Villages

    If there is one person in Montauk to be thankful for, especially for parents of young children, it’s Maureen Rutkowski. But don’t tell her that, because she’ll only rebuff the statement and make sure everyone else involved gets kudos.

    “I’m just the face of a great group of people,” she said from her lakefront house, which is scattered with kids’ paraphernalia — balls, lacrosse sticks, jackets, and other stuff her two children, Alexandra, 13, and John, 9, collect and throw about.

    The East Hampton Village Board will attempt to stop John and Suzanne Cartier from building a second house on their property at 105 Main Street, even though the zoning board of appeals determined earlier this month that their plans conform to zoning requirements.

    The village board voted on Friday to hire the law firm Lamb and Barnosky to commence legal actions to “preclude the proposed disturbance of the premises,” which is covered by a scenic easement granted to the village in 1975.

    With changing weather patterns and violent storms becoming more frequent, Montauk residents are confused and concerned about where the hamlet’s emergency shelters are located. There were no shelters open in the easternmost hamlet during either Hurricane Sandy or the northeaster that followed a week later.

    Pat Trunzo III, an attorney representing himself, made a case before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals for variances necessary to convert the second floor of his building at 11 Lumber Lane into two 800-sqaure-foot “affordable” apartments to be occupied by his two sons, Thomas and Steve. The spaces are currently leased to family construction and other trade companies as storage. Mr. Trunzo owns the property with his brother, Mike Trunzo.

     Carl Darenberg knows Montauk, probably better than anyone else. He is at every party, event, festival, and fishing contest that’s held. And, on the following morning, he shares photos with the rest of the world in cyberspace, including Facebook.

    There’s no doubt that by Saturday morning, Montauk Chamber of Commerce’s end-of-season party tomorrow night honoring him as Person of the Year will be posted.

    But you can beat him to it by attending the party. It will be held at East by Northeast from 6:30 to 11 p.m.

    On Sunday, the congregation of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Robert Beecher Stuart’s ordination as minister of word and sacrament. Late last month, Mr. Stuart, pastor of the church from 1981 to 1998, traveled to Princeton Theological Seminary, where he marked the anniversary with his classmates.

    In a wide-ranging discussion at his house in Springs this week, Mr. Stuart looked back on 50 years, noting some profound changes in the church and the larger world over the past half-century.

    After unsuccessfully challenging their neighbors’ plan to build a second house almost as big as the first one at their East Hampton Main Street property, Gordon and Amanda Bowling told the village zoning board of appeals on Oct. 26 that they will build their own family compound next door.

    The East Hampton Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 550 and the Sag Harbor V.F.W. Post 9082 will honor veterans on Sunday — Veterans Day — with parades in each village.

    The East Hampton parade will kick off  at the Citarella market at 10 a.m. and proceed to Hook Mill for a solemn ceremony. At 11 a.m., the American Legion Post in Amagansett will perform an annual 11th Hour Ceremony to remember all who have served in the wars.

    Mike Martinson and Mike Doall saw the storm coming a week out and knew the potential damage Hurricane Sandy could do to their Montauk Shellfish Company, and the million or so oysters that were growing in cages in Lake Montauk.

    “We . . . started sinking stuff to the bottom,” Mr. Martinson said on Monday. By “stuff” he was referring to the contents of a portion of the 3,000 or so plastic cages that were strung near the surface on longlines on the east side of Lake Montauk just south of the Gone Fishing Marina. 

    After Hurricane Sandy caused the play’s postponement last weekend, partial proceeds from the East Hampton High School production of “Pygmalion” will go to a good cause. A cast and crew of almost 40 students have been preparing for the production since mid-September and last week decided to donate a portion of the show’s proceeds to the American Red Cross.

    A crew from the Montauk Coast Guard Station plucked a man from his smoldering boat Tuesday night, minutes before it was engulfed in flames. The 44-foot sportfishing boat, Island Girl, sank.

    Its captain, whose name has not been released, received first aid and was taken to Southampton Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

    The East End was “fortunate to be on the outer edge” of Hurricane Sandy, “which did so much damage to lives and property to our south and New York City,” Richard G. Hendrickson, the United States Cooperative weather observer in Bridgehampton, wrote in his monthly weather report for October.

    President Obama declared New York State a major disaster area this week, making municipalities and individuals in Suffolk and other metropolitan-area counties eligible for federal funding. Requests will be prioritized by federal agencies, with health and safety and infrastructure needs placed first.

    East Hampton Village will make it a little easier for nonresidents to park at village beaches next summer.

    The village will increase the number of nonresident daily parking passes available at Main and Two Mile Hollow Beaches on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from 25 to 40. The passes cost $25 per day.

    The Hurricane Sandy cleanup is estimated to cost East Hampton Village “considerably more” than the $200,000 Hurricane Irene did a year ago, according to Larry Cantwell, the village administrator.

   Mr. Cantwell blamed pavilion damage at Main Beach, buckled surfaces in the parking lot at Georgica Beach, and more downed trees than in last year’s storm. The confluence of a full moon, high tide, and winds in excess of 70 miles per hour contributed to the ocean’s surge over parking lots at Georgica, Wiborg, and Main beaches.

