Basilico

10 Windmill Lane

Southampton

283-7987

Open for lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and dinner seven nights. Reservations re commended for dinner.

Everyone, it seems, was taken by surprise by the flood of people who descended on the East End for the long weekend. Stores were as busy as in mid-July, there wasn't a parking place to be had, and, on a cold Sunday night in February, Basilico, a Southampton restaurant now entering its ninth season, was bursting at the seams.

They handled the onslaught with aplomb, the only clue being a basket of chilly bread, obviously grabbed from the freezer and insufficiently nuked in the microwave.

Basilico has a regular menu of rather less expensive appetizers, pizzas, and pastas, and a long list of daily or weekly specials. The wine list is interesting but with very few inexpensive choices. There is a large bar area with - a surprise, given the elegance of the dining room - a television on the wall.

Pizza To Begin

The majority of the appetizers are between $10 and $15 - Caesar salad is $10 and fried calamari is $12.50. On the other hand, you can get a huge basketful of juicy deep-fried breaded zucchini sticks (with a rather acid tomato dip) for $7.

The house salad, at $8.50, was a beautifully arranged selection of immaculately fresh ingredients, lightly dressed with just the right amount of a good vinaigrette.

Two of us shared a tomato and basil pizza, which was good value at $14 and would have done as an appetizer for four. It was pleasant but unmemorable.

The pan-seared radicchio stuffed with smoked mozzarella and basil and served in a tomato sauce is a concept that needs a little work. While the strong, smoky flavor of the cheese melded very well with the other ingredients, it makes one of the sorriest looking dishes around.

Good Attitude

Now this is really a compliment about the service. The maitre d' was stationed near our table and saw the diner's dismayed look when he received what looked like a very small drowned mouse.

He came over to our table, inspected it, obviously judged it D.O.A., and shortly thereafter brought out an extra portion. That is the sort of detail that sticks in diners' minds and turns them into regular customers.

While on the subject of service: We had heard from several sources that Basilico was a restaurant with "attitude." I'm happy to say we found quite the opposite, from the friendly guy who whisked away our coats and then brought the reclaim tickets to us at our table after we were seated, to a chef who passed by our table to see if everything was all right.

Rigatoni A Winner

Entrees range from $14 for a pizza to $28 for filet mignon, with the majority of dishes over $20. We tried two pasta entrees, one from the regular menu and one from the specials.

The rigatoni alla buttera - with sausage and peas in a light cream sauce - was delicious, both peppery and smooth, full of flavor, and surprisingly light.

The linguine with white wine and clam sauce came with fresh Little Necks and was also very good. Not really as good as the rigatoni, however, which cost $16 compared to the linguine's rather steep $24.

The perfectly grilled salmon is served on a bouncy bed of field greens, which made one feel healthily virtuous if a little nostalgic for new potatoes with loads of butter.

Pasta BBs

More in keeping with the February winds blowing outside the door was the beef and mushroom casserole. This certainly counteracted the salmon, being rich, calorific, heart-warming, and rather too heavy on the cream.

It came accompanied by little tiny pasta BB pellets which, being al dente, bounced around in the mouth in a most amusing manner and would not allow themselves to be bitten into. Tasted good anyway.

The final entree we chose was in fact a $12 appetizer of chicken liver and sage risotto. It turned out to be quite adequate for an entree and was judged the winning dish.

Divine Risotto

By chance, risotto had been among our dining choices at two other places recently. The first was well-flavored but swimming in fat, and the second was a sorry, overcooked, watery mess with some seafood on the top.

At Basilico we had better luck. It wasn't watery or greasy, the rice glistened and cohered without being gluey, it was cooked to the second, and the flavor was divine.

Just as we'd begun to think risotto had gone the way of the piping plover and the lesser six-toed salamander, we discovered it alive and well and hanging out at Basilico. It can be ordered as a $19 main course if you're very hungry.

Great Desserts

Basilico's desserts are $7 each and worth every penny. Not only are they very good, but they have the originality that can only come from an in-house pastry chef doing his or her own thing in the kitchen.

Instead of arriving in the customary rolled-up-rug format, the delicious banana crepe had its pancake thinly sliced. The Italian cheesecake's stimulating taste and texture took it many miles from the slabs of sweetened spackle that you find at your corner deli.

The brownies with chocolate sauce were gently warmed and about as good as a brownie can get. The tiramisu was light and moist with a strong coffee flavor.

It All Depends

As they tend to be a weak spot on East End menus (at our last port of call, they were so bad as to be inedible), Basilico's desserts deserve a special mention.

To sum up: Basilico has fine food, but not quite as fine as we were expecting - some dishes were great while others were pedestrian. It can be good value or too expensive, depending on what you choose.

It is pretty and welcoming and extremely professional, though rather too noisy for comfort.

No point, these days, trying to reach Michael Disher at his house in Amagansett - he goes there strictly to sleep.

Awake, he's either teaching a class at Southampton College, holding a rehearsal on the bare, black stage of its Fine Arts Theatre, or talking on the phone in his tiny office in the basement below.

It can be reached, rather perilously, by an interior iron ladder, or by outdoor cement steps that look as though they lead to the boiler room, which they eventually do.

Photo by Morgan McGivern

But just before, there's a loft-like area where students build sets and, in a cramped corner, a sofa on its last legs and Mr. Disher's dilapidated desk.

A Happy Man

Here he held forth one recent afternoon while a clearly exciting acting class progressed above. Whoops and screams and howls drifted down from time to time, startling a visitor and making Mr. Disher smile.

One of the lucky few who really loves his job, Mr. Disher smiles a lot. An acting teacher, head of the college's theater department, and a self-confessed "happy man," he's currently immersed in the production of "Damn Yankees" his Southampton Players will present in April under his direction.

"I started thinking about 'Damn Yankees' last May," he said with a trace of a Southern accent. "I chose it because I wanted to give the very talented group of guys in my classes an opportunity to shine. So few musicals do that, but this one is set in the '50s and is a real guy show."

All About Baseball

"I like everything to do with baseball - the look of it, the smells of it," he went on. "It just drives me nuts, and tons of people feel this way."

He began designing the uniforms last summer, "and haunted every vintage place I know for '50s stuff."

"But what a lot of preparation! I'm such a detail person I even had the costume people painting the purses to match the gloves the other night - all this energy builds up!"

He politely asked a couple of students working on sets nearby to pipe down so we could talk. Silently, they brushed in nostalgic ballpark billboards urging fans to "Be Happy Go Lucky," "Install Champion Sparkplugs," and "Enjoy Pabst."

Getting Away

Mr. Disher was born 43 years ago in Lexington, N.C., and spent the next 21 years trying to get out of there.

