The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons has proclaimed it a “week of love” at its adoption center at 90 Daniel’s Hole Road. In celebration of Valentine’s Day and in hopes of finding homes for pets in its care, the center has extended its adoption hours by an hour, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Through next Thursday, those who adopt will receive a free 2013 ARF calendar, a flower pen, and a pet portrait. The adoption fees will be reduced, and tours of the facility will be given. Refreshments will be served as well.

    Matchmaking services include help finding the right pet, spaying and neutering, up-to-date vaccinations, and microchips. More information is available by e-mailing adoptions@arfhamptons. org.

    A meeting of ARF’s Operation Cat volunteers is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the center. The program is intended to reduce the number of strays through trapping and neutering. Prospective members will be welcomed.

    In other ARF news, Sara Davison, its executive director, has been voted in as the chairwoman of the new Suffolk Pet Store Rating Board, which was established by the County Legislature. The board’s first meeting was on Feb. 6.

    A free two-day holistic healing clinic organized by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork will take place this weekend, starting tomorrow from 4 to 6 p.m.

    On Saturday, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., various healing practitioners will offer their services free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Anna Marie Wellinis, a nurse practitioner, will screen for sleep apnea, hypertension, and general health issues. Rachel Rudansky will perform cranio-sacral therapy on the head and neck, designed for physical, emotional, and spiritual alignment. Dr. Stephen Braun, an osteopath, will offer overall health assessments and evaluation, joined by Dr. Amy Suesslea.

     Classic five-element acupuncture or a pain-free version with essential oils will be offered by Steve Flores, while Adele Kristiansson will conduct hands-on and energy healing. Margaret Pulkingham, a registered nurse, will give relaxation massages.

    An opportunity to experience reiki healing and to learn how to activate one’s own healing powers will be offered by Joan Garro, and Megan Chaskey will offer a system for self-care and self-help called Eden Energy Medicine in addition to NAAM Yoga and meditation.

    The clinic will take place at the congregation’s meeting house, 977 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, just south of Scuttlehole Road.

    The 13 Sea Spray Cottages at Main Beach will remain in the hands of their current tenants for the 2013 season, rather than having their leases auctioned as they were in 2010.

    The East Hampton Village Board held a live auction that year for 3-year leases on the cottages, which are owned by the village, and prices paid were “very competitive,” said Larry Cantwell, the village administrator. All tenants have remained for the duration of their leases, so “the board has negotiated renewal leases with an increase in rent every year,” he said. Rather than holding another auction, “the board’s feeling is that the first auction set the market for those prices. The tenants are all paying their bills, so the board felt they should hang on to them and increase rents every year,” Mr. Cantwell said.

    The cottages are a source of substantial revenue for the village — a total of $932,093 will be collected in 2013, with an increase of 3 percent set for both 2014 and 2015. Rental rates this year range from $34,067 to $108,150.

    Nearly all of the cottages suffered roof damage between Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent northeaster, Drew Bennett, a consulting engineer working on behalf of the village, told the board at its Jan. 3 work session. Mr. Bennett advised the board that it would have to consider reroofing the buildings and suggested a piecemeal approach.

    The brick chimneys featured on some of the cottages have weathered substantially above the roofline, Mr. Bennett said, and their caps were damaged by the hurricane.

    “We are going to get prices on doing two of the roofs,” Mr. Cantwell said Monday. “There was some damage to the roofs, to shingles of all the cottages,” which he described as fairly minor. “We’re doing bids to redo roofs on two cottages, and the plan would be to do them all, a couple at a time, rather than a shingle here and a shingle there.”

    In what was otherwise an uneventful meeting, the Sag Harbor Village Board erupted Tuesday night when the son of one of the board members was denied admission to the Sag Harbor Fire Department.

    Kevin J. Duchemin, a trustee who has been a member of the Fire Department himself for over 20 years and is an East Hampton Village policeman, said he was “blindsided” when Mayor Brian Gilbride announced that his son, Kevin J. Duchemin Jr., could not join the department.

    The younger Mr. Duchemin, a student at Suffolk Community College, expected his membership in the department to become official at the meeting. He had looked forward to becoming a member since serving in the department’s junior program as a high school freshman, his father said.    

