Despite saying two weeks ago that it would wait until after the High Holy Days to share its evaluations of Rabbi David Gelfand with the congregation of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, the center's board broke its silence on Friday with a damning six-page letter detailing its concerns about Mr. Gelfand's leadership.

"Your board has been reluctant to share with the congregation our reservations about Rabbi Gelfand until we had done our research and reached our final conclusion," the president of the board, Donald Zucker, wrote in an introductory letter to the 720 family and individual members of the congregation.

Mr. Zucker wrote that the board was unable to "keep the issues confidential," however, because supporters of the rabbi have demanded a special meeting on Oct. 9 to immediately extend his contract by three years past its June 2006 expiration.

The board has asked the Committee on Ethics and Appeals of the Central Conference of American Rabbis to help it find "the truth about certain facts, and to help us heal the division that threatens our congregation," the letter says.

Because it has taken the matter to the umbrella organization for Reform rabbis, the board "thought it would make sense for the congregation to understand why that was happening," Laura Hoguet, an attorney for the Jewish Center, said yesterday.

"Obviously we think there are substantial serious issues and that's why we put them in a letter to the C.C.A.R. and put them in a letter to the congregation," Ms. Hoguet said.

"We would have preferred not to have done this," Barnet Liberman, the chairman of the board's personnel committee, said yesterday. Before the rabbi's contract can be extended, "We need to have some answers and they're not forthcoming," he said.

In the letter, the board says that questions about the rabbi have arisen in the past year regarding financial discrepancies, potential plagiarism of sermons, use of membership files for "personal purpose," and treatment of staff, board members, and fellow clergy.

"On countless occasions and in countless ways, Rabbi Gelfand has made clear his disdain for the board's members, to the detriment of our community," Mr. Zucker wrote. He recalled that "During a recent service, while recounting the story of the camel as a horse developed by a committee, Rabbi Gelfand looked over to board members seated nearby and remarked for all to hear, 'or by a board of trustees.' "

According to Mr. Zucker, the board has "identified five events at which the rabbi and other clergy officiated after which the other clergy turned in an honorarium, but Rabbi Gelfand did not."

Coming just a week before the start of the Jewish holidays, the letters underscore a growing division between the board and the many members of the congregation who support the rabbi.

"I think it shows the kind of folks we have on the board that they would defame the rabbi the way they're doing it at this time of year," Mr. Gelfand's attorney, Michael Weber, said yesterday. Mr. Weber said he had made it clear to the board that "we would cooperate in all investigations," but that the board "never asked the rabbi for any comment" on the matters it was looking into.

"Any time he wants to come forward with information, we'll be happy to have it," Laura Hoguet, an attorney for the Jewish Center, said yesterday.

While the allegations made in the letter are considered serious, Mr. Barnet said the board is "not responding to or intimidated by threats of legal action based on slander or libel."

Since hearing earlier this summer that the board may not renew Rabbi Gelfand's contract when it expires next June, the rabbi's supporters have mounted an all-out campaign to keep him at the synagogue. They have circulated petitions and sent e-mails to congregants urging others to back the rabbi.

The board filed a complaint with East Hampton Village Police alleging that a former Jewish Center employee improperly accessed files containing the e-mail addresses of congregation members. No arrests were made. On Sept. 16, village police received a related complaint from Susan Pashman of Sag Harbor, a member of the center who also teaches there. Ms. Pashman told police that two members of the congregation obtained her e-mail address and that of other congregation members without authorization to do so.

Although the board has several months before it must make a decision on the rabbi's contract, his supporters forced the issue to the table at the center's annual meeting in August. After that meeting, Mr. Weber and the board began negotiations to extend the rabbi's contract. Mr. Weber said yesterday he believed at one point that an agreement had been reached, but that the board then changed its mind. Ms. Hoguet confirmed earlier this month that the board had deferred its decision on the contract.

The rabbi's supporters called a special meeting on Sept. 11 to vote themselves on whether the rabbi's contract should be extended. Over 200 people attended and others sent in proxies. The final tally, according to the organizers of the meeting, was 802 in favor of an extension and zero against.

Although they believe the meeting was called according to the center's bylaws and that only the members have the right to hire or fire a rabbi, the board has not recognized the legitimacy or results of the Sept. 11 meeting.

Those at the meeting also signed a petition demanding another special meeting on Oct. 9, midway between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, to direct the board to execute that contract extension.

The board has asked the rabbi and his supporters to delay that meeting until after the holidays. They have declined to do so.

Mr. Weber said Rabbi Gelfand will not respond to the charges in the board's letter until after the holidays.

"The rabbi is focusing on his rabbinical obligations and duties during this period of repentance," he said. However, his supporters expect to release a statement by the end of the week.

Ms. Hoguet said she does not believe the differences between the board and the rabbi's supporters are irreconcilable.

"People are hot under the collar now, but the issue will be clarified and settled. No one is irreplaceable," Mr. Barnet said. "I'm hoping that the Rabbi will assume his leadership position and guide the community through the holidays appropriately. . . . He's a good leader. I'd be disappointed if he didn't seize the opportunity to heal during this period."

With East Hampton's Democratic town board set to release a tentative 2006 budget tomorrow, Republicans hope to find the kind of political ammunition that can turn the talk from rats in Florida to what's rotten in East Hampton.

"The Republican Party is challenging an entrenched political group that has everything their own way and acts like it," Thomas E. Knobel, the newly re-elected Republican chairman, said on Monday.

