Since David Hernandez Barros, a junior at East Hampton High School, hanged himself in the bathroom of his family’s apartment in East Hampton nearly a year and a half ago, mental health issues have assumed unprecedented urgency for school officials tasked with ensuring the safety and well-being of students.

Over the past 18 months, the high school has referred 20 students displaying signs of suicidal thoughts to Stony Brook University Hospital. More than an hour’s drive away, it houses the nearest psychiatric facility. 

Since 2009, three Latino students on the South Fork have committed suicide. The 20 students at East Hampton High School represent a wide cross-section of race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds and possess no single identifying characteristic.

Taken together, the increasing referrals signify a heightened sense of awareness, with many school administrators and teachers perpetually on high alert, working in tandem to prevent another tragedy.

According to New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., a proposal is now under way to combine state aid, along with resources from school districts, Southampton Hospital, local governments, and nonprofits to improve access to mental health offerings for children and adolescents residing on the South Fork.

The first of the three-pronged approach proposes the hiring of a full-time child psychiatrist and two full-time social workers at an estimated cost of $320,000, according to a working draft of the proposal. Mr. Thiele is hopeful that state funds would cover half of the anticipated expenses — with local partners combining their resources to foot the other half of the bill.

“I’m optimistic and it’s a high priority,” said Mr. Thiele, in a conversation last week. “We should have an answer for this by April 1.”

He described Adam Fine, the principal of East Hampton High School, as “the guiding force that got this through.”

The two first met last summer to begin brainstorming ways of expanding access to services. Since the start of the year, various stakeholders have gathered for two meetings at Southampton Hospital.

At a Feb. 24 meeting, Mr. Thiele and Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, along with representatives from the offices of Representative Tim Bishop and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, Robert Ross, Southampton Hospital’s vice president of community and government relations, and administrators from several local school districts and nonprofits, met to finalize the specifics of the proposal.

In addition to the remoteness of the South Fork and the difficulty of retaining qualified, year-round practitioners, the proposal cited rapidly changing student demographics in several local school districts — with a particular emphasis on the rising number of Latino families that have moved to the area over the past decade.

“This clash of cultures has exacerbated issues related to behavioral health for the entire population, especially children,” read the proposal. “Due to a number of factors including geography, fewer year-round residents, and a perception of great wealth, the East End has long needed additional behavioral health services and is now experiencing a crisis that threatens the stability of the small school systems and the communities in general.”

Besides establishing a crisis service during phase one of the proposal, a second phase would expand the crisis team by hiring additional social workers and community health workers. It also proposes establishing a mobile unit, which would travel to areas of urgent need. Finally, a third phase would deploy Stony Brook psychiatrists to Southampton Hospital as part of an expanded psychiatric residency program.

During annual budget talks in recent weeks, Mr. Fine asked the East Hampton School Board for a $30,000 increase in mental health services.

“This year, a number of calls from parents and information from students has made me worry,” Mr. Fine said in a recent conversation. “Whether it be cutting, information on students having breakdowns, or suicidal ideations, I have been concerned with several at-risk situations.”

For Mr. Fine, David’s suicide continues to figure largely, never far from the surface. “It’s always in my mind that it could happen again,” said Mr. Fine. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about what happened and how we can do our part to prevent it from ever happening again.”

With three suicides in five years, Mr. Fine described it as a “crisis,” noting that the New York State Office of Mental Health designated the South Fork as a “suicide cluster.”

While cognizant that the need is great, Richard Burns, the superintendent, is not optimistic that the money will ultimately come through.

Faced with a state-imposed 2-percent tax cap, the East Hampton School District is looking to cut $1.2 million from its budget — not add to it.

Mr. Burns, along with a handful of other administrators, has become accustomed to receiving panicked calls during evenings and weekends.

“The depth of problems besetting kids is scary,” Mr. Burns said in a conversation last week. Partly, he blames the prevalence of social media, with fantasies of suicide now “an option in the tool belt.”

During after-school hours, when students have received texts from friends contemplating suicide, school administrators are often the first point of contact. “When they see something on Facebook, they call us, not the police,” said Mr. Fine.

“Because of a heightened sense of awareness, we’ve made so many referrals to C.P.E.P.,” Ralph Naglieri, East Hampton High School’s school psychologist, said, referring to Stony Brook’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, designed for individuals experiencing a psychiatric crisis. “We’re not taking any chances.”

With 21 years in the district, Mr. Naglieri observes an increasing number of adolescents beset with psychiatric problems. “What concerns me most is kids having this in their arsenal and using this as a coping mechanism,” he said.

