A relative newcomer to the hamlet was crowned at the fourth annual Mr. Amagansett pageant, held on Saturday night at Stephen Talkhouse.

    Matt Schmitt, competing under the name Matt from the Meeting House, dashed out from that restaurant’s kitchen, just across Main Street, and onto the Talkhouse stage at the last minute to best the competition as $5,000 was raised for the Donald T. Sharkey Memorial Community Fund.

    “Everyone knows what this is about,” Peter Honerkamp, a contestant and an owner of the Talkhouse, told the crowd as the pageant got underway. “We lost our dear friend Don Sharkey. A couple of his friends came up with an idea to start a fund to help people in the community. We’re supporting that fund tonight, and no one would be happier to see the kind of event we do here than Don, who, like most men in the audience, was expert at women making fun of them in bars.”

    The fund, in honor of East Hampton Town’s former chief building inspector, who died in 2009, supports community members in need and efforts for which Mr. Sharkey volunteered his time, such as the Wounded Warrior Project.

    Mr. Honerkamp then introduced a short film by Nick Kraus, the club’s booking manager and winner of the third pageant, “which was a disgrace, in my opinion,” said Mr. Honerkamp. “He’s not a contestant this year, but he’s even more egocentric than me, so he made a video anyway.”

    “It’s been a great year: I’ve been dwelling on beating Peter the entire year, and I know my video will be better than his,” said Mr. Kraus. True to his word, his video presentation was superior to Mr. Honerkamp’s, which betrayed a vast storehouse of anxiety and phobia and was mostly unfit for description.

    Dominick Stanzione, a town councilman and member of the Amagansett Fire Department, followed “Computer Shop Lee,” who led the audience in a sing-along of the alphabet song. “They’ve refused to let me do my act tonight, which is a shame, because it was an incredible act,” Mr. Stanzione lamented. “I understand that Peter had something to do with killing it. The last four years, I have claimed that the judges have been paid off.” Next year, the councilman promised, “the gloves come off, and I get to do my act without any interruption or interference from the people who have fixed this gig for four years in a row.”

    Curtis O’Brien, a bartender at Sotto Sopra, detailed his family’s deep roots in the community, pointing out that his grandmother was Miss Long Island 1946. “Sixty-seven years later, her proud progeny stands before you,” he said. “Along with the beauty-pageant genes, there’s also the fact that I coach the local youth basketball team. If that’s not giving back, I don’t know what is.”

    “Peter Mullet,” bearing a striking resemblance to Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, sang a song about Amagansett. “When I can’t stand it, I go to Gansett,” he crooned. “Down to Indian Wells, watch the ocean swells, then I forget it. Oh Amagansett, keep your beaches free, for you and for me.”

    No sooner had the Amagansett Village People, featuring Joe Bloecker, a town trustee, completed its performance of “Amagansett Girls” — to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” — than Mr. Schmitt made his dramatic entrance.

    Mr. Schmitt, too, adapted a popular song, Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” performing solo, a plaintive vocal with harmonica accompaniment. “It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday, and the bartenders shake their heads No,” he sang. “ ‘Cause they know it ain’t me that they wanted to see, on the stage at this ridiculous show.” The crowd went wild, though by that point a correlation between its enthusiasm and the volume of beverages consumed was impossible to ignore.

    The final contestant, Boo Bonack and the Plague, continued the theme, performing “the Don Sharkey version of a Western classic,” Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher’s “Don’t Fence Me In.” “Just let me wander over yonder,” Mr. Bonack, a k a Gordon Ryan, an attorney, sang. “Is your pool sorta over your border? Well, tough luck, pardner, because here is your stop-work order.” The audience reaction was overwhelming, but the act would be named runner-up by the judges, Tina Piette, Britton Bistrian, Debbie DiSunno, Erica Yardley, and Mr. Kraus.

    With all contestants assembled on the stage, the upstart winner was announced. “I’ve only been in Amagansett for two years,” said a jubilant Mr. Schmitt, “but I’m going to take it over. This is my town.”

    The pageant is one of many fund-raisers Mr. Honerkamp has hosted since he acquired the storied watering hole in 1987. Beneficiaries have included fire departments, scholars, underprivileged children, and residents facing medical emergencies. “It’s not uniform, it’s not perfect, but it helps people in need,” he said. Mr. Sharkey, he said, “was a jovial, beloved character in town. Everyone knew him.”