"Central North Carolina was pretty stifling in the '50s. I felt like a displaced person," he said.

He did, however, manage to give his first theatrical performance at age 6, doing the twist with "the girl I loved in first grade."

A painful Christmas pageant appearance as the angel Gabriel - his halo "hurt like hell" - was followed by a starring role in an eighth-grade production of "Hillbilly Wedding," and "the rest is history," as he put it.

Nothing Practical

His mother had been inspired to give him three wonderful, pivotal, wooden marionettes and a puppet stage when he was a child, but no further artistic or financial support would be forthcoming from either parent.

"They were of the opinion that if you wanted a higher education, you paid for it yourself, which to a degree I think is good," said Mr. Disher. He spent two years at the local community college and two more at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, majoring in theater.

"I tried desperately to major in something practical, like business or education, but it didn't work. I'm a theater person and I truly only enjoy doing three things: entertaining people, enlightening people, and opening them up to their abilities."

On The East End

Working as a free-lance director, designer, and choreographer, he got his first East End job in the early '80s as an instructor and technical director at Southampton College under Jon Fraser, then head of the theater department.

"There was nothing here, nothing. Jon built it all up, eventually even developing a beautiful proposal for a B.F.A. in association with Bay Street [Theatre], which, for some reason, never happened."

Mr. Disher subsequently worked for six years as theatrical artist-in-residence at East Hampton High School, also designing sets and costumes for Community Theatre Company productions at Guild Hall.

South With "Cole"

"The high school had a boffo theater department," he said. "We did four shows a year, and it was thrilling to watch talented young people like Andrea Gross emerge and mature."

In 1988 he co-founded Tri*Light Productions, an independent theater company that produced original musicals, and became its president and producing director.

However, when his show "Cole Through the Night," which he wrote himself and which local critics loved, was booked for only two performances by Guild Hall, Mr. Disher was disappointed enough to take his act back to his home state. "Cole" got great reviews there, too.

After a five-year stint with the North Carolina State Arts Foundation, Mr. Disher returned to Southampton two years ago to take over a production of Charles Busch's "Psycho Beach Party" while Mr. Fraser cared for his ailing father.

Maximum Enrollment

When Mr. Fraser moved on to head the theater department at C.W. Post, Mr. Disher "rode into the job on Jon's coattails, and started building on his foundation," he said.

As the college's adjunct associate professor of theater/theater director, he produces, directs, and designs or choreographs three productions a season that involve college students as well as actors and high-school students from the community.

He also teaches courses in acting, theater management, technical theater, and modern theater history.

Enrollment in his classes is currently over the maximum - "not bad for a campus that specializes in marine biology," he smiled.

"Damn Yankees"

Putting on a show like "Damn Yankees" is complex. "The daily traumas and phone calls. . . ." Mr. Disher rolled his eyes. Finding an available script for the available talent, holding auditions for the cast of 35, getting the graphics designed and printed and the advertising out, acquiring the props, mobilizing the carpenters and technical people - it's quite a job.

"And with an all-volunteer staff, yet! No one even gets paid!"

While the college grants Mr. Disher's department a meager $6,000 a year, "Damn Yankees" alone, he said, is budgeted at $25,000. "I have to raise $19,000 to cover it, and I'm biting my nails!"

Person-To-Person Person

Another whoop came from the acting class upstairs, and Mr. Disher smiled again. "We have a wonderful little working community here. The kids have found a home where they know they won't be hurt. They're happy here, and that means a lot to me."

"I don't want us all to be swallowed up by technology," he explained, "and I feel strongly about what theater can do to prevent that. It's one of the few person-to-person mediums we have left. I love its ability to generate waves of human energy, to move people in a vibrant fashion."

"It starts, for me, with my cast members. I try to inspire them to go out there not just to perform but to present a gift of themselves. If done properly, the audience gives it back with beautiful reciprocity. It doesn't happen with every show, but, when it does, I know that's why I do this."

His Baseball Guys

"Any group that embarks on a project with purity of intent will be successful," he added. "I hate selfish theater."

As for "Damn Yankees," his Lola's going to be "dynamite." Monica Mercedes, a community actress last seen wearing chains and a garter belt in Frederick Stroppel's "A Chance Meeting," will be transformed into a redhead "very soon."

"And my 12 baseball team guys will be brilliant. They're getting their bodies in shape, and they know all facial hair goes and head hair gets clipped short. They're going to surprise people."

"As I told them last night, you know, guys, this is so great because what we're proving here is that white boys can dance."

Non-Stop Shows

"I love the whole package of what I do, and I don't give two hoots if I never perform again," Mr. Disher said. "My joy comes from watching them be the best they can be."

If he had his way, the Fine Arts Theatre would never be dark. "I'd love to mount non-stop shows - children's theater, community theater, even bring in professional touring companies."

Perhaps inevitably, he ended with a quote from "Field of Dreams."

Kevin Costner plays the farmer who's crazy enough to want to turn his perfectly good cornfield into a ballpark for bygone players. He keeps hearing voices: "If you build it, they will come."

"I keep hearing that, too," Mr. Disher concluded with one last smile. "If you build it, they will come."

Through the high windows at the Harbor Rose, passers-by can see what could be the closing scene of a old movie, just before the credits come across the screen. Two lone dancers, captured in the frame of a window, circle the warmly lit restaurant, disappear, glide into view in the next window.

Photo by Author

It's tango night at the Harbor Rose, but Bert Waife and Caryn Coopmans are the only ones dancing. They're there to give lessons, and sure, a whole crowd of wannabe tangueros would be nice, but they don't seem to mind having the dance floor to themselves.

Midweek, midwinter in Sag Harbor. What do you expect?

Cool As They Come

The two instructors glide along, seeming to weave in and out of each other. Students will trickle in. The people sitting at the bar will watch, and soon enough there will be a couple that gets the bug and absolutely must learn at least how to do that flourishing turn.

Tango has an infectious quality. If you've ever danced, you'll want to know the tango, and even if you haven't, you'd probably recognize the steps.

Something like the waltz can seem stuffy and old-fashioned, strictly for your grandparents' generation, but this Argentine-born dance is the epitome of cool. Exotic. Sensual. A heart-stopper.

Riding the wave that began with the revival of simpler forms of partner-dancing, tango is slowly finding its own niche on the South Fork, much the way country line-dancing did a few years back, but with soul.

Unlike the wildly popular line dancing or the macarena, the tango is not for everybody. Despite what they say, it takes more than just two - it takes real skill.

"It isn't something you just do by instinct," said Sag Harbor's Canio Pavone, bookseller, publisher, and erstwhile ballroom-dance instructor. "You can't just pick it up by feeling the rhythm."

