Participation by East Enders in a planned trip to Lesbos, Greece, to assist in relief efforts for the thousands of refugees flowing through there from countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, continues to grow as a departure date just before Thanksgiving nears. 

Melissa Berman, a Montauk resident, mustered volunteers from this area several years ago to help western Long Islanders hard hit by Hurricane Sandy, an effort that morphed into a homegrown organization called East End Cares. After following the ongoing wars that have created a flow of refugees unprecedented in recent years, “you just wake up one day and know you have to do something else,” she said this week. Partnering with a nonprofit organization, DoYourPart.org, East End Cares created the Direct Relief Project and began planning a volunteer trip.

Denise Schoen, an attorney who has been a critical care emergency medical technician with the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps for a dozen years, learned about the situation in Lesbos through Facebook posts and photos by Doug Kuntz, an East Hampton photojournalist who has spent much of the fall working in Greece. She immediately thought about going there herself to help. “I knew about it as a world event, but I didn’t really understand until I saw his images,” she said this week. She had planned a family trip to Cancun for the Thanksgiving holiday, but when she read more in The Star about the Direct Relief Project she sat her family down to discuss changing their plans. 

“ ‘You should just go now,’ ” Ms. Schoen said her 16-year-old daughter said upon learning of the dire need for more medics on site in Greece.

Her younger daughter, age 12, husband, and mother, MaryAnn Sarris, who was treating the family to the trip, all gave her their unqualified support. “By the end of the weekend I had canceled everything and booked my flights.” 

Bob Miller, an East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue Squad member who is also going on the trip, was at a dinner party when he answered a question from Eugene DePasquale about what he was doing for Thanksgiving. Mr. DePasquale, an East Hampton Town assessor who was trained as an E.M.T., decided to go, too.

On an evening earlier this week, Mr. DePasquale and Ms. Schoen packed a large collection of donated medical supplies into big red duffel bags. Donations came from virtually all of the local fire departments and ambulance corps, and from Shene Nursing Service in East Hampton, via Valon Shoshi. Using donations by community members to a GoFundMe page, which had reached $6,375 as of yesterday, Ms. Schoen purchased many lifesaving items. Mr. DePasquale is also raising money on a GoFundMe site. 

In addition, tax-deductible monetary donations can be made for the local group’s work in Greece at DoYourPart.org. 

Other local supporters have offered a custom training session for volunteers in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and set up collection points for baby slings and other goods that are being shipped overseas.

Before leaving Greece earlier this month, Mr. Kuntz, who will return to Lesbos in the coming days, arranged for the purchase through some of those donations of several portable toilets that will be stationed near the beach where many refugees arrive. Though hungry, he said, people were declining to eat as there were no sanitary facilities available nearby. 

Mr. Kuntz saw the need and was able to arrange for a solution. “It’s something that money can’t buy,” he said, “restoring their dignity.” 

Brian Lydon, another East End Cares participant who volunteers around the world, and James Kushner provided five EKG machines to take to Greece.

Mr. Kuntz was interviewed on TV last week by News12 with Mr. Miller and Emma Newbery, who is also headed to Greece with East End Cares. The complete clip of the News12 interview can be seen on the television station’s web-site. 

  Marcus Lovett, a Broadway and television actor and singer, has also gotten on board in a big way to help the volunteer effort, after a chance online meeting with Ms. Berman. He had put a message out on social media expressing a desire to help a good cause and through a friend on Facebook was connected with Ms. Berman. He has become an active supporter and fund-raiser for the group.

To do so, he said in a recent phone interview, he spent time learning about the political situations that have fostered the flight of so many refugees. The big picture is almost too wide-ranging for most people to take in, he said. “What I think is remarkable about East End Cares . . . [is] they have found a spot that is almost apolitical,” a specific goal to address the specific immediate needs of people arriving on the shores of Lesbos. 

“It motivated me,” said Mr. Lovett, “to see how I could make a difference in one fishing village.” 

Almost immediately after getting involved, he wrote on Facebook about the challenges faced by medics working on people getting off boats after the trip from Turkey, many of whom have hypothermia from being wet and cold, and need resuscitation. 

Kara Schiff, a Connecticut resident who was a longtime friend and emergency medical technician, saw his post and made the commitment to go to Greece to help. As she could not make the trip with the group leaving here this month, she went on her own several weeks ago, carrying life-saving equipment provided by the Montauk Fire Department and other donors. 

“I can’t tell you how much your support is improving our medical services here,” Michael-John Von Horsten, the volunteer doctor whose clinic received the supplies, responded in a message to those involved.