After receiving an urgent call, administrators are next tasked with ensuring the safe transport of the student to Stony Brook University Hospital. If the parents cannot securely transport their child, the police, or an ambulance, are next called to intervene. But after arriving at Stony Brook, administrators report that students almost always return to class the very next day.

According to Kristie Golden, the associate director of operations for the neurosciences divisions at Stony Brook University Hospital, despite the increase in school-based referrals, a pattern that commonly emerges following a student suicide, hospitalizations rarely result.

“A very high percentage of the time they don’t meet the criteria for inpatient admission,” said Dr. Golden. “Unless someone is acutely suicidal, with a plan and a means, or homicidal, outpatient services are generally the recommendation for follow-up care.” The New York State Office of Mental Health — not to mention most insurance plans — prefers the “least restrictive” option available.

But once home, the geographic isolation is yet another hurdle in the complicated maze of ensuring access to regular therapeutic treatment.

For instance, while the Family Service League in East Hampton provides a great array of services, administrators said the waiting list for psychiatric care can be as long as two months. Adolescents contemplating suicide require immediate and sustained counseling — and often multiple visits each week.

While each school district will cover initial psychiatric evaluations, as required by New York State law, it is not required to pay for ongoing psychiatric treatment. For many families, the hourly rates, particularly with practitioners that do not accept insurance, quickly become unsustainable. 

Since David’s suicide, Mr. Naglieri estimates that the staff has undergone six separate trainings. “I can’t imagine another school district on Long Island that’s had as much training,” he said. But while the school is staffed with a psychologist and social workers, he is the first to concede that they are educators first and foremost — and not mental health practitioners.

In future months, he is hopeful that Southampton Hospital might be the first point of entry, able to supply both beds and access to a full-time psychiatrist.

“We as a school and as a community have to continue doing whatever we can to get more services on the East End of Long Island. I understand the budgetary constraints and realize we won’t get everything we wish for,” said Mr. Naglieri. “But we’re moving in the right direction, and people are finally hearing us.”

     A thief who was foiled last week in an attempt to steal an expensive camera pleaded guilty today in East Hampton Justice Court and was sentenced to six months in the county jail.

     An assistant district attorney had labeled the man, Joseph R. Spezzano, 35, of Mastic, a "career criminal" at his arraignment, telling the court he had been convicted of four felonies, including one violent crime.

     "You know, sir, you spend more time in jail than out," East Hampton Justice Lisa R. Rana told him today after he admitted to a misdemeanor charge of possession of stolen property.

     A charge of petty larceny was dropped in exchange for the guilty plea. Maggie Bopp, the assistant D.A., had made the defendant what was essentially a take-it-or-leave-it offer: Plead guilty to the one charge and serve six months, or go to trial on the two counts. After conferring in a courthouse holding cell with his Legal Aid lawyer, Sheila Mullaly, he opted for the jail term.

     Justice Rana leaned down from the bench to speak to Mr. Spezzano before he was led away. "If I see you in this court again," she warned him, he could expect more jail time.

     She asked about the incident. "What were you doing?"

     "I don't know," he answered.

     David E. Rattray of Cranberry Hole Road, Amagansett, the editor of The East Hampton Star, had been awakened at about 2 a.m. on March 12 by his dog's barking. Thinking the dog wanted to go out, he opened his front door and saw, at the end of the driveway, a light on in his pickup truck and someone inside it.

     "I started shouting at the person to get out of my truck," Mr. Rattray later told police. The intruder ran toward the end of the driveway and jumped into a waiting car, a late-model Chevrolet Cruze.

     The car took off, headed west, but Mr. Rattray got a look at the license plate and was able to see its first three letters. He called East Hampton Town police immediately, giving them that information and adding that his Panasonic Lumix camera was missing from the console of the unlocked truck and that the Chevvy was headed west.

     East Hampton Village officers pulled the car over not long after, on Main Street near the Star office. Mr. Rattray was brought to the scene and identified Mr. Spezzano as the man who had been rummaging through his truck. He had particularly noted his "oversized jacket" and "dark-colored pants," he told police. 

     Back at headquarters, Mr. Spezzano told police he had left his grandmother's house in Mastic Beach "with my friends Jessica, Anthony, and Steven. Anthony was driving. We were headed to Montauk."

     Their late-night journey had a few detours, according to his statement: a stop at a 7-Eleven in East Quogue, then another, this time unplanned, on Montauk Highway in Southampton, where Southampton Town police gave Anthony, the driver, a speeding ticket.

