file this notice. If you do not, as you know, the Town’s right to seek reversal by a full panel of appellate judges will be lost.

Thank you again for the hard work and time you all put in to ensure a peaceful and more equitable future.

Coalition to Transform East Hampton Airport

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE TOWN

Cannabis Giant Buys Montauk Brewing Co.

BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON

Vaughan Cutillo and Eric Moss, who launched the Montauk Brewing Compa ny with a basement beer brewing setup in 2012 sometimes joke that their busi ness is “ a 10 year overnight success ”

People increasingly took note of Mon tauk’s growing popularity characterized by its always packed tap room, cool takes on brews involving ingredients like watermelon and pumpkin, and buzzy media coverage The internation al cannabis and alcohol company Tilray was among those paying attention and on Monday, Tilray announced that it has bought the Montauk Brewing Company for an undisclosed sum

“We’ve been kind of punching above our weight class for a few years now, Mr Cutillo said by phone on Monday night We met the Tilray team a few months ago and as things progressed we got to like them They’re good people and they have a good vision for the fu ture We kind of fit in I think it’s time that we have a really good, strong partner We’re excited ”

Those concerned that Montauk s craft brewing operation will be nega tively impacted can be reassured that pretty much everything will stay the same, Mr Cutillo said All current em ployees will stay on the tap room will remain a community hub, and they will continue to brew the beers that fans have come to love, he said He de scribed it as the opposite of con tentious deals such as InBev s hostile

takeover in 2008 of Anheuser Busch the maker of Budweiser

Tilray has been great “because they want us to run the business They don t want to shake things up, Mr Cutillo said “They obviously offer a lot of syn ergies in what they can offer in terms of distribution but our team is staying on board They want to keep everybody and grow the brand ”

Tilray a public company headquar tered in Ontario, Canada, and New York City said in a press release that “Mon tauk Brewing has enormous potential to expand its customer base and grow throughout the U S as a true national brand It already has more than 6,400 retail partnerships from local taverns and small beverage distributors to behe moth businesses like Target Trader Joe s, Whole Foods, and Costco Tilray reported $153 2 million in an nual revenue in August a decrease of 9 percent from August 2021 that was at tributed to labor issues and the volatility of currency exchange, according to the Canadian trade publication MJBizDaily Citing another one of its successful la bels, the Atlanta based SweetWater Brewing Company described as “the 10th largest craft brewer in the nation, Tilray Brands said it will use SweetWa ter’s “existing nationwide infrastructure to accelerate Montauk Brewing s distri bution network and revenue growth ”

In the same release, Tilray said that it is eyeing the federal legalization of cannabis in the U S If that happens Tilray plans to take full advantage of its

strategic infrastructure operations and consumer loyal brands across beer spir its, and snack food categories to parlay into THC based products and further expand its commercial opportunities ”

THC an abbreviation for tetrahydro cannabinol, is the psychoactive ingredi ent in marijuana, the recreational use of which was legalized in 2021 in New York State It’s also legal in recreational or medical forms, in 37 other states and Washington, D C , but its federal status is far from certain In April Congress passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act which, among other aspects, removes it from the list of federally controlled sub stances but it has yet to pass the Sen ate With heated races in midterm elec tions across the country this week, con trol of the legislative branch of the U S government hangs in the balance

But Mr Cutillo declined to comment on future plans and products for the Montauk brand, saying only that it has plans to innovate

“I think this is a really good oppor tunity, in a tumultuous time, to really drive the brand, he said, and spread that kind of come as you are, chase your wave lifestyle more so than we ’ ve ever done ”

Fans immediately took to social me dia to congratulate the Montauk Brew ing Company “You were the Montauk boys ” one person wrote on Facebook but you just graduated to men

Sag Board Moves Ahead on Potter Project

BY CHRISTOPHER GANGEMI

In a procedural but consequential step, the Sag Harbor Village Board is sued a “positive declaration” Tuesday on the mixed retail and housing devel opment proposed by Adam Potter and Conifer Realty

When a positive declaration is made it means a project could have a signifi cant environmental impact and must undergo a lengthy public review Planners from Cameron Engineering hired by the village to assess the project, read through part of the assessment form, a part of the State Environmental Quality Review Act designed to help the lead agency, in this case the Sag Har bor Village Board study all potential re sources that could be affected by a pro posed project

Our role in this is relatively narrow, said David Tepper a planner with Cameron We re not here to assess the merits of the project We’re just assess ing potential impacts and the magni tude duration and likelihood that any would occur

The assessment form is basically an exploded laundry list of 18 potential ar eas of impact For example under “im pact on transportation the engineers had to assess whether the project would create more traffic than the existing road network could hold whether park ing lots would need to be constructed, if existing walkways would be nega tively affected and if the completed construction would alter the traffic pat tern in the area Of the 18 criteria studied, the engi neers decided that the Potter project would have a moderate to large im pact” on 13

That s a pretty significant list of im pacts to digest ” said Mr Tepper

The $70 million project, listed on the agenda as the “Conifer Affordable Housing Development, but derided by critics as a “mall” with housing attached would add more than 100,000 square feet of building to a historic part of the village The largest of the 79 housing units would be a 950 square foot two bedroom, two bathroom apartment Re tail spaces would dominate the lower story, with 34,000 square feet proposed As a comparison the K Mart in

Bridgehampton Commons is 89,935 square feet

Highlighting the passion some feel to ward the project as Aidan Corish a trustee questioned the engineers about their assessments, Douglas Newby, a vil lage resident yelled out from the back of the room, This is a sham!

Mr Newby his wife Kathryn Levy and Maziar Behrooz, an architect, were all in attendance The three village res idents joined a recent Save Sag Harbor lawsuit challenging the zoning changes that allowed the project to be proposed in the first place

“If you could please stop yelling out, thank you ” said Liz Vail the village at torney

“Ladies and gentlemen we are often accused of not being transparent, said Mayor Larocca pounding the table for emphasis You re here to watch your board working on this matter If you can not observe politely I would ask you to leave This is not a public hearing Yelling laughing and snide commen tary, are not helpful We can laugh You cannot restrict me ” said Mr Behrooz who would be a close neighbor of the development “I’m just asking you to be polite ” said Mayor Larocca Sean McLean of Mpact Collective, hired by the board as a liaison and con sultant, tried to ease the mood As I m listening and hearing confusion I want ed to back up and discuss where we are now in the process ”

He explained that what the engineers were reading through was a draft docu ment If the board issued a positive dec laration, the draft would be scrapped and a scoping process with public input would begin, which would add impor tant local knowledge to the document

“This is only a gate to pass through to say it should be a positive or negative declaration After that it restarts a very public process, he said “In that process, we will learn about other issues other matters not yet ap parent, said Mayor Larocca The way this process starts we ’ re looking only at the applicant s view

“Right It can’t possibly contain the local knowledge ” said Mr McLean Part of the reason you brought me into this is to make me available to residents

to get their concerns on paper Mr McLean then recited his email and cellphone number

Michael Keane, another planner with Cameron Engineering said that regard less of the board’s decision he didn’t feel they had enough information to make either a positive or negative dec laration

Thomas Gardella, the deputy mayor, acknowledged he was no engineer, but said that, if 13 of 18 show moderate or large impact, then they had enough information

“There’s a low threshold for issuing a positive declaration ” said Ms Vail “I’d like them to read through the 13 large to moderate impacts for the record and then the board can make a determina tion She reiterated that the documents hadn t been released to the public to re view because they were in draft form

After that, the board voted unani mously to issue the positive declaration

“I never thought there was any ques tion here that I would favor moving us toward a positive declaration tonight ” said Mayor Larocca

The next step is for the Potter team to draft a scope of the environmental im pact statement A public hearing on that draft will be held, comments collected, and it will be revised Any public meet ing would be “duly noticed” in local me dia said Ms Vail

Mr Corish suggested the village set up a portal on its website leading to all the documents and information on the Potter project

I m grateful that you made a positive declaration said Ms Levy, speaking at the public comment period after Cameron’s presentation She was disap pointed however that more people did not attend the meeting “People who live immediately around the project some of their lives will be destroyed,” she said

We follow every single requirement in the law, said Mayor Larocca, about placing notices of board meetings in the papers I m sorry it doesn t please you We’re not writing a separate process for you ”

HISTORIC STATUS

New Designation for Black Neighborhoods?

BY CHRISTOPHER GANGEMI

Residents of Sag Harbor’s historically Black neighborhoods, Azurest, Ninevah, and Sag Harbor Hills showed up in force at a village board meeting Tuesday night for a public hearing on whether to create an overlay district for those neighbor hoods as a means of preserving their character in the face of recent develop ment trends

The proposal which would amend the village code, calls for a maximum house size of 4 000 square feet no side walks or impervious paved driveways, and a maximum of three accessory struc tures for any one house Importantly, a photograph or video evidence of a sus pected violation in the overlay district would be enough to “warrant the insti tution of an investigation by the village While a debate has raged publicly since August about the best way to pre serve the neighborhoods in the end all residents, including Renee Simons, president of the SANS organization, spoke in favor of the overlay district She did so only after receiving assur ances from the New York State Historic Preservation Office and the village that entertaining the law would “not conflict or pre empt the contract responsibilities the village has to decide ‘ yes ’ or ‘ no ’ re garding the inclusion of the SANS area (with beach area included) into the vil lage inventory of historic district prop erties ”

The neighborhoods are recognized by New York State and the National Reg ister of Historic Places but have never been designated as such by the village, something that Ms Simons has sought for years She has long argued that his toric designation by the village was the best means of preservation On the other side a group calling it

self the Tri Community Working Group comprised of the three presi dents of the three communities, along with 14 residents, boasts that 95 percent of their residents support an overlay dis trict to control development and pre serve the community

A draft of the law highlighted that the overlay district was not there to pro tect the houses, but more the sense of place “What defined the look and feel of the three communities was not at tributable to a particular architectural design or style Instead it was the sense of community and the close, fa milial relationship of the residents and the rustic quality of size appropriate homes set within treed lots unadorned by sidewalks or curbs

Those who laid out lots did so to maximize the number of lots because they knew no one else would allow Black people to buy land and build on it, said John Graves, a resident of Ter ry Drive “The houses were modest only because Black residents didn t have access to mortgage financing If they had had access they could have built larger houses

