AMAGANSETT

England (receiver) to William Perry and Leisa Little, Main Street, $477,000.

Venture Contracting Corp. to John Ripley, Miankoma Lane, $350,000.

Kaleko estate to Gabor and Valentina Tarko, Edwards Close, $175,000.

Meagher to Eric Steel, Windmill Lane, $675,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Busgang to Brenda Earl, Halsey Lane, $427,500.

Cravens to Thomas Arma, Casey Lane, $165,000.

Schwede to Avraham Ovadia, Old Farm Road, $300,000.

Tuff to Nicholas and Eve Combemale, Butter Lane, $510,000.

Fitelson to Robert Upton, Noyac Path, $150,000.

Tutt to PSS L.L.C., Millstone Road, $639,500.

EAST HAMPTON

Emmet to George Doty Jr. and Le Ellen Spelman, Fithian Lane, $800,000.

Burke Assoc. to Ellen and Arthur Goldberg, Cedar Trail, $175,000.

Goodfriend Land & Dev. Corp. to Elas Realty Inc., Goodfriend Drive, $220,000.

Phillips to Barbara and Frederick Terry Jr., Briar Patch Road, $1,800,000.

Smith to Michael and Karen Hershkowitz, Treescape Drive, $165,000.

Shanholt to Nancy and Roland Chemtob, Montauk Highway, $175,000.

MONTAUK

Weiner (referee) to First Federal Savings & Loan, Brisbane Road, $223,000.

Bardani to Richard Paone and Lisa LaMajna, Seaview Avenue, $340,000.

Higgins to Tara Anfuso and Carlos Pizza, Fairview Avenue, $162,500.

NORTH HAVEN

Cusick to Ursula Habacker, South Harbor Drive, $175,000.

NORTHWEST

Green River L.P. to Alfred Tuff, Lighthouse Road, $350,000.

Caldwell to John and Veronica Mezzina, Stephen Hand's Path, $540,000.

Ridgefield Contr. Inc. to Ellen Silverberg, Old Northwest Road, $270,000.

Hands Creek Road Assoc. to D&A Structural Contractors, Long Hill Road, $300,000.

Munash to Marc Miller and Mindy Oppenheim, Hand's Creek Road, $315,000.

Homes By Arabia Ltd. to Judith Springer, Clamshell Avenue, $260,000.

Brinkman Jr. to Jay and Vicki Blatt, Shorewood Drive, $275,000.

NOYAC

Leonard to Robert and Jeanne Hoenig, Eastview Court, $205,000.

Swanson to Theodore and Dorothy Aaronson, Rawson Road, $510,000.

SAG HARBOR

Kessler (referee) to George Brockway, Cambridge Court, $157,000.

Hepner to David and Monica Reiner, Harbor Drive, $308,500.

Messner to Doreen Atkins and Dennis Loebs, Sagg Road, $160,500.

Fritts to Deborah Palmer, Palmer Terrace, $150,000.

Merser to Paul Parash and Phyllis Wright, Madison Street, $450,000.

SAGAPONACK

Massaro to Ronald Rosenzweig, Sagg Main Street, $970,000.

SPRINGS

Tuff to Louise Bermont, Broadway, $153,000.

WAINSCOTT

Goldberg to Robert and Lorraine Capano, Golf Club Drive, $175,000.

Thoron to Doreen Niggles, Sayre's Path, $205,000.

WATER MILL

Walsh to Stephanie Quellar, Huntington Lane, $367,500.

McGee to C.C.L. Const. & Managing Corp., Station Road, $200,000.

Nature seems caught between seasons. Last week a striped bass was taken off Block Island during a codfishing trip. A nine-pound blackfish was caught at the C.I.A. grounds, a spot not known as a blackfish haunt. Things are betwixt and between.

"We're hoping for an early spring to give us a target," said John DeMaio of Montauk, a charter captain, on Monday.

Unfortunately, cod were elusive over the winter. So poor was the fishing over all that several commercial setline fishermen, those who spool out baited longlines for the fish and whose landings serve as a barometer of the resource, looked to the bergal this winter to make ends meet.

Bergals, the bane of cod fishermen's existence in the past, have fortunately become a species valuable in the live-fish market.

A "Food Chain" Event?

"This is the crunch," Captain DeMaio said in explaining why codfishing has not been up to snuff. By "crunch" he means a low point in cod populations, caused by overfishing in the past. Cod is a valuable member of the groundfish fishery, whose decline and fall has caused economic ruin along New England docks.