Dangerous? Could Be

"Tango is a dancer's dance," said Alfonso Triggiani, the owner and director of the Touch Dancing studio in Westhampton Beach. He teaches all the dances from the polka to the lambada, but his specialty is tango.

"The general public thinks you can come in and in one lesson you're going to tango away. You have to have the basic skills under your belt first.

"This is not the dance to start out with. . . . It could be very dangerous," he warned enigmatically.

"All that kicking, you can wreck your shins," confirmed one of his students, Diana Chang of Water Mill, a writer.

Hazards aside, the tango is cropping up in ballroom-dance classes, adding South American flavor to local restaurants, and will soon appear on the screen at the Sag Harbor Cinema in Sally Potter's film "The Tango Lesson."

It has all the signs of something about to be really big all over again.

In Argentina and elsewhere, tangueros are known only by their first names. Bert and Caryn, both American, met in Buenos Aires last fall. Caryn went there to teach English, but stayed on for more than two years after discovering the city's milongas, as the dance gathering spots are known.

She learned that the dance has not only a vocabulary of movement, but a spoken slang distinct to it, called lunfardo.

Polished Moves

Bert, who has been dancing much longer, learned Argentine tango, a closer, more improvisational form than American or "International" tango, in the United States.

In Argentina, however, he polished his moves. He has danced socially with some of the tango masters featured in "The Tango Lesson."

Around the time Bert and Caryn met, Alfonso, too, was in Argentina, studying the tango closely in order to complete an Argentine-tango syllabus for the World Dance Council.

For The Olympics

His syllabus will lay out teaching and judging standards for the original form, so that it can be included in next summer's Olympics along with its offspring styles.

There are standards for American and international tango but as of yet the Dance Council has not adopted any for the South American style. If Alfonso achieves his goal, that will change.

"It's not just a tango phenomenon," Alfonso said last week. "All the dances have been on the rise."

Inclusion in the Olympics certainly has something to do with this, but he also attributes the phenomenon to a "return to family values" and a renewed appreciation for tradition.

"Tango Argentino"

Truth be told, where tango is concerned, the Broadway production a decade ago of "Tango Argentino" and now of "Tango Forever" have helped spread the word: "Psst, hey, check this out."

The New York fever over "Tango Argentino" reached the East End, too. Alfonso saw the production 10 times and fell in love with the Argentine dance. He started taking lessons with some of the show's stars, and has gone on to study with some of the world's master tangueros.

Canio was once a professional flamenco dancer in Spain, "in another lifetime." After the success of "Tango Argentino," people who knew him when asked him to put on his dancing shoes again and give lessons locally, which he did for three or four years.

Farmhouse Demonstration

Even now, mention tango or salsa or almost any other dance and people will invariably ask, "Did you talk to Canio? To Alfonso?"

Alfonso often teaches and dances with Agnes Bristel of East Hampton, and Agnes teaches many of Touch Dancing's satellite classes, at the former Harbor Cove Cafe in Sag Harbor on Tuesday nights and at Gurney's Inn in Montauk on Thursdays.

Last week, Agnes and some of her students led a tango demonstration at the Farmhouse restaurant in East Hampton that drew close to 100 spectators.

"For me," said Agnes, "the greatest enjoyment comes when I see regular people dancing and discovering what a wonderful time it is."

She has no "favorite" dance, she said. "To see someone do any dance well, makes you want to do it."

Powerful Paradox

Ms. Chang, who participated in last week's demonstration at the Farmhouse, is especially hooked on tango.

"I love it. It possesses more than any other dance a fiery restraint, a controlled abandon."

That paradox is what gives the dance its power and why it's so drop-dead sexy even in a nearly empty restaurant on a quiet Thursday night.

Bert and Caryn give lessons at the Harbor Rose each Thursday at 7 p.m. Alfonso and Agnes teach various dances on Tuesdays at the Harbor Cove between 6 and 9 p.m., and Thursdays between 7 and 10 p.m. at Gurney's.

Five witnesses to the alleged assault on April 18 of Luis Ochoa of Montauk held a press conference in that hamlet Monday night. As fog rolled in off the ocean, the witnesses gathered in the parking lot of the Montauk Movie theater on South Edgemere Road and read a written statement about the incident, then described what they had seen that night.

According to East Hampton Town police, Mr. Ochoa was assaulted by Mark Dombrowski of Montauk at around 7:30 p.m. on April 18 in front of a house on North Farragut Road in Montauk.

"Racial slurs were used [by Mr. Dombrowski] while the incident took place," according to Det. Sgt. Chris Anderson of the town police. The alleged combination of racial slurs and assault resulted in a hate crime charge of assault in the third degree. The charge is considered a misdemeanor, but if Mr. Dombrowski is convicted he will be sentenced under felony guidelines, according to Detective Anderson. He faces up to four years if convicted.

Police questioned Mr. Dombrowski the night of the incident, but he was not charged until April 29, after he returned from a family vacation outside the country.

Also attending the press conference, but not making any statement, was Michael O'Neill, chairman of the East Hampton Town Anti-Bias Task Force. He videotaped the press conference.

The witnesses, Luis Quichimbo, Sandra Mena, Aida Sanmartin, Isabel Berrezueta, and Ana Luperica, all are Montauk residents. On Monday night, Ms. Mena, who had been in the car with Mr. Ochoa before the alleged assault, gave a description of events that corresponded with the description Mr. Ochoa gave police.

Mr. Quichimbo translated what the others said from Spanish to English.

According to Ms. Mena, Mr. Dombrowski, who was driving a gray car, passed Mr. Ochoa's car on Flamingo Road so closely that Mr. Ochoa was forced to "dodge" his car. The driver of the gray car then proceeded to accelerate and brake suddenly in front of Mr. Ochoa, who then turned left onto North Farragut Road and pulled over in front of the house on the corner, where his friend Ms. Berrezueta lives.

Mr. Dombrowski, she said, turned right onto North Farragut, pulled his car over, crossed the street, approached Mr. Ochoa, and started beating him, all the while using insults and ethnic slurs, according to Ms. Mena.

The other witnesses, who were at Ms. Berrezueta's house for a choir practice, heard the noise, looked out an upstairs window, and saw Mr. Dombrowski hitting Mr. Ochoa, Ms. Mena said.

Mr. Quichimbo, Ms. Sanmartin, Ms. Berrezueta, and Ms. Luperica ran outside, according to Ms. Mena. Ms. Luperica said that by then Mr. Ochoa was on the ground and Mr. Dombrowski was kicking him. "Mr. Mark pushed him and started kicking him," Ms. Mena said.