     Then came a detour, which Mr. Spezzano did not explain, other than to say that "we turned on a dirt road and drove to the end. We drove on the back roads for a minute. I had to take a piss, so I asked Anthony to pull over." The driver shut off the engine and the headlights as Mr. Spezzano got out of the car, he said. "I walked into a driveway and seen a white pickup truck. I looked in and saw a camera sitting on the driver's seat. I opened the side door and grabbed the camera."

     He put it in his jacket pocket, he said. Police found it on the floor of the Cruze, however. "It must have fallen out," Mr. Spezzano told them.

     He went to great lengths in his statement to absolve his friends of involvement in the crime. "Nobody had any idea what I did," he stated.

     Commenting on the incident last week, Captain Chris Anderson of the town police said residents had to learn to lock their houses and their cars. The face of crime in East Hampton has changed, he said. "It used to be, if there was a crime, you could check your list of 10 or 12 guys who were out. Those days are over."

     Workers are coming from farther and farther west, said the captain, as are visitors looking to party, especially heading out to Montauk. And those among them with a criminal inclination are now returning for what appears easy pickings, he said. All of it is making the job of the police that much harder.

    Volunteer firefighters were awakened early this morning to deal with a brush fire in East Hampton.

    A passerby, possibly a newspaper delivery driver, called police at 3:16 a.m., saying he could see flames in a wooded area on Buckskill Road, off Stephen Hand's Path.

    "It was a pretty good size fire," said East Hampton Fire Department Chief Tom Bono. Two engines and a brush truck responded. The brush truck was used because the fire was far enough into the woods that firefighters could not reach it with a hose, the chief said.

    Dry, windy conditions fueled the blaze, but Mr. Bono was not sure what caused it. He called the East Hampton Town Fire Marshal's office to investigate the origin. Most of the flames burnt out on their own, and no houses were endangered.

    Firefighters used the driveway of a nearby house to get close to the fire, The wind was blowing away from that house, the chief noted. The volunteers were back at the firehouse in an hour and 15 minutes.    

    Chief Fire Marshal David (Buzzy) Browne said later this morning that the cause was still undetermined. Tom Baker, a fire marshal, was going back to investigate in the daylight, but finding a smoking gun, so to speak, was unlikely, said Mr. Browne.

    "Usually, you associate brush fires with the summer and the heat,” he said. “But anytime it's dry and conditions are right, it can happen." The brush fire, he's said, serves as a good reminder to use caution in dry conditions, especially when disposing of cigarettes and ashes from fireplaces.

   A local towing company got a major shout-out from Jimmy Fallon Monday night after the "Tonight Show" host joked about getting stuck on the beach.

     Hammer Towing, a Wainscott company owned and operated by Elisha Osborn, came to the rescue on Sunday, and Mr. Fallon gave him props not only for helping, but also for his creative company name.

     Mr. Fallon, who owns a house in Sagaponack and often makes references to the South Fork, including talk about the WLNG radio station in Sag Harbor when he had Billy Joel on as a guest just last week, revealed to the audience that he had a stressful weekend in the Hamptons. Driving with his wife and baby daughter, he decided to test out his Range Rover's four-wheel drive.

     "I've seen commercials where they drive up rocks . . . this should be nothing," Mr. Fallon said of his thought process. "There's a dial you can turn and there's the car and it's next to a cactus, and, I'm assuming, sand." After consulting with his wife, he did the "manly thing" and "put it in 'sand.' "

     But the ride was not a smooth one.

     While he was trying to exit the beach at the next access at Peter's Pond, he did what so many have done before him -- failed to gain enough momentum and got stuck. He showed viewers a photo of his front tire, with the bottom of the S.U.V. buried in sand.

     "I didn't know what to do -- I called 911," Mr. Fallon said, drawing a lot of laughter from his live studio audience. Dispatchers, in turn, told him not to call 911 and to call a tow truck instead.

     Mr. Fallon even displayed Hammer Towing's business card showing a foot with a busted hammer toe, which he and the audience got a big kick out of. "His name is Elisha Osborn and he totally saved me."

• To watch the clip, click here.

     The comedian also found the tow truck driver himself funny, retelling how Mr. Osborn arrived at the beach and plainly stated, "You know you can't park there."

     Mr. Osborn said he had a feeling he better watch "The Tonight Show" on Monday night. "I fell asleep after the monologue. I figured if he was going to say anything it was going to be during the monologue," he said. It was after the commercial break, however, that Mr. Fallon went into the story, and Mr. Osborn was aroused from sleep when he heard something about a four-by-four.

     He said he ignored the first call he received because it came from a blocked number, but Mr. Fallon called again, identifying himself as Jim Fallon. He had a feeling it was the comedian, since he's seen Mr. Fallon in the area before.