Robby Aaronson, who didn't even keep his Oh Brother boat in the water over the winter, put it this way: "You can't catch 'em twice."

He said there were theories about why the cod didn't show this year after a passable 1995-96 season. One theory has the groundfish boats that were regulated away from their target species going after herring, a staple food for cod.

No food, no cod - "It's a food chain event," or so the theory went, Captain Aaronson said. "It looks bleak for the home team," whatever the cause.

Steakers And Smaller

That's not to say there were no cod over the winter. Captain DeMaio said his charter boat, Vivienne, usually found enough fish to satisfy customers, weather permitting, and some big ones to boot.

One recent outing yielded 44 fish, 23 of them weighing between 20 and 36 pounds. On Friday there were 15 fish in the 20 to 30-pound range, said the captain of the Vivienne.

Big fish, yes, but not enough of them, as evidenced by the price spread between the "steakers," as they are called in commercial fishing parlance, and the smaller "market" cod. The price climbed as high as $2.65 per pound for steakers and $1.50 per pound for the market size over the winter.

It was the spread between these two prices that showed, by the law of supply and demand, how few steakers were being caught. In times of plenty, the spread can be as close as 25 cents per pound.

Poised For Stripers

The sports are awaiting the striped bass, of course, the first of which was reported caught unexpectedly last week off Block Island. Scott Gaeckle of Dixon's Sporting Life in Wainscott said the shop's flats-type fishing boats - they are fitted with V-shaped hulls to weather the ocean swells - will be poking around for fish beginning around April 15. Chartering is expected to begin in May.

Also poised for the season is the Lazy Bones party boat and its sister, Lazy Bones II, the former Miss Gloucester II.

Capt. Mike Vegessi's old Bones is expected to begin fishing for flounder this weekend. Kathy Vegessi recommends calling the charter service today to see if it's a go.

The new Bones will begin fishing on Memorial Day weekend. Ms. Vegessi said Lazy Bones II would offer the same laid-back kind of fishing as her older sister: "We want to keep it intimate and family-oriented."

Presumed misplaced or stolen, this preserved African puff adder, coiled up in a typical museum pose, was found last week at Clearwater Beach in Springs.

Among the most poisonous snakes in the world, the species is not native to Long Island. Andrew Sabin, president of the South Fork Natural History Society, said he guessed someone left it at the beach as a prank.

The society will keep the snake and include it in the traveling exhibit it takes to local schools, he said.

Snakes that are indigenous to Long Island are not poisonous, and should be treated kindly, he added. They eat mice, which carry ticks that carry Lyme disease.

A section of pine barrens in Rocky Point will be set afire this spring in an effort to demonstrate the usefulness of prescribed burns in preventing widespread wildfires like those in the summer of 1995.

An informational meeting about the plan was held last night by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, which is conducting the demonstration. The prescribed burn will take place between April 25 and May 11, depending on conditions.

"The primary objective of the demonstration burn is to present prescribed burning as a tool to safely reduce fuel loads (leaf, litter, dead branches, etc.), thereby reducing future intensity of wildfires on Long Island," said Capt. Robert Conklin, a D.E.C. forest ranger, in a release.

Representatives from Long Island fire companies as well as the Long Island Pine Barrens Wildlife Task Force will observe the demonstration.

The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society has a hike scheduled for Saturday on Barcelona Neck. Hikers will be treated to the "wit, urbanity, and chocolate" provided by Vincent Downing, the leader.

Nature's treats include an "incomparable" view of Northwest Harbor and Gardiner's Bay from atop Barcelona's high dune. Hikers are asked to meet in the parking lot by the clubhouse on the Sag Harbor Golf Course, off Route 114, at 2 p.m.

On Sunday, the society will venture to the Walking Dunes on Napeague, with John Benedict as the leader. The meeting place is the end of Napeague Harbor Road, north of the intersection with Route 27, at 10 a.m.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension Service has planned a seal watch cruise for Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. from Kokomo's Dock in Greenport. Seal watchers will journey out into Gardiner's Bay to Fisher's Island aboard the 100-foot Sunbeam Express.

Two naturalists are scheduled to be on board to discuss seal biology and behavior and to point out species of sea birds, including scoters, old squaw, eiders, and common and red-throated loons. The cost of the cruise is $30 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. Advance registration and payment are required by calling the Cornell Marine Center in Southold.