"Every single election cycle, while decrying the Republicans and saying smear, smear, smear, they come up with something like this," he said, referring to a front-page article on the Republican town board candidate Bill Gardiner in the Sept. 21 issue of The Independent.

The article, headlined "Rat Infested House Haunts Candidate," takes aim at Mr. Gardiner for unpaid fines and back taxes owed on a Boca Raton house he inherited from his mother, Isabel Gardiner Mairs. He took title to it in 2003.

"Obviously this is being mined by various supporters of the Democratic candidates. They disclaim it, but they take advantage of it," Mr. Knobel said. "The headline was grossly sensationalistic. . . . It's pretty close to assassination here."

Bob Schaeffer, the co-chairman of the East Hampton Democratic Committee, said he had "absolutely nothing to do with it." He called Mr. Gardiner on Sept. 21 to "assure him that neither I nor anybody on the committee was involved."

"To me, it's somewhat petty," said Larry Penny, the other Republican candidate for town board. "It's the same stuff. I hated it in the past and that's why I never ran."

"Anything about a candidate is potentially pertinent to a candidacy," Mr. Gardiner said Friday. "You're a candidate, people are going to take shots at you, and that goes with the turf, but it makes it sound like I ruined the whole neighborhood."

According to The Independent article and a Sept. 11 article in the Sun-Sentinel, a newspaper in Florida, neighbors of Mr. Gardiner's Boca Raton property have told city officials they believe the untended house is contributing to a rat problem in the neighborhood.

The Sun-Sentinel article says Mr. Gardiner has been cited for "overgrown grass, stagnant water in the pool, vermin, and a damaged soffit vent system," and that the city of Boca Raton "has about $60,000 in liens against the property."

"After this came out, it sounds like this horrendous place down there," Mr. Gardiner said. "It's not like the Edie Beale structure," he added, speaking of the infamous condition of Grey Gardens in East Hampton in the 1970s. "It's only been a year and a half since I've been there. How much could have transpired?"

"I asked Bill flat out, 'Bill, are there any other properties anywhere that this could be happening with?' He said, 'Absolutely not,' " Mr. Knobel said Monday. "You don't want this to be a pattern. . . . The laws must be complied with by our candidates. An ongoing situation is something that we would regard very unfavorably."

The Republican Committee discussed the matter last week after a previously scheduled reorganizational meeting. "Before we respond, we have to confirm what is true - what is there, what isn't. I don't know the extent to which Bill has a situation down there in Florida," Mr. Knobel said.

Mr. Gardiner said he had hired someone to fix the problems at the house some time ago. "I thought it was all done. I got a new notice that it was not done. They had been sending the notices to the house there. . . In 2004 the notices were sent up here. Again I got in touch with somebody to fix it."

While he was aware of an outstanding 2003 tax bill, which was due in April, he said he was unaware until recently that the 2002 bill was also unpaid. "All this happened during a year when we had a very bad year. Our family took a lot of punches," Mr. Gardiner said Friday.

"I'd like to think that I'm taking care of this as quickly as I can, and I hope the people of East Hampton will see it as something that just happened to me and now I'm taking care of it, and they won't look at it as something so horrible," Mr. Gardiner said.

"I'm just hoping that the static over this doesn't overshadow the bigger issues affecting the public," Mr. Knobel said. "The question really is whether an apparent lapse in house maintenance should be the basis for assessing Bill."

At the end of last week, Mr. Gardiner said he had hired a property manager and an attorney in Florida to attend to the house and any legal issues with the city of Boca Raton. He also traveled to Florida over the weekend to inspect the house himself. "The house didn't look anything like the way they described it." He said he had mailed payment of the tax bills last week.

"It should have been taken care of sooner. It got taken care of later, but it did get taken care of," he said on Monday.

Since the story came out last week, the thing Mr. Gardiner hears the most, he said, is "surprise, surprise, the Democrats are slinging mud." In letters to the editor, he has also come under fire for outstanding taxes owed to East Hampton Village and Town, which he said he has since paid.

He said such attacks have made him more determined to stay involved in politics. "I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure those guys [the Democrats] don't get in again," he said. He has no intention of withdrawing from the race and said he will continue to talk about and investigate the issues he has discussed throughout his campaign, in particular how and where the town spends money from its Community Preservation Fund.

He has been harshly critical of the Democratic administration's use of the fund, repeatedly questioning the town's $3.8 million purchase of Dayton Island in Three Mile Harbor last year and claiming that the town spent far too much for an island that could never have more than one house on it. He charged that the town's purchase price exceeded a first appraisal and that the town board has since tried to cover up that fact.

More recently he has criticized the town board for its decision to pay $1.9 million for a 6.9-acre reserved area in the Buckskill Farm subdivision in East Hampton. In that case, the owner of the property agreed after negotiations with the town to reduce the subdivision from eight to four lots and to increase the size of the reserved area.

The town, in turn, agreed to buy the reserved area pending planning board approval of the subdivision. Although zoning in the area was to be changed from one-acre residential to three-acre residential, that deal kept the property from being upzoned provided the sale to the town went through.

Because the property contained prime agricultural soils, the owner was required to set aside a reserved area when he developed it. As Mr. Gardiner sees it, the town is essentially paying to preserve land that would already have been protected from development as part of the subdivision process. Such deals, he says, are a misuse of the Community Preservation Fund.

"That's the sort of thing I'm not going to let go of even if they do find a tax bill was not paid or a house did not get repaired," he said Monday.