    The senior Mr. Duchemin told The Star yesterday that he was extremely disappointed, and that the decision had come without warning, without its even being mentioned during the 20-minute executive session prior to the public meeting. That his son was to be added to the insurance rolls as an active, probationary member of Gazelle Hose Company #1 was an item on the regular meeting’s agenda.

    In a letter faxed to The Star yesterday, Mr. Ducemin alleged that the mayor’s decision was “payback for me running for village trustee in June.” He noted that he had not received any support for his run. Although the by-law reads that “undergraduates attending local schools are not eligible for membership,” Mr. Duchemin wrote that the provision “is over 30 years old, and never has it been challenged until last night.” 

    “The bottom line is what the by-laws read,” Mayor Gilbride said at the meeting. “It has nothing to do with Kevin.” He had “voted for Kevin. . . . I asked for a interpretation. . . . The laws need to be changed,” he said.

    Reached yesterday, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the village board’s attorney, confirmed that he had been asked on Monday afternoon by Beth Kamper, the village clerk, to look at the section of the by-laws regarding membership, specifically the provision about undergraduates’ eligibility. She did so at the behest of the mayor, he said.

    Speaking for the Duchemins at the meeting, Robert Bori, secretary of the Fire Department and the village harbormaster, who was in the audience in his department uniform, said the by-law went back to the 1970s and that several college students had served in the department since that time. He said to the mayor, “You were sitting on the board on 1978. . . I got in. . . . We all went to Suffolk Community. . . I don’t see what the problem is.”

    “All of a sudden it’s my son and there’s a problem?” Mr. Duchemin asked Mayor Gilbride. “I ask you what kind of a message is the mayor sending to the youth of the community? Is he telling them either decide to be a volunteer or further your education?”

    Edward Gregory, another board member who is also a member of the Fire Department, said that the term “undergraduate” was ambiguous. He said that in the past it was thought to mean high school, with the provision adopted so that students did not run out of a classroom for a fire call. “Once you’re in college, it’s okay,” he said.

    “This is wrong,” Mr. Bori said. “That’s another three months this kid’s got to wait.” Muttering obscenities in a low voice, Mr. Bori left the meeting early.

    On a positive note during the meeting, the mayor praised the ambulance squad, which responded to calls at the height of last weekend’s snowstorm, noting that three calls had come at around midnight. He also thanked the Fire Department for accompanying the ambulances with a four-wheel drive truck.

    Mr. Gregory thanked Dee Yardley and the Highway Department for working 31 hours straight to clear the north end of the village for its HarborFrost celebration on Sunday. Sag Harbor was “packed like a summer weekend,” Mayor Gilbride said, and “looked like a Norman Rockwell village.” He congratulated everyone who made the event successful.

    The poor condition of a Howard Street house also was discussed at the meeting, as it has been previously. It was reported that no one has seemed to be taking care of the uninhabited house in recent years. Residents at the meeting called it an eyesore and public safety hazard. The mayor referred the matter to the village's building inspector, Tim Platt.

    A week and a half ago as he wrote his monthly weather report for January, Richard G. Hendrickson was asking, “Where’s the snow?” The answer arrived on Friday and Saturday.

    January was a “windy and cold month, but little snow or severe gale winds as we have had in years past,” wrote Mr. Hendrickson, the United States Cooperative weather observer in Bridgehampton. “This is a part of the cycle we are having now that is called global warming. In this cycle, which may last 10 or more years, there will be a very mild year or two, as we are having now.” Had there been such weather in days of yore, it wouldn’t have been possible “to fill the large icehouses like there were at each and every village with the glacial-made freshwater pond ice.”

    It was in the 50s on five days last month, with a high of 56 coming on Jan. 31. The low temperature was 6 degrees on the night of Jan. 24, “the only night in January that the temperature was in the single figure,” Mr. Hendrickson said. The thermometer dropped to freezing or lower on 21 nights in January, but there was measurable snow on only two days. The heaviest was 1.2 inches on Jan. 21; .1 inch more fell on the 29th. The total rain and melted snow for the month was .95 inches, “a light amount for a January month,” according to Mr. Hendrickson.

    There were few days last month when the northwest wind blew 40 miles per hour or more. Winds this winter have generally blown from the northwest, except on the rainy or snowy days, the weather observer said.

    He recorded 15 clear days, 3 partly cloudy, and 13 cloudy days in January.

    In addition to the already heavier snowfall that February has brought, Mr. Hendrickson predicts windier days, lower temperatures, and more opportunities “for skating on the freshwater ponds, plus sledding on the hill.”

