The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society has hikes in East Hampton and Amagansett scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday hike, a four-miler beginning at 10 a.m., will go along Scoy's Path Extension.

The meeting place is the intersection of Soak Hides and Springy Banks Roads, East Hampton, just west of Three Mile Harbor Road. Richard Lupoletti is the leader.

Mr. Lupoletti leads again on Sunday, this time for a three-to-four-mile hike along the George Sid Miller Trail in Amagansett beginning at 10 a.m. The trail boasts a beautiful beech forest and evidence of the brick-making that took place there 200 years ago.

Hikers have been asked to meet at the trailhead, marked by three boulders on Fresh Pond Road a mile north of the intersection with Abram's Landing Road.

By Foot And Water

Native plant communities will be the focus of a leisurely walk in the Red Creek area of Hampton Bays on Sunday between 2 and 5 p.m. Leslie Santapaul will guide the hike for the Group for the South Fork in cooperation with the Southampton Trails Preservation Society.

Reservations are required by calling the Group at its Bridgehampton headquarters. The hike is free to members, $5 for nonmembers.

On Saturday in the same neck of the woods, the Nature Conservancy will offer a three-hour kayak and canoe trip to explore the splendors of Scallop Pond in North Sea. The guide for the 1 to 4 p.m. outing is Rob Battenfeld.

The cost is $35 per person for those renting a craft, $15 for those with their own. The Nature Conservancy's East Hampton headquarters can be called for directions and reservations.

Geology Class

Today the South Fork Historical Society is scheduled to begin offering a five-part introductory course on the geology of Long Island. It is being offered through the Suffolk County Organization for the Promotion of Education. The instructor, George Bartunek, adjunct professor at Suffolk Community College, has done extensive fieldwork and research on the glaciers that formed Long Island.

Those interested have been asked to call the Amagansett group's Nat ure line for class times, places, and reservations.

AMAGANSETT

Gargiulo to John and Laura Barker, Osprey Road, $260,000.

Wishnow to Lewis and Phyllis Sank, Gardiner Drive, $497,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

FRB Realty Co. to Helaine Lerner, Pointe Mecox Lane, $600,000.

Wheatley Jr. to Jack Cohn and Joseph Beehan, Church Lane, $525,000.

Arnott & Raffo Inc. to Olive Watson, Little Noyac Path, $1,650,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Jimrich Enterprises Inc. to Vivien Smith, Gingerbread Lane, $350,000.

Dzierzynski to Richard Letter, Daniel's Hole Road, $240,000.

Stadler to Donald and Uli Monaco, Floyd Street, $227,500.

Kinkaide to Mary Tagliasacchi, Folkstone Road, $332,000.

Barnett Const. Corp. to Georgene Summers, Bay Colony Court, $570,000.

MONTAUK

Costello to Joseph and Elizabeth Damianoe, Madison Drive, $314,000.

NORTHWEST

Alewive Woods Assoc. to Wounsma & Assoc. Inc., Terry's Trail, $180,000.

Restle to John Casey and Yupaphan Vongvatanapiboon, Malcolm Avenue, $155,000.

NOYAC

Torns to Linda, William, and Arthur Mintz, Noyac Road, $295,000.

SAG HARBOR

Comer to Peter Ambrose, Windermere Road, $158,000.

Ficara to Pamela Topham, Collingswood Drive, $203,000.

SAGAPONACK

Broder to M&M L.L.C., Sagg Road, $200,000.

Foster to Sagg Pond Investments L.L.C. and Daniel Shedrick, Highland Terrace, $2,365,000.

Foster to Sagg Pond Farm L.L.C., Highland Terrace, $3,635,500.

WATER MILL

Thomson to Marlene Feuerring and Bipen and Karna Shah, Oliver's Cove Lane, $400,000.

This is the 10th article in a series examining various aspects of real estate on the South Fork.

Tom Wolkner, a mason who drives from Yaphank to work construction on the South Fork, summed up his daily commute. "It sucks," he said, smiling, a trace of the German he spoke as a child lingering in his accent. "If you're not past the Shinnecock Canal by 7:30, you're really stuck."

But Mr. Wolkner is one of the legions of contractors who put up with the inconvenience of the "trade parade" of pickups and vans that clogs Route 27 each day for the opportunity to take advantage of the lucrative building boom that is in full swing here.

Duane Koncelik, who was raised in Northwest Woods but moved to East Patchogue after he was married, has been working primarily as a framer on the South Fork for 17 years.

Bumper To Bumper

To get to his job site by 6:30 a.m., Mr. Koncelik rolls out of bed by 5 and hits the road by 5:30, stopping to pick up - or as he put it, "wake up" - a crew member who lives nearby in Bellport.

"We try to carpool," he said. "There aren't a lot of guys who do that. Most still take that single ride, but that's what just about everyone on Long Island does."

"Years ago, you'd see one or two cars every couple of miles," said John Petoello, a tile contractor who drives from Patchogue. "Now you get to the merge" at County Road 39 in South ampton "and it's bumper to bumper."

Word Of Mouth

"The traffic doesn't bother me," said Joe LaFace, a finish carpenter from Hampton Bays, taking a decidedly minority view. "I learned to drive in Brooklyn. This is a piece of cake."