     "He's a really, really nice guy -- super polite, cool. When I was bringing the chain down, he picked up my chain and brought it back to the truck, and he grabbed the chain -- it's all dirty. He's not a prima donna," Mr. Osborn said. "He was just a little embarrassed. I joked with him about how every now and again our man card is called into question. I was careful about what I said, sometimes my humor comes on the wrong way and it pisses people off."

     But, Mr. Fallon was grateful. "Thank you, Elisha. I promise I won't do it again," he said on the show.

     Arnold Schwarzenegger, his guest, gave him a hard time, however, about getting stuck.

     Mr. Osborn said the response has been overwhelming. His Facebook page for Hammer Towing got hundreds of messages with people thanking him for "saving Jimmy Fallon and his family."

     "He would have been okay. Ira Rennert was right next door," Mr. Osborn joked.

     East Hampton Town police working in conjunction with Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota's East End Drug Task Force on Thursday afternoon arrested an East Hampton man with two prior felony convictions and charged him with making two sales of cocaine last year, both class B felonies.

     The only crimes more serious in New York penal law are class A felonies, which include murder. If convicted, Moshe A. Stephens, 32, faces at least a year in prison and a maximum of 25 years. Police called it an ongoing investigation.

     Because of the two prior convictions, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana told Mr. Stephens that he was not eligible to have bail set at the local level and would be held in the county jail until next Wednesday, when he will be brought back to East Hampton.

     The justice asked him how long he had lived in East Hampton.

     "All my life," he responded. Mr. Stephens, who appeared at times to be holding back tears, spoke quietly, his head bowed, answering most of the justice's questions with, "Yes, your honor," or "No, your honor," in a barely audible voice. He said that he had just started a new job and was trying to get his life back on track.

     "Is there any way I can plead guilty today?" Mr. Stephens asked.

     "Absolutely not," Justice Rana said, cutting him off. She explained the severity of the charges and told Mr. Stephens that, to protect his rights, he must speak to an attorney before making any legal decisions.

     Justice Rana told him she would appoint an attorney from the Legal Aid Society to represent him. She added that she had contacted Legal Aid, asking if an attorney could be sent to represent Mr. Stephens for his arraignment, but the society declined, despite the high level of the charges.

     After being arraigned, Mr. Stephens sat down on a bench set aside for prisoners. Two older women who said they were friends of the family spoke briefly with him. "This is something from last year," Mr. Stephens told them, looking down. The two women asked him who in his family they should reach out to. Mr. Stephens was uncertain.

     The justice finished working on Mr. Stephens's paperwork and handed it to an officer, who led the defendant away.

Mollie Zweig's lengthy effort to build a rock revetment in front of her oceanfront property at 11 West End Road in East Hampton Village resumed yesterday after State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tarantino lifted a temporary restraining order that had blocked the work since November.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had initially given her a tidal wetlands permit, and the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals had granted variances to allow construction of the revetment, or sea wall, as well as the removal of an existing rock groin.

The zoning board's determination had come over the strong objection of the East Hampton Town Trustees, which claimed jurisdiction over the beach on which the revetment would be constructed.

Two days after work suddenly began on Veterans Day 2013 -- when courts were closed -- the trustees obtained a temporary restraining order. The order was extended in December. Last month, Ms. Zweig applied for a permit from the trustees, as that board has insisted she is required to do.

Stephen Angel, an attorney representing Ms. Zweig, and Aram Terchunian of First Coastal, which is doing the work, delivered a lengthy presentation to the trustees detailing the project. Mr. Angel said that a timely resolution was essential, given the piping plover nesting season that, beginning next month, will prohibit construction activity on beaches until the fall. That application is still pending.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Diane McNally, the trustees' clerk, said that the application was incomplete and that the board had sent a letter to Ms. Zweig seeking an updated survey. She also said that the notarization page on the application had not been signed. Brian Matthews, an attorney from the law firm that is representing the trustees in their lawsuit against Ms. Zweig, also met with the trustees on the matter during a closed-door session at that meeting.

Ms. McNally said on Friday that she was frustrated but not entirely surprised by the resumption of the revetment's construction. "They already know they're proceeding without a trustee permit," Ms. McNally said on Friday. "They know we're not happy with what they're doing. I don't know what to do. Even though I knew it could have started, I'm just flabbergasted."