Some of the witnesses tried to pull Mr. Dombrowski off Mr. Ochoa, Mr. Quichimbo said on Monday night. Once Mr. Ochoa was on his feet again, Mr. Quichimbo said, he tried to stand between the two men to stop the fighting.

"I was afraid because the other guy was really tall," Mr. Quichimbo said of Mr. Dombrowski. He said Mr. Dombrowski continued to use ethnic slurs and curses.

"We were all afraid and trembling from fear," Ms. Sanmartin said.

The statement written by the witnesses and handed out at the press conference stated: "What is very troubling to us is the subsequent account now put forward by Mr. Dombrowski and adopted by one newspaper as factually accurate." Mr. Ochoa said they were referring to The Independent, which published an interview with Mr. Dombrowski in May in which he disputed Mr. Ochoa's version of events.

In the interview Mr. Dombrowski said that Mr. Ochoa picked up a rock as Mr. Dombrowski approached him and that the subsequent contact between the two men was his effort to get the rock out of Mr. Ochoa's hand. In a letter to The East Hampton Star, Mr. Dombrowski wrote that Mr. Quichimbo "was not there to witness anything except me and Mr. Ochoa getting up off the ground after I disarmed him of a large stone with which he was about to strike me on the head."

The witnesses present on Monday night said they did not see a rock in Mr. Ochoa's hand that night.

Although the written statement that was handed out at the press conference referred to The Independent's coverage of the assault, no reporters from that paper were present. Mr. Ochoa said he did not know if reporters from The Independent had been invited. A reporter from Newsday and two photographers also attended.

One part of the statement said, "If Mr. Dombrowski admitted what occurred and expressed remorse, the entire community of Montauk, ourselves included, could embrace him in his need, assist him in making amends, and help him understand and better manage an anger of which he appeared obviously not in control."

Before the group parted, Ms. Mena said, again with Mr. Quichimbo translating, that the whole situation was sad and that she had never "seen a case like this" during her time in Montauk.

Few among us are able to stay in touch with their ancestors by way of a particular piece of land or expanse of water. Capt. Norman Edwards Jr., who, as a boy, heard the work songs sung by the all-black crew of his father's bunker steamer, stories of his grandfather's ocean piloting, and tales of his great-grandfather's whaling voyages, is such a person.

The Edwards family of farmers and fishermen settled in Amagansett in 1652. In November, Captain Edwards will run as a Republican candidate for East Hampton Town Trustee.

In late afternoon on most days, he can be found at the town dock at Gann Road in Springs unloading iced boxes of fish from Petrel, his small dragger, after a day of fishing on Gardiner's Bay. His father was lost in the bay on May 22, 1997, when his small dragger, the Little Robert E, capsized in a storm.

The son did what his father suggested - he went fishing, but only after first getting a college education at his mother's insistence.

"I was a junior in high school. Dad asked me what I wanted to do. I said, Fish. Mother said, No. College. My father knew my desire to fish, and our heritage, but he supported her. He said, Go to college, then come back and go fishing. So, I looked around at schools, then heard about the Coast Guard Academy. I said, Well, if I can't fish, at least I can go to sea."

He graduated from the academy in 1968. He retired 30 years later with the rank of captain and with plenty of sea time logged before his last assignment as chief of staff for the admiral in charge of all Coast Guard operations in Alaska.

"The first one of my father's boats I went on was the Montauk when I was 6 years old," he said last week, sitting aboard Petrel, the interior of the dragger's wheelhouse glowing in late-afternoon light.

Norman Edwards Sr. fished for menhaden, commonly known as bunker, an industrial species whose oil is used in paints and lubricants. He was considered a high liner, the best in the business along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Bunker are caught by purse seine, a net that encircles a school and is then drawn closed like a purse. The fish are pumped out of the net into the hold, and brought to a rendering plant such as the Smith Meal Company plant at Promised Land on Napeague beside which the Edwards family once had docks.

The bunker fishing crews came from Virginia and Carolina Island communities. Many spoke and sang in Gullah, an English dialect with African roots. Captain Edwards said he remembered hearing them sing as they heaved on the nets.

The Promised Land plant closed in 1968, but was still rendering fish when, at the age of 16, young Norman went aboard the bunker steamer Napeague for the first of two summers. He recalled the time Napeague made a set off the Connecticut shore but heavy grass got caught in the net. The grass clogged the screen of the fish pump. "I was the smallest aboard. My father said, 'I've got a job for you. Can you climb up there with a screwdriver and clean the screen?' I cleaned it out, we repumped the fish, and I was the hero of the day. It did a lot for my self-confidence."

His first assignment after leaving the academy was aboard the buoy tender Woodbine whose home port was Grand House, Mich. From there he commanded the 82-foot cutter Point Chico, based up the Sacramento River from San Francisco. His boat took part in the Coast Guard's first West Coast drug-enforcement mission.

It was in California he met his wife, Joan. The couple have four children, Samuel, Elan, Sarai, and Zacharia. Samuel is also a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy.

From the Point Chico, he coordinated rescue operations in San Francisco for a year and a half, then became an aide to the Guard's Pacific area commander for a few months before going for a master's degree in physical oceanography at Florida State University.

After a short stint on the buoy tender Paw Paw, out of Charleston, S.C., he reported to the Coast Guard research and development center in Groton, Conn., where he was given the task of overhauling an outdated system for determining the probability of sighting boats or people lost at sea under all sorts of conditions. His experiments resulted in the development of a model now used during search-and-rescue operations.

Four years later, Captain Edwards put the protocol to use himself. At the time, he was in command of the 210-foot cutter Vigorous, which patrols waters between the U.S.-Canadian border and the Caribbean. Five Venezuelan Coast Guardsmen had been missing at sea for three days without food or water. U.S. jet aircraft, Venezuelan fixed-wing planes, two French fishing vessels, and Vigorous were searching. "On the second day, my lookout sighted them."

His oceanography was put to work again in 1983 when he was put in charge of the Coast Guard's international ice patrol, whose job it is to keep track of icebergs that move south from the Arctic and threaten shipping. The patrol was created in 1915, three years after ice sank the Titanic.

In 1990, after leaving Vigorous with a rank of commander, he was promoted to captain and put in charge of the aids-to-navigation division at the Coast Guard's First District headquarters in Boston.

The posting coincided with the 200th Anniversary of the Life Saving Service. There were celebrations at lighthouses up and down the coast, including the Montauk Lighthouse and the Bug Light off Orient, which burned on July 4, 1963. Norman was with his father aboard Napeague that night, and watched the burning, a story he related when rededicating the repaired light nearly 30 years later.