    Keri Lynne Marino and Leland Edwards Winslow were married on Sept. 9 at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk by the Rev. Michael Rieder. They celebrated with a reception afterward at East by Northeast restaurant in Montauk.

    The bride is a daughter of Joyce and Carmine Marino of Montauk. A music teacher at Crossroads Music, she graduated from East Hampton High School in 2004 and from Molloy College in Rockville Centre in 2008.

    Mr. Winslow also graduated from East Hampton High School in 2004, then went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., and now runs L.W.W. Painting. His parents are Marjorie and Leland Winslow of Amagansett.

    The couple were friends in high school and reunited after college.

    The maid of honor was the bride’s sister, Laura Marino of Montauk. Her bridesmaids were the bridegroom’s sister, Melissa Winslow of Amagansett, Kristen Grabowski, also of Amagansett, and Haliegh Schellinger of Shelter Island. Mr. Winslow’s best man was Robert Wood of Amagansett. His ushers were Phillip Marino of Montauk, the bride’s brother, Christopher Wood of Amagansett, and Christopher Hand of East Hampton. There were readings by the bride’s father, the bridegroom’s mother, and Tom Kostura.

    The couple took a wedding trip to Rincon, Puerto Rico. They live in Springs.

    It was another rousing meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday. Beach erosion was a primary concern, and Steve Kalimnios, the owner of the Royal Atlantic Resort Motel, spoke passionately about his efforts to save it.

    Members and guests, including Marguerite Wolffsohn, East Hampton Town’s planning director, and Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the East Hampton Town Board liaison to the committee, also addressed the best way for a hamlet study to get done. In the end, all agreed that the hamlet would be better served by an outside professional planning organization.

    After considerable comment about the concrete septic rings that were put on the ocean beach in front of the Royal Atlantic in an effort to keep it from falling into the sea, Mr. Kalimnios stood, saying he was offended by the members’ statements. He warned the group that if his 60,000-square-foot building was allowed to go, it would create a breach into the downtown area.

    An order to remove the rings had been issued on Jan. 11 by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the motel owner said he was working with the D.E.C. in a timely manner to have them removed. The agency had given permission for them to be installed only as an emergency measure.

    “They’re not after me like everyone here seems to be,” Mr. Kalimnios said. “If my building is to go in the ocean you get a breach that will swallow up sections of downtown Montauk. Has anybody thought of that? The water is into me, through me, and into the town. Do you think I want them there? Do you think I don’t want my beach back?” he asked, his voice raising.

    Noting that the building had been rocked by storms before Hurricane Sandy did its damage, Mr. Kalimnios said the building’s footings and foundation are now exposed and the foundation is cracked. He said the company that insures the motel had questioned whether every precaution had been taken to secure his asset. “He’s ready to tell me that my $40 million dollar property might no longer be insurable,” he said.

    Ms. Wolffsohn attended the session because she had been asked to review the recommendation that a hamlet study be done. At last month’s meeting, the group discussed a letter from East Hampton Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley requesting that the town’s citizens advisory committees tackle such work as additions to the town’s comprehensive plan.

    Members balked at the suggestion, claiming they were not professional planners and saying the work should be left to the town’s Planning Department. But Ms. Wolffsohn said the Planning Department was understaffed. Moreover, she said the department’s priorities were dictated by the town board. “We have five bosses. They tell us what to do,” she said.

     After Ms. Wolffsohn suggested that the committee could limit its study to certain pertinent items, it was agreed that the most important concerns were coastal erosion, sewage treatment, and lighting, or lack thereof, in the downtown area. Nevertheless, members insisted professional planners should do the work.

    As to lighting, Dan Stavola, a member, reported that the bulbs in at least nine of the downtown streetlight fixtures were out.

    “It’s pitch black, rather than talking about this for the next two years, can we just get the light bulbs changed? I want to make the motion because nobody does anything,” he said.

    The life of Gregg Rickards, a musically gifted graduate of East Hampton High School who died last August at age 23, was celebrated at a fund-raiser held on Friday night at the high school.