Mr. Matthews would not say how the trustees planned to proceed, but said on Friday that the lifting of the temporary restraining order should not be seen as a resolution in Ms. Zweig's favor. "When Justice Tarantino lifted the T.R.O., he did so entirely on the grounds of finding no irreparable harm. Since Zweig had submitted an application to the trustees, there was no longer any irreparable harm and allowed her to proceed with construction," he said.

Mr. Matthews said he disagreed with that position, "but the important part is, he went out of his way to say that he wasn't rendering a decision on the merits of the trustees' claim . . . . In stating that he wasn't looking at the merits, he acknowledged that they're going to be building this at their own risk . . . . They run the risk of having to pull it out," he said.

Mr. Matthews said that an important objective of the lawsuit was to get Ms. Zweig to apply for a permit from the trustees. But, he said, "The application is not only incomplete, it's inconsistent with what the village approved."

The Village Zoning Board of Appeals, he said, had approved construction of a revetment that would be 166 feet long, but the application to the trustees described a revetment 171 feet long. "These revetments are highly technical, so any differences are significant in our view," he said.

"I have no idea what he is talking about," Mr. Angel said. The revetment, he said, is "being built in accordance with the permit issued by the D.E.C. and the village. The only reason we went to the trustees was, without prejudice to our position that we didn't have to go, [to] attempt to settle the case." The trustees, he said, "are trying to make an issue out of nothing."

        What began as a grassroots effort late last year seeking the Medal of Honor for a fallen Sag Harbor marine has now become a piece of congressional legislation.

        Representative Tim Bishop introduced a bill on Thursday requesting review of whether Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter and Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale of Virginia are eligible for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

        The marines, serving as riflemen in Ramadi, Iraq, on April 22, 2008, were killed when a suicide bomber driving a truck with 2,000 pounds of explosives failed to stop at the entrance to Joint Security Station Nasser, and they opened fire. Their quick action stopped the driver, but the bomb detonated. Corporal Haerter was 19, Corporal Yale, 21.

        They were credited with saving 50 marines and 100 civilians and Iraqi police. The following year, they were awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest military honor and the highest honor the Department of the Navy could bestow. They have also received the Purple Heart medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Iraqi Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

       “I offered this bill so that Jordan and Jonathan receive every possible consideration for the highest reward to which they are entitled,” Mr. Bishop said on Sunday morning at a press conference at the Chelberg-Battle post of the American Legion in Sag Harbor Village. Mr. Bishop said that he has a duty to ensure the proper honors are given them.

      Representative Robert Hurt, a Republican from Virginia, co-sponsored the bill with Mr. Bishop, a Democrat from Southampton.

       If approved, the bill would begin a process that refers the request to the House Armed Services Committee, which would ask that the Pentagon conduct a review. If that review is favorable, it will be referred to President Obama.

        Corporal Haerter’s parents, Chris Haerter and JoAnn Lyles, have long been hoping for a formal review to begin. Two recent online petitions — including one Patti Collins Sales of East Hampton and Joi Jackson Perle of Wainscott started that gained nearly 38,000 signatures — prompted calls to to federal offices.

        “We’re not expecting a Medal of Honor to be issued simply because a bill has been started. We just want a fair review of their actions — that’s all,” Mr. Haerter told the large crowd that gathered at the American Legion on Sunday.

        Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Sag Harbor native, said the groundswell of support was no surprise. “So many people from Sag Harbor turned out this morning, and that’s because in Sag Harbor we all knew Jordan Haerter and in our hearts he’s already won the Congressional Medal of Honor,” he said. “Now we have to go out about just convincing the powers that be that’s the case, and I thank Tim for setting that process in motion.”

       “Time goes by, but it’s important you know that we haven’t forgotten your son and what he did for our country and how proud we are that he’s a son of Sag Harbor,” Mr. Thiele said to Mr. Haerter and Ms. Lyles.

       Among the local politicians, veterans, boy scouts, and community members, were some who traveled from western Long Island. Phil Como, a Sea Cliff resident and Vietnam veteran who was representing his American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, said he felt compelled to support the effort.

       “I feel like there’s a moral imperative here. Two magnificent marines, in six seconds, made a decision that their lives had to be sacrificed to save 50 marines and Iraqi staff,” Mr. Como said. “We’re taking this moment to say, we’re not going to forget, we’re going to ask the question, and we’re allowed to ask the question to the Pentagon, more of less these words: Are you sure you did the right thing? Because we don’t’ think they did. We think this requires an upgrade and we’re not going to stop for a while.”  

       In the beginning there were four men — Mike Egan, Jocko Hayden, Joe Pugh, and Elisa Ammon — and it was on St. Patrick’s Day 1947 that they decided to march from one end of Montauk’s main drag to the other. They ended up at what is today the Shagwong Tavern, and an institution came to be.