When Carlton M. Strong's family chose to send their children to the Wainscott School because it was closer to their farm on Town Line Road than the Sagaponack School, they had no idea that a century later a Village of Sagaponack might exist and that their decision might complicate its incorporation plans.

The village's proposed boundaries are the Sagaponack School District, which the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton as well as Suffolk County and the state have long recognized in maps as excluding the original boundaries of the Strongs' farm. The approximate area is west of Town Line Road from Parsonage Lane to just south of Hedges Lane with the Jacobs Way subdivision as its western boundary.

The family as well as the residents of the subdivided parts of their original property are on the tax rolls of the Wainscott School District. Portions of the property dedicated as agricultural reserve and now owned by the town are not taxed.

The 27 households, while considered residents of Sagaponack and the Town of Southampton, were not allowed to vote for the incorporation because they are not included in the official maps of the school district. The organizers of the incorporation drive said they chose the established district boundaries to best meet the state incorporation law requirement of "common certainty" about their location and extent.

Marietta Seaman, the Southampton Town clerk, sent the school district map to the New York secretary of state as part of the report of incorporation she was required to file after the residents of the school district resoundingly voted in favor of becoming a village on Sept. 2 and the vote went unchallenged 10 days later. The report also included the certificate of election and the population of the new village.

Larry Sombke, the assistant secretary of state for communications, said that when the Department of State received the report, Ms. Seaman was told the state required a written description of the village boundaries, or "metes and bounds," to be filed prior to issuing a certificate. The department is "awaiting the submission of the required documents" and the certificate is pending, Mr. Sombke said.

The town quickly hired Squires, Holden, Weisenbacher, and Smith, Land Surveyors, to write and research the description that was sent Monday, according to Acting Deputy Town Attorney Kathleen Murray. A resolution to pay the firm $7,500 was passed on Tuesday night by the town board.

The written description of the new village boundaries, however, contains a western boundary that runs down Town Line Road from Montauk Highway to the "high water line of the Atlantic Ocean." This includes the Strong farm and the 27 properties into which it is now divided. Ms. Murray said that Karl Weisenbacher, who signed the report, tried to find a written description of the Sagaponack School District that reflected the current map, but the only one that appears to exist dates from 1871 and includes the Strong farm property.

Mr. Strong and his wife, Gloria Strong, said they would be very happy to be part of the new village. "We've been feeling like a poor stepchild" of the incorporation efforts, Mrs. Strong said.

Village organizers and town officials thought the other residents of that area would also be pleased to be included. Most appear to be second-home owners, but several approached both the town and the organizers nonetheless to see if they could to vote in the election or be annexed at some point.

Although the state requires and recognizes the written description, it is not certain what it will do about the inconsistency of the description and the map. Mr. Sombke said he would not comment on the difference until the secretary of state had received and reviewed the new documents.

Village organizers thought the discrepancy was merely a technicality. William Tillotson, a co-chairman of the Sagaponack Citizens Advisory Committee and a potential candidate for village mayor, said, "The village may change, but the school district may not."

The organizers believe that the map should be what controls the boundaries, at least initially. There have been discussions about annexing the excluded properties once the village government is elected.

Mr. Tillotsen said his understanding was that existing school district lines were not governed by the state, but by the school board. Yet, having those properties within the village boundaries could make it easier for them to change their school district, he added.

Ms. Murray said it was "hard to say" what the state might do. She said the Sagaponack proponents had "never supplied a metes and bounds" in their petition and thought it had been a vulnerability from the beginning.

Although the time limits for the town and village requirements are spelled out in the state incorporation law, the state does not have to react within a given timeframe. Its initial indication to the town was that once the description was received, the certificate would be sent. Mr. Sombke said he was not aware, however, that there might be differences between the map and the description.

The Strongs are not quite sure which relative made the initial request to change schools. Mr. Strong thought it was his grandfather James. Mrs. Strong thought it was another relative named Andrew. The family initially settled the land in the 17th century.

On April 24, 2004, Coast Guard Damage Controlman Third Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal was leading a boarding team from the U.S.S. Firebolt. He was serving his second tour in Iraq.

His team was on patrol within the security zone around the Khawr Al Amaya oil terminal in the Bay of Basra when he detected a small, unidentified dhow proceeding toward the terminal. As he approached the vessel, a suicide bomber detonated the explosives aboard it, mortally wounding the young guardsman.

The explosion alerted the terminal's defenses, and as a result two other explosives-laden dhows were destroyed.

On Monday, standing before a peaceful, nearly windless Montauk Harbor, Frank Welch, the Coast Guard's highest ranking enlisted member, thanked the crew of the Montauk Coast Guard station "for doing the right thing for a fellow shipmate." He was talking about Mr. Bruckenthal.

The ceremony was held to dedicate the Montauk station's barracks for unmarried crew in the name of the fallen guardsman, the first member of the Coast Guard to be killed in action since the Vietnam War. It was attended by Coast Guard brass, town officials, and the family of the Long Island native.

Mr. Bruckenthal graduated from Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May, N.J., in 1999 at the age of 20. His first assignment was aboard the cutter Point Wells, which was then stationed in Montauk Harbor. When he was shoreside, Mr. Bruckenthal lived in the barracks for unmarried crew that now bears his name.

Jim Gordy, the chief engineer on the Wells at the time, attended the ceremony on Monday. "He came aboard as a seaman, a white striper, but worked damage control in the engine room as a non-rate," he said of Mr. Bruckenthal. "He was a good kid. I knew he was going to go into law enforcement."