    The event launched the endowment of a scholarship in Mr. Rickards’s honor and featured a wealth of local musical talent, nearly all of it with a connection to the high school. Performing were the school’s jazz ensemble; the Peter Weiss Trio (Mr. Weiss was a teacher of Mr. Rickards); Little Head Thinks, which includes Josh Brussel, a teacher, and Matt Dauch, a graduate; Casanova Frankenstein, featuring Dylan Sanacola, a recent graduate, and Mamalee Rose and Friends, featuring Arlethia (Mamalee) Lawler, a retired teacher.

    Also appearing were the Far East Fiddle Club; the school’s music theory class; Your Mother, featuring Troy Grindle, a teacher, and his son; MonkFish, featuring Steven and Jackson Clark, a graduate and student, respectively; the Jet Set Renegades, featuring Thomas Bennett, a graduate, and students; Third Estate; and Tree Top Thieves, also made up of graduates.

    An electric guitar and amplifier, donated by Crossroads Music and customized by Tom Bono, was raffled to raise additional money for the cause.

    More than $6,000 was raised, according to Michael Clark, proprietor of Crossroads Music, which also provided sound equipment for the show. “There was a great energy in the room all night,” Mr. Clark said. “Not one performer was asked to play; every single one of them volunteered, which is really indicative of the musical community here. Whenever there’s a need, bands jump up and do it. It was a real good showing. There was a lot of community support, as usual.”

    The initial idea for the scholarship was to award $500 to a graduating senior going into the field of music, said Mr. Rickards’s aunt, Patty Collins Sales. That may be broadened to include a larger award, multiple scholarships, or purchase of supplies for the high school’s music department, she said, though a decision has yet to be made. “The students were phenomenal,” Ms. Sales told The Star. “There was a whole lot of talent there. It was neat to see them on the stage with other local bands that you see all over town. It was a really good mix.”

    Donations are still being accepted, Ms. Sales said, and can be made to the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation. Interested parties can send a check to East Hampton High School, 2 Long Lane, East Hampton 11937, to the attention of Marilyn Von Scoyoc, Music Department coordinator. “Gregg Rickards Scholarship” should be entered on the memo line.

    “The vibe was unbelievable,” Ms. Sales said of the evening. “People were thanking us for letting them perform. It was truly nice, doing something positive. Hopefully we will be able to keep doing it, to keep something good going.”

    “Make sure the readers know how appreciative my family is for everything,” she said.

    A celebration of life service for two men who were presumed lost at sea aboard the Foxy Lady II, a commercial fishing vessel that frequently packed out in Montauk, will be held on Deer Isle, Me., on Feb. 24.

    Wayne Kendall Young, 50, and Wallace A. Gray II, who was known as Chubby, were aboard the ocean scallop boat when it went missing on Dec. 15 or 16. According to a report in Gloucester Times of Massachusetts, sunken wreckage from the Foxy Lady II was identified in January between Provincetown and Cape Ann, Mass., after several fishing vessels reported getting their trawling gear stuck on a previously unknown obstruction.

    The Gloucester-based scalloper had left port on Dec. 15 and had been expected back two days later. A Coast Guard search for the men covered 2,800 square miles of open water. It was suspended on Dec. 19, according to the newspaper account.

    Mr. Gray was a son of Wallace and Carol Gray, who survive. He was born in Sanford, Me., on Sept. 25, 1986, and attended school on Deer Isle in Stonington, Me. Tara Dalton Skarimbas, a friend, said that it had been his lifelong dream to become a commercial fishing captain. He was 26 and left a son, Wallace A. Gray III, who is 3. His siblings, Steve Gray, Robin Gray Bond, and Shannon Gray, all live on Deer Isle.

    Mr. Young was born in Bangor, Me., to Wayne Young and the former Sylvia Barter. He went to Deer Isle-Stonington High School. He is survived by his children Lindsay MacDonald of Deer Isle, Kayla Young of Stonington, Ashley Nevells of Deer Isle, and Jared Young; a son, Jacob Kendall Young, died before him. In addition to his parents, he also left two brothers, Barry Young and Richard Brown, and a sister, Valarie Jones.

    The Island Fishermen’s Wives Association will host the Feb. 24 service at 2 p.m. at the Island Community Center on Deer Isle. Elder Mike Shepard of the Sunset Restoration Branch Church of Jesus Christ in Stonington will officiate.

    Friends and family of the two fishermen have suggested donations to the Foxy Lady II Family Fund, c/o Bar Harbor Bank, 25 Church Drive, Deer Isle, Me. 04627.

    A vigil in their honor was held at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial in December.   

