Since 1859
On the Stage Dishing on Bay Street’s summer season. pg B1
End is Near
Squeezing Keys
Pierson’s softball season is pg 16 winding down.
The improbable career of an accordion player. pg B1 $1.50
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019 VOLUME 160 NO. 45
sagharborexpress.com
Sag Harbor Schools
Tribe Goes Into Ad Biz Shinnecocks are erecting a pair of 60-ft. electronic billboards along Route 27. > Page 3
Steel Rails Yield to Wood Guide rails along Short Beach Rd. are being replaced.
SIX FACE OFF FOR THREE SEATS
Discuss finance, opioids, later start and superintendent search BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON
SIX PEOPLE VYING FOR THREE SEATS on the Sag Harbor School Board of Education convened Tuesday for a “Meet the Candidates” forum, hosted by the Pierson PTSA and moderated by The Sag Harbor Express, to talk about fiscal responsibility, student substance abuse, later school start times, the search for a new superintendent and more. The six candidates, in order of their appearance on this year’s ballot, are Yorgos Tsibiridis, Caleb Kercheval, Chris Tice, Brian DeSesa, Thomas McEr-
lean and Julian Barrowcliffe. Candidates opened with two-minute personal statements. “Education has always played a big part in my life and helped shape who I am today,” said Mr. Tsibiridis, who moved to Sag Harbor three years ago and joined the school board policy committee almost immediately. He has two children in the schools and an MBA degree in finance from Columbia Business School. He is a real estate broker for Douglas
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Candidates for Sag Harbor School Board Yorgos Tsibiridis, Caleb Kercheval, Chris Tice, Brian DeSesa, Thomas McErlean and Julian Barrowcliffe at Tuesday’s Meet the Candidates. michael heller photo
> Page 3
Bothersome B-Ball Court
Some parents complain facility at Pierson has been neglected. > Page 4
On the Screen East Hampton Cinema Phone (631) 324-0448 Pokemon Detective Pikachu (PG) POMS (PG-13) Longshot (R) Avengers: Endgame (PG-13)
Southampton Cinema Phone (631) 287-2774 Tolkien (PG-13) The Intruder (PG-13) Ugly Dolls (PG) Avengers: Endgame (PG-13)
Weekend Weather
d g b g
Thursday, May 9 Cloudy Temps in the mid 50s
Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor
EXPECT RACE FOR MAYOR
Church Bell Will Ring Again
And a contest for village trustee is also brewing as candidates line up BY KATHRYN G. MENU
Belfry is filled as renovations at The Church continue
WITH LESS THAN A WEEK BEFORE NOMINATING PETITIONS are due to run for office in Sag Harbor Village, the races for mayor and two trustee seats are already contested, with a handful of candidates emerging this week. Mayor Sandra Schroeder confirmed Wednesday that she will seek a third term at the helm of the Sag Harbor Village Board. She will face at least one challenger in Kathleen Mulcahy, an 18- year resident of the village. With two seats on the board of trustees also up for election on June 14, three candidates as of Wednesday had announced their intention to run including incumbent Aidan Corish, who will seek his second term in office. Bob Plumb, a member of the Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals, and Jenni-
BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON
L
ATE LAST WINTER, when people repeatedly began to ask her what would become of the bell that used to hang in the belfry at the former Sag Harbor Methodist Church on Madison Street, April Gornik heard a message loud and clear. The bell needed to ring from the tower once again. Ms. Gornik, an artist who now owns the property along with Eric Fischl, her husband and a fellow artist, hadn’t yet made a decision on what to do with the bell, which was sitting under a tarp at the time. But they eventually directed the construction crew to return the bell to the belfry as part of the restoration and renovation project that will see the former house of worship become The Church, a nonprofit arts incubator. Last Saturday, using a large crane — and making two separate attempts — the crew accomplished that task. Mr. Fischl rang the bell that day without Ms. Gornik there to hear its first toll. Then, she said, she rushed over and rang it herself. “It just filled me with joy,” she said this week. “It was a synchronous moment of happiness. It was the
Friday, May 10 Showers
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Sag Harbor Schools
Debate Late Start
Bus schedule may have broad impact BY CHRISTINE SAMPSON
Hoisting the bell into the belfry at The Church.
michael heller photo
Temps in the high 50s
Saturday, May 11 Partly Sunny Temps in the low 60s
Sunday, May 12 Afternoon Rain Temps in the mid 50s
INSIDE Obituaries 14 Opinion 6 Arts & Leisure B1 Calendar B2 Classifieds 8 Sports 16 The Hometown Newspaper of KEN O’DONNELL
Sag Harbor
Old Whalers’ Turns 175
ON A CUE FROM DIANA KOLHOFF, who represented the Sag Harbor School Board’s transportation committee, the school board on Monday launched a conversation about multiple issues that are intersecting with each other as the school year comes to a crescendo: busing logistics and costs, later school start times, and athletes’ and coaches’ early departures from academic support and ninth period at Pierson Middle-High School. The school board recently expressed interest in bringing school transportation costs down in light of news that push-
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Southampton
Let’s Not Reassess
With challenges ahead, storied church pauses to celebrate
Supervisor hopes to push pause BY PETER BOODY
BY PETER BOODY
WITH SOUTHAMPTON TOWN’S TAX BASE jumping in value by 10 percent from $72.5 billion over the previous year and more than 30,000 property owners finding greetings in their mailboxes from the assessor in April telling them the value of their properties had gone up, Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and the Town Board are starting to rethink the town’s pioneering policy of reassessing all its 52,000 taxable parcels every year at 100 percent of their market value. “I understand the argument that 100-percent assessment is equitable,” Mr. Schneiderman said on Tuesday, “but there are
A
THOUSAND PEOPLE TURNED OUT on Union Street in Sag Harbor on May 16, 1844 for the dedication of the First Presbyterian congregation’s third building in the village, the massive Egyptian Revival edifice funded by wealthy captains and ship owners giddy with the riches of the whaling trade that is now known as the Old Whalers’ Church. This Sunday, May 12, at 11 a.m., the public is invited to join the congregation in celebrating the
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Pastor Linda Maconochie in front of the Old Whalers’ Church.
peter boody photo
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I fell in love on Hampton Jitney “I was taking the Jitney home from Bridgehampton one summer day in July and there were only a few seats left on the bus. I see this pretty girl sitting by herself with all of her bags on the seat. I sat next to her. That was basically our first date. Three years later I proposed with the help of Hampton Jitney.”
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