       Or not quite. It would be 16 years before the first official St. Patrick’s Day parade would be held in Montauk. In late 1962, the Friends of Erin organized with the expressed purpose of launching a proper tradition to honor old Ireland. There were a dozen in all, the forefathers of today’s parade sponsors. They rounded up a drummer, asked the Montauk Fire Department to join in, and set to marching on the street, heads high. At the head of the line of march was Mike Egan, the very first official grand marshal. The total cost for that first outing was around $150, according to legend.

       By the late 1970s as many as 10,000 people would swell Montauk’s downtown to watch the annual parade. In terms of numbers, the historic peak was reached in 2003, when an estimated crowd of 45,000 swarmed the hamlet. Attendance may have dipped from that number since, but not by much. (2014 parade information)

       In the early days, the parade followed the original west to east route, then turned north on Edgemere Road. Today, it is reversed, beginning near the Montauk Firehouse and ending near the Second House Museum, which provides a bigger staging area for the large number of participants.

       Over the years, floats have reflected their times, including 1983’s “Wild Irish Evacuation Plan,” which decried the planned Shoreham nuclear power plant. A float in the 1990s by the Promised Land Salvage Company, masterminded by Gordon Ryan, a local lawyer, promised its own Whitewater investigation, a bane of the Clinton White House. Another year, Mr. Ryan’s crew blasted an effigy of Saddam Hussein from a mock missile launcher.

       Other floats have been just for laughs, like 1987’s “Porgy and Bass” and a Budweiser Clydesdales send-up with a nag with mop heads tied to its legs standing in for the famous horses. The actual Budweiser team appeared in the 2003 parade after multiple entreaties by the Friends of Erin. One 1970s float depicted a barroom, accompanied by several local women who passed cups of beer to spectators.

       There’s even a ghost story associated with the parade. Some say that the spirit of Dennis Kelly appears in his usual chair at the Shagwong on the night before St. Patrick’s Day as strains of the Dolan family singers are heard in the air.

       Notable participants over the years have included United States Senator Charles E. Schumer and members of the Long Island Congressional delegation, and former State Assemblyman John Behan, a Vietnam veteran who was the grand marshal in 1979.

       Controversy also has erupted several times, notably when a woman in a hot tub mounted on a float took off her top and another time when a spoof of the singer Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction was deemed too risqué. A disgruntled parade-watcher even mounted a one-man campaign over what he said were out-oftune bagpipes among some of the marching units. And there have been times when the troubles in Northern Ireland were a backdrop, including in 1977, when objections were raised about an English Union Jack flag that appeared in the parade.

       In more recent history, the Friends of Erin, local police, and the Long Island Rail Road have cooperated to keep watch on those who may be looking to have just a little too much fun.

       Despite the wild popularity of the parade, the Montauk Friends of Erin has often had to scramble to meet expenses. This year, not including police overtime, the cost may reach from $30,000 to $35,000, Joe Bloecker, the president of the Friends of Erin, said. A big chunk of the budget goes to pay fees for some of the marching bands. Although clown-costumed volunteers work the crowd seeking donations to help make ends meet, most of the money comes not on the actual day but at the lunch and gala, which precede it.

       As with any large annual event, there will be ups and downs. In 1991 the Friends of Erin chose Mike Murphy as the grand marshal. He died a few days before the parade, and in his memory, no replacement was chosen. On a happier note, Douglas McClure proposed to his then-girlfriend, Jill Osterholm, by unveiling an 11-foot banner on the very first float of the 1995 parade. As the crowd cheered and urged her on, “Yes!” she said.

What began as a grassroots effort late last year seeking the Congressional Medal of Honor for a fallen Sag Harbor Marine has now become a piece of Congressional legislation.

Representative Tim Bishop introduced a bill last Thursday requesting review of the eligibility for the medal of Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter and Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale of Virginia.

The marines, serving as riflemen in Ramadi, Iraq, on April 22, 2008, were killed when a suicide bomber driving a truck with 2,000 pounds of explosives failed to stop at the entrance to Joint Security Station Nasser. The two immediately opened fire. Their quick action stopped the driver, but the bomb detonated. Corporal Haerter was 19; Corporal Yale, 21.

They were credited with saving 50 marines and 100 civilians and Iraqi police. The following year they were awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest military honor and the highest honor the Department of the Navy can bestow. They have also received the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Iraqi Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

“I offered this bill so that Jordan and Jonathan receive every possible consideration for the highest reward to which they are entitled,” Mr. Bishop said Sunday morning at a press conference at the Chelberg-Battle Post of the American Legion in Sag Harbor. Mr. Bishop said he had a duty to ensure the proper honors are given them.