He said a house his parents had pur chased in the 1990s had recently sold, “not because it was beautiful ” but be cause of how it could be renovated Like nine others who spoke in favor of the overlay district Mr Graves feared historic designation by the village would add more stringent regulations and reduce the value of properties in the three neighborhoods

Many spoke of the benefits of multi generational homeownership in Sag Harbor Shannon Terry Richards said, I carry the names of two streets, in Azurest and Sag Harbor Hills we are deeply tied to this village and these communities ” He supported the over

lay district, saying It is representative of the community and its involvement

The percentage of support is high Mark Willis of Azurest said he was a relative newcomer to the neighbor hood, who purchased his house in 2005 He has five children and said he chose to live in Azurest because after visiting for a summer “within two hours the kids had lifelong friends

They walked out of the house and there was a community where every one was welcome There are very few communities in the country that pro vide that type of atmosphere

Ms Simons lodged a complaint about the name of the overlay district “The SANS area is listed on the state and na tional registries H B B C is not listed ”

She urged the board not to erase the SANS area listing and long established nomenclature on village records

As she had in October’s meeting she voiced concern that an overlay district was only code that could easily be changed and pushed the board for a more permanent preservation She called the overlay district “ a second class alternative

Sarah Kautz of Preservation Long Is land called in to the meeting and said her organization supported the overlay district but only because “anything is better than the situation we have now

She asked the board to host a public

hearing to consider adding the SANS neighborhoods to the historic district

Liz Vail the village attorney said the public hearing concerning the overlay district would remain open for written comment until the board s December meeting Whether Ms Kautz s request for a separate hearing regarding inclu sion of the SANS historic district would be considered was not discussed

The Montauk Brewing Company s tap room will remain a community hub and all employees will stay on, one of its founders Vaughan Cutillo said this week after Tilray an international cannabis and alcohol company announced that it had purchased the hometown company Alex Lemonides

John Graves spoke at a public hearing about an overlay district for the historically black neighborhoods in Sag Harbor Village Christopher Gangemi

SAG HARBOR

Voters Say Yes to Land Buy

BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON

The Sag Harbor School District’s bid to buy five wooded lots on Marsden Street for the purpose of creating new athletic fields passed last Thursday by a vote of 638 to 521

The outcome means that residents have given the district the green light to spend $3 325 million from its reserves toward the deal, which relies on a $6 million contribution from Southampton Town s community preservation fund That contribution is still under consid eration by the Southampton Town Board which has yet to hold the re quired public hearing and vote to final ize the arrangement

The runup to last Thursday s vote was marked by tense discourse that di vided the community As has been the case in past school district votes, contro versy was reflected in the voter turnout

A similarly controversial proposal in 2016 to put a turf playing field at the school saw a nearly identical turnout but failed by a wide margin In this case just over 55 percent of voters were in favor of the land buy

I m very relieved This is for gener ations to come ” said Sandi Kruel the Sag Harbor School Board president “This is a momentous accolade for the district that has been years in the mak ing, and I m so happy to be a part of it At least eight people spent about an hour hand counting the paper ballots Electronic voting machines were not available to the district because of how close the vote was to Tuesday’s midterm elections for state and federal offices Ms Kruel and Jeff Nichols the dis trict superintendent reiterated their commitment to seeking extensive pub lic comment before any decisions are

made on the structure and surface of fu ture athletic fields Mr Nichols thanked the voters I m looking forward to the next stage of the process, he said

During a school board meeting on Monday, several speakers questioned the outcome of the vote “Those re sponsible for counting the vote [were] cheering the conclusion of the count They weren t necessarily unbiased, said Karen Arrigoni who also alleged that school employees were handing out fliers the morning of the vote urging people to vote yes

Alex Kriegsman a school board member, responded by saying, No body handed anything out on behalf of the school This is a process that was vetted by counsel and by the time we got to the vote, everyone was well aware of what the issues were and the community has now spoken and voted in favor of it ”

Ray Pepe, another speaker, asserted that the voters have not “spoken in a resolute way, because 55 percent to 45 percent is not a unanimous ‘ yes we want to do this

“We would like to think the school would open up the discussion in a tru ly democratic way to let the commu nity speak and have a discussion about what we really think about plans that the school might have, which have not been put forth in any detail as yet ” Mr Pepe said

During a follow up conversation on Tuesday, Mr Nichols reiterated that there are no concrete plans yet and he repeated the district s commitment to doing exactly the kind of outreach Mr Pepe said he was hoping for “The next step is garnering commu

Kids Culture

School Breaks With Project Most

For working parents or families seeking kids activities when school s out, Project Most has announced that registration is open for its three vacation learning labs: the day before Thanksgiving, winter break in February, and spring break in April

The days are filled with fun, outdoor play, and lots of activities, in cluding art, cooking, games, sewing, dance, Lego play, and music, Project Most said in an announcement The programs have been known to fill up fast, so the organization suggests registering soon

The programs are for kids in prekindergarten through sixth grade They take place at Project Most s temporary location at the Most Holy Trinity school building on Meadow Way in East Hampton Village The Nov 23 single day session costs $75, and the five day programs in February and April cost $380 for the week Siblings receive a 25 percent discount and a limited number of scholarships are available Details and registration links are online at projectmost org Jacqueline Gravina Wohlleb is the contact for more information at jacqueline@project most org

More for Kids and Teens

Amagansett Library Robotics with visiting Long Island Science Center educators for students in fourth through sixth grades, Saturday, 1 4 p m All about foxes with stories and painting for kids ages 4 to 7, Saturday, 3 p m Sixth grade book club meeting Monday 3:30 4:30 p m Navigating College Admis sions Successfully Zoom presentation for teens, Wednesday, 7 8 p m , 631 267 3810 amagansettlibrary org

Children’s Museum of the East End Bridgehampton Thanksgiving and Grooving, Nov 23, 2 4 p m , $25 ($5 for museum members) Katherine Holabird presents “Angelina Ballerina ” Saturday Nov 26, 10:30 11:30 a m , $19 (free for museum members) Gingerbread house decorating for families Saturdays Dec 3 and 10 45 minute ses sions at 10 and 11:15 a m , $35, 631 537 8250, cmee org

East Hampton Library Chess for teens (must have working knowledge of the game) Sunday 2 4 p m Wiggle and Giggle Time for babies and toddlers up to age 3, Monday 11:30 a m noon Teen Advisory Board meeting Monday 3:30 4:30 p m D I Y tape art for kids in sixth through eighth grades, Tuesday, 4 5 p m Thanksgiving cornucopia craft for ages 3 to 6, Wednesday, 4 5 p m No sew fleece blanket community service project for teens Wednesday, 5 6 p m Make your own lip balm for children 5 and up (with adult caregiver) next Thursday 4 5 p m 631 324 0222 easthamptonli brary org

Hampton Library, Bridgehampton Heat press crafting for kids in sixth grade and up Tuesday 3:30 5 p m Council of Young Adults meeting, next Thursday, 3:30 5 p m Paper foot ball STEM project for kids 8 to 12 next Thursday 4 5 p m 631 537 0015, myhamptonlibrary org

John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor Minecraft Club for kids 8 to 11 (drop off program) Saturday 2 3:30 p m STEM straw rockets for students in kindergarten through sixth grade (with adult caregiver if under 10) Sunday 1 2 p m Hourlong virtual re ality tours of the International Space Station for grades six through 12, by reservation Wednesday through Friday Nov 18 3 5:30 p m Quogue Wildlife Refuge art class for students in first through sixth grades (with adult caregiver if under 10), next Thursday, 4 4:45 p m , 631 725 0049, johnjermain org

Montauk Library Apple pie baking for families, Saturday, 2 4 p m Youth chess club, Tues day 3:30 4:30 p m 631 668 3377 montauklibrary org

Sag Harbor Cinema

The Princess Diaries (rated G), screenings on Saturday and Sunday, times to be announced ticket purchase required 631 725 0010 saghar borcinema org

South Fork Natural History Museum, Bridgehampton “Create your own animal superhero story” for kids 5 and up Saturday 10:30 a m , $10 children, $15 adults, free for museum members Walking Dunes exploration in Amagansett for ages 5 and up Sunday 10:30 a m $10 children, $15 adults, free for museum members, 631 537 9736, sofo org

Southampton Arts Center

Native American walking stick workshop for kids and families Sunday 3 4:30 p m , $15, $10 for arts center members), 631 283 0967, southamp tonartscenter org

The Church Sag Harbor Marionette workshop for kids 8 and up (with adult caregiver; adults not required to take part in program) Sunday 2 5 p m $30 631 919 5342 thechurchsagharbor org

nity feedback, which ultimately is going to guide the capital improvement proj ect and the bond that finances it,” Mr Nichols said We re trying to focus on ways to increase outreach efforts ”

He said the district has kept all of the paper ballots cast by voters includ ing the 78 absentee ballots, locked up in a safe place

For Southampton Town s part of the deal originally put forth in writing on June 24 by Lisa Kombrink of the town s C P F committee Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said by phone on Tues day that it may have been a somewhat premature offer

“We wanted to see how that vote went with the school, and now we have

to decide I know there are people who say it is not a good use of C P F dollars but there was a time when the town did help the East Quogue school build ath letic facilities It wasn’t using the C P F , but it did set some precedent I m not sure it’s a bad precedent ”

However, he said, when it was first brought to the town board it felt more like a community park that we were building together with the school very multipurpose Now it feels like the school’s athletic facilities that they’re asking for the town to help with, with ancillary or secondary public use Where we go from here, I m not sure I need more information before I would be ready to set a public hearing

For the ‘Seal of Biliteracy’

Continued from A1 the first and second grade dual language cohorts slightly outpaced the general education and integrated cohorts in as cending the reading level scale Chil dren not enrolled in the dual language program have Spanish lessons two to three times a week in a curriculum known as foreign language for elemen tary students, or FLES for short In a survey of parents who signed up for the opt in program, more than 80 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with it, 89 percent said they are seeing progress in their children’s development of skills in their non na tive language, and about 86 percent re ported seeing their children “show ex citement about learning another lan guage ” Not every participating family responded to the survey