    A vision of Sag Harbor 10 years from now was imagined on Saturday afternoon by more than two dozen residents — lifers, newcomers, year-rounders, and weekenders — at a Sag Harbor Active Transport workshop held in the parish hall of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church. Asked for one word describing how Sag Harbor could be, responses included safe, progressive, quiet, athletic, peaceful, visual, innovative, healthy, green, enlightened, accessible, slow, and sociable.

    Calling transportation and quality of life in Sag Harbor issues that were “near and dear” to him, Jonas Hagen, who grew up in the village, led the workshop. He said bike lanes were his initial idea, but coming up with a more comprehensive plan became the goal after he met with Susan Mead, Jon Shaka, and Mia Grosjean of Save Sag Harbor, which sponsored the event, and those who helped establish a Safe Routes to School program in Springs.

    Mr. Hagen’s urban planning expertise was evident during the structured, informative, hands-on program. He has a master’s degree in urban affairs from Hunter College and has worked for the United Nations and projects in New York City, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil. Mr. Hagen consults on large-scale infrastructure for various international organizations and municipalities through Despacio, a group based in Bogota, Colombia, that emphasizes the Slow Movement philosophy. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in urban planning at Columbia University.

    Also part of the group was Mr. Hagen’s father, Anton, who attended as a 33-year village resident and — not officially — as chairman of the village’s zoning board. Robby Stein, a member of the village board, also attended unofficially as an avid biker. A number of cyclists were in attendance, many of whom said they commute to work on their bicycles.

    “Speed makes you blind,” Jonas Hagen said, using statistics to back up his claim. Range of vision dramatically decreases when speed increases from 15 to 30 miles per hour, he said. Moving more slowly increases the chance of surviving a collision, he explained.

    When walking, he continued, trees, wildlife, and other details can be seen, heard, and smelled, he said. Studies have shown that people who travel in light traffic have more friends and acquaintances, he added.

    Tools to slow traffic were described with visuals from Mr. Hagen’s world travels — wider crosswalks, narrower streets, smaller cars, textured surfaces, and varied styles of bicycle lanes.

    “Using your body to get around is the most healthy thing we can do,” he said, recommending that people add activity into their daily routines — walking to work or school, for instance. The number of kids cycling and walking to school has decreased, he said, from 50 percent in the 1960s to less than 15 percent now. This results in more obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular problems.

    Walking is in the DNA of Sag Harbor, said Mr. Hagen. “It grew as a pedestrian village.”

    Mr. Hagen also suggested that the community think creatively when it comes to public spaces, which he defined as “anything that is not private property.” The design and implementation need not be costly or time-consuming, he said, showing examples of pop-up sidewalk cafes, medians with planters, and spaces for parking 12 bicycles instead of one car.

    With maps, markers, and Post-its, five teams highlighted areas they felt were working well, needed improvement, or were dangerous. They were asked to keep in mind those villagers who are elderly or not able-bodied.

    A need for more bike lanes, especially near the schools, was stressed, as were bike lanes on roads that connect parks.

    A traffic circle or traffic guard at the intersection of Long Wharf and Bay and Main Streets was deemed crucial. Cars are backed up to North Haven and the Bulova watchcase factory in the summer, and there is a constant flow of pedestrians then.

    All agreed that the entrance to Mashashimuet Park is a disaster and that Long Wharf, a focal point of the village, should be a park, rather than used for parking spaces. The village’s “most valuable piece of real estate is a parking lot, and now it belongs to us,” Ms. Grosjean said, referring to the impending county handover.

    Eric Cohen, who spoke on his own behalf and not for the John Jermain Memorial Library, where he works, said he has drafted a plan for increased public space, ways to slow traffic, and a way to make the historic district near the library more of a central part of the village.

    “A group of engaged residents can move this forward,” said Mr. Hagen.

    Elizabeth Mendelman of Springs offered an example. She worked with many others to get a Safe Routes to School grant, a federal program whereby the access to schools are improved for child pedestrians and cyclists. What she called “a tough road,” which required municipal support, data collection, car counts, and much more, resulted in a $554,000 grant that will now help Springs School students from kindergarten through eighth grade walk safely to school.

    The group ended with a brainstorming session of short, medium, and long-term ideas. More involvement is sought. Mr. Stein said that residents who serve on boards and run for office can “make a huge difference.”