Like many other tradesmen who make their way east each morning, Mr. Wolkner, who came from Germany with his family in 1962 and has worked in the area since 1969, relies on word-of-mouth referrals from general contractors to keep busy.

"Fireplaces are my thing, and this kind of stuff," he said, pointing to a stone patio he was working on at a multimillion-dollar job site overlooking Mecox Bay in Bridgehampton. "I've never advertised," he said, "so I must be doing all right."

The same holds true for Mr. LaFace. "I've been on my own for 10 years now," he said. "I'm at the point now where I go home and have a couple jobs waiting for me."

Mr. Koncelik puts up with the commute because "this is where my reputation is." Besides, he added, the area provides contractors the opportunity to build "houses like you don't see anywhere else in the world."

"That's where the pride comes in," said Mr. Wolkner. "Anybody can build a house, but if you can do something like this," he said, pointing to the house behind him, "you know you are a builder."

Plenty Of Work

"You get to work on the nicest part of the island," added Eric Doerwald, who has worked for Mr. Koncelik since graduating from high school nine years ago.

"This is like working in a state park," he said at a job site in Georgica. "And we get to enjoy someone else's property before it makes the transformation from au natural to Villa Central."

Some year-rounders may feel the steady stream of contractors heading east takes jobs away, but most say there is more than enough work to go around.

"I don't favor anybody," said John Hummel, an East Hampton general contractor. "I hire as many as I can from here, but sometimes I have to look elsewhere. I don't care where they're from as long as they're good."

Mr. Koncelik, noting that business was about as strong as it was in the go-go '80s, agreed that good help is hard to find. "If someone isn't working now, he doesn't want to work," he said.

While recessions that have put a periodic halt to building have weeded out some less qualified contractors, Mr. Petoello, who specializes in kitchen and bathroom work, sees a few of them creeping back into the business.

"They'll underbid my work," he said, "but they don't have insurance, and they aren't bothering to get licensed."

But Mr. Petoello, whose father started the family business 40 years ago and who has been working on the East End himself since the mid-'70s, said he can hold his own. "The established contractors know the kind of work I do," he said.

Moving On

When the deep recessions of the mid-'70s decimated the building industry on Long Island, many of those marginal workers moved on to Houston, which was enjoying a boom fueled by high oil prices, he said.

Similarly, he added, contractors moved south to the Carolinas during the last economic downturn.

Mr. LaFace, whose family moved to Hampton Bays from Brooklyn when he was 16 ("and I've been heading east ever since"), said he did not fear bad times.

"When things were slow, I actually did better," he said. "People like myself, we came from the city. We had no money. We put in our eight hard hours every day. There's demand for us."

Closer To Work

Mr. Wolkner considered moving east years ago, but now that his family is settled, he has no plans to leave Yaphank. "I don't want to pay more taxes," he said. "I don't want to build a new home."

Although he was raised here, Mr. Koncelik said he did not miss East Hampton. "It's too crowded," he said. "You go down to the ocean, and it's like a parking lot."

But Mr. Petoello, who said that "95 percent of my business is out here," would like to move his family closer to his work base. He has been browsing at building lots in Wainscott and East Hampton in recent months.

Happy Springs Resident

"We were going home just to sleep," said Terry Reinhardsten, who grew up in the same neighborhood of Norwegian immigrants as the Dalene brothers of Telemark Construction in Bridgehampton. He now works with Stanley Dalene, who split off from Telemark and started his own contracting business about five years ago.

Mr. Reinhardsten, who now lives in Springs, said he had never regretted the move. "We live in an area we really love," he said, adding that the move was made easier because the group helped one another build their houses.

On a recent return visit to St. Jam es, "I didn't recognize a single person," he said. "And the traffic was un believable."

East Hampton Village will offer visitors and residents a free ride beginning Tuesday, hoping they will leave their cars at the Lumber Lane parking lot, or elsewhere outside the heart of the shopping district.

In a move he called "a major step forward" in mitigating the seasonal traffic tangle here, East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. announced Friday that a 25-passenger white bus will circulate throughout the village's commercial area every 15 to 20 minutes daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The service will begin Tuesday and continue through Labor Day.

The village originally planned to run a much more limited shuttle in conjunction with an East Hampton Town shuttle to the town beaches in Amagansett. When the town abandoned its shuttle after some residents objected to a bus running along the hamlet's streets, the village decided to forge ahead on its own with a more ambitious plan.

Proposed Route

So committed is East Hampton Village to bettering its downtown parking and traffic situation that the Village Board resolved to find an unbudgeted $26,838, or $426 a day, to pay Sea Coast Transportation Company of Mastic for the seasonal service.

"It's the right thing to do," the Mayor said. "We'll pull the funds from the operating budget."

The shuttle's tentative route goes from the Lumber Lane parking lot down Newtown Lane, then a loop around Main Street from Guild Hall to the Post Office, then back up Newtown Lane.

It will include stops across from the middle school, at the westbound Hampton Jitney stop on Main Street in front of the Ladies Village Improvement Society's headquarters, at Guild Hall, at the eastbound Hampton Jitney stop in front of the Palm, at the Post Office, in front of the middle school, and back at the Lumber Lane lot.

While the town's aborted shuttle was primarily for beachgoers, village officials have opposed bus service to village strands.