Richard Burns, who retired in June 2021 after nearly nine years as East Hampton s very popular superintend ent spoke up not as a school adminis trator, but as the proud grandfather of a dual language student He implored his former colleagues to find the re sources to expand it, saying that this program is working I know you’ll find a solution somehow Every school district is facing this but we always rise to the challenge

Marissa Cangiolosi, who has a son in the dual language cohort told the school board, You re literally growing their brains in this program ” She said she was learning along with him

“Communication is freedom When you are giving people another lan guage to speak, you are giving people freedom to communicate and pow er We want to provide that to as many students as we can ”

Jorge Cruz who is originally from Costa Rica and has a third grader in the dual language program thanked the school district for offering it I think it s a wonderful job that you guys are doing It s a tremendous amount of work, he said, calling the program a big service to the Spanish speaking community Addressing the many Spanish speaking families in the room he urged them to get more involved in the school We are not doing that enough,” he said

Along with the pros of the program administrators acknowledged some cons It’s usually hard to hire excellent

bilingual teachers they said though that has started to change And the school’s relatively small elementary school enrollment (by Long Island stan dards) means students who opt in to the program are almost guaranteed to spend all of their years at John Marshall with the same group of classmates and their peers in general and integrated class rooms will be grouped in a similar way

One parent who did not identify her self said she had pulled her son out of the program one of seven third grade families who had done so since kinder garten Please do whatever is best for your child but please look at the oth er side, she said It wasn t the best for my son to start off that way, plus he does have an I E P [individualized education program] That program was not right for all learners the support is not nec essarily there for that type of learner

School board members were frank about one of the challenges associat ed with expanding the program: find ing room in the budget to hire more teachers

When we put this program in place, there was not money to do it for fourth and fifth grades We wanted to do the program, so we said, Let s start it as a pilot, said Jackie Lowey, a school board member

She recalled years when East Hamp ton was forced to lay off teachers under the constraints of the tax cap legislation, and a board colleague, Christina DeSan ti, explained that the current dual lan guage teachers were hired without im pacting the budget because other, long term teachers had retired J P Foster the board president called it “ money that we will do our best to find ” but cited the tax cap rules which require a supermajority of at least 60 percent voter approval to pass an over the cap budget “We can pierce the cap ” he said “If that’s where we go then we ’ re going to need your help to do so because parents are the ones who do vote ”

Toward the end of the meeting he added “We’re not going to not support something that you guys want ”

A partition had to be opened up and more chairs added on Monday night for a special school board meeting in the East Hampton High School library ad dressing the John M Marshall Elementary School s dual language program Christine Sampson

At least eight people spent close to an hour last Thursday night counting paper ballots in the Sag Harbor School District’s vote on the purchase of five wooded lots on Marsden Street for an athletic field Christine Sampson

Sag Harbor Village Mayor James Larocca recently recognized Pierson Middle School students for their advocacy efforts and classroom work about making healthy choices and preventing drug abuse during Red Ribbon Week, which is celebrated the last week of October Sag Harbor School District

Continued from A1

“He came here to study ” said Mrs Samtani, not for you to take his life away ”

Her husband then stepped up to the podium and, in a soft voice, thanked Jus tice Ambro for reversing a promise he had made to Mr Campbell in August that the young man would not face any jail time Justice Ambro revised his ear lier sentencing decision only after infor mation about Mr Campbell’s recent driving record came to light

The U K Daily Mail reported in late September that Mr Campbell “has racked up a catalogue of reckless driving violations that included causing a head on crash in White Plains in 2021 after go ing the wrong way down a one way street and getting caught speeding just weeks before the Amagansett accident In addressing the court, Mr Samtani highlighted a contentious aspect of this case: the speed at which Mr Campbell was driving when he struck Devesh Mr Samtani was unsatisfied that Mr Camp bell had never admitted he was speeding when he struck Devesh

Through his attorneys, Mr Campbell has asserted he was not speeding an assertion apparently borne out by a Suf folk County grand jury and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, which after interviewing numerous wit nesses, did not charge Mr Campbell with any reckless driving related charge Mr Campbell was ultimately charged

with and convicted on a single criminal count leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a class D felony in New York State punishable by up to sev en years in prison Prosecutors had sought at least a year of jail time for Mr Campbell

Edward Burke Mr Campbell’s attor ney in this case described his client to the court as a quiet and shy young man who was not the monster he was made out to be and who had a history of poor coping skills and other psychological conditions associated with post concus sion syndrome Mr Campbell had suf fered numerous concussions through his involvement in high school sports, he told reporters after the hearing Mr Burke offered that he did not raise these issues to “make excuses ” for Mr Campbell, who had already admitted his guilt and responsibility in the accident He did reiterate however that given that there were no drugs or alcohol in play nor any charges of reckless driving or speeding his client had simply panicked and left the scene of the accident and badly regretted doing so Moving forward, Mr Burke said his client “would like to speak to young peo ple about how one bad decision can to tally change your life Now it was Mr Campbell’s turn He slowly unfolded a white piece of paper and thanked the judge for the opportu nity to address the grieving family “I am truly sorry for ruining your

When Warriors Become Peacekeepers

Continued from A1 In military parlance the “rules of en gagement are radically different for domestic peacekeepers than for active duty service members in a hostile and foreign land The SEALs he said were going against people with weapons who want to kill you and hurt your country, as opposed to in policing, where it’s people who are down on their luck, or just kids, not a grown up using their head You’re not going to ‘win ’ you re going to keep the peace and al leviate the situation ”

His favorite part of the job, said Offi cer Shea is the camaraderie among of ficers, and the helping is great Least favorite? He’s not so hot on having to is sue all those traffic tickets

Returning veterans may suffer from P T S D or traumatic brain injury, adding a profound wrinkle for law en forcement agencies looking to recruit veterans Officer Shea, who did not experience either affliction pointed out that veter ans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan have a range of support services that just didn t exist for those who fought in World War II, Korea, or Vietnam Policing, however, comes with trau mas and stresses all its own the old trope is that you re pretty much dealing

with people in crisis and at their worst, on a day by day basis Officers are usu ally first on the scene in serious car ac cidents or other catastrophes that can come with bloodshed, burns, and death

“As far as seeing bad stuff ” said Of ficer Shea, that stuff is going to happen, and you have to roll with the punches ” Patrick Royal also works as a police officer for the town He has been on the force since 2018 after a career in the Coast Guard Officer Royal had a unique advantage given his service with the Coast Guard which is the only one of the five military branches that can exe cute federal law over civilians without a decree of martial law

To that extent said Officer Royal there are similarities between service in the Coast Guard and on the police force You re looking out for drunks on the water there are rescues at sea of civil ians, drug arrests He also performed police functions while deployed over seas, working in counter piracy and “teaching the Iraqis how to be a better Coast Guard for themselves

“The law enforcement background from the military really did translate quite easily into being a police officer,” said Officer Royal who initially worked as a town harbormaster for a year before going to the police academy Officer Royal, 36, who hails from

Also on the Logs

East Hampton Village

A 14 year old boy told police that his $235 Adidas Essentials hoodie had been stolen from a basketball court in the village on Friday The boy’s mother said this had been happening a lot though the manager of the unidentified business where the court is located said there had been no other recent reports of thefts

A man was creating a disturbance on and around a Suffolk County Transportation bus last Thursday night according to a caller who said the man was walking on and off the bus while it was parked and walking around the bus when it started up, distracting the driver Police responded, but did not find the man

Two youths were reportedly shooting paintball guns near the playground at Herrick Park early last Thursday evening Police couldn’t find them but did discover some round blue gel beads in the area Four people entered London Jewelers on Nov 2, two of whom said they wanted to buy a watch They picked one out then showed a manager a picture of a credit card on a phone and said they d pay for the watch that way When the manager asked for a physical copy of the credit card the would be buyers couldn t produce it The four left the store; the watch stayed behind The manager wanted the incident documented

An East Hampton man reported credit card fraud on Nov 2 after some one booked a room at a Ramada hotel using his credit card information The man contacted the hotel after finding the charge on his bank statement and canceled the card, which had been charged for two nights at $137 per night

A Flanders resident told village police on the day after Halloween that someone had stolen a license plate from his 2000 Volkswagen

Two East Hampton women who police said were “in their 50s ” were yelling at each other at the train station on the afternoon of Oct 31 One had beeped her horn at the other while she was trying to park according to the police report The beeper then got out of her car and began scream ing at the parker Both told police their brief confrontation was purely ver bal and they were instructed to stay away from each other

lives ” he told the courtroom full of Sam tani friends and family He expressed profound regret for leaving the scene of the accident and said he had played the night out thousands of times in his head over the past year He was an guished, he said, by not being able to express his remorse to the family until last Thursday’s hearing I would give anything to change the outcome of that night ” Mr Campbell said as he evoked his victim and began to weep

“I prayed and mourned” he said re flecting on the family s loving descrip tions of Devesh and how good of a per son he was The loss of your son ’ s life will be with me forever

Justice Ambro then addressed the court and explained his change of heart insofar as he was now sending Mr Campbell to jail after promising him he wouldn t

Describing the incident as a very tragic car accident ” Justice Ambro not ed that Mr Campbell had not commit ted nor been charged with any crime pri or to or associated with the accident

There was no allegation of speeding and no criminality with regard to how he was driving said Justice Ambro He also noted that even as he fled the scene, Mr Campbell’s departure didn’t play a role in whether Devesh received prompt medical attention That was also a factor in his now revoked promise to Mr Campbell, he said

Justice Ambro said he did not know of Mr Campbell’s prior driving record until after the hearing in August when he had made that promise That infor mation came to him later, via a letter from the Suffolk County District Attor ney ’ s Office on Sept 8 and another from a Samtani family lawyer, Benjamin Braf man on Sept 18

“I believe the sentence is fair and rea sonable under the facts and circum stances of this case ” Justice Ambro con cluded before announcing Mr Camp bell s punishment, which, along with the jail time community service and proba tion, includes a revocation of his driver s license and a $2 138 fine

Justice Ambro along with Mr Camp bell s parents and attorneys, quickly de parted from the courtroom after the sen tence was announced Silence descended as court officers asked the gathering of Samtani friends and family to wait a few moments before they, too, exited