In the face of news reports about the refugee crisis, Mr. Lovett said, “people feel helpless. But I want to help them feel a little less helpless by informing them what East End Cares and the Direct Relief Project and Melissa are doing. I want to feel less helpless by giving them the details of the situation.” For instance, he said, when Ms. Schiff arrived with the equipment, a doctor receiving it, who had been doing the best he could with limited supplies, said “I haven’t seen half of this stuff here.” 

Mr. Lovett has continued to contact potential donors and explain to them how much help is needed for the refugees. On the day he spoke with The Star he had obtained a donation from a philanthropist of a core warmer, which can reverse hypothermia — a vital piece of equipment requested by doctors in Lesbos, where a daytime temperature of 64 is now dipping to 30 degrees at night, and many refugees are ending up in the water after boats founder. 

“There’s a use for wealth in this situation,” he said, “but there’s also a lack of wisdom on the ground. That’s where I feel we are vital.”

With luggage loaded with medical and other supplies, a few of the East Enders will pile into one of the Unique Limo company’s cars, being provided through Ms. Schoen’s participation in East End Barter, to meet the rest of the volunteer team, numbering a dozen, at the airport. While the situation they will face in Lesbos is somewhat uncertain, what is certain is that they will carry the good will of many East End residents with them. 

A crowd of close to 300 attended a hearing Thursday night before the East Hampton Town Board on a proposed town law establishing a rental registry, which would require property owners to register with the town before advertising a rental, providing information about the number of tenants and lease term and certifying that a property meets current town and state safety and building codes.

The 45 speakers at the hearing, held at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett instead of at Town Hall because of the expected crowd, were split about equally into opponents and proponents of the law.

Those against it, who had organized a campaign online at stopthreentalregistry.com, and presented a petition to the board with 1,325 signatures, called the registry an onerous requirement that would unfairly impact those who abide by housing laws and said it would have a negative effect on the rental industry and economy without providing the benefit of improving enforcement against overcrowded and share houses. 

Advocates said it would assist town ordinance enforcement officers in enforcing housing laws, a critical need to address disruptions in residential areas where illegal short-term, seasonal, and year-round rentals are impacting neighborhoods.

Though speakers' opinions were evenly divided, a show of hands in the crowded room, where it was standing room-only, with additional onlookers standing in the hall, requested by Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell as an informal poll as to opinions, showed opponents far outnumbered registry supporters.

An unofficial recount of the votes for East Hampton Town trustee, including absentee ballots, has shifted that body's expected majority even more in the Democrats' favor.

Brian Byrnes, a first-term member of the East Hampton Town Trustees who had fallen just short of victory on Election Night, was apparently re-elected after an unofficial count of absentee ballots lifted him from the 10th to 7th-highest vote total for the nine-member body. Consequently, Sean McCaffrey, a trustee who had finished 9th according to Election Night tallying, has apparently lost in his bid for a third term.

While the result is not expected to be certified until Monday, the composition of the trustee board will apparently change significantly from the present 5-4 Republican majority to a 6-3 Democratic majority.

The unofficial totals, including absentee ballots, indicate that candidates receiving the top five vote totals are all Democrats. They are Francis Bock (3,612), Pat Mansir (3,125), Bill Taylor (3,064), Tyler Armstrong (2,980), and Rick Drew (2,980).

Timothy Bock, a 10-year trustee, was re-elected with 2,916 votes. Mr. Byrnes received 2,829 votes, followed by James Grimes, who was elected with 2,811 votes. Diane McNally, the longest serving trustee and the body's clerk, or presiding officer, was re-elected with 2,795 votes.

Mr. Bock is a former trustee, and Ms. Mansir is a former member of the town board. Mr. Taylor, a waterways management supervisor for the town and a harbormaster before that, was re-elected to a second term, while Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Drew are newcomers to government.

Mr. McCaffrey received 2,782 votes. Zachary Cohen, whose 2011 bid for town supervisor fell short by just 15 votes, received 2,708 votes and was also not elected.

"We're really excited," Jeanne Frankl, chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, said on Friday. "We think we had an excellent campaign built on our team collaborating with each other and finding a collaborative agenda. We think that bodes well for the future."

The trustees will work together, Ms. Frankl said. "They've committed to be more efficient, more willing to cooperate with other agencies trying to preserve the environment, and more respectful of the public. What could be wrong with that?"