Earlier Actions

The decision to offer the free shuttle follows Village Board action earlier this month to eliminate daily parking at Main Beach because of crowding and to charge fees for long-term parking at the lot nearest the Long Island Rail Road station. It also increased to 35 spaces the seven-day free parking along the railroad tracks.

The village has launched a campaign in the commercial district urging businesses to have their employees park in the "free parking" lot nearest Herrick Park and is distributing posters and flyers with that message to business owners and in shoppers' packages.

The Mayor said he will ask the Chamber of Commerce and the East Hampton Business Alliance to help support the new bus.

Could Extend Hours

To increase the shuttle's effectiveness, village officials are asking organizations sponsoring major fund-raising events on Main Street at peak season to urge their volunteers and patrons to park at the Lumber Lane lot to alleviate gridlock, Larry Cant well, the Village Administrator, said this week. He added that the shuttle's hours could be extended if necessary.

The groups include the Ladies Village Improvement Society, the East Hampton Historical Society, and Guild Hall, which in some cases have major events scheduled for the same day.

Despite four weeks of review by Suffolk District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr., no decision has yet been made on whether the county will press criminal charges against Martha Stewart.

Ms. Stewart, the home-making authority, is accused of backing her Chevrolet Suburban into a landscaper working for her Georgica Close Road neighbor, Harry Macklowe.

East Hampton Village police said at the time of the May 21 incident that misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, criminal trespass, and possibly even assault seemed imminent.

The landscaper, whose complaint was obtained by The Star this week, is Matthew J. Munnich, 23, of Port Jefferson Station, an employee of Whitmore's, an Amagansett landscaping company.

Foot-Dragging?

Several persons close to the case have criticized what they say is foot-dragging by the District Attorney. Mr. Catterson did not return phone calls this week, but his spokesman, Drew Biondo, maintained it was not unusual for such an investigation to take so long.

Noting that the D.A. had discretion to review any case within the county and had received many letters about this one, Mr. Biondo said that when a decision was announced, "You'll know the truth."

Mr. Munnich told village police Ms. Stewart had boxed him in between her vehicle and the control box of a gate, bruising his side. On May 27 police sent the case to the D.A.'s East End Bureau, and it has reportedly been in Mr. Catterson's personal office since.

'May I Help You?'

Police and the D.A.'s office have refused to release a copy of the complaint until all investigations are complete, but another source provided The Star with a copy.

Mr. Munnich identifies himself in the papers as a "foreman trainee" with horticulture-related college degrees. At 9:30 p.m. on May 21, he states, as he and his crew were loading their truck, a dark-colored Suburban with Connecticut license plates drove into Mr. Macklowe's driveway.

"I walked up to the driver's side of the car . . . and I said, 'May I help you?' . . . She asked me if we, meaning Whitmore's, had built a fence and I told her no. At that point she started to get extremely angry."

The woman in the driver's seat hurled several obscenities at the crew, the complaint alleges, and then said she was going to call the police. "She said, 'Don't you leave, I'm calling the police and you're going to take that fence down.' "

Recognition

She picked up her car phone. "Right around that point," Mr. Munnich states in his complaint, "I realized that this person was Martha Stewart, who has a house next door. I recognized her from TV."

He was standing next to the driver's side door, he told police, between it and a security entrance keypad "which sticks up out of the ground," when Ms. Stewart began backing out, "still yelling."

Landscaper's Statement

"As she started to back out, she was trying to dial the phone, close her window, and turned [sic] the steering wheel to the right, and the front of the car moved to the left and pinned me against the electronic security box," says the landscaper's statement. "I was trapped against the electronic box, the sideview mirror on the driver's door, and the driver's door."

"I started to yell, 'You're . . . crushing me, stop the car, let me out.' She looked right at me and kept backing."

Finally, the complaint states, "as the car was crushing me more into the security device, the mirror collapsed forward and I was able to go into the bushes and avoid getting hit by the front of her car. She backed out into the road. . . ."

Black And Blue

At that point, Mr. Munnich said, he ran to his truck to write down the license plate number on the Suburban.

According to his statement, he gave the piece of paper, as well as the sweatshirt he was wearing at the time, to Village Sgt. Gerard Larsen on the morning after the encounter. Sergeant Larsen notarized the complaint.

Mr. Munnich told police he was injured on "my right side from the electronic security box. It is black and blue. It was giving me some pain last night and it was giving me some discomfort today. I also have noticed that it is still black and blue and that there is some kind of lump in that area and it hurts when I press on it."

D.A. Cites 'Notoriety'

"As she was backing the car up and I was pinned," Mr. Munnich's complaint concludes, "I was very scared that I was going to be seriously, seriously hurt because I knew the security box wasn't going to move because it's in a cement pad and I couldn't move the truck. I was just lucky the mirror collapsed."

Ms. Stewart's Connecticut attorney, Jeffrey Stephens, said yesterday he would not comment on the matter while it was under investigation.

The District Attorney told The Star three weeks ago that "given all the notoriety surrounding" the parties, the case is "worth a longer look-see to be fair." The same week, East Hampton Village Police Chief Glen Stonemetz said he thought such intensive review of a relatively minor case, with charges no more serious than misdemeanor, was "unusual."