For a few minutes the only sound in the room was of teary sniffles and of handcuffs clicking into place as Mr Campbell was escorted from the courtroom

South Boston joined the Coast Guard in 2005, having committed himself to join the service as a high schooler after the events of Sept 11 2001 He served in Hawaii ( Boston with palm trees ), then at Coast Guard Station Montauk for three years beginning in 2006, then in Iraq where he was homeported at a U S military installation in Bahrain Re turning stateside, he served in North Carolina and then in New Hampshire before moving back to the East End Officer Royal’s wife is from the area

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D C law makers created the Department of Homeland Security and put the Coast Guard under that multiagency umbrella

creating a somewhat bifurcated role for the branch which was tasked as be fore, to deal with civilian issues in local waters but now also faced deployments to Iraq and other conflict zones

That s right, we were under D H S ” said Officer Royal “but while we were there, we were essentially on loan to the Department of Defense ”

The big difference between military and civilian law enforcement, he said, was that in the Coast Guard “ you are a much smaller cog in the machine and when you ’ re a smaller cog you don t see the end result as much, you don’t really see it until the end But on the local level in policing, you get to see things to the end and have an ef fect on the community in both positive and negative ways and by negative, I mean you have encounters with peo ple who get arrested Officer Royal echoed some of what his colleague Officer Shea said when it comes to unpleasant encounters with civilians who may be suspicious of po lice and policing

The divisiveness gripping this nation extends to views on law enforcement that may be impacted by events such as George Floyd’s death or the advent of far right Constitutional sheriffs and the domestic terrorists who call them selves the Oath Keepers, who often draw from the ranks of the military and law enforcement

The great thing about this country is that the First Amendment goes a long way, said Officer Royal Some people like to tell cops eff you go eff yourself it is true but in the military you don t really have that because the show of force is just so much larger Here, on the street, it s just one or two guys When you show respect you get respect Every once in a while you ll get anti cop folks but those are generally peo ple who are running into the police more often anyway Ninety nine per cent of the people out here love the po lice they are happy to see you, glad you are out there ”

But in East Hampton, said Officer Royal just as in Iraq “ you can’t win the hearts and minds of everybody

Effort to Educate Police About Autism

BY TOM GOGOLA

On a recent afternoon police officers from Sag Harbor and East Hampton Vil lages and the Town of East Hampton gathered at town headquarters in Wain scott to collect “GoBags ” designed to assist officers who may encounter spe cial needs children or adults

The GoBags are the brainchild of Kim Covell founder of the Flying Point Foundation for Autism in Southampton which aims to educate and inform the public about people who fall along the autism spectrum

Ms Covell the parent of an autistic adult, told reporters that while she hopes police never have to utilize the GoBags, they’re a valuable add on should an of ficer encounter an autistic person in cri sis or engaged in some sort of criminality I have always been aware that any mi nor emergency involving my son could go off the rails in a heartbeat ” she said

The bags contain such items as white boards and markers, to assist in commu nication with nonverbal people; head phones “to block an overload of noise ” sunglasses, and fidget toys, which can al lay anxiety and serve as an effective dis traction device There’s also a card that provides information on how to interact with people who have autism, along with stickers that parents can put in their cars or homes telling the unaware that a special needs person is present

The autism spectrum is by now a well known catchphrase, but there’s also a spectrum of sensitivity in policing when it comes to officers interactions with vulnerable persons Their needs have of late been caught up in the po litical and media fueled debate over de funding the police which as a practical local matter may mean redeploying re sources to social workers and others trained to deal with autistic or other spe cial needs persons

In the absence of effective cross agency cooperation between law en forcement and human services agen cies police find themselves all too often in the role of social workers

At one end of that spectrum of sensi tivity in policing are humane and small p progressive police agencies such as the East Hampton Village Police Depart ment, which has adopted a raft of best practice protocols to address the needs of the various communities it serves Parents, of course, have a big role to play in ensuring that their special needs children are protected from excessive police force because of a lack of under standing but so do citizens who en counter what they think is a “suspicious person ” but who may in fact be a person with autism

Almost every week, crime reports from Sag Harbor East Hampton Village and the Town of East Hampton contain calls to police about suspicious per sons, who turn out, when officers show up to be anything but

When it comes to those calls East Hampton Village Police Chief Michael Tracey said it s up to dispatchers to get the information correct with no embel lishment or assumptions Then it’s up to the judgement of the responding offi cers to determine their approach

“Our guys have gotten good at dialing it back while maintaining a safe correct posture, said Chief Tracey Our em phasis is on de escalation, so it is enor mously important that we hire people with good communications skills A safe posture is important, but having a clear picture of what you re walking into and what you ’ re not walking into is key and why it’s so important that dispatch is ac curate

Ms Covell suggested at the recent GoBag giveaway that East Hampton may want to consider adopting a registry of special needs children in the area to give police one more important tool

“We deal with a wide variety of peo ple ” said Sgt Kenneth Alversa of the town police, during the GoBag event

Some families are actively engaged in protecting their special needs children from unnecessary encounters with po lice We ve had families reach out to let us know they ve moved to our jurisdic tion ” said Sergeant Alversa

Special needs children’s encounters with police can, and have, gone horribly awry elsewhere In 2020, CNN reported that an autistic 13 year old boy was shot by police in Salt Lake City after his mother called to request a crisis inter vention team to assist with her son, who was having behavioral issues Instead the boy was Tasered and then shot Closer to home and at the very far and ugly end of the sensitivity spectrum, it s hard to look away from the recent case in Center Moriches where a former N Y P D officer, Michael Valva, left his 8 year old autistic son in a freezing garage overnight as punishment for his behavior The boy died of exposure Mr Valva was convicted last week of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison

That case is clearly an outlier, but it raises a larger issue about training East Hampton officers do receive crisis inter vention training at the county police academy but when it comes to training that s specific to persons on the autism spectrum, Chief Tracey said that there is not a lot of police training in that par ticular area given by the police agencies the academy, or in service, and we could certainly use more of it ”

The chief praised his department’s work with and presence in the local schools he’s a former and longtime East Hampton School Board member noting that the agency often relies on its partners in the schools in social services and in other agencies “who deal with a broader group of cus tomers,’ so to speak, than we do There’s no absolute formula for dealing with anyone with regard to their age or if they are on the spectrum, but we are not shy about calling for help or guid ance

That said, Chief Tracey also empha sized community engagement as a key to maintaining a de escalatory posture whenever possible “We have to have a lot of connections in that area, because if you call us, we are coming, he said Mr Tracey has championed a change in current state law that would allow lo cal law enforcement, rather than strictly adhering to civil service lists to have a say in who gets hired to the police force much as school officials and boards are now making the decision when it comes to hiring teachers

There should be a way that we can broaden our hiring ” so that it’s more re flective and sensitive to the particulars of this community, he said “I’m not saying turn hiring over to the community but the schools did it years ago

Chief Tracey also highlighted his de partment’s ongoing cooperation with the town s anti bias task force and the Family Services League of Suffolk County which he said has helped keep a number of mentally challenged peo ple from being sent to psychiatric units following a police encounter Such dis ruptions can be especially damaging to autistic persons for whom routine is a key factor in their well being

That best practice approach involves officers calling in partners in the men tal health community who can assist in making an informed assessment of their state of mind and can give you ad vice as to whether a person needs to be driven to a medical facility or doesn t, Chief Tracey said

This training he added “is actually helping us reduce the number of people who get transferred to Stony Brook or another psychiatric unit ” He particular ly pointed out the benefit to someone who is saved from that ride because they maybe didn’t see their doctor did n t fill a prescription

But, he said, there is always more that can be done for East Hampton’s spe cial needs citizens We don t have enough of that on Long Island and we have even less of it on the East End ”

Few Details in Hit-and-Run

Yomira Neira Andrade of East Hamp ton was crossing Old Fireplace Road near Springs Fireplace Road in Springs last Thursday afternoon when a vehicle of unknown make and model struck her from behind The driver left the scene and has not yet been identified Ms Neira Andrade 27 was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for unspecified injuries

A glaring sun was the culprit in Mon tauk on Nov 2 when Mitchell Marsicano of East Moriches drove his 2007 Lexus into the back of a 2008 Ford pickup driv en by Romulo Guichey of East Hamp ton Mr Marsicano was westbound on Route 27 just before 7 p m when the accident occurred He was checked out by medical personnel for a laceration to the mouth but refused further medical assistance T G

Someone Called the Police

Deborah Trezza of Centereach, 32, was driving a 2006 Nissan eastbound on Amagansett Main Street near Mianko ma Avenue on the morning of Oct 29 when someone called police with a tip about an erratic driver Officers said they saw Ms Trezza swerving and tailgating the car ahead of

her They pulled her over and reported that her speech was slurred she appeared disoriented, her eyes were glassy, her pupils were dilated she had poor coordi nation and she was unsteady on her feet Ms Trezza was charged with driving while impaired by drugs a first offense misdemeanor T G

Daniel Campbell, second from left, entered the Arthur Cromarty Criminal Court Complex in Riverside last Thursday for his sentencing hearing in the 2021 hit and run accident that led to the death of Devesh Samtani Tom Gogola

Kim Covell an autism activist and the executive director of the Flying Point Foundation for Autism, presented GoBags to, from left, Sag Harbor Police Lt Robert Drake East Hampton Town Sgt Kenneth Alversa and East Hampton Village Lt Greg Brown at town police headquarters on Nov 1 Durell Godfrey

Civil Contempt Is Charged

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH

The war of words between attorneys over the 4,000-foot stretch of Napeague ocean beach popularly known as Truck Beach continued this week, when an attorney for the homeowners associations who successfully sued East Hampton Town and the town trustees to assert that their property deeds extend to the mean high-water mark of the beach submitted a motion to hold the trustees in civil contempt.

On Monday, Stephen Angel, representing five homeowners associations, asked the New York State Supreme Court to hold the trustees in civil contempt of the Appellate Division’s Feb. 3, 2021, ruling that overturned the court’s 2016 decision holding that the trustees’ 1882 conveyance of some 1,000 acres on Napeague to Arthur Benson reserved the public’s right to access the beach for fishing and fishing-related purposes.