Representative Robert Hurt, a Republican from Virginia, co-sponsored the bill with Mr. Bishop, a Democrat from Southampton. If approved, it would be referred to the House Armed Services Committee, which could ask that the Pentagon conduct a review. If that review is favorable, it will be referred to President Obama.

Corporal Haerter’s parents, Chris Haerter and JoAnn Lyles, have long been hoping for a formal review to begin. Two recent online petitions, including one started by Patti Collins Sales of East Hampton and Joi Jackson Perle of Wainscott that gained nearly 38,000 signatures, prompted calls to federal offices.

“We’re not expecting a Medal of Honor to be issued simply because a bill has been started. We just want a fair review of their actions — that’s all,” Mr. Haerter told the large crowd gathered at the American Legion.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Sag Harbor native, said the groundswell of support was no surprise. “So many people from Sag Harbor turned out this morning, and that’s because in Sag Harbor we all knew Jordan Haerter, and in our hearts he’s already won the Congressional Medal of Honor,” he said. “Now we have to go out about just convincing the powers that be that’s the case, and I thank Tim for setting that process in motion.”

“Time goes by, but it’s important you know that we haven’t forgotten your son and what he did for our country and how proud we are that he’s a son of Sag Harbor,” Mr. Thiele told Mr. Haerter and Ms. Lyles.

Among the local politicians, veterans, boy scouts, and community members, were some who traveled from western Long Island. Phil Como, a Sea Cliff resident and Vietnam veteran who was representing his American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, said he felt compelled to support the effort.

“I feel like there’s a moral imperative here. Two magnificent marines, in six seconds, made a decision that their lives had to be sacrificed to save 50 marines and Iraqi staff,” Mr. Como said. “We’re taking this moment to say, we’re not going to forget, we’re going to ask the question, and we’re allowed to ask the question to the Pentagon, more of less these words: Are you sure you did the right thing? Because we don’t’ think they did. We think this requires an upgrade and we’re not going to stop for a while.”

In many ways this is a story of old Southampton versus new, of descendants of the original summer colonists versus arrivistes, of understatement versus over the top, of patrician discretion versus unbridled extravagance, of the old guard and its conservative “cottages” and new money and its gargantuan mansions that many feel are blighting the character of the South Fork.

The particulars of this age-old scenario were played out at an architectural review board hearing in Southampton Village last week. Adrenaline in the room was nearly palpable as a parade of well-heeled citizens streamed into Village Hall. At issue was Joe Farrell’s proposal to erect a 5,135-square-foot house on Hill Street. Mr. Farrell, a local builder who The New York Times recently reported “has more than 20 new homes under construction, or slated for construction, at a time,” was represented by his lawyer, John Bennett. The opponents were neighbors and others who object to what they described as the “massive” and “out of scale” proportions of the proposed building in the historic district and on a street some might consider the village’s heart and soul.

Above them on a raised dais four members of the board — one was missing — and their legal counsel hovered, ready to pass judgment. This was the fifth hearing on the matter, the fourth having ended with two members voting to approve the project. Only one member opposed it while another member, Christina Redding, abstained, saying that she wasn’t up to speed on the case, because she had been dealing with a family illness.

 Mr. Farrell’s lawyer’s position was that the size of the house is within legal bounds. He said it is “2,000 square feet less that the allowable gross floor area, and seven and a half to eight feet lower” than the limit. “The average ranch house is 1,600 square feet,” he said, by way of explaining that the property could accommodate another substantial structure and still be within the dictates of the law. “You can go up to 35 feet high.” Roof height for the planned house does not surpass 28 feet. “It’s not a piggish house,” he said. “I’m shocked that people object to this house.”

The house’s square footage does not include the two-story garage, however, the opposition feels that some of the garage should be counted, as some of it could be living space.

Opponents of the house were represented by Jeffrey Bragman, a lawyer hired by Ann Pyne, president of McMillen, the country’s oldest interior design firm, whose property is half an acre away. They were also armed with a lot of passion and an arsenal of 83 letters written by supporters of the cause. “I do very controversial cases,” said Mr. Bragman, “and this is more letters than I’ve ever seen.”

Sitting in the front row was Barbara Missett, who lives at 471 Hill Street, abutting Mr. Farrell’s project on the east, in a cottage built by Stanford White as a studio for William Merritt Chase, a celebrated American Impressionist. Ms. Missett, along with Ms. Pyne, was instrumental in soliciting the many dozens of letters in opposition to the house, which she called a “horizontal horror show.” referring to the fact that the width rather than the length would face the street.