The Group for the South Fork has invited a landscape designer, Betsy Perrier, back for a repeat of her slide show and lecture on "Landscaping With Native Plants." The talk will be at the Group's Bridgehampton headquarters on Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon.

Ms. Perrier, of Meadows and Woods Inc., will discuss lawn alternatives and how to use native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees in South Fork landscapes.

Those planning to attend have been asked to call the Group to make reservations.

A well that contributed 13 percent of Montauk's public water supply has been out of use since November, when the Suffolk County Water Authority found it was contaminated by a solvent commonly added to gasoline to boost octane. The Montauk Firehouse has been targeted as the culprit.

The removal of the well as a source of public water is considered significant, especially with peak summer demand for water not far off. The Star learned of the problem indirectly this week; neither the authority, nor the State Department of Environmental Conservation, nor the Fire Department had made the finding public.

The well, on Edgemere Road adjacent to the firehouse, is one of 10 owned by the authority in Montauk. While its yield undoubtedly blended with water from other nearby wells, which have not tested as contaminated, Laura Mansi, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk Water Authority, said the contaminated water had been supplied only within the immediate neighborhood.

Real Problems Feared

The utility has had difficulty in recent years meeting summer demand for water in Montauk, and has put a strict conservation program in place for the last two seasons as a result. The same program is to be instituted this summer.

According to Ms. Mansi, it will be up to the State Department of Environmental Conservation to decide what needs to be done. "But whatever they decide," she said, "we're sure going to need that well for the summer. If we can't get it cooking again, or we can't get [new] wells on North Flamingo in time, then we're going to have real problems. Not just in supplying drinking water, but for fire protection too," said Ms. Mansi.

Since June

The authority tests each of its wells twice a year for 192 different substances and more often if there is a problem, said Ms. Mansi.

In June, tests started picking up traces of methyl tert-butyl ether, M.T.B.E. The tests were accelerated to once a month, and the traces increased to measurable amounts by August.

By the first week of November, when samples were being taken weekly, the ratio reached 47 parts of M.T.B.E. per billion parts of water, according to Karen Gomez, an oil- spill engineer with the D.E.C.

The state's maximum allowable standard is 50 parts per billion. The well was shut down on Nov. 8, when the 47-p.p.b. reading appeared, and has not been in service since.

A Carcinogen

M.T.B.E. is considered carcinogenic, but since it appeared in quantities that were lower than the state maximum for safe drinking water, it was unlikely to have posed a health threat, said Ms. Mansi.

The contamination in the authority's well was reported to the D.E.C. the same day the well was taken out of use, it was reported. The subsequent D.E.C. investigation tracked soil and groundwater samples right "to the Fire District's boundary line," and left no doubt as to the source, declared Ms. Gomez.

"We're confident that remediating this will be the Fire District's responsibility," she said, adding that the next steps were for the district to pinpoint the exact source of the chemical and then to come up with a plan for plugging the leak and cleaning up the groundwater.

"The way the state works, you're guilty until proven innocent," said Larry Franzone, a longtime Fire Commissioner.

Mr. Franzone said the district's inLarry Franzone, a longtime Fire Commissioner.

Mr. Franzone said the district's insurance company had hired an environmental cleanup firm, Land Tech Remedial of Farmingdale, to examine the site. He added that district officials were not yet convinced their property was the source.

The D.E.C. gave the district a few more weeks to make a plan to do the cleanup itself or to opt for the D.E.C. to do it at district expense. Mr. Franzone said the district would meet the deadline.

Mr. Franzone said the Commissioners would meet again on Tuesday to decide their next move.

Underground Plume

Many houses and businesses in Montauk have private wells, whose safety is regulated by the County Health Department. There appear to be none in what might be the anticipated path of the underground plume of contamination, said Robert Farmer, an engineer with the County Drinking Water Bureau.

According to Mr. Farmer, groundwater typically moves toward the nearest body of water. The firehouse and the contaminated well are side-by-side on the east side of Edgemere Road, and the Blue Marlin restaurant, Fernando's Landscaping, and Rough Riders condominiums are between them and Fort Pond Bay. All have public water.

"The authority has a policy. . . . If they damage our well field, we do not absorb the cost," said Michael LoGrande, the authority's chairman. He added that the authority would seek a speedy resolution.

Declared Tight

The Fire District expanded its firehouse and installed new underground fuel tanks for gasoline and diesel in 1988, at the Edgemere Road entrance to the firehouse.

Mr. Franzone said the pair of 1,000-gallon tanks are double-walled, made of fiberglass and steel, and have an electronic alarm system to detect leaks. No alarms have sounded, he said.