The trustees, he wrote, should also be held in contempt of an April 2021 modified judgment, a June 2021 temporary restraining order, and a June 2022 order finding the town and trustees in civil and criminal contempt of the judgment “on the ground that the trustees, acting through their counsel, Daniel G. Rodgers, Esq., and acting in collusion with various individuals, including Daniel Lester, are publicly denying the validity of — and actively encouraging others to violate — the aforesaid orders and judgment.”

The trustees are not Mr. Rodgers’s client, Francis Bock, clerk of the trustees, said on Tuesday. Rather, in the Truck Beach matter they are represented by the Hodgson Russ firm.

Mr. Rodgers did, however, defend 14 East Hampton fishermen, including Mr. Lester, on charges of trespassing stemming from an October 2021 act of civil disobedience, when they and others drove trucks and a dory across the beach in question before being issued summonses by Marine Patrol agents.

The matter was transferred to Southampton Town Justice Court after East Hampton Town Justices Steven Tekulsky and Lisa Rana recused themselves. With none of the property owners filing a complaint, charges against the 14 fishermen were dismissed last month.

The trustees, Mr. Angel charged, “have actually ramped up their contempt of the injunction by taking it to an open rebellion against the court’s authority.” He said that Mr. Rodgers, whom he repeatedly identifies as the trustees’ counsel, “has acted as someone on a mission to defy the court’s authority, by taking to the airwaves, brazenly insulting the court, including the Hon. Paul J. Baisley Jr., personally, by publicly declaring the court’s orders and judgment to be ineffective, and, worse, by encouraging the public to violate the injunction in a show of civil disobedience.”

Mr. Rodgers had declared the dismissal of trespassing charges a victory and encouraged town residents to access the beach. “We have the reserva-

tion, and that is a legal property right that belongs not just to baymen, not just to recreational fisherman, it belongs to 28,000 people who live in the Town of East Hampton,” he said outside the courthouse.

Mr. Angel wrote that, although the Benson deed reserved to town residents “the right to land fish boats and netts to spread the netts in the adjacent sands and care for the fish and material,” the Appellate Division ruled that the reservation cannot be construed as broadly as the trustees and town do, attempting to justify vehicular use on the beach by claiming that it was authorized by the reservation. “Rather, the reservation is in the nature of an easement allowing the public to use the homeowners associations’ portion of the beach only for fishing and fishing-related purposes.”

But much of his submission reads like a plea to Justice Baisley to take offense at Mr. Rodgers’s statements in the wake of the dismissal of his clients’ trespassing charges. While representing the trustees, Mr. Angel wrote, Mr. Rodgers “has ratcheted up his disobedience to an astounding level of disdain, disrespect, and contumacious behavior unbefitting any officer of the court.”

Mr. Angel, Mr. Bock said on Tuesday, “knows for a fact that we’re not [Mr. Rodgers’s] client. So this is just a game, to get us to spend more money, probably another cut to try to bleed us. That’s my opinion.”

“This entire filing is replete with complaints about our being vocal, nothing more,” Mr. Rodgers said on Tuesday. Mr. Angel’s motion “went on for six to eight pages about newspaper articles where I and Daniel were quoted. They’re calling that contempt. They didn’t once claim in their brief that somebody was harmed because they went on the beach. All they did was bemoan the bad press.” The plaintiffs, he said, “are trying to spoon-feed Baisley to see how far he will go. But this is nothing more than speech.”

Like Mr. Rodgers, Daniel Spitzer of Hodgson Russ said the plaintiffs “seem to be complaining about the exercise of First Amendment rights by an advocate who, by the way, does not represent the trustees.”

The trustees, he noted, had issued a statement following the dismissal of the residents’ trespassing charges. The trustees “were pleased to see the dismissal of the charges . . . and congratulate the residents of the homeowners association who refuse to file any trespassing claims against the group of people who were doing no more than trying to support their family.” The statement reminded the public “that an injunction remains in place regarding this dispute, and the trustees who have issued no permits nor taken any other steps in any way encouraging or supporting any action in violation of the injunction, will continue to press in all legal forums the right of the public to use these lands” as they have for more than 300 years.

“I just think the whole thing is inappropriate,” Mr. Spitzer said of Mr. Angel’s motion.

Mr. Rodgers was blunt. “They can go to hell,” he said of the homeowners associations. “We’re not going anywhere. They’re not going to bully us, and they’re not going to intimidate us.”

Hochul Bests Zeldin in Governor’s Race

Continued from A1 Hochul on her election. “Those controlling Albany should take note,” he said. “New Yorkers of all walks of life are sick of the tracks on their wallets, their safety, their freedoms, and the quality of their kids’ education and are hitting the breaking point, as proven by these results. As they take office in January, Gov. Kathy Hochul and those controlling Albany must address the grave concerns voiced by the voters.”

Mr. Zeldin will apparently leave government at year’s end, having given up his seat in the House of Representatives to run for governor. The Republican Nick LaLota will take his place in the House of Representatives, having bested County Legislator Bridget Fleming of Southampton 55.81 percent to 44.09 percent. That race is covered elsewhere in today’s paper.

The Suffolk County Board of Elections website had posted no results as of 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and the New York State Board of Elections site had no results listed for Suffolk County either, the lack of online reporting likely the result of a September malware attack that crippled the county’s computer systems.

The county board of elections sent 48,635 mail ballots to voters, and had received 32,167 as of Monday. Mail ballots had to be postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 8, and must be received by the board of elections by Tuesday, Nov. 15, in order to be counted, so an official tally is several days to several weeks away.

Votes cast during the early voting period, Oct. 29 through Sunday, were to be tallied and made public after Tuesday’s 9 p.m. close of polling stations. They were scanned as they were received, a board of elections official told The Star on Tuesday, but would not be tallied until after the polls closed.

A host of government functions and policies hinge on the contest, including gun policy, criminal justice, and abortion rights, though Mr. Zeldin downplayed any influence he could have had on the latter. His focus was on violent crime, which he made a centerpiece of his campaign. A shooting near his residence last month underscored his message.

Attorneys for the family of a man shot and killed by New York City police officers in 2018 issued a cease-and-desist letter over one of Mr. Zeldin’s campaign advertisements which depicts the man’s

final moments. The ad claims to show “actual violent crimes caught on camera in Kathy Hochul’s New York,” though the incident occurred three years before she became governor.

Mr. Zeldin’s campaign is also under investigation by the State Board of Elections regarding potential violation of state law for coordinating with two political action committees supporting his candidacy. And the cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, who owns an estate in Wainscott, has emerged as a lead donor to those organizations, known as superPACs, spending more than $11 million to elect Mr. Zeldin, The New York Times reported this week.

Mr. Lauder is an opponent of the plan to land the South Fork Wind Farm’s export cable in Wainscott, a project Governor Hochul supports. She was among the officials taking part in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the wind farm at LTV Studios in Wainscott in February.

While most polls showed the governor, running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, leading her Republican and Conservative Party challenger, the race tightened considerably in leadup to Election Day, with Mr. Zeldin predicting a “red tsunami” that would sweep him into office amid midterm elections that almost always favor the party that does not control the White House. A handful of polls put Mr. Zeldin ahead of or tied with the governor, but Ms. Hochul never trailed in the majority of polling firms’ prognostications.

The candidates disagreed on virtually everything in their sole debate on Oct. 25. The governor repeatedly tied the congressman to former President Trump and the effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat, while Mr. Zeldin, who would not utter the former president’s name, called Ms. Hochul pro-criminal and corrupt.

Mr. Zeldin supported Mr. Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results after his defeat, voting against certifying the results in two states on Jan. 6, 2021, hours after the insurrection at the United States Capitol, encouraged and cheered by the defeated former president. Previously, he defended Mr. Trump through two impeachments and, in December 2020, filed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to disenfranchise some 20 million voters in four states won by President Biden.

Housing Gets Solid ‘Yes’ Votes

Continued from A1 Should passage become official, buyers of a property would pay the .5-percent transfer tax, with the first $400,000 exempt for houses that cost up to $2 million, beyond which the full purchase price would be taxable. Firsttime home buyers would be exempt. Money could be spent to buy land and buildings, pay for town-led or publicprivate construction projects for sale or rent, rehabilitate existing buildings, provide down payment and other financial assistance to buyers, offer loans to construct accessory dwelling units, create housing for employees of local businesses, purchase individual units within existing multiunit housing complexes, and offer housing counseling.

“I am very proud that East Hampton voters supported Proposition 3 with a resounding ‘yes,’ “ Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in a text message yesterday. “The funds raised will be a significant part of the town board’s ‘All Hands on Housing’ effort to address the housing crisis here in East Hampton.”

In another ballot proposition, New York State voters authorized the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022. According to the state board of elections website, with 13,065 of 14,245 elections

districts reporting as of yesterday morning, the proposition was passing decisively with 59.02 percent in favor and 28.83 percent opposed.

The act will authorize the sale of New York State bonds up to $4.2 billion to pay for environmental protection, natural restoration, resiliency, and clean energy projects to reduce the impact of climate change. Capital projects that could be funded include restoration and flood risk reduction (at least $1.1 billion), open space land conservation and recreation (up to $650 million), climate change mitigation (up to $1.5 billion), and water quality improvement and resilient infrastructure (at least $650 million).

In a third proposition, Suffolk voters were overwhelmingly in favor of a proposition to amend the county charter to set a term limit of 12 years in total, served consecutively or non-consecutively, for the offices of county executive and county legislator. The Suffolk County Board of Elections website showed 438,755 votes in favor and just 72,027 opposed, or 85.9 percent to 14.1 percent, with 1,042 of 1,058 districts reporting.

WITH REPORTING BY CARISSA KATZ

The Tangled Tale of Two Towers

Continued from A1 ing that and will put that alternative design to the planning board when it’s ready.” Mr. Irace didn’t offer a timeline, but noted that emergency response communications are integrated with wireless. “The line between radio and wireless and their necessity is getting blurrier and blurrier,” said Mr. Irace. Improving cell service would also improve the emergency response in Springs.

The Springs Fire Department’s quest for an emergency communications tower at its 179 Fort Pond Boulevard property began in October 2014 when the department and its tower contractor, Elite Towers, applied to the town for two building permits. Permits were granted for a 150-foot tower.

“The town had previously issued permits for the Amagansett Fire Department tower and the Montauk Fire Department tower. It was pretty routine fire district stuff,” said Mr. Irace.