From Boston, Captain Edwards was put in charge of the 378-foot cutter Sherman, out of Alameda, Calif. The cutter's missions included fisheries patrols and boardings to intercept smuggled drugs and migrants from the Bering Sea to the East China Sea. After two years aboard Sherman, Captain Edwards led the first Coast Guard squadron to be formed since the Vietnam War. The squadron was part of the embargo of Iraq in the Red Sea in cooperation with the navies of the U.S., Australia, and France.

Captain Edwards's first Alaskan posting was for two years starting in 1981 as officer in charge of the buoy tender Laurel, based in Ketchikan. He finished his career by returning to Juno as chief of staff of the 17th District headquarters. He plans to return later this month for the wedding of his daughter, Sarai.

"If I didn't have such deep heritage here, I would be there - the resources, beauty, and especially the people," Captain Edwards said.

Forget about jetties and bulkheads and other such devices to protect ocean beaches, says a 50-page memo presented last month to East Hampton Town by the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Hard erosion-control structures will result in the theft of public land, it says, and those who permit them to be built will be liable for that loss.

"Case law sticks up for the beaches," said Carolyn Zenk, a lawyer, environmental advocate, and former Southampton Councilwoman who wrote the memo, a legal treatise as well as a list of recommendations. She donated half the time it took her to research and write the document "because I'm a surfer, and it's important."

Learning the sport at Babylon's Gilgo Beach, and then traveling widely to surf spots over the years, she had come

upon places where jetties and bulk-heads had entirely removed the beaches, she said. This made her sympathetic when she was approached by the Surf-

rider Foundation, a national organization formed to protect beaches and surf spots from destruction and privatization.

Ms. Zenk served as counsel for the Group for the South Fork, a Bridgehampton-based environmental group, and helped write County Executive Steve Levy's recommendation that groins already in place be shortened or removed. The recommendation estimates that the county's ocean beaches generated $173 million in revenues in 2003.

The surfing attorney, who is certified in ocean and coastal law and in natural resources law by the University of Oregon's School of Law, also helped write the coastal legislation that Southampton Town now has in place.

East Hampton Town is still working on its version. For several years it has been trying to tailor the state's broad policies regarding coastal areas to East Hampton's shoreline. Once approved by the state, the town's coastal laws will eliminate state review of projects proposed for places that are particularly vulnerable to the sea, including projects aimed at controlling erosion.

The town's coastal plan would all but prohibit hard structures on the ocean beaches - that is, structures made of stone, wood, or steel such as jetties, bulkheads, and revetments. However, the owners of property prone to erosion and storm flooding, particularly in downtown Montauk and at the Montauk Shores Condominiums trailer park just east of Ditch Plain, want the option to build such structures to protect what they own.

As a result, those two areas were at first exempted from the outright prohibition, and Montauk Shores is still exempted in the latest draft of the proposed coastal law. A zoning variance with strict environmental review would be required before jetties, revetments, or bulkheads could be built on the hamlet's downtown beaches. Theoretically, they could be built, however.

Surfrider is opposed to any wiggle room. "It is time to simply ban shore-hardening structures from East Hampton's ocean beaches. This means they should not be allowed by variance," Ms. Zenk wrote.

Besides narrowing the shore down the beach from them, she said, hard structures interfere with the natural migration of sand, which means they also interfere with public access to publicly owned beaches. Ultimately, she said, hard erosion-control structures thus deny the public's property rights under the Public Trust Doctrine and the 300-year-old Dongan Patent, which created all the town's common lands, including beaches.

Hard erosion control structures, Ms. Zenk said, "open the town to liability for unconstitutional takings, trespass, negligence, waste, and theft of the public's right to walk along the foreshore."

She is of the opinion that leaving the door open, by virtue of a variance procedure, would put the town in a much more vulnerable position than if hard structures were banned outright. Further, she challenges the State Department of Environmental Conservation to assume liability for the structures if the agency, in its final review of the town's plan, refuses to permit an outright ban of shore-hardening structures.

Surfrider's position paper also urges the elimination of a loophole in state law that enables hamlets to incorporate to avoid environmental legislation, as seems to be the case with the proposed community of Beach Hampton, in what is now the Bridgehampton-Sagaponack area.

The Surfrider Foundation argues in the paper that the erosion-control issue should not pit environmentalists against business interests. "The science is in," it says: Hard structures steal beaches, and beaches are the foundation of East Hampton's tourist industry.

Ms. Zenk recommends that business owners and governments try to create "storm recovery plans, legislation that would determine how people would be reimbursed - with state and federal involvement - should their property be destroyed. In other words, an insurance plan."

Assuming such a plan were in place, owners of destroyed buildings should be required to rebuild them away from the sea, she said. Specifically, she suggested that the town explore the possibility of buying the row of mobile homes closest to the ocean at Montauk Shores in order to rebuild the beach.

The expense of such a plan, which, Ms. Zenk said, could include offshore mining of sand to renourish beaches on a regular basis, compared favorably to losing the town's beaches and remaining vulnerable to lawsuits.

There is precedent.

When a community in Westhampton was destroyed by massive erosion and flooding caused by ocean storms, as well as the scouring effect of a field of jetties, residents sued the federal government. The government settled by paying $4 million in damages, and an additional $23 million to restore the beach. Because the jetties are a government project, the settlement also allowed damaged structures to be rebuilt in the future.

In another instance, a Sagaponack property owner sued the federal and county governments for permitting the construction of groins at Georgica Beach in East Hampton, which are believed to be responsible for eating away the beach in front of her house.

"If government destroys property, the property owner should be able to rebuild" and the government should replace the beach, said Gary Ireland, a lawyer and the Sagaponack plaintiff's son. "You wouldn't treat a road like this. If there are potholes, they would repair it. They take from beaches, but never give back. Two of the four public beaches in Sagaponack are closed," Mr. Ireland said.

Ms. Zenk agreed that governments causing the problems were liable for fixing them, but said that property owners should not be allowed to rebuild forever. Instead, she recommends that a post-storm recovery plan provide for a "one-time buyout."

East Hampton should not put itself in the position of causing public or private property to vanish by permitting hard structures to protect buildings, she said.

"When beaches narrow, billions of dollars worth of public property are lost. You don't protect one person and hurt another. You don't borrow from Peter to pay Paul. Make no mistake, at the end of the day, officials must choose either buildings or the public beach. They must take a position."

The town board has not yet discussed the foundation's recommendations.

A proposal to build a liquified natural gas offloading station in Long Island Sound, nine miles off Rocky Point, drew a heated response at East Hampton Studios in Wainscott on June 1 as 22 East End residents gathered for a two-hour discussion.

The "informative presentation" on the Broadwater proposal was organized by East Hampton members of Democracy for America, a political advocacy group.