Investigation

Asked this week if he knew of a reason for the delay, the chief said, "None whatsoever. . . . I would like [Mr. Catterson] to make a decision." In response to a question, the chief said two phone calls he made to Mr. Catterson in the past week had gone unanswered.

Mr. Catterson had earlier told The Star that his office's chief investigator, Robert Plankser, had been assigned to the case. At least one witness was said to be a friend of Ms. Stewart's who lives in England.

Chief Stonemetz said the village detectives who handled Mr. Mun nich's complaint had been interviewed by the investigator.

Mr. Munnich's attorney, Edward L. Wolf of Hauppauge, was in court this week and could not be reached by press time. Earlier, he had mentioned the possibility of a civil suit against Ms. Stewart.

Neighbors' Dispute

Addie Munnich of Port Jefferson Station, Mr. Munnich's mother, said she had been advised by her son's attorney not to speak for publication at this time.

Jack Whitmore, the owner of Whitmore's, Leonard Ackerman, Ms. Stewart's East Hampton attorney, Mr. Macklowe, and Michael Walsh, his Water Mill attorney, have not answered repeated calls.

The dispute between Ms. Stewart, who owns a second East Hampton house on Lily Pond Lane and another house in Westport, Conn., and Mr. Macklowe, a Manhattan real estate developer active in charitable causes, has continued for almost two years. It centers on plantings and lighting fixtures allegedly installed by Mr. Macklowe near wetlands at the border of their properties.

He was cited by the village for doing the work without appropriate permits, and is scheduled to appear in East Hampton Town Justice Court on July 8 to answer the charge.

Next Door

Ms. Stewart owns the house next door, designed by the late architect Gordon Bunshaft as a vacation retreat for his wife and himself.

At the beginning of June, the village's code enforcement officer, Thom as Lawrence, was preparing several additional charges against Mr. Macklowe, stating that the fence Whitmore's crew installed that night was also put in without a permit.

Ms. Stewart often brings crews to her houses for filming. She did so at her Lily Pond Lane house last Thursday and Friday, according to village police, who said she had paid in advance for the use of parking spaces at Main Beach in order to accommodate the overflow of vehicles.

On Friday afternoon a friend of Ms. Stewart's called village police to report that an unknown male was harassing her.

Police said it was a member of the paparazzi. He was warned to stay off private property.

Air shows are all about danger. Even before Sunday's fatal crash in Westhampton Beach, the audience at the Wings Over Long Island show was supposed to be scared by the stunts and races they witnessed; the stunts were death-defying and the pilots who accomplished these feats were daredevils.

One of those daredevils died after his craft collided in midair with another plane, both crashing to the ground and one exploding in front of nearly 20,000 horrified spectators.

The audience was about a quarter-mile from the crash site and was not in danger, said James Vliet, vice president of the Formula V Racing Association.

Earlier Fatality

The first-ever air show at Francis S. Gabreski Airport was 20 years ago, and it too was marred by a crash that killed an air acrobat. A second was not held again until last weekend. Airport officials and Wings Over Long Island organizers said this week they did not know whether there would be a third.

The show was sponsored by North Fork Bank and three local Rotary Clubs and received support from county officials.

The pilots who crashed Sunday afternoon flew Formula V aircraft, tiny one-seaters designed for racing. Disaster occurred, at about 4 p.m., just as the four competitors crossed the finish line.

Clipped Wings

They had competed in a Formula V race around a two-mile oval course marked by pylons, at speeds of up to 170 miles per hour and at times within 50 feet of each other and the ground. As the planes crossed the finish line, they increased altitude to 300 feet and spread out into a wider, supposedly safer, formation for landing.

That was when two of the planes, one slightly above the other, clipped wings.

Chris Kalishek's yellow plane, named Sunbeam, crashed behind the trees lining the runway and disintegrated. Hot Wings, the blue plane piloted by Dick Goodlett, spiraled out of control, slammed into the ground in full view of the spectators, and exploded into flames.

Witnesses said Sunbeam was the higher of the two, and that it clipped Mr. Goodlett's wing.

Racing Novice

Both were licensed commercial pilots who had completed special training for racing. Mr. Kalishek was a racing novice. Mr. Goodlett, president of the Formula V Racing Association, had been racing about two years.

Both were taken by ambulance to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in Patchogue and later transferred to Stony Brook University Medical Center. Mr. Goodlett, 51, a stockbroker from Kentucky, was airlifted there with severe head injuries and burns over 90 percent of his body. He was pronounced dead at 7:38 p.m.

Mr. Kalishek, a 37-year-old computer engineer from Wisconsin, arrived by ambulance a few minutes later and was listed in stable condition yesterday after surgery to repair a punctured lung and several broken bones. His plane did not catch fire.

Cause Unknown

Fifteen minutes after the crash, a thunder-and-lightning storm rolled over. Officials said they did not believe weather played a role in the crash, but as of yesterday afternoon still could not name a cause. The Federal Aviation Administration removed the debris to a nearby hangar within a few minutes of the crash to examine it for any mechanical defect.

The National Transportation Safety Board was also questioning witnesses and reviewing videotape taken by spectators. The F.A.A. has no special guidelines for air racing, except rules to insure spectator safety.