Tom Knobel, chairman of the East Hampton Republican Committee who unsuccessfully sought election as town supervisor, called Mr. McCaffrey "an excellent fellow and trustee" who is very well regarded. "It's regrettable that, by the slimmest of margins, he did not get in," Mr. Knobel said on Friday.

"It's a fact of life," Mr. Knobel said, "that there are more Democratic voters -- and absentee ballots -- than Republicans in the Town of East Hampton."

Update, 9:04 p.m.: Southampton Town police have confirmed that they believe the body found in the Sagaponack woods Saturday is that of Lilia (Esperanza) Aucapina, who had been reported missing six weeks ago. Detective Sgt. Lisa Costa said in a press release Saturday night that while the circumstances surrounding her death are still actively being investigated, "at this time the death is not believed to be criminal in nature." 

The body was found in a heavily wooded area between Sprig Tree Path and Toppings Path, north of the highway, in Sagaponack. Ms. Aucapina lived on Toppings Path. Southampton Town police and its detectives, along with the Suffolk County medical examiner's office responded. Further testing is necessary to positively identify the body.

Originally, 3:42 p.m.: Lilia Aucapina, a Sagaponack woman who disappeared on Oct. 10, was found dead Saturday morning, hanging from a tree in the woods behind her Toppings Path house, according to her husband's attorney, Colin Astarita.

"A hunter came across body and notified the Police Department," said Mr. Astarita, who has been representing Ms. Aucapina's estranged husband, Carlos R. Aucapina, after police interrogated him. Police made a tentative identification and notified the family Saturday afternoon, he said. Positive identification will be made through dental records, he said.

Southampton Town police detective have not yet commented on the discovery, though Sgt. Carl Schottenhamel, reached at headquarters Saturday afternoon, did confirm a body had been found in the woods, and said a press release was being prepared. 

She was found hanging from a low-lying branch, in a heavily wooded area that had been previously searched by officers, as well as K-9 units. The change in foliage was the difference, Mr. Astarita said, with most of the leaves having dropped off the trees.

He said he was told that the decomposition of the body was consistent with exposure to the elements over the six-week period.

"The families have come together," Mr. Astarita said, referring relatives of Carlos R. Aucapina and the missing woman. The close-knit family ties became strained after police questioned Mr. Aucapina the night his wife was reported missing. Ms. Aucapina had been granted a stay-away order of protection from her husband just days before her disappearance and had been living separately, though the couple was not in the process of getting divorced, according to Mr. Astarita.

After being questioned about his wife's disappearence, Mr. Aucapina was arrested twice, once by the Southampton Town police, then by East Hampton Town police, for allegedly violating the order of protection. He ended up spending several days in jail, before his family could raise the $10,000 bail amount set in each jurisdiction. The house he lived in, next to his wife's, was searched, in addition to his work truck. 

Mr. Aucapina, who maintained he had nothing to do with her disappearance, was among the last people to see Ms. Aucapina, when they were involved in a confrontation on the morning of Oct. 10 in Wainscott. Mr. Aucapina allegedly confronted her and a man she was with, Angel Tejada, in the parking lot of the Meeting House Lane Medical Practice while she was being dropped off to pick up her car. Mr. Aucapina was joined by Ms. Aucapina's brother, Carlos Parra. They left when Mr. Tejada called police.

Her family reported her missing 12 hours later. She had sent her children, a 21-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter, a text message, telling them to remember that she would always love them, Mr. Astarita has said. 

"She was a loving mother, a loving wife, a wonderful, loving person," Mr. Astarita said. "It is a tragedy." 

The mental competence of a man accused of murdering his father earlier this year in their Manhattan apartment is at issue this week in the Centre Street courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Justice Melissa Jackson.

Two forensic psychiatrists told the court in September that Thomas Gilbert Jr., 31, who allegedly shot his father, Thomas Gilbert Sr., in the 70-year-old man’s Beekman Place apartment on Jan. 4, was mentally ill and incapable of assisting in his own defense. If the court accepts that determination, Mr. Gilbert, whose family are longtime owners of a house in the Georgica Association, would be hospitalized and treated in a state facility until such time as he is found sane, then would be tried.

The office of the Manhattan district attorney challenged the psychiatrists’ finding, and the court granted its request for a third examination, this time by a psychologist chosen by the prosecution.

Mr. Gilbert, who was arrested the day after the murder and has been in jail ever since, attended the first two sessions of his sanity hearing but did not appear on Friday. “My client has informed me that he does not wish to attend,” his lawyer, Alex Spiro of Brafman & Associates, told Justice Jackson, later adding that his client was refusing to cooperate with him.