"This is the first private taking of a public sound," said Maureen Dolan, a program coordinator for Citizens for the Environment. "Things are improving in Long Island Sound," she said, but "Broadwater is moving in the opposite direction."

Jon Schneider, communications director for Representative Tim Bishop, was among the other participants.

"We just felt that it's simply not the way to go," Mr. Schneider said, calling the 1,200-foot-long station, whose mooring would occupy 7,000 square feet, "a massive surface development on the Sound, the first of its kind, and one that revolves around somewhat unproven technology."

"The only reason they are considering putting the thing out in Long Island Sound is that they can't put the thing anywhere else," said Tom Friedman of East Hampton at the meeting. "It is beyond anyone's capability to deal with the kind of accident that could happen," he said.

Broadwater, a joint venture of Trans-Canada Corporation and Shell U.S. Gas and Power, proposed last November to build an L.N.G. depot in the Sound nine miles off Rocky Point and 11 miles off Connecticut.

The project's opponents cite environmental risks, the station's potential as a target for terrorists, and the inconvenience the project may pose to boaters because of an "exclusion zone" that is expected to reach a 500-yard radius. But the most vocalized issue has been the "industrialization of the Sound."

"The more we allow this to happen, the more we can say we can do anything," said Pamela Topham of Sag Harbor. Others voiced the concern that once the station is built, the door could be opened to more projects, and there would be little anyone could do to prevent them.

That fear stems from the proposed Energy Policy Act of 2005, which the House of Representatives has passed, but which still must be voted on by the Senate. Section 320 of the bill would give full authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to authorize the contruction of liquid natural gas stations, according to Mr. Schneider.

Whether or not the commission already has full authority, however, is a subject of much debate. Energy regulators in California have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the inability of the state to participate in deciding where some of the terminals will go.

As a result of that suit, the wording of the bill is still being revised, according to Bryan Lee, a spokesman for the federal commission, who said this week that "The legislation would not change in any way the considerable authority that states have," and that "they have the authority to veto any L.N.G. proposal." The states can do so, he said, through the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.

Pat Wood III, chairman of the federal commission, reiterated states' authority in a recent press release, stating that "Affirming FERC's Natural Gas Act authority will not diminish the important and considerable authorities that state and local governments bring to the L.N.G. import terminal authorization process."

John Hritcko Jr., senior vice president at Broadwater, agreed that the federal commission already has full authority in this matter and that the bill "restates that authority in stronger language."

But Mr. Hritcko also said that local political action, such as a resolution unanimously passed by Suffolk County legislators in May to oppose the Broadwater project, is little more than symbolic. "From purely regulatory and legal standing, it has no bearing," he said on Monday.

"This is a concerted effort from the oil and gas industry towards more lax regulations and towards superseding state and local rights," said Mr. Schneider at the meeting. "What's to stop anything from coming along when we have the federal government saying that it can come in and impose its version of energy policy on our community?"

Froydis Cameron, a Shell geologist who represented Broadwater at the meeting, said, "We want to hear from as many people as possible."

Eric Cohen of Sag Harbor said that energy lobbyists that represent companies such as Shell have been working to "negate public opinion," while reassuring communities that their voice counts. "You can't speak out of both sides of your mouth as an industry," he said.

"States should be able to have a role in determining whether or not one of these platforms goes in state waters," said Mr. Schneider.

The Broadwater Floating Storage and Regasification Unit would take liquid natural gas brought in on large tanker ships from foreign sources and pump it through a 25-mile-long underwater pipeline to an existing pipeline that runs underwater from Milford, Conn., through Northport to Hunts Point in the Bronx.

Liquid natural gas is natural gas that has been liquefied by cooling to approximately minus 256 degrees Fahrenheit. It occupies 1/600 the volume of the gas in its natural state, thus is far more economical to transport. It is not shipped under pressure.

The selection of the proposed site in Long Island Sound began in 2002 when the Broadwater concluded that North American supplies of natural gas would not meet future demand and that importation of the fuel would be the most effective option for the region, according to company documents.

The company then concluded, after considering "the density of activity and population around existing ports onshore, as well as potential environmental impacts and safety and technical requirements," that Long Island Sound, rather than an onshore site, was the best option.

"We do need more energy production. Honestly, we do," said Mr. Schneider, going on to say that there are other ways to tackle the region's growing demand for energy, including the the use of wind power.

"I guess where a lot of us are coming from is the point of view that why should we put something in that is so questionable and that we feel detracts from the overall quality of the Long Island Sound? Why should that be the so-called answer to our energy problem?"

David Eagan was in a tough spot Saturday morning. Not only did he have to chair a standing-room-only meeting of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee, but he also had to weather comments from the crowd over his own proposal to establish a horse farm less than a mile from the meeting room.

Mr. Eagan, who is the chairman of the citizens committee, and his wife, Mary Ann McCaffrey, are seeking to build the Kilmore Horse Farm on 14 acres of farmland running between Sayre's Path and Town Line Road. Many of the 13 homeowners whose backyards adjoin the farmland were on hand Saturday to register their disapproval.

At issue, as it has been in other applications for horse farms on agricultural land, is whether such an operation is appropriate on preserved farmland.

Nine-Stall Stable

"I hope the fire marshal doesn't show up; we'll all be outside!" said Mr. Eagan before opening the committee's meeting in the Wainscott Chapel.

After brief discussions on sign enforcement and the proposed convenience store at Wainscott's Hess gas station, Mr. Eagan addressed his plans.

An original site plan submitted to the East Hampton Town Planning Board had proposed more building area than was allowed under the Town Code, but Mr. Eagan assured the committee that buildings had been pared down to conform.

With the new calculations, the Kilmore plan calls for the construction of a nine-stall, 3,024-square-foot stable, an 1,800-square-foot garage, a 7,200-square-foot indoor riding ring, and a four-space, unpaved parking area.

Indoor Ring Dismays

It was the idea of an indoor ring that drew the most fire, though a few opponents argued against allowing horses on the property altogether.

A "horse farm" is specifically defined in the Town Code and is a legal use on agricultural land, provided a list of standards can be met.

A horse farm is restricted to the "boarding, breeding, raising, or training of horses." Any public riding lessons or horse-for-hire arrangements would redefine the business as a "riding academy," which would not be permitted on the farm preserve.

No Dudes

"Our intent is to conform with those restrictions to the letter of the law," said Mr. Eagan. "Let me tell you what we're not doing. We don't intend to run a commercial riding academy. . . . This is not a dude ranch. This is not Deep Hollow."

Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk offers public horseback riding and lessons, and boards well over the 15 horses Mr. Eagan said would be the maximum number on his farm.