    On Sunday Mr. Honerkamp was still fuming about the pageant’s outcome. “I thought the entire process last night was criminally corrupt,” he told The Star. “Prior to the contest, I paid off every one of the judges, and all of them betrayed me. One thing a good judge does: When he’s bought, he stays bought. So they were dishonest to the extreme, and all my bribery went to naught. And they gave it to a guy with tattoos.”

    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.

    Tom Lawrence, a code enforcement officer for East Hampton Village, has resigned effective Feb. 15. At its meeting last Friday, the village board accepted his resignation and authorized payment of $33,066.60 for “unused accumulated time, pursuant to employee agreement.”

    Mr. Lawrence is stepping down after 161/2 years with the village. “If you’re very fortunate, you recognize opportunities and possibilities for change, and that’s basically where we’re at,” Mr. Lawrence told The Star. Mr. Lawrence and his wife are approaching their 29th anniversary, he said, and his youngest child will graduate from college in May. “It’s a really good opportunity for us to refocus. To be sure, I will miss working with the village — absolutely consummate professionals, led by an amazing team of elected officials. They really are top-shelf through and through,” he said.

    Mr. Lawrence described his role with the village as “essentially an expanded building inspector,” addressing coastal erosion, flood management, and beach preservation. In this role, he worked with the village board, the design review board, and the zoning board of appeals. “It never got boring,” he said.

    His salary was approximately $89,000 per year.

    Larry Cantwell, the village administrator, told The Star that the board of trustees is evaluating whether and how to replace Mr. Lawrence, suggesting that a successor could be hired on a full-time, part-time, or seasonal basis

The ideas of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were honored at Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton on Monday, with the Rev. Michael Jackson of Triune Baptist Church in Sag Harbor as keynote speaker and that church’s choir joining in the celebration.

    “We will praise you for the rest of our days,” sung members of the Calvary Youth Choir. Young speakers including Jacarra Stephens read Scripture with words such as “thinkest no evil.”

    “Love never fails,” exclaimed Sharlene Hartwell, a minister who spoke of unity and forgiveness.

    “Martin Luther King Jr. was concerned about all mankind, regardless of creed or political affiliation,” Henry Haney, a deacon at Calvary Baptist, said. “We are all in this together . . . this is what East Hampton is about.”

    Gloria Moore performed a dramatic and colorful flag ministry to the tune of “Change.”

    Among those gathered were church members, politicians, and school officials. Quotes from Dr. King that were part of the service included “We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”

    “My door is always open,” said Richard J. Burns, the superintendent of the East Hampton School District. He asked for help in giving each student a promise for the future. He said he seeks a partnership that includes participation by parents with regard to homework and attendance. On his end, he said, “You call me on it” if something is not happening as it should.

    Mr. Jackson expressed gratitude for the help his congregation has received. The congregation is “trying to build our own temple . . . there is so much more work to be done.” He then introduced the Triune Baptist Church Choir, which sang about speaking blessings into the atmosphere and seeing the best in people.

    Dr. King blessed humanity with a profound purpose, Mr. Jackson said, and “the works must go on. . . . In order to make it, black, white, Jew, and gentile must live as one people . . . we have so much more in common,” he said, “than what is trying to separate us.”

    The actor Alec Baldwin, who has long taken an interest in politics of a regional and national nature, will speak about issues of importance to East Hampton Town residents at the East Hampton Conservators’ winter gathering at the Huntting Inn on Main Street on Feb. 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be supplied.

    Mr. Baldwin was the moving force behind the founding of the Conservators, a political action committee that tends to support Democrats in local elections. According to a statement on its Web site, the group is concerned with controlling development, protecting the environment and drinking water, and preserving open space, history, and quality of life in East Hampton Town.

    Those attending will be invited to participate in a discussion of environmental issues, as well as get to know those who share their concerns.

    There is no charge to attend, however, an R.S.V.P. via e-mail to [email protected]  has been asked.

_

   According to organizers, the event was at capacity as of Monday afternoon and no more reservations can be taken.

    A briefing for Congressional staffers on the H-2B visa program, which allows employers to hire a temporary foreign work staff, will be held in Washington, D.C., on Monday at 3 p.m. Members of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce are urging business owners to attend the meeting and lend support.

    “As you know, this program is very important to the seasonal employees in Montauk,” wrote Laraine Creegan, the chamber’s executive director.

    Shawn McBurney, the senior vice president of government affairs for the American Hotel and Lodging Association, is rallying support for the program. “We anticipate a tough fight this year,” he said in an e-mail.