Shelly Gilbert discovered her husband’s body after returning from a brief trip to the store. She has attended each court session this past week. The hearing goes into its fifth session Friday.

The senior Mr. Gilbert was a hedge fund manager who founded Wainscott Capital Partners Fund. In recent years, according to statements made in court, his son, a Princeton graduate, became estranged from his parents, though still relying on them for financial support after some of his business ventures failed. 

The lead prosecutor, Craig Ortner, called Dr. Stuart M. Kirschner, their expert witness, first. Dr. Kirschner told the court that while Mr. Gilbert Jr. might be “delusional,” it would not prevent him from assisting his lawyer in his defense. “He doesn’t have a long history of psychosis,” the doctor said. He described Mr. Gilbert as having “above-average intelligence.”

A video was played for the court of Dr. Kirschner’s interview with the defendant, who appeared calm. The psychologist was asked during cross-examination if he did not find that Mr. Gilbert’s demeanor demonstrated a “flat affect,” which would be a sign of mental illness. “No,” he answered. “I saw a sadness in Mr. Gilbert, not a flat affect.”

Mr. Spiro attacked the doctor’s methodology and credibility. Noting that Dr. Kirschner has testified in court over 200 times, always for the prosecution, he called him, in effect, a gun for hire, and questioned why the doctor did not take Mr. Gilbert’s psychiatric history into account. He cited incidents occurring when the defendant was in college in 2004 and 2005, as well as reports from various doctors who have treated Mr. Gilbert over the years.

Dr. Daniel S. Mundy, one of the two who had found Mr. Gilbert to be mentally ill, took the stand next. He told the court he had conducted some 300 competency exams, the results being “about 50-50.”

“Mr. Gilbert was saying he felt contaminated,” Dr. Mundy said. When asked about his mental state and the past, he said, Mr. Gilbert would reply, “I have to refer to my guidelines.”

“The odd way he presents to us was very similar to how he presented to Corrections,” Dr. Mundy said, referring to doctors who treated Mr. Gilbert on Rikers Island. “They are calling it delusional. They are calling it psychosis.” 

He said Mr. Gilbert had told him that other inmates there were doing “pantomime TV shows,” to “mess with his mental illness.” 

Dr. Kirschner had questioned how the defendant could be considered mentally ill when he is not on medication. Dr. Mundy said mental illness does not always call for drug treatment. He used mental retardation as an example. “There is not a pill for that.”

In cross-examining Dr. Mundy, Mr. Ortner, the prosecutor, presented a very different picture. He claimed that Mr. Gilbert was faking mental illness to set up a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. Mr. Spiro, he said, had been in constant contact with Mr. Gilbert, contrary to his insistence that there was no cooperation. “Isn’t he the least bit partisan? He is getting paid. Do you have any idea how much Mr. Spiro is getting paid? A million dollars, maybe.” He called Mr. Spiro a “zealous” advocate for his client, characterizing the defense as simply a “legal maneuver.” Mr. Gilbert, he concluded, has been forcing his mother to dip into his father’s funds for years.

Mr. Spiro had been retained by the elder Mr. Gilbert several times over the years to defend his son.

At one point, Mr. Ortner asked Dr. Mundy if he had been following the trial. “Only so much as what I read in the press, which I take with a grain of salt,” Dr. Mundy answered. The large courtroom, which was nearly full, broke into laughter, one of the few moments of levity during the hearing.

The cross-examination of Dr. Mundy will continue tomorrow, to be followed by the testimony of Dr. Louise Mullen.

Closer to home, while the Manhattan D.A. is fighting the two psychiatrists’ determination, the Suffolk County D.A. is not. Last Thursday in East Hampton Town Justice Court, misdemeanor charges of unlicensed driving against Mr. Gilbert were dropped after Justice Steven Tekulsky was informed that Mr. Gilbert had been found “mentally incompetent.” 

Mr. Gilbert was also facing a contempt of court charge in Southampton Justice Court for allegedly violating an order of protection issued for a childhood friend from Sagaponack, Peter Smith Jr. The clerk’s office at the courthouse confirmed Tuesday that the case has been removed from the calendar. 

Mr. Gilbert was accused, first, of assaulting Mr. Smith in Brooklyn; then of violating the resulting order of protection on Labor Day, 2014. He is considered a possible suspect in a fire that destroyed Mr. Smith’s parents’ house in Sagaponack two weeks later.

Charline Spektor is ready to move on. 

“I’m leaving and I’m making every effort to see that the keys are in someone else’s pocket when I do so,” said Ms. Spektor, the owner of BookHampton. 