Since then, much has transpired. The building permits were revoked by the town’s zoning board of appeals in late 2015, after neighbor opposition. By then, the pole was built, though not operational. The Springs Fire Department sued the town over the Z.B.A. decision in January 2016. Four and a half years later, in May 2020, the state Supreme Court upheld the Z.B.A.’s decision.

In the meantime, the town began an emergency communications system upgrade, hired Cityscape, a wireless consultant, and explored other locations for a pole, including the Crandall-Norfolk woods, which was also torpedoed by neighborhood opposition. It wasn’t until August of 2021 that Camp Blue Bay became a real option. Previously, the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, which owns the 172-acre parcel, were not interested in a new tower on their property.

During a six-month sequence beginning in May 2018, the fire department met with the town supervisor and others, and discussed moving the town’s police communications equipment to the fire department pole. But the current 150-foot pole wasn’t tall enough. Eddie Schnell, the communications technician for the town police, worked with the fire department to engineer a taller tower, telling the department that it needed to be 180 feet. Later, after meeting with the planning board, he said it could be 163 feet.

“We don’t have faith in the town’s telecommunications engineering,” said Mr. Irace. “The town has changed the details and specifications of what’s needed on the pole multiple times.”

In July 2019, the fire district submitted a new plan for a 185-foot monopole for emergency communications equipment at a new location on the property.

It also agreed to remove the previously built 150-foot pole. A year later, the Planning Department ruled that the tower would have a significant environmental impact for the surrounding neighborhood, which is residential, and asked for a more detailed environmental review.

The reasons the Planning Department listed were aesthetic, but also historical. The Springs Fire Department is near the Springs Historic District. A tower at Camp Blue Bay was deemed to have less of an impact.

“For whatever reason, they didn’t find the same harm at Camp Blue Bay. I don’t know what to make of that,” said Mr. Irace. “The town wants to put a 185foot tower on the bay. How does that not have aesthetic harm?”

“It’s a matter of location,” said Mr. Schantz. “At face value, they’re proposing the same thing as far as structure. There’s a big difference though. The fire department is on 2.7 acres, near a historic district and right near a historic property, and visible from a scenic area of statewide significance. None of that existed at Camp Blue Bay, which is 172 acres. The tower will be seen from there, but visibility is a manner of degree. You can see the tower, but it’s not nearly as conspicuous.”

So, when could the Springs Fire Department tower be operational? “I don’t know,” said East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc. “They have to update their application. It could go pretty quickly. We want those applications to be reviewed expeditiously because this is a pressing issue for many Springs residents.”

“With the code change [reducing the fall zone requirements] and a fairly specific request from the town board, we’re ready to go with it,” said Mr. Irace. “The commissioners are not looking to get into a fight with the town board. We’ve got a good application.”

Which is to say that the town and emergency responders all agree that a tower at the Springs Fire Department is necessary.

“Many people came out for the Blue Bay hearing,” said Mr. Calder-Piedmonte. “Unfortunately, people might have felt that they said their piece, but they delivered it in the wrong forum, which means ultimately it was not heard. Next time the fire department updates their application I hope those people return.”

“This isn’t a political issue, nor should it be made one,” said Mr. Van Scoyoc. “It’s about providing needed services for the community, regardless of someone’s political affiliation.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul fought off a challenge from Republican Representative Lee Zeldin. Darren McGee/Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul

LaLota Ends the Suspense

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH

In a night of suspense for voters on the South Fork, Nicholas LaLota, the Republican and Conservative Party nominee to represent New York s First Congressional District is the apparent winner of the race to succeed Represen tative Lee Zeldin the four term con gressman who ran for governor of New York on the Republican and Conserva tive Party lines

New York State Assemblyman Fred W Thiele Jr of the First Assembly Dis trict was apparently re elected on Tues day defeating Peter G Ganley III a po litical newcomer, and Anthony Palum bo, a former assemblyman and first term state senator and held off a chal lenge by Skyler Q Johnson who was al so running his first campaign, in the State Senate s First District With 562 of 566 districts reporting as of yesterday morning unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elec tions had Mr LaLota winning 173,275 votes or 55 81 percent to Ms Fleming’s 136 899 votes or 44 09 percent Should the outcome be certified, the Republican Party will hold the seat that Mr Zeldin wrested from the Democrat Tim Bishop who served six terms Mr Zeldin lost his bid for governor, which is covered separately in this issue

The County Board of Elections sent 31 491 mail ballots to voters in the First District, and as of Monday 21,033 had been returned Mail ballots had to be postmarked by Tuesday Nov 8 and must be received by the Board of Elec tions by Tuesday, Nov 15, in order to be counted, so an official tally is at least several days away

Votes cast during the early voting pe riod, Oct 29 through Sunday, were to be tallied and made public after Tues day’s 9 p m close of polling stations They were scanned as they were re ceived, a Board of Elections official told The Star on Tuesday, but would not be tallied until after the polls closed “I made a lot of bipartisan promises on this campaign, and I d like to think our victory can prove that there is a way to maintain one ’ s conservative ideology

while also working across the aisle to benefit Long Islanders ” Mr LaLota said in a statement issued at 2 a m yes terday “When I’m sworn in on January 3rd I’ll work with the new Republican House majority to bring responsible and transparent government back to Wash ington ”

While the Republican Party ap peared poised to gain a majority in the House of Representatives that was not conclusively known as of yesterday Democrats at present hold a thin 220 to 212 majority in the House (there are three vacancies) Several races re mained too close to call yesterday, but pundits’ predictions of a Republican wave did not materialize Several can didates endorsed by former President Trump were the apparent losers in their respective contests In her own statement yesterday, Ms Fleming congratulated her opponent “We focused on issues that are critically important to Long Islanders, she said “Our fight continues and the most im portant work lies ahead of us The chal lenges facing our nation and Long Is land communities are daunting We must not back down from the fight to defend the freedoms that make our great country a rich, resilient, and gen erous nation And our history teaches us that when Americans work together, we can overcome anything ”

According to unofficial results from the Board of Elections as of yesterday morning, Mr Thiele, the Democratic Party candidate led his Republican and Conservative Party challenger with 28,441 votes, or 54 71 percent, to Mr Ganley’s 23 475 votes or 45 16 percent with all 87 districts reporting The Board of Elections sent 7,599 absentee ballots to voters in the district and 5 228 had been received as of Monday

As of yesterday morning, with 208 of 211 districts reporting Mr Palumbo the Republican and Conservative candi date, led Mr Johnson, the Democratic and Working Families candidate with 71 752 votes or 56 39 percent to Mr Johnson s 55,362 votes, or 43 51 percent, according to unofficial results The

Further Tallies

In other races that East Hampton vot ers weighed in on, United States Sena tor Charles Schumer a Democrat easily held off Joe Pinion, his Republican chal lenger With 13 065 of 14 296 election districts reporting unofficial results from the State Board of Elections had Mr Schumer with 55 01 percent of the vote to Mr Pinion s 42 58 percent Di ane Sare, an independent candidate, won 45 percent of the vote State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the Democratic and Working Families Party candidate apparently defeated Paul Ro driguez, his Republican and Conserva tive Party challenger, 54 98 percent to 41 92 percent with 13 065 of 14 246 election districts reporting With 12 067 of 14 296 districts report

Civil Service Union Applauds Town Budget

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH A public hearing on East Hampton

Town s 2023 preliminary budget drew few comments during the town board’s meeting last Thursday, but one from a labor union representative conveyed ap preciation for a key feature of the doc ument, the salary increases that close to 200 of its members would see The $90 355 049 budget is “slightly less by $8,506 than that proposed in the tentative budget unveiled last month, Becky Hansen, the town s budg et officer told the board but increases overall spending over the current fiscal year by 5 64 percent, or $4 8 million The preliminary budget stays under the New York State mandated 2 percent tax levy cap by $16,688, she said The tax rate inside a village will in crease by 27 percent, or 3 3 cents per $100 of assessed value Ms Hansen said and outside a village it will increase by 48 percent, or 16 cents per $100 of as sessed value As an example she said that a property with a market value of

$1 555 million would see a $2 34 tax in crease if inside a village, and an $11 18 increase if outside a village A property with a market value of $890,000 would see a $1 34 tax increase if inside a village and $6 39 if outside a village The board is to vote to adopt the budget next Thursday Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said last month that the budget would raise wages significantly in order to remain competitive in attracting and retaining staff, citing inflation and the astronomi cal and often prohibitive cost of housing on the South Fork In a message accom panying the tentative budget, he wrote that he had proposed salary increases av eraging between 5 5 and 10 percent for union and non represented employees He also announced 16 promotions, many of them within the Highway and Sanitation Departments A new program within the Human Services Department will be called Pro grams for the Aging, Mr Van Scoyoc wrote It will replace adult day care “and focus on presenting wellness, education,

and advocacy service programs designed to meet the needs of our 60 and over community ”

Two new full time police officers, an ordinance enforcement officer two or dinance inspectors, and an additional animal control officer will also be added the supervisor wrote The town will also add a new full time maintenance me chanic position Ms Hansen said at the meeting that a new full time position for harbormaster was added to Marine Pa trol, and additional money was ear marked for printing and mailing

The budget will assist community or ganizations including the Eleanor Whit more Early Childhood Center I Tri the Family Service League, the Retreat, and the South Fork Community Health Initiative, as well as food pantries Fund ing for LTV to assist its ongoing capital improvements, will increase, and the Hampton Hopper bus shuttle service will also see continued funding

As in 2021, the town is on target to end the current fiscal year with overall surpluses in major funds, Mr Van Scoy

ing early yesterday morning State At torney General Letitia James, the Dem ocratic and Working Families Party in cumbent led Michael Henry her Re publican and Conservative challenger, 52 64 percent to 44 8 percent also with 13,065 of 14,246 election districts re porting

In the campaign for Suffolk County clerk, Vincent Puleo, the Republican and Conservative candidate was com fortably ahead of Lisa Jimenez a De mocrat, by 58 97 percent to 40 91 per cent with 1 042 of 1 058 election dis tricts reporting The county s Republi can and Conservative Parties did not back the longtime incumbent Judith Pascale, who sought re election, instead endorsing Mr Puleo Also with 1 042 of 1 058 districts re porting, County Comptroller John Kennedy, the Republican and Conser vative incumbent led his Democratic challenger, Thomas Dolan, 59 95 per cent to 39 93 percent

oc wrote The town s healthy fund bal ances continue to allow us to meet the unexpected needs that may arise during the year Healthy fund balances were in part due to “the continued robust real estate market, with monies from the mortgage recording tax and building permits exceeding budgeted amounts ” Calling into the meeting, Jim Ben nett of the Civil Services Employees Association union told the board that We support this budget and the things that you ve done for town employees, calling it a move “in the right direction to help us out so we can afford to live here We ve got more work to do but it feels good to know that we can all work together for better things

The current C S E A contract will expire at the end of next year After the meeting, Mr Bennett told The Star that the union is in dire need of this to pass ” as the cost of housing “has gotten way out of hand out here The prelim inary budget s salary increase for em ployees “makes us feel good about ne gotiating our contract that expires at the end of 2023 ” he said

What Now at the Airport?