It was the station's senior chief petty officer, Nick Pupo, who came up with the idea of putting Mr. Bruckenthal's name on the barracks. Chief Pupo thanked his crew, who, during the past four months, conducted 85 search and rescue missions, made 253 boardings, and spent 300 hours in training, in addition to preparing for this week's ceremony.

It was attended by Mr. Bruckenthal's father, Richard, the chief of the Northport Police Department. The fallen coastie's wife, Pattie, whom he had married in 2002, and daughter, Harper, who had not been born at the time of his death, were there too.

Two fellow members of the Tactical Law Enforcement Team of South Florida, to which he was attached, also attended Monday's ceremony.

While assigned to the Neah Bay station in Washington State beginning in 2001, Mr. Bruckenthal had immersed himself in the Native American Makah Nation community. He served as a volunteer with the local fire company, and helped with the high school football team. It was on the reservation that he met his future wife, who was there doing an internship.

Rear Admiral David Pekoske, commander of the Guard's first district, envisioned future recruits reporting to the station feeling alone, knowing no one, stowing their gear in Bruckenthal Hall, reading the brass plaque on the bulkhead, and realizing that Nate Bruckenthal, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was "not a myth," but had been someone like themselves.

Representative Steve Israel, whose Second Congressional District includes Northport, Mr. Bruckenthal's hometown, noted the station's close proximity to the Montauk Lighthouse, which President George Washington commissioned only eight years after the Coast Guard was created.

"American history is filled with moments of light," he said, recalling inspired leadership during the Revolution, the Civil War, World War II, and the voyage to the moon. "It was always about the future. Nate Bruckenthal's light still guides us. The U.S. Coast Guard lights the way for us and always will," Mr. Israel said.

"Far too many people, in my humble opinion, have forgotten," said Master Chief Welch. He was referring to the attacks of Sept. 11, "the catalyst for the global war on terrorism," as he called it.

"We can't bring back the fallen," he said of those who have been killed in that war, but "we can promote life as seen through the eyes of our heroes and heroines."

"Another date was April 24, 2004," he continued. "That day, loss of life and an environmental disaster of unimaginable proportions would have occurred but for a Coast Guard damage controlman . . . whose life ended in valor for a cause."

Monday's ceremony concluded with the wail of bagpipes and the scream of a Coast Guard Falcon jet flying overhead.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representative Tim Bishop urged Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Homeland Security Department, to consider keeping the Plum Island Animal Disease Center open, and even to build a new biological and agricultural defense facility there - as long as it is not upgraded to a Biosafety Level 4 facility from its current Level 3 status.

Senator Clinton and Mr. Bishop described their meeting with Mr. Chertoff in a conference call yesterday morning.

"We weren't told it won't stay open," Senator Clinton said. Instead, the Homeland Security Department will base its decision on a scientific assessment of the facilities, including their standing in comparison with other proposed sites. "We think we have a strong argument" for not closing it, the senator added.

In August the department announced that it would look for a site for a more up-to-date facility to replace Plum Island. Yesterday, Mr. Chertoff assured the senator and the congressman that a scientific study would be undertaken to examine the current uses of Plum Island and to determine whether a better site exists to continue its work. He also said that they would be kept apprised of any decisions in the future regarding the facility.

Both Senator Clinton and Mr. Bishop said they were against the construction of a new Level 4 facility, which would study both human and more dangerous animal pathogens. "We took ourselves out of that for obvious and correct reasons," Senator Clinton said.

At Level 3, livestock and animal pathogens are examined at an isolated island site that does not expose the area's livestock and food supply to those organisms. Plum Island conducts research on foreign animal diseases not present in the United States, such as foot and mouth disease and swine fever.

According to Mr. Bishop, some upgrades of Plum Island are necessary if it is to become a modern research center. "It's a 50-year-old facility," he said. New air handling devices as well as biocontainment structures will be required. He said such upgrades were "not an impossible task."

Senator Clinton said that Maureen McCarthy, a Homeland Security official who is familiar with Plum Island, would be in charge of the scientific study. No other scientists have been named and no timeline has been established.

Mr. Bishop said that he asked to be told how much it would cost to shut down Plum Island if the department decides to discontinue the facility. He also asked Mr. Chertoff to consider alternative uses for the site. Mr. Bishop said it was important to maintain jobs at Plum Island if possible.

Senator Clinton said that the research being done at other sites on Long Island such as Brookhaven Laboratory and the State University of New York at Stony Brook would complement Plum Island's efforts in Homeland Security.

A final draft of the Long Island Sound Waterborne Transportation Plan has dropped recommendations for further study of new ferries here - except for a water taxi service between Montauk, Greenport, and Orient, and Sag Harbor and Greenport.

The original transportation plan prompted concern in East Hampton when it raised the idea of cross-sound and local ferry service, for vehicles and passengers, with terminals at Napeague, Fort Pond Bay, or Lake Montauk.

Consultants were commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, the Greater Bridgeport (Conn.) Regional Planning Agency, and the South Western Regional Planning Agency to examine use of the water surrounding Connecticut and Long Island as a regional transportation "asset" that could be used to help address critical transportation needs.

East Hampton residents and officials had attended a Southold meeting on the transportation plan to express opposition to even considering the use of Fort Pond Bay, Napeague, or Montauk Harbor for any ferry operations, prompting the consultants to review more carefully the proposed use of the sites.

The town has banned new vehicle ferries and passenger ferries that can cruise at more than 20 knots, based on studies showing how they could increase traffic. But representatives of other East End towns, including Shelter Island and Southold, which have joined the Cross Sound Ferry company in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban, protested that the study should nonetheless examine the potential usefulness of new ferries on the South Fork.