    “Yesterday was insane,” Theo Foscolo, the assistant general manger at Rowdy Hall, a restaurant on Main Street, East Hampton, said of the over 350 people served at lunch and dinner Monday. “Everybody just wanted to get out of the house.”

    Speaking yesterday, Mr. Foscolo attributed much of the increased traffic to Rowdy Hall’s being one of the only restaurants open in the village; on Newtown Lane, Cittanuova was closed, as was Sam’s Restaurant, he said. Mr. Foscolo said Rowdy Hall never lost power.

    Ille Arts, an Amagansett gallery, is sponsoring an artists studio tour on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tour takes in a great deal of the South Fork, including stops in East Hampton and Bridgehampton in addition to Amagansett.

    David Kronman and Curtis Sachs, representing Cape Advisors, which has acquired the Baron’s Cove property on Water Street, moved closer at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Sag Harbor Village Planning Board to special exception approval of a plan to construct an 87-seat restaurant and 8-seat bar as an “accessory use to a resort motel.” The men were prepared and assisted by Richard Warren of InterScience Associates in responding  to a letter from Timothy Platt, the village’s building inspector. The property is zoned for resort motel use.

    Mr. Sea Crest is a lovable feral cat who lived for at least eight years at Sea Crest on the Ocean, a resort on Napeague. That is, until he was hurt and did everything in his power to let the people taking care of him know that he needed help. He had a scratched eye that caused cloudiness and a bad limp that developed suddenly. It is thought he may have been hit by a car.

    Cristina Elsa Maria Filippelli and Ryan Houldsworth Dempsey of Durham, N.H., were married on Oct. 7 on the Devon Yacht Club dock in Amagansett.

    The ceremony was performed by John Hossenlopp, a reverend in the Universal Life Church, a former commodore of Devon, and a family friend. A reception followed at the club.

    Lily Frances Henderson and Edward Cavanaugh Rhoads David were married on Sept. 29 at the Springs Presbyterian Church on Old Stone Highway. The Rev. Anthony L. Larson performed the ceremony.

    Ms. Henderson is the daughter of Genie and Bill Henderson. She attended the Springs School and graduated in 2002 from the Westover School in Middlebury, Conn., and in 2006 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., where she studied documentary film.

    A boat poker run from the Sag Harbor Yacht Club on Saturday that included live music and stops at four restaurants benefited the Sag Harbor Hysterical Society’s quiet efforts to help locals in need.

    A dinner, party, and silent auction at Ashawagh Hall in Springs on Wednesday will raise money to help Tim Lee, a Springs photographer and party lighting designer who has been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer.

    The 6 to 11 p.m. event will include performances by Nancy Atlas and Friends, Matt Dauch and other members of the band Little Head Thinks, Bobbi Terzi, and drummers from the Bastards of Boom. Keith Leaf, a fire juggler, will also perform, as will Evan Thomas and members of his fire-juggling troupe, the Fiery Sensations.

    Twenty-four venerable houses and a windmill would be designated as “timber-frame landmarks” and added to East Hampton Village’s historic preservation program, according to a plan presented to the village board on Oct. 4. All the proposed landmarks, scattered through the village, were built between 1700 and 1850.

Montauk’s Second House grounds will be the place to be on Saturday for the Archaeology Fest.

    The East Hampton Village Zoning Board plans to reopen the hearing on an unusual application from John and Suzanne Cartier, who seek to move their 2,575-square-foot house to the rear of their lot, add 182 square feet to it, and then construct a second 2,486-square-foot residence. The Cartiers’ intent is to live in the new house, while their children and grandchildren take up residence in the existing one. The property, at 105 Main Street, shares a driveway with the East Hampton Historical Society’s Osborn Jackson house.

    Before the rain started to fall Sunday, the Montauk Chamber of Commerce’s fall festival drew some 10,000 people, said East Hampton Town Police Lt. Chris Hatch, who is also the Montauk Precinct commander. He added, however, that some of those visitors were fishermen in the hamlet for a tournament.

    Budgets for the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton and the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor passed by comfortable margins on Sept. 29.

The Hampton Library’s 2013 budget of just over $1.5 million passed with 56 for and 7 against. Residents of the Bridgehampton and Sagaponack School Districts cast ballots in the library vote.

Harvey Loomis, who ran unopposed, was elected to represent the residents of Sagaponack on the library board.

In Sag Harbor, the budget of just over $2.2 million was approved 163 to 24.

    The East Hampton Village Design Review Board unanimously approved a plan last Thursday for a fence at 9 Fresno Place, proposed by MG Muscle Classics. Bill Kelly, representing the applicants, told the board they have been finding a lot of bottles and cans on the property, and have had problems “with people from neighboring establishments using the driveway as a turnaround area and loitering in the front yard.”

    “I get bottles and cans at my place on Toilsome Lane,” said C. Sherrill Dayton, a board member. “The least they could do is throw a full one over.”

    With the Montauk Chamber of Commerce’s annual Fall Festival this weekend, the end of summer is now official. And this chamber knows how to send out a season. There will be fireworks by Grucci, a clam chowder contest with over 30 restaurants vying for the title, live music, beer and wine tastings, clams and oysters, German-style food, a farmers market, games, inflatable jumps, face-painting, pumpkin-decorating, crab races, a 30-horse carousel, and more — lots more.