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH AND CHRISTINE SAMPSON

The East Hampton Town Board will address the situation at the airport what has transpired to date and the town’s options after its latest legal set back at its work session on Tuesday

After having implemented a tempo rary restraining order in May preventing the town from closing East Hampton Airport and reopening it 33 hours later as a private facility with new restrictions on aircraft operations, New York State Supreme Court Justice Paul Baisley last month ruled that by planning to conduct an environmental impact statement af ter the airport’s closure and reopening the town had acted beyond its legal abil ities and in an arbitrary and capricious manner Before its public discussion on Tues day, the town board will meet in execu tive session with its consultants on Mon day to discuss the airport which has been a continued source of frustration to many residents particularly in Wainscott

At the town board meeting last Thursday, an irate Wainscott resident complained about aircraft coming in at a higher rate than ever and conditions in the hamlet that he described as un livable and absolutely insane

The board had made a sincere at tempt to address airport noise and vol ume Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc told the caller James Clark “We were sued in the process of trying to do that by a number of litigants The State Supreme Court recently ruled that we cannot regulate the airport at this time

The judge issued the temporary re straining order in May one day before the airport’s scheduled temporary clo sure following oral arguments in three parallel lawsuits challenging the plan To date, the plaintiffs Blade Air Mobility, East End Hangars, and the Coalition to Keep East Hampton Airport Open, along with several individuals have been successful in preventing the air port’s closure and new restrictions on air craft operations The lawsuits have since been merged

The board had planned to limit aircraft operators to one takeoff and one landing per day, impose other restrictions based on the size and noise of aircraft, and im plement an 8 p m to 8 a m curfew Mon day through Thursday and from 7 p m to 9 a m Friday through Sunday and on federal holidays All of these were pro hibited by Justice Baisley

While overall air traffic is “down about a third” from the previous year, Super visor Van Scoyoc said there were more flights that occurred over Wainscott than

the other hamlets, echoing an observa tion frequently made by members of the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee Wainscott bore the brunt, he said At that hamlet’s citizens advisory committee meeting on Saturday, the focus shifted from the big picture fu ture of the airport to a short term em phasis on the flight routes that aircraft are using

Of most concern to the committee at present is the two way traffic of aircraft takeoffs and landings occurring within short time spans over the same flight paths with members saying they hope to influence the routes by next summer

“Any recommendation we make about the future of the airport is kind of a moot point right now because of the ongoing litigation Carolyn Logan Gluck the C A C s chairwoman, said after the meet ing Flight routes are “something over which we can make recommendations, which we hope the town and the airport managers will hear ”

The committee will start by research ing those flight routes and how they are delineated because “it’s not clear to us who, besides the airport manager, is in volved in that decision making ” she said Ms Logan Gluck acknowledged that “ any shift in the flight routes is going to have an impact on other members of the community ” so the committee will try to avoid making recommendations that shift the burden of air traffic to other hamlets or villages “Our overwhelming concern is public safety, she said

During the meeting Barry Raebeck an outspoken critic of the airport assert ed that you cannot solve the problem by changing the routes ”

The town was theoretically free to re take control of the airport with the ex piration of federal grant assurances in September 2021 The town board, with input from consultants and residents landed on a middle path between the status quo and closure of the airport with the set of restrictions it planned to im pose Now, these lawsuits are currently preventing us from imposing restric tions at the airport Mr Van Scoyoc told Mr Clark last Thursday But we are in tending to persevere until we gain con trol over our town owned airport and can regulate in a way that the community supports ”

Mr Clark was unmoved Do you not realize these people don’t care about regulating?” he asked “They will do anything they possibly can to keep this airport and you ’ re still willing to com promise over these things He recom mended that the town close the airport “We’ve been told by a judge we can’t do that, Mr Van Scoyoc said

Manny Vilar, chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, celebrated with Representative elect Nick LaLota on election night at Stereo Garden in Patchogue Manny Vilar

Board of Elections sent 15 449 absentee ballots to voters in the State Senate dis trict and 10 538 had been returned as of Monday

MONTAUK

Land Buy Raises Questions

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH The East Hampton Town Board vot ed at its meeting last Thursday to ac quire 18 8 acres of vacant land at

66 East

Lake Drive in Montauk but will do so with general municipal funds and not community preservation fund money, as initially intended The change in fund ing source spurred an accusation, during a public hearing earlier in the meeting, of a secretive town board plan to con struct a sewage treatment plant for the hamlet at the property

Following a June 2 public hearing, the board voted on June 21 to acquire the property, which is near the southern end of Lake Montauk and abuts county parkland, from an entity called High land Meadows using $4 25 million in C P F money The purpose was for preservation of open space

The town code pertaining to the C P F stipulates that its purpose is pro tecting and preserving open and unde veloped lands, protecting historic places and properties, and providing outdoor recreational opportunities Rights or in terests in property acquired with C P F money shall not be sold, leased, ex changed, donated, or otherwise disposed of or used for other than the purposes permitted by the code without an act of the State Legislature, which is re quired to provide for the substitution of other lands having equal environmental and fair market value and reasonably equivalent usefulness and location to those being sold or disposed of On Oct 20, the board scheduled the public hearing on amending the June 21 resolution The amended resolution adds

“

water quality” to preservation of open space as a purpose for the acquisition

At the Oct 20 meeting, David Buda, a Springs resident, told the board that it “ owes a better explanation” to the public as to why it was changing the funding source for the purchase He suggested that adding water quality as a purpose for the acquisition indicated that it might be used to site a sewage treatment sys tem for the hamlet, but I don t know because you ’ re not telling us ”

A town committee has met regularly this year to identify a site large enough and that meets engineering needs for such a facility that would serve the hamlet’s downtown where property size constraints limit on site treatment options and eventually expanding to serve other areas including the docks Ditch Plain, and the area around the Long Island Railroad Station and In dustrial Road Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in June that a site east of the former landfill in Montauk was promising as a potential location for a wastewater treatment plant

The Coalition for Hither Woods an organization of conservation groups that formed in 1982 to oppose proposals to develop that area of Montauk re grouped as an incorporated not for prof it to oppose the potential construction of a sewage treatment plant there Last Thursday Richard Whalen an attorney and representative of the coalition, reit erated what he said is an undisclosed plan to construct a centralized sewage treatment plant

In announcing the coalition s opposi tion to the board amending the initial resolution Mr Whalen asserted that the board intends “to swap the Highland

Meadows property for Suffolk County parkland in Hither Woods ” Such a scheme, he said, “will enable the town to build a huge sewage treatment plant on 14 or more acres of forest in the east ern part of Hither Woods ” the most ex pensive public works project in the town s history by far This, he said, would be an environmental sell out of the first degree which will sacrifice public parkland to the perceived busi ness interests of downtown Montauk property owners

While the coalition supports the ac quisition of 66 East Lake Drive he al leged that the board is treating the property “ as a commodity to be pur chased and flipped to Suffolk County for what you really want county land on which to site a sewage treatment plant ” There are better ways to im prove ground and surface water quality than a sewer system, he said, and an honestly prepared and objective envi ronmental impact statement” should be issued to disclose them

Following Mr Whalen’s remarks, Mr Buda again criticized the board There has been such a lack of disclosure as to what you ’ re doing ” he said given the “extraordinary transaction” underway He again asked for a full explanation Tell the public what you re doing, he said Why not?

The purchase and the method of purchase “leaves the board with the greatest measure of flexibility, Mr Van Scoyoc said It s unknown to us what the final disposition of this property will be ” he said of 66 East Lake Drive “but what we are certain of is it will be pre served in perpetuity The purchase price, given the acreage, is a very good deal for the community ” he said Mr Whalen said on Monday that he is submitting freedom of information re quests to the town, referring to informa

Daniel R. Shields II

March 27, 1960 –October 21, 2022

tion that is not yet publicly available but “ proves what I said” at the meeting “You don’t change the funding source from C P F to general town funds ex cept for one purpose: you want to trade the property ” he said Further he said the coalition “ con test[s] the whole need for a sewage treatment plant, adding his suspicion that the point of a sewage treatment plant in Montauk is to promote de velopment in the downtown area, a move that he said would be contrary to the whole town concept of coastal retreat and resiliency as detailed in the Coastal Assessment Resiliency Plan which the board adopted into the comprehensive plan in September A sewage treatment plant in Hither Woods would be “ very close to the Pau manok Path and no doubt you will see it from the trail ” Mr Whalen said “That itself would severely compromise the integrity of the Paumanok Path the most important trail in the town ” Mr Van Scoyoc said in an email on Monday that the town has been seeking a location for a wastewater treatment plant serving Montauk for some time, but to date we have no assurances of any location Options are few given the acreage needed for a facility and atten dant setbacks and buffer zones, he said A potential plan to build a plant on the west side of the former landfill won sup port from the hamlet’s Chamber of Commerce and its citizens advisory committee but the town “found that there are covenants that would prevent use of that property ”

Residents will be informed if acqui sition of another site is confirmed, he said, and at that time a thorough discus sion and vetting under the State Envi ronmental Quality Review Act would be conducted

OBITUARIES

aniel R. Shields II was many things - a loving husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend, a volunteer - and will be remembered as a man who cared deeply about his family, letting them know they were the center of his world and going above and beyond to make sure all of those close to him were always taken care of.