The thrill of the three-day air show, which began Friday with a show for the press, relied on repeated suggestions of midair collisions and planes flying out of control. The Northern Lights, a five-plane aerobatic team, for example, performed "opposing passes," or two planes flying toward each other and just narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.

Show's High Point

Other performances involved wing walking, gliders and sail planes, and demonstrations of military formation flying by the 106th Rescue Wing of the Air National Guard, based at Gabreski.

Patty Wagstaff, an aerobatic soloist, flew her Extra 300S into the sky at an almost perfect vertical pitch and then allowed it to fall toward the ground backwards for several seconds before regaining control. Her low-level routine also includes the loops and dives that are a staple of all aerobatic performances.

The high point in the show was Tony Kazian's wing-walking act. Using a brace mounted to the top of the fuselage, Mr. Kazian sat, stood, and moved around in a variety of positions as the plane flew low to the ground.

Comic Routine

An actual disaster was obviously not included in the schedule of events, but one event openly found humor in flying out of control and nearly crashing.

Danny Clishman, the air show's dramatic "sky talker," announced a break in the middle of the show to allow County Legislator George Guldi to take off for a flying lesson with his instructor.

A comic routine ensued, in which the "instructor" was left behind and a stunt pilot - the crowd was told it was Mr. Guldi - drove erratically around the runway. He eventually made a shaky takeoff, bobbing up and down in the sky, disappearing behind trees, and re-emerging with a clothesline full of laundry in tow.

Not Amused

The sky talker coaxed "Mr. Guldi" out of the sky as toilet paper and a pilot's manual were thrown from the bobbing and weaving plane, emphasizing the chaos inside the cockpit. The crowd didn't seem particularly amused by the skit; there were no cheers or laughter.

Mr. Guldi, who lives in Westhampton Beach, had his own, minor crash two years ago during a flying lesson.

Mr. Guldi, reached yesterday afternoon, had spent the past three days consulting with the organizers and F.A.A. officials overseeing the safety checks.

Otherwise Flawless

"Pray for the victims and their families. This was an unfortunate incident," he said, adding that the show went off "flawlessly, but for an incident that occurred after the race was over."

The fact that the disaster overshadowed the commercial success of the event and the hard work of hundreds of volunteers was "a second tragedy," he said. The beneficiaries of the event would get their due "when the checks are handed out," he said.

The show was staged, in part, to raise money for local charities, including the Rotary Clubs' Gift of Life programs.

Mr. Guldi said the skit based on his attempts to get a pilot's license - he does not have one yet - was performed Friday and Saturday and was next on the roster when the crash occurred. It did not go on.

The show's organizers seemed to take great pride in America's war machines. As the P-47 Thunderbolt flew across the sky, Mr. Clishman told the crowd such planes fought in World War II to insure that we would still speak English today.

Three Previous Deaths

In discussing the strength of Ian Groom's Russian-made Sukhoi SU-31 aerobatic plane, Mr. Clishman said Russians are "just human beings like us" and that "we're learning a lot from our former enemies" about airplane construction.

On Friday, during a performance for the press, one of the Formula V planes came in for a landing a little too fast and nosed into the runway. Mr. Clishman assured the crowd that no one was hurt but repairs would have to be made to the plane.

In the last six years, three Formula V pilots have perished. One died in 1991, in a race in Iowa. Another was killed along with his wife in Alabama. The third died in August, part of a group of four planes, which also included Mr. Goodlett's, heading to a competition in Kentucky.

Book Hampton's main event of the week will be a reading by Scott Heim on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. from his new novel, "In Awe."

Even before his first novel was published, Mr. Heim was chosen by The New York Times Magazine as one of 30 artists under 30 "most likely to change the culture in the next 30 years."

"In Awe" is a tale of obsession, violence, and friendship set against the beautiful Kansas landscape of the author's youth. In this story of three outcasts who are attacked for being different and later achieve their revenge, Mr. Heim unearths the potential menace that lies just beneath the surface of our daily lives.

Two By Leddick

Tomorrow at the East Hampton bookstore, David Leddick will discuss his books "My Worst Date" and "Naked Men" at 7:30 p.m.

"My Worst Date," Mr. Leddick's first novel, tells the story of Hugo, a gay 16-year-old in South Beach, Miami, who is looking for a part-time job to earn money for college. In the course of the book, Hugo learns some family secrets, brushes up against fame and fortune, and carries on an affair with his mother's boyfriend.

"Naked Men," his most recent book, traces the early modeling careers from the 1930s through the '50s of a number of gay men who went on to become famous in other fields, such as Yul Brynner, Tennessee Williams, Horst P. Horst, and Jean Marais.

Book Hampton's weekend events end with Leona Blair's reading on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. from her novel "Fascination." It is the story of three American women who set sail for Europe in 1900 with lofty ambitions.

A fashionable society wife is taking her niece to Europe with the aim of finding her a titled husband to restore the family's reputation, which has been lost after an ugly scandal. On the trip, the two women meet an independent New England woman traveling alone, and their stories become entwined through a common obsession for one man.

Common Obsession

Ms. Blair's previous novels include "Privilege," "A World of Difference," and "The Side of Angels." She lives in Amagansett and New York City.

In other readings on the East End, Bridget LeRoy and Tom Clavin, editors of The East Hampton Independent, will read from their humorous compilation of strange-but-true stories, "We're Not Normal," at Canio's Books in Sag Harbor on Saturday at 6 p.m.