    For those who cannot attend, Mr. McBurney has suggested they write in favor of the program to Representative Tim Bishop, 306 Cannon H.O.B., Washington, D.C. 20515. Mr. McBurney can be e-mailed for more information at [email protected].

    The owners of historic timber-frame houses in East Hampton Village will get a zoning bonus that will allow them to build or expand second dwellings on their property following the village board’s adoption on Friday of zoning code amendments designed to encourage preservation of those landmark structures.

    The law, after modifications requested by the owners of some of the houses in question were implemented, allows some of the maximum permitted gross floor area allowed in a main house to be allocated to a second dwelling on the same lot in order to preserve the historic integrity of the timber-frame buildings. A related law, also adopted, provides for criteria and guidelines for the design review board’s review of an application for a second house on a property that includes a designated a timber-frame landmark.

    Later in the meeting, the board continued a discussion on a separate zoning code amendment that would repeal a limited exception allowing a second house on a lot large enough to be subdivided, provided the second house was for “domestic employees or members of the household of the occupant of the single family residence.”

    The board’s original proposal would have deleted the section of the code allowing a second house when the above conditions were met, said Larry Cantwell, the village administrator. An amended version of the law discussed Friday “specifically excludes any property for which a zoning determination has been made prior to the adoption of this.”

    The application that sparked the code revision — John and Suzanne Cartier’s plan to move their existing house to the rear of the property at 105 Main Street, add 182 square feet to it, and build a second house of similar size — would then be exempt from the code change.

    “This amended version was not acted upon,” Mr. Cantwell said, “but could be at the next board meeting. The board is going to change the law so that in the future two houses on one lot won’t be able to be created, as the Z.B.A. is allowing to happen in this case.”

    Last year, the Cartiers applied to the zoning board for variances to carry out their plan, but the zoning board, after four months of review, determined the variances were unnecessary because the proposed houses would both conform to zoning code requirements if the property were divided in two.

    The village board has since tried to stop the Cartiers’ development plans, claiming that a scenic easement granted to the village in 1975 prohibits construction of the second house. Last month, the village sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the Cartiers from proceeding with construction. That was denied in court.

    The village, said Mr. Cantwell, will continue to pursue enforcement of the scenic easement, but sees that as “a separate issue,” he said. “From the board’s perspective, it’s the scenic easement that is in court.”

    A contractor hoping to convert the second floor of his commercial building on Lumber Lane into two apartments for his sons, returned to the East Hampton Village Zoning Board on Friday with something to celebrate.

    On Jan. 18 the village board had adopted a zoning code amendment that would eliminate one obstacle to his plan — a requirement that anyone who cannot provide the mandated off-street parking pay a $10,000 fee per space into the village’s parking fund. The amendment will allow the zoning board to waive that fee, but only if property owners are creating affordable housing.

    Pat Trunzo, a contractor who owns the building with his brother, Mike Trunzo, wants to create two “affordable” apartments there but needs a number of variances to do so, including one from the village’s off-street parking requirements, which he had not initially requested.

    Now he has, but Linda Riley, the village attorney, cautioned Mr. Trunzo against hastily acting on his plans. “Be advised that the local law is not effective yet,” she told him. It does not become effective until five days after it is filed with the state, “and it hasn’t even been sent yet,” she said. Ms. Riley took the opportunity to clarify the code, which she said is largely misunderstood. The code will require $10,000 for each space if a variance from the off-street parking is granted by the zoning board, she said, “except for a variance granted for affordable housing on the condition that there’s covenants and restrictions, etcetera, that require it to remain affordable housing in perpetuity.”

    Andrew Goldstein, the zoning board’s chairman, told Mr. Trunzo that he must also submit “a program for those apartments whereby the tenants will be restricted to those meeting certain economic limitations.” The board has indicated its support for the parking variance, he said, “but we can’t proceed any further until we see those materials.”

    Mr. Trunzo said he had given Ms. Riley a template of covenants restricting the apartments to people within a certain income range, as well as the rent that could be charged. “With your permission, I’d like to work with the board’s counsel to put those in a form that the village would find appropriate,” he said.

    Lysbeth Marigold, a board member, asked Mr. Trunzo if it was improper for family members to benefit from affordable housing, citing a conversation she’d had with an inspector regarding unrelated, Section 8 housing. “There won’t be a government subsidy,” Mr. Trunzo answered. “Nobody’s subsidizing the rent here. As we’ve indicated before, we’re hoping that my sons go on to bigger and better things, so at some point in time these will be available” to new, qualified occupants, he said.