Members of the East Hampton Town Board declared victory at a work session on Tuesday upon review of a memo by JoAnne Pahwul, the assistant town planning director, on the final draft of the study.

"We were able to get this report to say what we already knew about our town," said Councilman Pete Hammerle. "I also personally speculate that this may assist us in some of our litigious matters," he added. Ms. Pahwul has forwarded the transportation plan to the town attorneys.

The conclusion, in the final draft of the plan, is that "further consideration" of the Napeague and Fort Pond Bay sites is "not recommended."

The study acknowledges the "presence of prohibitive zoning, potentially incompatible residential land uses, and marine environmental sensitivity" on Napeague.

The former fish factory site on Cranberry Hole Road, now owned by New York State, is too far from hamlet centers for a water taxi operation, "because there is nowhere to walk," the study says, and "substantial highway improvements would be needed to support a conventional ferry."

Although the report says that "there is excellent potential for the site to develop into a multifunctional terminal," "enormous capital improvements" would be needed for its development, and, it says, projected demand for additional passenger ferry service between the South Fork and Connecticut "appears to fall well short of the levels needed to support a major investment . . . and to mitigate its negative impacts."

An analysis of a potential ferry terminal at Tuthill Road on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk concluded that "there simply isn't enough room on the site," according to the report.

Increased runs between Montauk and New London, now offered occasionally by the Viking Fleet from its Montauk Harbor dock, would not have sufficient ridership, the study says. The Viking company is suing East Hampton Town over its ferry laws.

An "Inner Forks water" taxi traversing a circuitous route with stops at Orient Point, Greenport, Riverhead, Shinnecock Inlet, Sag Harbor, and Montauk would be "unlikely to generate significant demand" due to the distances and travel times involved, says the report. However, direct routes between Montauk and Orient, and Montauk and Greenport could cut travel time.

Although the report acknowledges the opposition by East Hampton representatives to expanding any ferry service in Montauk, it suggests that the idea of a limited water taxi be studied further, since it could conform to zoning and operating restrictions and "does appear to have the potential to provide a transportation service that could benefit both the North and South Fork."

A Sag Harbor-to-Greenport water taxi, while not examined in the Waterborne Transportation Plan, also merits further study, the report says. "The Sag Harbor Village Long Wharf is an excellent location for a pedestrian-oriented water taxi service from a land use, marine operation, and landside access perspective."

Use of the Viking dock at Lake Montauk for a water taxi terminal would require installation of a floating landing barge, dredging, and other site improvements that would cost over $3 million, however, according to the consultants' estimates. "One key unresolved issue is traffic and parking," the study adds.

"That water gets pretty rough out there," said Supervisor McGintee on Tuesday. He expressed concern about operating small ferryboats in and out of Montauk Harbor "in light of what just happened up there in Lake George." Earlier this week, a tour boat overturned on the upstate lake, resulting in the death of 20 passengers.

On many issues, the two candidates vying for the job of county legislator seem to see eye to eye.

The Republican incumbent, Jay Schneiderman of Montauk, and his Democratic challenger, Tim Motz of Water Mill, both support preserving open space and creating more affordable housing. They are both opposed to the Broadwater liquefied natural gas platform in Long Island Sound and to new vehicle ferry service to or from the South Fork. Both would like to see the Plum Island Animal Disease Center shut down rather than upgraded to a Biosafety Level 4 facility.

Mr. Schneiderman said Plum Island might be better used as a wind farm or a medical research facility.

The differences are in the details.

Mr. Schneiderman is running on a platform that has changed little since he first sought public office as East Hampton Town supervisor in 1999. He wants to keep taxes low while protecting the environment and providing housing and economic opportunities for the district's middle class.

Mr. Motz says he wants to "prevent the total suburbanization of the East End." To do that, he suggests that the county spend the bulk of the recently approved $75 million open space bond on land in the Second Legislative District.

Transportation issues are also high on his agenda. Among other things, he supports the creation of a rural transit authority, as proposed by the Five Towns Rural Transit Committee, that would operate light rail services on the Long Island Rail Road tracks with connecting shuttle bus service. "With the right person in there, we might be able to have some success with that," he said.

While Mr. Schneiderman said he thinks a rural transportation authority is "a great idea," he believes it falls into the same category as the failed Peconic County proposal. "The obstacles to creating it are enormous. I don't see the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ceding anything."

He said the widening of County Road 39, which he supports, will alleviate some of the traffic problems plaguing the South Fork.

Mr. Motz agreed, but said the project would solve the problems only as far east as Southampton. "That's not a panacea," he said.

Mr. Motz was born in Garden City and grew up between there and Quogue, where his father is now the mayor. Prior to becoming a spokesman for the Suffolk County Police Department, he was a speech writer and deputy communications director for County Executive Steve Levy. He was an aide to former Legislator George O. Guldi and in 2001 was the chairman of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee. He was also a reporter for the western edition of The Southampton Press.

"I was perfectly happy as an aide, but in politics if you really want to make the decisions, you have to run," he said in an interview with The East Hampton Star staff last Thursday.

Mr. Schneiderman was born in Southampton and grew up in Huntington and Montauk, where his family owned a motel and he has lived for many years. He served for eight years on the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, and was East Hampton Town supervisor for two terms, beginning in 2000. In 2003, he unseated Mr. Guldi.