At the LTV Studios in East Hampton, Allen Planz will read from his book of poetry, "Dune Heath," newly published by Canio's Editions, on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Karen Lee's

Main Street

Bridgehampton

537-7878

Open for dinner from 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday

As Bridgehampton is equidistant from East Hampton, Southampton, and Sag Harbor, you can understand why its short Main Street harbors half a dozen good restaurants.

Karen Lee's is one of them, occupying a spot that has probably boasted a restaurant longer than any of the others. Its appearance has changed radically with each of its previous incarnations, though there's always been a pleasant screened summer porch, but this one seems to have found the perfect compromise.

It's light and spacious but at the same time warm and welcoming. There's a fine polished wooden bar, near enough to the dining area to be decorative, but not so near as to be bothersome unless the place is really full, when it tends to be rather noisy.

Wines A Bit Pricey

On the evening we visited I forgot to make a reservation until the last minute, when some of my fellow diners were already en route. I explained the situation (while not revealing that I was on reviewing duty) and was told there would be nearly an hour's wait. But by the time we had all arrived, the staff had somehow juggled the seating and we were seated at once. Impressive.

Karen Lee's passed the bread test with flying colors - warm whole wheat rolls, a delicious foccaccia, and crisp, oil-brushed Melba toast. The wine list is interesting but with few lower-priced wines, and just a couple from local vineyards.

A choice of eight wines by the glass include French, Italian, Washington, and California wines and a 1997 Channing Perrine Bridgehampton sauvignon blanc. At either $7 or $8 a glass these, too, are on the expensive side.

A Good Value

But bearing in mind that this is not an inexpensive restaurant - appetizers range from $6.50 to $11.95 and entrees from $19 to $31 - Karen Lee's autumn prix fixe, at $21.95 for three hearty courses, is terrifically good value.

One prix-fixe choice was mussels followed by pan-seared striped bass with porcini risotto and grilled asparagus. The mussels came in a broth flavored with shallots, wine, and, unexpectedly, basil.

I ordered them partly out of curiosity when a man at the next table sent his back to the kitchen because he "didn't like them." The waiter took them away without a word and offered to bring him soup in their stead. A sign of a good restaurant, since the mussels were perfectly delicious.

Finally: Good Risotto

But let's get to the next course. The sea bass was very nice if a smidgen overcooked, the asparagus were beautifully cooked and served, but the risotto. . .!

I'd about given up on East End risotto. It's been served like tasteless porridge, as watery as soup or as impenetrable as plumber's grout, and on one occasion, as what might have been Kipling's inspiration when he wrote about the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River.

Karen Lee's was the first and only occasion I recall when the risotto was right, each fat little grain rich and buttery but light and loose and imbued with the flavor of the porcini mushrooms.

Terrific Pot Roast

The other prix-fixe choice started with a superlative shrimp salad, fresh and zesty, with mache, endive, and maybe some frisee in a sweet pepper vinaigrette with a touch of lemon.

It was followed by a terrific pot roast, tender and clean-tasting and not greasy or cloying, which was served with fresh baby carrots and other crisp vegetables.

High marks go to the "not so simple" green salad, maybe so-called because it came with a very subtle herb-flavored vinaigrette. We were also tempted by the pear salad with endive, watercress, and toasted walnuts, which sounded wonderful, though tequila-fennel-cured gravlax on a potato pancake with two caviars and creme fraiche sounded a wee bit over the top in the mixed flavors department.

Good Simple Dishes

We tried two different pastas, both of which were out of the ordinary. The handmade fettucine with wild mushrooms, tomato, and basil was very rich and rather too big a portion. It has an interesting taste but it was so rich and strong-flavored that a little went a long way.

The penne with ground veal, sage, and parmigiano was more delicate and much enjoyed.

Roast chicken with an herb coating was simplicity itself, served with really good, hot shoestring fries that kept their heat and their crunch for a long time. It's the simple dishes that put the kitchen to a real test, offering no chance to hide behind fancy sauces and gussied-up combinations.

Try The Desserts

Which just leaves us with the desserts - a pumpkin pie, a plum and cherry cobbler, and a chocolate tiramisu cake. They were all, without exception, terrific. So many diners don't bother with dessert, which is understandable given the mediocre quality of most offerings, but Karen Lee's are good enough to warrant making an exception to the rule (and the diet).

If you're eating a la carte, Karen Lee's is the price equivalent of most of its culinary neighbors in Bridgehampton, but if you take the prix fixe you get a real bargain. The service, while not rapidissimo, is thoughtful and pleasant, the ambience is upbeat but relaxed, and the food is excellent.

Guild Hall continues its prestigious lineup of writers in its Writers at Guild Hall readings when Robert Stone and A.M. Homes read on Sunday at 8 p.m.

Mr. Stone's first novel, "A Hall of Mirrors," won a William Faulkner Foundation Award. "Dog Soldiers" received a National Book Award and "A Flag for Sunrise" won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award.

Recent Novels

His most recent novels are "Children of Light," the best-selling "Outerbridge Reach," and "Damascus Gate," which will be released in the fall. A collection of short stories, "Bear and His Daughter," was just released.

Ms. Homes's widely discussed third novel, "The End of Alice," was recently published.