On Nov. 11, Ms. Spektor sold BookHampton’s Southampton store to Daniel Hirsch and Gregory Harris. Both former employees, Mr. Hirsch, 30, lives in Water Mill and Mr. Harris, 31, lives in Sag Harbor. The new owners have subsequently renamed the shop Southampton Books, and will also sell rare, collectible, and signed books. In addition to speeding up special orders, they plan to launch a door-to-door delivery service. 

“The bookstore business is evolving. Some are in the position to survive and thrive and the Southampton location is a special one.”

“Having a bookstore means so much to this community and we didn’t want to see it go,” said Mr. Hirsch. 

Ms. Spektor is still on the hunt for a buyer for BookHampton in East Hampton, someone who sees great value in not only running an independent bookstore, but ensuring its vitality. 

“It’s unimaginable to think that East Hampton would exist without BookHampton. There would be a real hole,” said Ms. Spektor. “As a responsible neighbor, I want to give it the best possible chance of continuing.”

She described BookHampton as a “very healthy bookstore,” despite shifting consumer habits and the rapid proliferation of e-books and other online media. “None of this is caused by the economics of the bookstore,” said Ms. Spektor, adding that the new owner has to withstand “the slow season, as well as the breakneck pace of the fast season.”

Ms. Spektor has also witnessed another change in the demographic of the year-round customer. For several years, her clientele consisted of a devoted summer and weekend customer base that would visit the shop “every summer, all summer, and nearly every weekend of the year.”

“They had an income which allowed them to have a second home, but it wasn’t the kind of wealth that we see now,” she said, adding that East Hampton is no longer a second-home destination, but increasingly a third, fourth, and fifth-home destination. 

This summer revealed but another shift, with Airbnb rentals bringing people to East Hampton for only four to five days at a stretch. “It’s changing in a way that can be very detrimental to any retail operation,” said Ms. Spektor, who splits her time between Amagansett and Manhattan. “Instead of spending the summer or every weekend of the summer, people are coming for short visits and buying one or two books. The next stop is Martha’s Vineyard or Palm Springs.”

BookHampton’s new business model aims to reach voracious readers no matter their domestic or international destination: “We’ll ship it to you wherever you are — and we’ll ship it for free.” 

A longtime political activist, Ms. Spektor, 61, plans to focus on a multi-state gun control project based in churches and synagogues, describing the country’s volume of guns as the one thing that keeps her up at night. Once the store is in stable hands, she will also devote more time to fiction and nonfiction writing projects. 

BookHampton opened on Newtown Lane in 1971, when George Caldwell and Jorge Costello, known locally as “the Georges,” first started the business. The bookstore later moved to Main Street, before landing in its current location across the street. Hal Zwick briefly purchased it before Ms. Spektor and Jeremy Nussbaum, her late husband who died in 2012, took over in 2000. 

Over the years, besides the East Hampton and Southampton stores, the couple opened locations in Sag Harbor, Amagansett, and Mattituck.

Valerie Smith, who has run the Monogram Shop on Newtown Lane for the past 18 years, is hopeful that someone will purchase the East Hampton location and run it as a bookstore. 

“The most soul-crushing thing that could possibly happen is for BookHampton to be replaced by Ann Taylor,” said Ms. Smith, who views the potential loss of a local, independently run bookstore as a “devastating blow” to East Hampton Village.

Though Ms. Spektor said she is “confident that someone will step forth, nothing has been nailed down as of yet.” Never one to mince words, Ms. Smith cautioned that owning and operating an independent business is not for the faint of heart.

“Having a retail store is like having a newborn who never grows up. Its needs are daily and constant,” said Ms. Smith. “It’s really not something you can do from your house in Santa Barbara. You have to be here.”

For the time being, Chris Avena, BookHampton’s general manager for the past 16 years, is cautiously optimistic. 

Still, the process has been an unsettling one for the devoted staff of six full-time employees. Five days a week, Iggy, a terrier mix who belongs to Kim Lombardini, another manager, serves as the official greeter, along with M, a feral cat who wandered into the shop some years ago and never left. 

“Booksellers are passionate readers. Once you give a customer that first book they love, they’re yours forever. It’s really personal,” said Mr. Avena, who remains hopeful that BookHampton will stay put. “All of us feel extraordinarily optimistic that something will happen — and it will be a good thing for all of us.”

Early Monday afternoon, Book­Hampton was empty except for Mark Gettes, a longtime patron, who was looking for a new book to read. Mr. Gettes works as an anesthesiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital. He splits his time between Manhattan and East Hampton.