In support of the opposition, Mr. Bragman asked the board to revisit a village code requiring that new structures in the historic district have “visual compatibility” with the old. To this end, he beseeched them to require Mr. Farrell to provide documents that would demonstrate the scale of the building compared to neighboring houses. There is no evidence in the record comparing the proposed house to buildings around it, he said. He went on to point out that, having done their own homework, the opponents discovered that Mr. Farrell’s house was “100 percent larger than the average house in the neighborhood and more than three times larger than the smallest.” 

A major bone of contention in the debate is that the house would occupy a flag lot. “It’s a football field away from Hill Street,” contended Mr. Bennett, voicing only a slight exaggeration. He said that the property is 250 feet from the road, while the length of a football field is 300 feet. “And it’s behind a large house.”

Mr. Bragman’s position was that, “by our measure there’s an 83-foot facade on Hill Street. It’s on a flag lot but the side of the house . . . is visible from the street.” It’s a question of “volume,” he said, questioning whether the building fit “with the existing pattern of architecture.”

Susan Stevenson, a resident of Toilsome Lane and one of the letter writers, took the board to task. “I don’t feel you’ve paid attention to the mandate you have.”

John Pyne, Ms. Pyne’s husband, complained that in a previous session Mr. Bennett had “denigrated” the opposition’s efforts by suggesting that the letters were written by members of the Southampton Association, an organization representative of the summer colony in the village and its environs. Mr. Pyne said that if he added up the “taxpayer years” of his letter writers the sum would be more than 2,400. On the other hand, he said that the organizer of letters in support of the house, Robert Pressman, former owner of Barneys, has lived in the village for less than two years. Mr. Pressman wrangled four letters.

When Dora Frost, an artist, spoke, she said that she had lived in Southampton since 1953, and that her forebears had done so for generations. She read a history of Hill Street, citing its “unspoiled” nature and its “cultural value” to the village. She spoke of settlers such as “Howells, Jessups, Jaggers, and Sayres,” and concluded that her intent was to inform the board “of the seriousness of this very historic road that has remained essentially unchanged in the last 200 years.”

The most dramatic moment of the nearly two-hour session occurred when Ms. Pyne unveiled models of her house and barn, Ms. Missett’s cottage, and the proposed house. Viewers were able to see the size of the Farrell house in relation to the others.

Other opponents had their say, but perhaps the mood of the evening was summed up by Jay Diesing, president of Southampton Association, who admitted that he had sent an email blast to his members to inform them of a “relevant issue.” He beseeched board members to drive to Pheasant Pond, a nearby development with large houses, “to get a mental picture of what you’ll be doing if you approve this house. . . . While the applicant gets richer our village gets poorer.” 

When it came time for the board members to have their say it was clear that they had been somewhat moved by all the passionate testimony. Brian Brady, an architect, was “struggling with the fact that it’s in an historic district” and suggested the board “walk the neighborhood.” Ms. Redding also admitted to “struggling” and expressed concern that the zoning code was not helpful in this situation, allowing as it does for the house to be even larger than proposed. The board’s chairman, Curtis Highsmith, bemoaned the fact that the A.R.B. is used as a “last stand.” Discussions about size, he said, should start at the planning board. “We’re here trying to make a fair decision to the community and the right of the applicant.” Hamilton Hoge asserted that he “would like to see a balloon test; it’s a no-brainer.” A balloon test is a visual exercise in how a proposed structure will impact the landscape.

The session concluded with the board members agreeing that they were not ready to take a vote until they could walk the neighborhood or see results of a balloon test, a boon to the opposition, which had offered in the past to finance the cost of the procedure.

“This is a clear case of bowing to political pressure,” Mr. Bennett said. His stance is that everything he has submitted is “factual and legal.” However, what the board must decide is not a mere matter of legality but is open to interpretation. The bottom line seems to be: Is the building in harmony with existing structures?

“I understand that people don’t like change,” said Mr. Bennett. But, he claims, “I’m not even coming close to pushing the envelope,” citing that he “took off the roof deck . . . a concession from the last hearing.” When asked why he thinks there’s so much rancor, he said, “They don’t like the fact that Joe Farrell is the builder.”

 Mr. Bragman said that his mission is “getting the board to find its backbone. . . . Boards are very weak and indecisive.” However, he felt the hearing “woke them up.” Mr. Bennett did not agree. The board “is trying to let people have their say; they’re being courteous to everybody.” And he believes the house will eventually be approved.