He is the chairman of the Legislature's parks and cultural affairs committee and its ad hoc work force housing committee. He serves as the vice chairman of the Legislature's environmental, planning, and agricultural committee and its consumer protection committee, and sits on the economic development, higher education, and energy committees.

He has sponsored a number of environmental bills in the past year and a half, including one that would have banned the retail sale and application of some lawn chemicals and another that bans treated lumber in marine environments.

He has also succeeded, he said, in "tapping into [county] funds that we always could have had" for local projects.

Although the pesticide ban has not passed, Mr. Schneiderman said last Thursday that he believes he has "brought a lot of issues to the forefront" during his time in office. "Cancer rates are much too high in Suffolk County. We need to have public policy that seeks to reduce toxins in the environment."

He was one of only two legislators to vote against the county's vector control program. "I think they're a little too trigger happy with their pesticides," he said, adding that a "strong proactive program" would be better.

Mr. Motz also said the vector control program should be "scaled back dramatically."

Mr. Schneiderman may have two years of experience as a legislator on his side, but Mr. Motz said he has the county executive on his. "My main advantage is I am a close ally of Steve Levy. I do think he's doing a good job and it would be great for him to have an ally in terms of bringing more to the East End," he said.

"If I win, it won't be a fight. I can work with Steve Levy, [East Hampton Town Supervisor] Bill McGintee, and Congressman Tim Bishop." It's time, he said, to give Democrats "a shot to actually have some real progress."

He may be an ally of Mr. Levy's, but he does not always agree with him. One of the county executive's most controversial proposals, to deputize some county police officers as immigration agents, was "a horrible idea," Mr. Motz said.

"These are officers of the peace," Mr. Schneiderman said. "You don't want, every time the police walk down the street, for people to run away."

Mr. Motz said he wants to "try to address the influx of day laborers" into the county.

As for Mr. Levy's crackdown on overcrowded houses in Farmingville, many of them filled with Latino laborers, Mr. Motz said, "I support what the county executive is trying to do. . . . I think the process stunk. . . . I agree code enforcement should be stronger but I wish he had showed more sensitivity in the process."

The county executive's efforts to crack down on contractors employing people who are in the country illegally "is another way you can address that," Mr. Motz said.

Dealing with people in the country illegally is "a federal function, not a county function," Mr. Schneiderman said. "County Executive Levy scored a lot of points with a lot of those people who were frustrated, but at the same time, there is a danger of increasing anger against a sector of your population."

With so many low-wage jobs in the county that do not pay enough to live on, "we've created a situation that almost forces people to live in overcrowded conditions," Mr. Schneiderman said.

While he does not want people to live in houses so packed that they present fire hazards, he said, "you can't just use code enforcement to deny tenants' rights, violate civil rights, and toss people out on the street with nowhere to go." Mr. Schneiderman said he does not want the Latino community to be a "scapegoat."

"I feel the tension when I talk to people and they're blaming this group of people," he said. "I think the heat is building. It's palpable."

"I think very strongly that it's got to be treated with extraordinary kid gloves," Mr. Motz said of overcrowded housing. "Levy's done the exact opposite."

Addressing the issue of day laborers and undocumented workers is part of a larger economic challenge for the county. "The reality is employers are bringing in low-wage workers. That's playing a big role in forcing out middle-income people," Mr. Motz said.

Keeping taxes in check for seniors, providing day care services, living wages, and affordable housing, and improving public transportation "are all part of the puzzle," Mr. Schneiderman said.

Mr. Schneiderman said he would like accessory apartments to be legalized in East Hampton so that the town can "work first with the housing stock you have." He also suggested exploring 40-year low-interest loans.

Mr. Motz suggested donating properties from tax defaults to be used for affordable housing. He is also a proponent of apartments in downtown areas.

"We've got to find a way for there to be an economic diversity in the community," Mr. Schneiderman said.

While he has worked for open space preservation on the East End, he said Thursday that "there isn't a lot left threatened with development. That's not to say we shouldn't keep fighting to preserve land, but when you talk about preserving the character. . . it isn't just preserving the land, it's preserving the people."

Mr. Schneiderman said he wants open spaces to be enjoyed by people from across the economic spectrum. "To enjoy open space is becoming the exclusive domain of the affluent. I'm worried about this area. Government has to try to assist so it's not just a rich and poor community."

The firing of a pro at the Poxabogue Golf Center in Sagaponack has led a group of golfers to ask East Hampton and Southampton Towns to replace the company that manages the center.

Since Poxabogue was purchased jointly by East Hampton and Southampton Towns in 2003, Long Island Golf Management, a Cutchogue company, has operated it. But when the company terminated Kim Shipman's contract on Sept. 26, three weeks before the end of the golf season, many of Poxabogue's regulars filed complaints with both municipalities.

Ms. Shipman, who was on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour for 16 years and had taught at Poxabogue for six years, was appointed the director of instruction at Poxabogue this spring by Edward Wankel, the president of Long Island Golf Management.

Mr. Wankel claimed that he made the appointment even though the Poxabogue staff did not recommend it. Ms. Shipman's contract, he added, however, stipulated that she work as a salesperson 36 hours per week in the pro shop and only teach lessons on the side.

In late spring, according to Ms. Shipman, she was told to work just 10 hours per week in the pro shop. She continued to teach lessons on the side and run the two women's leagues that she had founded. Ms. Shipman claims she was fired as director of instruction; Mr. Wankel claims that she retained the title, but not the responsibility.

Both Long Island Golf Management and Ms. Shipman have nondisparagement clauses in their contracts; those clauses forbid them from discussing the details of their disputes. Ms. Shipman has hired legal counsel.