“It’s the reason that I drive into town. It’s the cultural center of East Hampton,” said Mr. Gettes, who makes a point of making regular purchases, despite being able to find some books more cheaply online. “Otherwise, it would just be a bunch of fancy little shops.”

Talk quickly turned to BookHampton’s search for a new owner. 

“It would be a big loss for the community if the bookstore were to close. It would definitely degrade the quality of life here in an important way,” said Mr. Gettes, who credits the lively bookstore and its knowledgeable staff with preventing Main Street from becoming a “plastic town center.” 

 “I really hope someone steps up and buys it,” he said.

Caffeine junkies can take comfort in the fact that the Starbucks Coffee Company’s East Hampton location will reopen tomorrow, after an interior expansion and renovation project prompted its closure for almost nine weeks. 

Several adjacent neighbors of the coffee giant’s Main Street store, however, are less than happy with one aspect of that project. In April, the village board granted a sanitary easement so that the store’s septic system, which, like those of a number of other buildings on Main Street, is under the Reutershan parking lot, could be upgraded. Representatives of the coffee chain had told Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and the village board in March that the Suffolk County Department of Health required a septic system upgrade due to the planned interior modifications. 

Vibrations from the excavation at the septic system’s site, in the corner of the parking lot adjacent to Eastman Way, resulted in items falling off of shelves, a fluorescent light coming loose and falling to the floor of one shop, and several business temporarily closing due to the disturbance. 

An Oct. 29 letter to Jason Holdsworth, a Starbucks senior project manager for construction, that was signed by representatives from nearby businesses including the Wallace Gallery, Khanh Sports, BookHampton, Vered Art Gallery, and Medusa Boutique complained of “interruption of business and loss of substantial revenue” as well as damage to merchandise. In a Nov. 1 letter to Mr. Holdsworth, Terry Wallace of the Wallace Gallery wrote that “Starbucks has not been very neighborly in the manner in which it has handled the entire situation. I tried to explain this to you from the outset of your project, but was ignored.” 

Officials of the coffee company, according to Mr. Wallace, had asserted at the outset that adjacent businesses would not be affected by the construction. But, he said, “things started to get damaged,” including four frames in his gallery, which is on Eastman Way between Starbucks’s expanded area and the septic system. In addition, he said last week, “I have been closed pretty much since Sept. 23.” 

While nothing was damaged at the Vered Art Gallery at 68 Park Place, the excavation and construction in the parking lot was “disruptive, because the alley was closed,” said Nicolas Hoyos, its director. “They also had to use heavy machinery to pound deep. It was major construction,” he said. 

“The whole store was shaking,” said Khanh Ngo of Khanh Sports at 60 Park Place. A glass shelf broke, spilling sunglasses, cups, and mugs to the floor. “Anything vibrating was on the floor,” Mr. Ngo said. “We cleaned it up many times.” Mr. Ngo suffers from motion sickness, he said, and consequently closed his store for a few days. “I wish somebody had said, ‘Hey you need to secure this,’ given us fair warning,” he said. 

Mr. Holdsworth did not respond to a request for comment. Holly Hart Shafer, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said last week that “in general, our team feels like they’ve locked arms with our neighbors.” The company, she said, had followed the village’s permitting and legal requirements. “Part of that planning process and conversation we had well in advance of when we started was to reassure the community and alleviate any concern about their businesses being physically disrupted by any of the process.” 

Ms. Shafer acknowledged that “some neighbors reported products falling off shelves” and damage to lighting fixtures, “but nobody was injured. We immediately halted the excavation process, and contacts were made with each neighbor.” The company will replace damaged items and make repairs caused by its construction activities, she said. “In the end, this is only going to improve the quality of that corner, and bring more traffic to everybody who wants this store open.”  

Mr. Wallace was not satisfied by the company’s response. “The only compensation they will look at is damaged goods as a result of the construction,” he said, while he estimated an additional loss of $50,000 in revenue. “We live in a small community,” he said. “This is indicative of what goes on when these big companies come to town. The people affected are the last mom-and-pops.”

Seven years after Larry Rivers’s 16-foot-tall “Legs” sculpture first strode onto Janet Lehr and Vered’s Sag Harbor property, a State Supreme Court justice has ruled that the legs must split. 