    Ms. Riley said she would review Mr. Trunzo’s materials and circulate them internally. The code enforcement officer, she said, will determine how many parking spaces are required. “The board needs a determination by the code enforcement officer on what the required parking is, what the required aisle width is. Then we’ll know what we’re dealing with,” she said.

    Mr. Trunzo plans to present the materials the board seeks at the next meeting on Friday, Feb. 8.

    Mr. Goldstein also announced on Friday a determination regarding playground equipment at St. Luke’s Epsicopal Church. The board found that playground equipment on a 2012 survey should have been encompassed in the special permit and permanent variances the board granted for the property in 2004. The board modified the 2004 determination to include the playground equipment, which will allow the church to replace it with new equipment without submitting a new application.

    Alena Antonovna Tsvirka, the daughter of Ina and Anton Tsvirka of Gorodeya, Minsk, Belarus, was married to Henry Charles Uihlein of Amagansett on Dec. 22 at the Montauk Community Church. The Rev. Bill Hoffman officiated, and a reception followed at Gurney’s Inn.

    Mr. Uihlein owns Uihlein’s Marina in Montauk and is a former high school athletic director at the Shelter Island School. He attended the Montauk School, East Hampton High School, and the University of Tampa, and then earned a master’s degree in education from New York University. His parents, Charlotte and Henry Uihlein, are deceased.

    The bride studied at the Belarusian State Economic University. She came to Montauk on a seasonal work visa. While walking by Mr. Uihlein’s marina, she heard two women speaking Russian and stopped to talk, then met her future husband.

    For their wedding, which the bride described as “a perfect Christmas wedding,” she wore an ivory Casablanca dress and carried a bouquet of ivory roses and crystal-centered white stephanotis. Janeen DeFina of Montauk was her maid of honor. She was also attended by Bailey Thompson Somero of Montauk and her sister-in-law, Maryia Semianchova of Toronto. They wore black dresses and red shoes and carried bouquets of red roses and white stephanotis.

    Mr. Uihlein’s best man was Thomas Dolan of Montauk and Oyster Bay. His groomsmen were his son by a previous marriage, Henry Christian Uihlein of Amagansett, and the bride’s brother, Victor Tsvirko of Toronto. Also at the wedding was the couple’s 1-year-old son, Alexander Charles Uihlein.

    The reception included a performance by Mr. Dolan, an original song by Lenny DeFina of Montauk, and illusions by Joe Garsetti.

    After a wedding trip to Miami and Key West, the couple are back at home in Amagansett.

    Twenty-five years after Christian Wolffer established the Sagaponack vineyard and winery that eventually became Wolffer Estate Vineyard, his daughter Joey Wolffer and son, Marc Wolffer, announced on Monday that they will be the new co-owners of the operation.

    At a press conference held in the Sagaponack tasting room, the two said they look forward to continuing the legacy built by their father, who died four years ago in a swimming accident in Brazil.

    The estate began as Mr. Wolffer’s weekend getaway, before he planted vines over potato fields and eventually began to produce world-class wines. To mark the Tuscan-style winery’s 25th anniversary and the siblings’ takeover of the venture, a number of celebrations are planned and five anniversary wines are to be introduced. Marc Wolffer, who also owns vineyards in Spain and Argentina, managed restaurants in Manhattan and Havana, then became the food and beverage manager at the Sea Life theme park in Hawaii, which his father owned. He said he is especially fond of one of the anniversary wines, Christian’s Cuvee Merlot, named for his father.

    Ms. Wolffer, a jewelry designer, owns a company called Styleliner, described in a release as “a luxury accessories boutique on wheels.” She and her husband split their time between New York and Sag Harbor, with eventual plans to live on the estate.

    Mr. Wolffer will travel between Sagaponack and Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where he lives with his wife and four children, and has opened three restaurants.

    He and his sister purchased the interests from their other two sisters. “It is not their passion,” Ms. Wolffer said on Monday.

    Complimenting the Wolffer Estate management, the siblings assured that the current structure would remain in place. Projects are in the works to expand nationally and internationally, Mr. Wolffer said. Despite poor economic conditions, the vineyard has enjoyed a substantial increase in profits in the last few years, and the demand for its wines, produced under the supervision of the winemaker Roman Roth and vineyard manager, Richie Pisacano, presently exceeds its supply.

    Judy Malone, the vineyard’s marketing and communications director, said she thinks Mr. and Ms. Wolffer’s father would have loved the decision. “It is poignant,” she said, “to carry on the name.”