Her earlier novels, "Jack" and "In a Country of Mothers," and a collection of short stories, "The Safety of Objects," firmly established her as one of the most imaginative and distinctive of young American writers.

The authors will sign copies of their books at a reception following the reading.

The next writer in the series will be Mary Karr, author of "The Liars' Club," on July 6.

Basic Respect

New York

June 17, 1997

Dear Mrs. Rattray:

I have visited Montauk nearly every summer since 1983. While I can't claim even the status of "summer person," since I'm only there two or three days at a time, Montauk is still very important to me. The times I've spent walking in the dunes and on the beach stand out in my mind as exceptionally beautiful, tranquil moments.

In return for the enjoyment the place gives me, I try to give back by picking up whatever litter I find on the beach or in the dunes. So it came as kind of a shock last Friday evening when I went to dispose of a mylar balloon and a soda can (the most common items of beach litter) in a dumpster in front of the Ocean End Apartments (not where I was staying), and was told by an older man whom I assume was the owner not to put trash into their dumpster. I explained I had just picked it up off the beach, and he said it was nothing to do with his place and asked if there wasn't a trash can on the beach. When I told him there was not, he said, "Well, you shouldn't have picked it up, then."

Now I'm no expert, but it seems to me that picking up litter is showing pretty basic respect for one's environment. And when we're talking about an environment as extraordinary as Montauk's oceanfront, respect and maintenance are essential. Everyone who uses it, especially those who profit from it, have a personal responsibility to care for it. It's just the most appalling ignorance to think otherwise.

It might be time for the local government to start making a bigger issue of litter on the beaches. Perhaps a "carry in-carry out" policy needs to be instituted, with signs telling beachgoers to take away anything they bring in. The beachfront motels should also be required to take an active part in cleaning up those parts of the beach they front on. Much as I despise the sight of overflowing trash cans on beaches, it's far better than trash itself on beaches, which is what you have now.

It's disappointing to find such selfishness in such a gorgeous place. If I owned property here, I'd probably be out there every day picking up trash. Hell, I'd lobby for banning mylar balloons on Long Island!

Is it possible that you who are fortunate enough to live there have lost sight of the beauty that surrounds you, and the desire to preserve it? Is it all just so much valuable real estate to you?

Whatever. It's not ruined Montauk for me. I'll be back - and picking up trash and putting it in any appropriate receptacle I can find. So sue me.

Yours truly,

EMILY MOREFIELD

Stupid Image

Amagansett

June 22, 1997

To The Editor:

Last week The Star published my brilliant and self-congratulatory letter documenting the tragic demise of relevance in journalism in peacetime America - locally and across the country. Anyone still in denial over the truth of my assertions need only hold aloft their newest issue of Time, upon the cover of which is rendered the head of an alien! With a huge, bold skull, big black eyes and, apparently, lipstick! "The Roswell Files," read the headline in large distressed type.

When I saw this stupid image I immediately filled my bidet with ice water and forced my head under with both hands, for over three minutes, until I began seeing the distant "white light" that Mormons riding taxis in New York for the first time claim to see. Only when I felt my essential love for life, and for my country, return and exceed my need for closure, did I release my head and gasp for precious air.

Disturbing as this episode was, I found it even more troubling to see, in the same issue of The Star, your newspaper's mean-spirited response to my commentary on photojournalism as practiced in East Hampton. Does the phrase "thousands of mind-numbing shots of gulls perched upon pilings" ring a bell? Well, apparently it rang your bell. For there, on the front page of the editorial section of this very June 19 issue was a huge, mind-numbing photograph of a bird on a piling! True, the bird was not a gull, but a cormorant - a voracious, totipalmate sea bird . . . or a greedy or rapacious person.

Nonetheless when I saw this monumental image of a gull-like "sea bird" front and center page, I picked up my treasured Nikon and smashed it into my face - just to channel the anger. While gently dabbing the bloodied areas with a clean, cotton cloth, I realized that, hey, maybe this wasn't a malicious response to my pointed observation after all! Maybe The Star simply has an editorial policy of not encouraging its readers to over-excite while in their hammocks. In the same section of the paper, for example, there appears a black and white photo of purple fennel and raspberries!

In light of this (however unlikely) possibility, I am enclosing two photographs for your consideration. You may use them, if you find them compatible with the paper's editorial content, at any time, no charge. One of the photos I call "Door to Room," the other, "Man With Hammer." I do not need them back.

On an encouraging note, I would like to publicly thank Jeff Dell for coming forward with the $25 for my dresser. That took character, sir, and I applaud you. I always used the upper left side drawer for my socks and the upper right for my underwear, just for convenience. But I'm sure you will find your own special uses and preferences; I trust it will serve you well.

LYLE GREENFIELD

What To Believe

East Hampton

June 23, 1997

Dear Editor,

The recent series in The Star on the state of the real estate market, together with the weekly rantings of some guy named George Stankevich in The Independent, should not go without comment, or be taken as gospel. As the saying goes, "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."

The new wave of owner-brokers who have risen like the Phoenix from the ashes of the down market of just a few short years ago would be wise to remember those who have fallen before them. Does anyone remember Donald Clause . . . Jerry Lawton . . . Tom Gill?