Mr. Eagan said a horse farm had been a "lifelong dream" for his wife, who is an amateur equestrian.

"I adopted it. It sort of came with the package," he joked.

Neighbors Object

Altogether, the buildings on the farm would fall beneath the town's coverage limits for farmland - only 2 percent of an agricultural parcel may be covered by structures.

Still, the thought of any large buildings going on the land upset some of the neighbors.

One, Brian Ramaekers of Wainscott Hollow Road, said he had not been opposed to the idea until he saw the plan for a 20-foot-high, 7,200-square-foot riding ring.

"This is a huge building," said Mr. Ramaekers, after holding up photographs of a smaller indoor ring at Two Trees Farm on Snake Hollow Road in Bridgehampton. "This is not agriculture. This is recreation. This is going to be the largest building in Wainscott, south of the highway."

Untraditional?

Mr. Ramaekers also argued that a large horse farm was not in keeping with Wainscott's farming tradition.

"This is not traditional agriculture, at least not in Wainscott. We've been growing crops, not building buildings for people to ride horses in when it rains."

He noted that Peter Dankowski, a Wainscott farmer, had wanted to farm the land and had inquired about it, only to find that Mr. Eagan and Ms. McCaffrey had already leased it with an exclusive option to buy.

Broker Involved

The lease itself arose as an issue Saturday, when Iris Osborn, a committee member as well as a Planning Board member, disclosed that she had served as the couple's real-estate broker while they were shopping for land for the farm.

Mrs. Osborn stressed, however, that they had found the site themselves and made a deal with its owner, John Shanholt, on their own.

"I was not the broker who brought about the deal," said Mrs. Osborn, "but if I feel I can't be fair and impartial, I'll recuse myself."

Cites Easement

For Lauren and Lloyd Simon, who said they had just purchased their "dream house" bordering the field, Mrs. Osborn was not a factor. The riding ring was, however.

"My dream is being shattered," Mr. Simon said, adding, "I would have less to complain about if a potato farm went in and a farmer said, 'I need a barn to store my potatoes in.'"

Another neighbor, Francine Lembo of Wainscott Hollow Road, held up a copy of the easement over the property, which lists "commercial riding academies, dude ranches, and stables," as prohibited uses. Based on the inclusion of "stables," she said the easement forbade a horse farm.

Lawyer: It's Legal

Not so, said the Planning Board's attorney, Richard Whalen, on Tuesday. Mr. Whalen was responsible for drafting the generic agricultural easement now used in most cases. He said the intent in the Eagan easement (which predates Mr. Whalen's version) was to prohibit larger commercial operations.

"When they say 'stables' they're referring to a commercial stable where you go rent a horse and ride the countryside." He added that Mr. Eagan's plan, as a whole, "doesn't appear to violate the agricultural easement."

As for the indoor riding rink, Mr. Whalen said that if it was used for the training of horses it would fit into the permitted use.

Polo Matches

He cited a case not far away in Southampton, where a company called Equus sought to put a polo-oriented horse farm, with polo matches, on a farm parcel whose development rights were owned by the town.

Though that use was challenged in court, a judge ruled that if the horse farm was meant for the raising and training of polo horses for sale, polo matches were integral to their training.

Some of those at Saturday's meeting came in support of Mr. Eagan's and Ms. McCaffrey's plan, including Diana Weir of Clyden Road, Wainscott.

Supporters

"This is the country. Horses belong in the country," she said, "and if these people are abiding by the laws, they should be able to go forward."

After an exchange of raised voices, Andy Babinski, a longtime Wainscott farmer, urged some civility, "before you people make mortal enemies out of one another."

As for the horse farm: "All the people with houses on that land bought their piece of paradise," said Mr. Babinski. "Now somebody else wants a piece of paradise, too."

It was the night neighbors of the proposed Country School on Route 114 had been waiting for, and they arrived in force. The East Hampton Town Planning Board's public hearing on the nursery school Feb. 4 drew a number of supporters, too, turning the hearing into a three-hour discourse not only on the pros and cons of a school on Route 114, but on the state of day care in East Hampton.

The hearing followed a year of review by the Planning Board, which took the school plans through numerous revisions before they were deemed ready for public debate.

Deena Zenger, who co-founded the Country School and runs it at the Amagansett Presbyterian Church's Scoville Hall on Meeting House Lane, wants to relocate to a 5.4-acre lot on Route 114 just south of Swamp Road. The latest site plan calls for a 4,260-square-foot, one-story building and a 29-space parking lot with a driveway on a now unopened portion of Wainscott Northwest Road.

Location, Location

Opponents of the school repeated what they have argued to the Planning Board since day one of the application: that the location was inappropriate for reasons of traffic safety, environmental sensitivity, and general incompatibility with the residential neighborhood.

Randall Parsons, whose consulting firm LandMarks is representing Ms. Zenger, disagreed with those points and went step by step through the town's special-permit standards.

He argued that the school "meets or exceeds" each of the standards. He also stressed that all but two of East Hampton's public and private schools (the Ross School and St. Therese Nursery School) are located in residential zones.

Answering the suggestion by some neighbors that Ms. Zenger should have chosen a commercial-industrial lot for her school, Mr. Parsons said locating a school "adjacent to industry is both contrary to the purpose of zoning and inconsistent with the historic small-town pattern of development. . . ."

Mr. Parsons stressed that 85 percent of the school's wooded lot would remain untouched and that even the closest house would be 240 feet away from the building.

He urged the board to look beyond the concerns of immediate neighbors and consider the "townwide" issue of day care when weighing the application.

Day-Care Need

Ms. Zenger herself was among those who spoke in support of the school. "To say that small children should be subject to loud machinery and hazardous chemicals is absurd," she said. "Children belong in neighborhoods."

Gail Schonfeld, East Hampton's longtime pediatrician, said the town offered "very, very limited choices for child care." Much of the day-care choices available are "in-home and unregulated," she said.

Laurie Wiltshire, a consultant with LandMarks and a parent herself of a 2-year-old, agreed with Dr. Schonfeld and presented the board with a petition of 225 signatures in support of the school.

On A Highway

The Country School currently takes children 2 years old and up. In the new facility, it would take children starting at 18 months, offering straight day care as well as a pre-school program.

Among the 17 people who spoke against the plan, none denied the need for day-care facilities. The neighboring residents concentrated, instead, on the site itself.

"No person moral and decent could be against day care," said Richard Camacho of Route 114. However, he said traffic concerns alone should be enough to deny the permit.

Like others who spoke, he noted that while other schools in town are in residential neighborhoods, none is located along a 55-mile-per-hour highway. The Swamp Road and Wainscott-Northwest intersections are particularly dangerous, he said.