When Ms. Shipman was fired on Sept. 26, a group of Poxabogue regulars, several of whom are Ms. Shipman's students or attend her leagues, went to both East Hampton and Southampton Towns, questioning the management team's ability to run the golf course.

"This contract needs to be put out to bid," said Phyllis Vecchione, who sent a letter to the Southampton and East Hampton Town Boards. "There should be some legitimate questions in the mind of the board whether this company is responsible."

Long Island Golf Management did not have to bid for the $120,000 contract to run the course in 2004, but was hired after an interview with representatives of both towns. Their contract included an option that Long Island Golf Management complete a request for proposals from other management companies to run the club. The towns did not exercise that option and renewed the contract for another year.

Dennis Suskind of the Southampton Town Board said that the towns "did not have enough information" to ask Long Island Golf Management for a request for proposals after the first season. "We got started very late in the season, and we didn't have a full year to observe the operation, so we renewed their contract for the following year," he said.

Ms. Vecchione wants to make sure that the contract is not renewed again, and is instead awarded through a bid process. In her letter, she wrote that she was concerned "about the future of public golf at Poxabogue under the management of L.I.G.M."

Mr. Suskind said that the management company has been asked to prepare an R.F.P. But Mr. Wankel said that he had not received that request as of Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Wankel said that under his direction Poxabogue's profits have risen over 25 percent this year.

"Personally, I would be happy with people making this kind of profit on this type of asset," he said. "But if the towns ask us to complete an R.F.P., we will comply."

The towns could start accepting bids from golf management companies as early as this fall; however, officials from both towns said they were generally content with the way Poxabogue has been run. The course has operated in the black and the grounds have been kept in good condition.

"In terms of the management, I'm satisfied with the job they're doing," said East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill McGintee.

Mr. Suskind suggested that the towns look for "on the job management" in future bids. "I want the person in charge there, leading the facility," he said. Mr. Wankel and his partner, Jeff Seeman, do not have an office on the East End.

"The only complaints I have gotten was when I ended Kim Shipman's contract," Mr. Wankel said.

Neither Mr. Suskind nor Mr. McGintee would comment on the personnel matter concerning Ms. Shipman. "We don't hire the personnel at Poxabogue," said Mr. McGintee. "This is an internal management issue." He did say that he has scheduled a meeting with Ms. Shipman to discuss the operation of Poxabogue.

However, some of the women who took lessons from Ms. Shipman and belonged to her league are boycotting Poxabogue as long as it operates under the same management, and have already moved the league to the Sag Harbor Golf Club.

"We tried running the league when Kim wasn't there and it didn't work," said Jacqueline Osborn. "If she's not there we're not there."

One of the founders of the Child Development Center of the Hamptons Preschool was fired last week, raising concerns among staff members and parents about what the school's future will be.

Stephen Sicilian was one of four people who drafted the charter for the school, which was started in 1996 to serve children with disabilities and today serves about 120 preschoolers with or without special needs. Dr. Sicilian, who put up his house as collateral to help build the facility, was told on Oct. 3 that his job was being terminated.

Tomorrow will be his last day. Known as Dr. Steve at the school, Dr. Sicilian was the chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and a clinical psychologist there.

Donna Colonna, the executive director of Services for the Underserved, a Manhattan-based company that has run the Child Development Center of the Hamptons Preschool and the C.D.C.H. Charter School in Wainscott since August, said Mr. Sicilian's administrative duties replicated those that Services for the Underserved was taking over, and thus he was no longer needed.

"The bulk of Steve's job was financial, but we are bringing our expertise to help build more services. Under this reorganization that role of C.F.O. did not exist," said Ms. Colonna. "There weren't many children that he was actually seeing for counseling."

Dr. Sicilian saw students for counseling on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes on Fridays, according to Jeanette Krempler, a senior educational administrative assistant at the preschool. He was the director of the child development center at Mount Sinai Hospital before he moved to East Hampton to help found the school. He would not comment on his termination when reached by phone yesterday.

Ms. Colonna said that the "reorganization" of the organization had been planned since Services for the Underserved was brought in to run the schools - the preschool and the charter school - so they would be more cost efficient. Changes included bringing many of the operational services under the auspices of the Manhattan company, which has a large administrative team.

Services for the Underserved helps educate about 2,500 people with special needs, mostly in New York City, every day, Ms. Colonna said. The elimination of Dr. Sicilian's job, she continued, was a part of the original plan. "The nuts and bolts doesn't necessarily hit home until it happens," she said.

If Dr. Sicilian's termination was part of the plan, the staff at the preschool was not apprised of it, teachers said. "They told us that nothing was going to change, but our whole world has changed," said Ali Adlah, an occupational therapist at the school for five years.

"We feel powerless, we feel like we can't do anything. There's nobody on the other side responding to our concerns."

Ms. Colonna said that she had not had "a closed door" when staff members expressed their concerns, but staff members said otherwise. After announcing on Oct. 3 that Dr. Sicilian would not be at the school, neither Ms. Colonna nor Louis Cavalieri, the associate executive director, responded to requests from teachers at the school to answer questions, staff members said.

"The staff had more concerns," said Paige Clark, a speech therapist. "We didn't want to hear what Louis had to say, we wanted him to hear what we had to say."

Mr. Cavalieri visited the preschool on Tuesday from 11 to 11:20 a.m., Ms. Clark said, but would not talk to the teachers. "He said that he was not going to do that."