The couple installed the 1960s sculpture of a woman’s legs, a fiberglass casting of original artwork, in 2008. Because they did not have a building permit, the village ordered them to remove the work from the Henry Street side of their house. A debate ensued about whether the legs should be considered artwork or an accessory structure, temporary or permanent. In 2011, the village zoning board denied a request for variances that would allow them to keep the sculpture. The couple filed suit in 2012, and the shapely legs, in mid-stride, have remained on the property since then. 

Acting Supreme Court Justice James Hudson ruled on Nov. 4 that the Z.B.A.’s decision was a well-reasoned one and should not be overturned, and that the building inspector and the Z.B.A. properly found that the sculpture was a structure. “It is not within the Z.B.A.’s jurisdiction (nor did it attempt) to judge what is art. That is a question philosophers from Plato to Arthur Danto have debated and is best left to their province,” the judge wrote. “The Z.B.A. correctly limited itself to dealing with the structure as it is affected by the village and state zoning laws.” 

The couple applied again for variances in 2012, but were denied again in April of that year. The zoning board upheld the building inspector’s determination that the sculpture qualified as a structure under the village code. In order to stay, the board said, the sculpture would need to meet the required setbacks, which it does not, standing as it does just one foot from the Henry Street property line. Alternatively it would need a 35-foot variance, as well as a 1.1-foot height variance and a pyramid law variance of 16.7 feet through the sky plane. The couple’s large house, a former Baptist church they had restored and converted, stands two or three feet from the property line in the historic district. 

Later that year, the couple filed an Article 78 lawsuit to vacate the zoning board’s determination that approving the variance would result in an undesirable change in the character of the neighborhood and would set a precedent that would undermine the zoning code.

In his ruling the judge said that the issue before the board was that “Legs” was installed in a location not allowed under the code. “As such, the village zoning code in question is content-neutral in that it treats all structures equally, in service . . . Thus, the Z.B.A.’s determination does not violate petitioner’s right to free speech or expression.” 

Stephen Grossman, a Sag Harbor attorney representing Ms. Lehr and Vered, said he needs to further review the decision, “but from what I did read, it is clear that it is wrong and needs to be revisited,” he said by email yesterday. He will meet with his client this weekend to go over options on how to proceed. 

Vered, an art dealer who with Ms. Lehr runs Vered Gallery in East Hampton, had said the sculpture, by the renowned artist who lived in Southampton and is buried in Sag Harbor, added character to the village. Ms. Lehr had referred to the sculpture as a “landmark.”

After nearly 20 years with the East Hampton Town Police Department, Lt. Austin McGuire, known A.J., is leaving for a new position as Sag Harbor Village’s next police chief. Starting in January, Lieutenant McGuire will take over from Chief Tom Fabiano, who announced his retirement in September.

It’s a move that required the blessing of the lieutenant’s current employer, the Town of East Hampton. While he is the latest in a string of experienced senior officers to leave the Town Police Department, Supervisor Larry Cantwell said he did not want to stand in the lieutenant’s way, even though transferring officers is not something he agrees with usually. “Because he’s going to be appointed chief, we felt it was appropriate to consider approving a lateral transfer,” he Tuesday. The opportunity to become a chief is a rare one, he said. 

“We’ll miss A.J. We’re sorry to see him leave. He’s an outstanding police officer and person,” Supervisor Cantwell said. “We’re grateful for everything [he] has done for our police department.”

“I understand I owe, I owe very big there. It’s been explained,” Mayor Sandra Schroeder said, and she thanked the town for its cooperation. She described the lieutenant as “quite the go-getter,” and said he would be a good leader and someone the other officers would admire and respect. She is also glad to have found a replacement who will stay in the position long-term. At 44, Lieutenant McGuire said he plans to stick around. 

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said he wishes his lieutenant the best of luck, but admitted his department was not prepared for such a loss. “We are losing a very professional, well-trained, and respected member of our senior supervisory staff,” he said on Friday morning. “He will be difficult to replace at this time, as we had not planned for his departure prior to his 20-year commitment.”

Lieutenant McGuire is the third lieutenant to leave the town department in less than a year. The previous two were both Montauk precinct commanders: Lt. Chris Hatch retired in March after 22 years on the job, and Lt. Thomas Grenci, a 28-year member of the department, retired in October. Several other senior officers have retired in recent years, and the department does not have any sergeants eligible to make lieutenant until February of 2017, Chief Sarlo said. A new Montauk precinct commander has not been named. “All of our sergeants either didn’t have the mandatory two years in rank prior to the last exam, were recently promoted, or didn’t take/pass the last test,” he said, adding he will have to redistribute the administrative duties. It’s “going to be a big challenge,” he said.