A native of Amagansett, Dan unexpectedly passed away at the age of just 62 years old on October 21, 2022 at South Shore University Hospital following complications during a routine procedure. He is survived by his beloved wife, daughters, sister, son-in-laws, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and countless family and friends.

Daniel R. Shields II was born on March 27th, 1960 - the first child of parents Daniel and Linda (Finch) Shields in Southampton, NY. He was raised in Amagansett with his younger sister, Darlene. Growing up on Hedges Lane, you could always find him spending his free time playing outside surrounded by many cousins and friends, mostly riding anything that had a motor. As long as it ran and was motorized, he was on it; especially dirt bikes and eventually cars. Dan attended Amagansett Elementary School through 4th Grade, then attended Most Holy Trinity Catholic School through 8th Grade and then graduated from East Hampton High School in 1978.

During the Summer of 1977 before entering his Senior Year of High School, he started dating the love of his life and soul mate, Evelyn Schellinger. From the first moment Dan saw Evelyn in the school cafeteria, he told his friends that he was going to marry her. They quickly fell in love and got engaged in 1980 and together were married on August 15th, 1981 in Amagansett. Dan and Evelyn built their home together in 1983. Much to their delight they welcomed their first daughter, Nicole, in February of 1985 and their second daughter, Allison, in June of 1988. In 2008, their daughter Nicole was married to Peter Grimes, of Montauk, and Dan gained his first son-in-law. In 2014, their daughter Allison was married to Michael Sauter, of Flanders, and Dan gained his second son-in-law. Dan could not have been more proud being the incredible Pop Pop he was to his four grandchildren, Lindsey (11), Callie (9), Jack (6) and Ryan (3).

Aside from spending quality time with his family which he adored and was so proud of, he was a staple of the community as shown through his dedication to and his long-standing career with the Amagansett Fire Department. Dan joined the Amagansett Fire Department just two weeks after his 18th birthday in April of 1978. Dan also graduated from the Part-Time Suffolk County Police Academy in 1983 and served as a part time Police Officer at night for the East Hampton Town Police Department. Dan was offered a full-time Police Officer position with EHTPD but respectfully declined to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a business owner. Dan continued his lifelong service to his community as a 44-year active member of the Amagansett Fire Department where he received various awards, accolades and recognition for his many years of service and devotion. He was honored with the ‘Fireman of the Year’ award in 1982 and attained various Chief rankings between 1988-1993. He was elected to the Board of Fire Commissioners in 1999, a position he held for the last 23 years and was the current sitting Chairman of the Board for the last several years.

Growing up, Dan spent many days after school and weekends with his Great Uncle Mike DiSunno toying around and playing with bulldozers and dump trucks which quickly became a passion of his and a skill he was determined to master, which he did. He started working full-time as a heavy equipment operator right out of high school in 1978 and became a partner in Mike DiSunno & Son Inc. in 1990. He was a legend at his craft as a bulldozer operator and the skills he had as a machine operator were like no other. There really wasn’t anything he couldn’t figure out how to operate. From bulldozers, to boats, to dune buggies, to cars, and everything in between, he mastered them all. He was an avid car enthusiast and loved the thrill of finding the car he’d been looking for and being able to cruise around town in his new ride. And anyone that knows Dan knows he always had the most well-kept, cleanest cars in town. He took pride in never driving around with even so much as a speck of dirt on his vehicles.

There wasn’t a person he didn’t know or get to know within this great community and beyond. Whether it was his signature smile or a wave while passing you by in his truck, or even just a quick roadside/jobsite chat, Dan always took the time to stop and say hello. Those who knew him knew that he was someone you could always count on, no matter what. He was kind and gentle, had the biggest heart and would always be there to lend a helping hand to others in need. His family jokes that he was the unofficial “Mayor of Amagansett” as everywhere he went, he always knew someone and had to stop to say hello. To say he will be missed is an understatement. His passing is a tremendous loss for not only his family, but for our entire community. The lives he touched and the memories made in his short time here with us will live on with us all for an eternity. The family has suggested donations in his name and honor be made to the Amagansett Fire Department, PO Box 911, Amagansett, NY 11930.

Jennifer

That was 1958, and the title of Flynn’s autobiography the following year, My Wicked Wicked Ways ” helps explain how the pairing went: He was drunk, he was unprepared, he was boorish, and his breath was bad

Ms Hartig was an actress until about 1968 a good portion of her work involv ing sketch comedy and that’s how she met the man she would go on to marry in 1965 Herb Hartig a songwriter and actor The two formed a comedy team for a time He died in 1991 Later in life around 2003 Ms Hartig moved to Noyac She died on Aug 16 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilita tion and Nursing in Southampton She was 85

Jennifer Mary Hartig was born Faye Snape on Nov 6 1936 in Leeds Eng land, to William Edwin Brookfield and the former Hilda Malcolm Her parents were actors, and had changed their sur name to one that was more attractive for their careers her family wrote And then they decided they didn t like the name Faye either

At boarding school in England she was Jennifer Brookfield, and then, for sim plicity’s sake on the stage Jan Brooks

She and Mr Hartig had two daugh ters, the family living on Manhattan s Upper West Side for about 25 years starting in 1967 She also lived in Brook lyn Heights for a decade or so before moving to Noyac

C.A.C. Takes On Gun Club

BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON

Members of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee are claiming that the Maidstone Gun Club a private group that leases close to 100 acres of town owned land in that hamlet, has vi olated multiple clauses of its lease

During a virtual meeting on Satur day the committee decided to write to the East Hampton Town Board, urging that it look into the alleged vi olations The gun club’s lease is to ex pire at the end of October 2023 and the advisory committee has offered suggestions for what should be includ ed if the lease is renewed

The alleged violations, chiefly of an environmental nature, were listed in a presentation by a committee member

Anthony Liberatore

The gun club, in the lease, is not al lowed to do any activities that could be toxic or contaminating ” he said “This has been used as a gun club for 40 years there is 40 years worth of shells, residue from the shot, which is probably the most toxic ”

Mr Liberatore also cited the possible over clearing of trees, which I don t be lieve has ever been approved or applied for ” he said In addition he claimed that club members have violated a clause in the lease that says noise be yond a 1 000 foot radius cannot exceed “normal background noise ”

Beyond complaints, Mr Liberatore had some constructive suggestions, in cluding that a full environmental study be conducted “If we are wrong and there is no contamination, great, let s find that out, he said There have been a number of noise complaints from neighboring residents Suggestions in mitigation included re ducing the gun club’s operating hours, installing sound barriers or similar infra structure, and keeping activity indoors Mr Liberatore also suggested that

There she went to work as a proof reader for the Permanent Press and in Bridgehampton she joined the circula tion desk staff at the Hampton Library where with a colleague she led a pop ular film discussion group for a number of years

Ms Hartig found a further creative outlet writing book reviews for The Star starting in 2008 with a Budd Schulberg story collection and notably including Hal Holbrook s memoir She was a regu lar contributor through 2013

My mom was an extraordinary woman with so much verve intelligence beauty, and humor,” Zandy Hartig, who lives in Los Angeles, said To know her was to be full of admiration for her ele gance and curiosity

Her other daughter Margaret Hovdey of Austin, Tex , also survives, as do two grandsons She was predeceased by two brothers, Peter Brookfield and Brian Brookfield

A funeral service was held on Saturday at the Shelter Island Funeral Home, with dispersal of ashes on the water Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, 64 County Road 39, Southamp ton 11968 B G

Annie S. Loris

Annie S Loris of East Hampton died on Oct 31 of sudden unexplained heart failure according to a friend She was 80

Mrs Loris s roots here ran deep, and she was proud to be able to trace her family back to the Mayflower She loved to reminisce about old Amagansett his tory and lore

She was born in Southampton on Jan 15, 1942, to George L Smith and the former Florence M Bailey grew up in Amagansett and graduated from East Hampton High School before going on to the Suffolk School of Nursing at Southampton Hospital She worked at the hospital for many years

On July 27, 1963, she married Walter Loris When not here the couple en joyed spending time at their cabin in Maine with their dogs Rufous and Bab “She spoke fondly of their life’s adventures, a friend, Christine Vor pahl wrote

Mrs Loris was a member of the Am agansett Presbyterian Church’s Women s Guild, and her ability to “make something beautiful out of noth ing is still remembered by the group Friends recall her as kindhearted cre ative and independent

While caring for her mother, Mrs Loris worked as a seamstress and she

both the club and its neighbors have their properties assessed, to determine what a fair market rent would be Cur rently the club pays $100 per year for the 97 acres He had studied the lease carefully, Mr Liberatore said, and had concluded that the town was not obli gated to renew it “if there are legitimate municipal uses for the property He suggested “reforestation recreation open to all residents [and] possible solar or other energy uses Committee members acknowledged that at least one use of the gun club training for law enforcement officers, could be considered an appropriate mu nicipal use

Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, who is the town board s liaison to the Wainscott committee responded to Mr Libera tore’s comments: “All of the suggestions are worthwhile, she said, and every thing is on the table right now I think we ’ re ready to at some point probably not until the new year start working on how to solve this issue ” “That’s music to our ears ” said Car olyn Logan Gluck, the C A C chair woman

Mr Liberatore’s presentation was not met with unanimous praise from com mittee members Dennis D Andrea, a longtime member has defended the gun club whose administration did not respond to a request for comment this week and he continued to do on Saturday “They’re not bad crazy guys They are the E M T s, policemen, they do a lot of good stuff in the community,” he said

The committee s next step, Ms Lo gan Gluck said in a follow up call on Tuesday is to draft a letter to the town board summing up its suggestions The draft letter will get circulated to everyone on the committee If it’s not unanimous that will be indicated in the letter, she said

was an excellent one, her friend said “Annie was finest kind and will be greatly missed ”

A graveside service is to be held on Nov 19 at 10 a m at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in East Hampton Contributions in her memory have been suggested to St Jude Children s Research Hospital, 501 St Jude Place, Memphis 38105

Jennifer Hartig, 85

Hartig arrived on these shores from her native England to act, having landed a role in a Broadway production of “Jane Eyre ” Going by the stage name Jan Brooks, she found herself opposite none other than Errol Flynn