Quality Of Life

"If I were running a school, I would never subject kids and parents to an obviously unsafe and extremely dangerous environment," Mr. Camacho said. "It won't be a question of whether there will be an accident, but when the accident will occur."

Quality of life was the concern for Russell Wirth, who lives on Merchants Path, right across the street from the site.

"We have chosen to live in a secluded, wooded area," he said. "We invested our money in wildlife, not to look at a glowing, 4,000-square-foot building. If this goes through, it will open the door for other self-promoters to follow suit."

Summer Camp

Neighbors pointed out there were no other commercial operations near the site, especially on the east side of Route 114, which has almost no businesses along its entire length.

The Country School's summer-camp proposal worried other residents, including Dr. Ted Calabrese, whose house on Swamp Road is the closest to the site.

He currently rents out the house, but said he and his wife had planned to move there after their daughter was born. A nursery school, day-care facility, and summer camp next door would dash those hopes, he said.

Safe Traffic

The Country School now runs a summer camp at its Amagansett site, a program that Ms. Zenger said was crucial to the school's financial well-being. The summer program at the new site would accept up to 90 children, she said, while the school-year population would be limited to 65.

Mr. Calabrese, who has helped rally the neighborhood against the plan over the past year, argued that the school "does not meet any of the standards" for a special permit, especially safe traffic.

"The [State Department of Transportation] may have given them the okay," he said, "but the D.O.T. will not be traveling on this road each day with their 4-month-old baby."

Environmental concerns were also raised, with opponents challenging the Country School's septic-flow estimates and stressing that the property was in an important water-recharge area. Stuart Vorpahl, a former Town Trustee, warned that waste water from the area flows straight toward Northwest Harbor.

"We're going to have a compounding pollution problem here, and everybody is going to be scratching their heads trying to figure out where it's coming from," he predicted.

Mr. Vorpahl also spoke as a trustee of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, saying the church has had problems with the school. Enrollment, for example, was supposed to have been limited to around 30 children, he said, but was now at more than 50.

Ms. Zenger began seeking a new location after the church decided it wanted the space back.

One On The Fence

Ed Gilliam of Old Sag Harbor Road, who seemed to be the only neutral member of the standing-room-only audience to speak, warned about the area's extremely high, basement-flooding groundwater, as well as the traffic.

"I don't have any problem with the school going here," he said. "But it's a big danger on Route 114," and "once you get in trouble with that water, it will never stop."

To Ms. Zenger, he said, "If it goes through, it goes through. If it doesn't, don't feel bad."

The board left the hearing open for written comments until Feb. 25. After the close of the hearing, it will have 60 days to make a decision.

AMAGANSETT

Reutershan to Thomas and Mary Catlett, Stony Hill Road, $265,000.

Williams to Ellen Fries, Edwards Close, $170,000.

Soccolich to John Jordan 2d (trustee), Maidstone Drive, $650,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Golub to Josara Companies Inc., Noyac Path, $300,000.

Whiskey Hill Inc. to Linda Hanson, Bridge Hill Lane, $170,000.

Grey to Sean and Barbara Bailey, Dune Road, $650,000.

Card to Lillian Tyree, Maple Lane, $182,500.

Pilla to Rocco Oliverio, Woodruff Lane, $150,000.

Lewenberg to Fran Janis, Sandpiper Lane, $560,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Lotringer to Joann DeFede and Wendy Rives, Squaw Road, $270,000.

Silverman to Minoru Mori, Ruffed Grouse Court, $875,000.

Gilbert to Seth and Barbara Shulman, Salt Marsh Path, $265,000.

Big Green Corp. to Steven Bossi, Larry Brookner, and Anthony Iammatteo, Laura's Lane, $280,000.

Ocean Road Assoc. to Robert Bourque and Katherine Staton, Heritage Farm Lane, $885,000.

Sweetser to Steven and Rebecca Shaffer, Toilsome Lane, $450,000.

Dannemann to Anna Freedman, Bull Path, $298,500.

Kiser to Sally Pingree, Huntting Lane, $2,650,000.

Luca to Lillian Stewart, Huckleberry Lane, $380,000.

Coultes Way Corp. to National Dev. Corp. N.Y., Two Holes of Water Road, $225,000.

Heyman to Pudding Hill L.L.C., Baiting Hollow Road, $530,000.

Johnson to Robert and Rose Grau, Meadow Way, $385,000.

MONTAUK

Joe Hull Grader Service Inc. to A&J of Montauk Inc., Shore Road, $265,000.

Lambert to Eric and Monica Rottach, South Delphi Street, $154,000.

Fruin to John and Concetta Pezulich, South Goodridge Place, $365,000.

Manning to Roberta Wicklein, South Euclid Avenue, $157,000.

NORTH HAVEN

Gilbert estate to Thomas Goldstein, Forest Road, $225,000.

NORTHWEST

Faraone to David Gruber, Pheasant Woods Lane, $493,500.

Steiker (trustee) to Paul Galluccio, Augie's Path, $315,000.

Goodman to Steven and Karen Adler, Alewife Brook Road, $550,000.

Breuer to Patricia Brown and Roni Gilbert, Woodpink Drive, $185,000.

Country Living East Inc. to P.E. Goldsmith, Long Hill Road, $657,000.

NOYAC

Stuckart to Edwin Hendrickson Jr., Fairway Court, $362,000.

SAG HARBOR

McDermott to Robert Freidah and Niada Barry (trustees), Crown Lane, $150,000.

Maylor to Hallock Real Estate Inc., Bay View Drive East, $223,500.

Lewis to Linda Haugevik, Redwood Road, $185,000.

Swayne to Adam Stein and Stacie Pierce, Division Street, $305,000.

G.A.N. Equities to Jeanette Lofas, Division Street, $195,000.

SAGAPONACK

Targee St. Internal Medicine Group to Robert Barandes, Erica's Lane, $840,000.

SPRINGS

Lester to John and Janet Tilley, Glade Road, $165,000.

Jossem to Atrium Square Inc., Red Dirt Road, $570,000.

Tilley to Mark and Karen Fisher, Woodbine Drive, $182,500.

WAINSCOTT

Hansell to Jill Bock, Westwood Road, $499,000.

WATER MILL

Green to Joan Weltz, Seven Ponds Towd Road, $372,500.

Trimmer to Sean and Elizabeth Deneny, Winding Way, $325,000.

Perry to Veronica Ho, Deer Ridge Trail, $1,300,000.

Babinski to Dawn Hagen, Mecox Road, $450,000.

Quincetree Landings to GDN Realty L.L.C., Private Road, $150,000.