Supervisor Cantwell said he is not concerned. “I have enough confidence in Chief Sarlo to know he is going to find a way to make this work,” he said. “I have enough confidence in the officers we have that they will do an outstanding job,” he said, adding that it will give “an opportunity for others to demonstrate their leadership ability, as well.”

The lieutenant is initially being transferred to Sag Harbor in the same rank. The village board met on Tuesday morning and unanimously approved appointing him lieutenant in its police force at an annual salary of $130,159. After one pay period, when Chief Fabiano leaves in January, the board will make him the provisional chief, the mayor explained. Chief Fabiano will be on a one-year terminal leave due to unused vacation and sick time. When that has concluded and Lieutenant McGuire has passed the Civil Service exam, which is to be given in March, he will be made chief. 

The town ultimately has to approve Lieutenant McGuire’s transfer, which Mr. Cantwell said he and the town board have agreed to do in the coming weeks. The lateral transfer, in part, allowed the village to offer a promotional exam to an officer familiar with Sag Harbor, instead of a competitive exam, which would open the position to the entire county. 

Mr. McGuire has strong ties to the Sag Harbor community. He lives in Noyac with his wife, Sarah McGuire, a teacher at the Southampton Intermediate School, and their daughters, Lillian, 11, and Caroline, 9, both of whom attend school in Sag Harbor. He has been a volunteer with the Sag Harbor Fire Department for 13 years. 

While his wife, the former Sarah Churchill, grew up in Sag Harbor, he is a native of Roslyn Harbor in Nassau County. When he was 16, his family moved to East Hartford, Conn., where he graduated from Glastonbury High School. He spent summers in East Hampton since he was a child, as his mother, Mary Ellen McGuire’s, family had a house here since the 1950s. He settled in East Hampton after graduating from Central Connecticut State University in 1994. 

While his policing career with the town spans two decades, he has worked for the Town of East Hampton for almost 30 years, starting when he was 15 years old, picking up trash and cutting grass as summer help in the Parks Department. He spent 10 seasons as a town lifeguard, including the summer he first worked as a police officer in Sag Harbor. He would man the beach by day, and patrol by night, he said. “They raised me pretty much,” Lieutenant McGuire said of the town. 

Leaving is bittersweet, Lieutenant McGuire said. “It was a very difficult decision. As much as I wanted to be police chief in Sag Harbor, leaving the place I’ve worked and enjoyed working for 18 years is very difficult,” he said. Ultimately, he felt “all of my education and experience has led up to this,” he said. “I just think that I was ready to make that next step.” 

Lieutenant McGuire’s career has come full circle, as he worked part-time in Sag Harbor early in his career, before East Hampton hired him full-time in October 1997. He was a police officer for six and a half years before being promoted to detective. Four years later, he became a patrol sergeant, a position he held for four years, before being made a lieutenant three and a half years ago. Last year, he graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigations Academy, a tremendous experience, he said. He also leads the police dive team and is a former member of the emergency services unit.

He said he is looking forward to working with the Sag Harbor officers, many of whom he has worked with in various capacities over the course of his career. He hopes to bring his experience in conducting investigations to the village and to promote training. There will be some adjustment, he said, to working for an agency that polices 75 square miles versus the 2 in Sag Harbor, and he plans to focus quite a bit on interaction with the community.

His current bosses said there is no doubt he will flourish in his new position. “Sag Harbor is getting a good communicator, someone who understands the importance of community policing and professionalism,” Chief Sarlo said.

Lieutenant McGuire’s last day in East Hampton will be Dec. 31, and he will start his job in Sag Harbor the next day. That will allow for some transition time before Chief Fabiano’s departure, Mayor Schroeder said. Chief Fabiano, who has led the department since 2001, will step down on Jan. 16.

East Hampton Town has dropped a charge against the manager of the Surf Lodge on Edgemere Street in Montauk for putting up a sign without consulting with the town’s architectural review board, according to the manager’s lawyers. The “sign” in question was a rainbow-like mural by Jen Stark, an artist.

The manager, Julian Bizalion, was scheduled to go on trial before a jury Tuesday on the late-spring charge. 

Thomas W. Horn Jr. and Lawrence Kelly were prepared to present their case that the mural was protected speech and that the town’s code regulates exterior paint to a very limited degree. In a press release, they thanked the jurors who showed up, only to be released from service. “Although Surf Lodge is closed for the winter, we invite all to come by,” they said, “to view the mural by Jen Stark, and enjoy art for art’s sake.”

Michael Sendlenski, the town's prosecutor, declined to comment on the case Thursday.

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