Services for the Underserved took over the operation of C.D.C.H. in August when Dawn Zimmerman Hummel, a founder and the former executive director, moved to San Diego. Ms. Zimmerman Hummel had worked with Ms. Colonna on the application for the charter school in 2000. Ms. Zimmerman Hummel still sits on C.D.C.H.'s board, and Ms. Colonna said she had approved the firing of Dr. Sicilian.

Kelly Quartuccio, the lead teacher at the preschool and another one of the original four founders - the fourth was Florence Kelson - said that she and Dr. Sicilian were upset that they were passed over for the opportunity to run the preschool.

Several staff members said that they were preparing their rŽsumŽs and starting to look for new jobs. "I have three T.A.s who have sent their rŽsumŽs to Amagansett and Springs schools," said Ms. Krempler, who added that she was considering doing the same thing.

Ms. Quartuccio stepped down from her position as educational director last year to concentrate on classroom teaching, and said she is thinking that she too may leave the school she helped found.

"I'm very upset; my partner of 11, 12, 13 years is now going. My heart is torn because I love this school," she said.

"We're ready to stage a walkout," said Mr. Adlah.

Ms. Quartuccio said Ms. Zimmerman Hummel told her that she had chosen S.U.S. to run the school to "make sure that the schools are secure."

Under S.U.S.'s leadership the preschool has been developing plans for a new building on the charter school campus on Stephen Hand's Path. The preschool now operates at Most Holy Trinity Church in East Hampton. Ms. Colonna said that S.U.S. has been providing staff development.

But Mr. Adlah said that staff development is a euphemism for training teacher's aides to take over the responsibilities of the therapists and other specialists at the school.

"S.U.S. wants to eliminate the service staff altogether," he said. "They don't want to pay their salaries, so they're doing this extensive training. Why have a therapist when you can have a teacher's aide and pay them a fraction of their salary?"

Mr. Adlah also said he is looking into jobs elsewhere.

Ms. Krempler said parents are thinking of pulling their children from the school.

"The children are very upset. We had a couple of kids go to Dr. Steve, asking him why are you leaving," said Ms. Quartuccio.

Ms. Colonna said there will be a meeting for parents on Tuesday to discuss the future of the preschool.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sicilian said he was going to take some time off. "I'm considering a private practice. There aren't many child psychologists out here," he said.

Like a soft white curtain, Friday's early-morning fog lifted from the surface of Oyster Pond in Montauk to reveal two small boats moving in tight circles against the backdrop of rolling hills, a forest of oak and shad, and a dense hedge of gently swaying beach reeds.

By the end of the day, the baymen Wayne Fenelon, Nick Havens, Calvin Lester, Nat Bennett, and Paul Lester had dredged 260 bushels of oysters.

The shellfish were then "relayed" into Accabonac Harbor, where, in about a month, and when conditions are right, they will be available for harvest. Friday's relay was authorized by the East Hampton Town Trustees in cooperation with the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the East Hampton Town Natural Resources Department.

Trustee records show that during the 18th and 19th centuries, oysters from Oyster Pond in Montauk were so plentiful they were routinely exported to Connecticut. Long before that, the pond's brackish waters supplied Montaukett Indians with their shellfish.

The pond has been closed to shellfishing since 1986, but the delicious shellfish for which it was named continue to find their way to market by a safe, albeit roundabout, route. In addition to the periodic relays, Oyster Pond oysters have served as brood stock at the town shellfish hatchery on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk. Seed oysters derived from the pond's stock populated the pilot aquaculture projects in Napeague Harbor beginning in 1995. Spawn from transplanted oysters add to the natural set in other town waters.

The Indians called it Munchogue. Early East Hampton and Amagansett settlers set up hunting camps along its banks. At the southwest corner is Hetty's Hole, a spot where streams enter, a breeding ground for endangered leopard frogs. Seals haul out on the rocks just over the dunes that separate the pond from Block Island Sound. The secluded pond is large, approximately 100 acres, and lies within parklands purchased by the state in the 1950s. Theodore Roosevelt County Park borders Oyster Pond on the west, Montauk Point State Park on the east. Periodically, storms cut through the narrow sand spit that separates it from the sound.

In recent times the pond was certified for shellfishing from 1970 to 1975. In 1980 and in 1985, testing by the State Department of Environmental Conservation showed safe levels of coliform bacteria, and baymen were able to harvest oysters. But, beginning in 1986, the D.E.C. put the pond off limits because of high coliform counts, mostly from animal waste, according to Larry Penny, East Hampton Town's director of natural resources. Natural coliform levels were increased in the late '80s by a faulty septic system at the Camp Hero community upstream from the pond.

Since then, Mr. Penny's office has helped the D.E.C. collect water samples for periodic testing. Mr. Penny said that coliform counts were lower these days, but added that most of the recent testing was done during last summer's dry spell. Coliform counts tend to be higher when bacteria is carried into the pond by rainwater.

Since the early '90s, the D.E.C. has authorized several oyster relays in cooperation with the trustees of both Southampton and East Hampton Towns. After 21 days, the oysters are considered free of pathogens.

However, the north end of Accabonac Harbor, where they were placed, is "conditionally certified." For the last few years, this has meant that the beds were closed to shellfishermen for seven days after rainfalls of a quarter of an inch or more. The D.E.C.'s criteria for the coming year have not been announced.

Bill Taylor, waterways management supervisor, said it was possible that another oyster transplant would be undertaken in the spring. If so, oysters would probably be relayed to sections of other town waters.