Our current crop of "experts" are already well on their way to killing the current golden-egg-laying goose. Consider this season's rental market.

Sometime well before all the ill-fitting Christmas gifts had been returned, the press, and our esteemed local pundits, had declared this season's rental "the best ever," with no good houses left and prices beyond belief.

Almost immediately, two things happened:

First, most of those who had yet to rent stopped looking here. They are currently at the Cape, in New England, upstate, Europe, and elsewhere.

Second, almost everybody who owned a house in the Hamptons and believed this drivel listed their homes for rent for the summer. Some people added pools and tennis courts; some even built new homes, just to rent!

So, as demand dropped, supply increased. Even the guys who push the brooms on Wall Street know what happens next. "Plenty of great rentals left," trumpeted those same pundits well after school was out, in May.

And who is this guy Stankevich? Just what is a "trophy home"? Is it some place you bring your "trophy wife," your "honorable mention kids," and your booby-prize Range Rover?

I don't know what planet he inhabited before he hung his hat in the astronomic-megamillion-multitrophy-teardown land he lives in now, but I can figure, it had to be somewhere between the Magic Kingdom and Mr. Rogers's neighborhood. Maybe he lived with Robin Leach.

At any rate, the person in charge of layout at The Independent deserves a fire-safety award. If the hot air coming from Jerry's column ever gets too close to the horse manure that this guy Stankevich shovels weekly, we've got spontaneous combustion at every newsstand in town.

So what is a prospective buyer or seller of homes to believe?

Believe in people. Know your broker, where he comes from, and how he works. Ask a prospective broker what he/she was doing last year, three years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago. (Half of them were tending bar or playing country-club tennis when the market was bad.)

Choose your broker like you would any other professional - your doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant - and not by the amount of signs their office has posted on Montauk Highway or the size of their ads in the local papers.

Please consider that any advice you receive from someone with a cocktail in one hand is probably not real good.

If you are a seller looking for information, don't just accept opinions as gospel. Property evaluations can and should be supported by fact, recent comparable sales, and honesty. The broker who tells you exactly what you want to hear, or agrees with you despite what the market indicates is rarely the best choice. Rather, experience, coupled with good communications and negotiation skills, will serve you better.

Buyers should realize that the best way to find the right home is to first find the right broker. Consider that when you call a real estate office to inquire about a sign or an ad, you are subjecting yourself to the luck of the draw. The person who answers your call may have just started yesterday. Or they may have little knowledge or interest in the price range you are looking in. Most offices have a policy whereby you become the sole property of the first person you speak to on the phone. Go figure!

And please remember that despite what they guy next to you at the beach says, there are some very competent, professional brokers, lawyers, builders, and bankers here in town. The hard part is finding them.

Yours truly,

TOM MacNIVEN

Licensed Broker

Exaggeration, Stupidity

East Hampton

June 17, 1997

To the Editor:

After 15 years in the real estate business, I'm amazed by what I read in the press. The Star's real estate series and the drivel that spews from George Stankevich's Independent column gives one the impression that real estate is not only the life blood of our community but of the entire metropolitan area. Almost all the facts and figures quoted in these stories are grossly misleading. While exaggeration and stupidity often fuel market flames, ours can do without both ingredients.

To understand the East Hampton market one should be aware that barely 1,000 properties out of a 4,000 property inventory sell in any one year. The average sale is approximately $320,000. Two thirds of the sales are under $200,000. Total commissions on these sales is less than $20 million, which gets split among 300 brokers and salespeople. (Obviously no one's getting very rich.) A decent size company in Manhattan earns more commissions than the entire Town of East Hampton.

So, if only one in four properties sells every year, how does the community respond? It accepts George Stankevich's observation that everyone should have an "exclusive broker." For purchasers this makes good sense, but for sellers this is unadulterated stupidity. Most brokers have excellent key skills (unlocking doors) and alarm proficiency (turning on and off).

The primary reason to give someone an "exclusive" to sell your house is because they are friends of yours. (Land and commercial properties are another story, as are unique and unusual houses.) Otherwise giving an exclusive can extend the selling life of your home by six to 18 months. How can this possibly be?

First, a large real estate office advertises about 25 properties a month in the local press, The New York Times, and Homes and Land. If it has 50 exclusives, your house gets in once every two months maybe. If you know the owners, possibly once a month. Second, if yours is not a million-dollar house, every other house in your price range that is not exclusive will be shown before yours by the remaining 90 percent of the brokerage community that doesn't want half a commission on the sale. (If the average broker sells three properties a year he would be better off on welfare than to sell "co-brokes.") Third, "exclusivity" really means minimum exposure to the smallest possible number of people (a serious restraint of trade). Advertising doesn't sell houses, brokers do. At least 75 percent of the market is referral-based and not advertisement-generated.

When one drives around East Hampton and sees a plethora of new "exclusive" signs, you know that the market has gotten silly, stupid, has meandered off the real market path into fantasy land. The last time this happened we fell on our faces. The pain was excruciating, and we all suffered. Does anyone remember?

A reasonable approach by owners, brokers, and sellers to the real-estate market is key. Controlling market distortion, misinformation, and idiot-box exclusivity are critical components. The industry needs only to rely on its expertise to insure its future. Exclusivity shouldn't be an out-of-body experience.

NEIL HAUSIG

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