The tanks were built and installed according to County Health Department specifications. Both were tested in January of 1995 and were declared tight as drums, he said.

Fire Chief Thomas Grenci Jr. explained that fire trucks and ambulances are kept full of gas at all times. The district installed its own gas pumps in case the power went out elsewhere in Montauk and the retail gas stations were unable to pump. The firehouse also has its own generators.

"We're usually in the business of cleaning up spills, not causing them," sighed the fire chief.

Quick Solution Sought

All that adds up to a mystery, and district officials and their consultants have been looking around the neighborhood for another culprit.

Old underground tanks once used by a Shell gas station across Edgemere Road are still there, though the property is now a nursery and garden center. The D.E.C. ruled out that possibility, however, telling the Commissioners that M.T.B.E. was first used to boost high-test gas in 1986, after the Shell station closed.

Among the possible ways to get the well in service again are installing an activated charcoal filter on it or pumping the contaminated groundwater out, stripping it of any chemicals, and recharging it back into the ground somewhere else.

Other Methods

Ms. Mansi said there were additional remediation methods available, including replacing that well, which is one of the deepest in Montauk, by expanding a well field on nearby North Flamingo Road with three additional shallow wells.

It could also be possible to "blow off" the Edgemere well, meaning pumping a good deal of water through it and taking further samples to see if the chemical plume had moved on. In that case, though, it was possible the plume would appear at another of the authority's wells.

Any of those methods could be expensive. Ms. Mansi said the well, which can pump up to 200,000 gallons per day, would use up the charcoal as fast as it could be replaced.

Like Sam's?

The stripping operation, based on the same idea as one being installed at Sam's Auto on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, could cost considerably more than $100,000. The one at Sam's is expected to discharge 70,000 gallons of "cleaned" water per day into nearby Soak Hides Dreen.

"This could be like Sam's, but it could also be different because this impacts the drinking water supply," said Ms. Gomez, suggesting the cleanup may be more intense.

She said it was unclear this week whether the D.E.C. would take any sort of punitive action against the Fire District. "Intent and neglect play a part, but we also look at whether there is cooperation," she said. So far, she indicated, the district had been cooperative.

East Hampton Village police are investigating the case of an East Hampton woman who told them on Saturday that she had been kidnapped and robbed two days earlier, during the early afternoon in the heart of East Hampton. Police are presuming that the incident was a scam and that the woman took part in it hoping to receive money. No weapons were used, they said.

Rosa Zhagui, who speaks no English and spoke with an interpreter, told police she was walking down Railroad Avenue last Thursday, when she was convinced to get into a car. Its occupants were two men and a woman, she said.

According to the story police have pieced together, Ms. Zhagui said the trio told her they had won a lottery but could not claim the cash prize because they had no identification. They promised her part of the prize money if she provided them with what they needed - cash.

Driving to her house on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, the three ransacked it and took about $450 in cash and about $500 worth of jewelry. Their next stop was the North Fork Bank on Newtown Lane in the village, where Ms. Zhagui withdrew and gave them $500. They then took off with their victim to Queens, stopping on the way to buy dinner.

Police said yesterday that when the group got to Queens, Ms. Zhagui borrowed another $1,000 for them from a friend. Later, they took her to a pay phone, ostensibly to call the friend for more cash. When she got out of the car, described as dark blue and four-door, they took off.

"I think she was really taken and really upset about it," Det. Sgt. Gerard Larsen said.

Photographs taken by security cameras at the North Fork Bank show a man wearing a leather jacket with an unidentified insignia on its back at the time of the withdrawal, police said, as well as the victim and two suspected accomplices, a thinner man and a woman with blonde hair whom the others called Bartolo. Police said all three, like Ms. Zhagui, appeared to be Latino.

Anyone with information has been asked to call the Detective Division of East Hampton Village Police Department at 324-1026. The names of all callers and their information will be kept confidential.

Thoughtful Reporting

San Diego, Calif.

March 27, 1997

Dear Helen,

We want you to know we shared your sadness as news of the tragic loss of the Cavett house reached us via television. It was not until we read Janis Hewitt's article, though, that we felt the impact of the event on the people around it.

We've come to expect this kind of thoughtful reporting from your paper to keep us connected to a part of the world we love.

Thank you,

ELLIE and BILL BERNER

Nice Job

Olympia, Wash.

March 24, 1997

Dear Helen,

Nicely done! I just discovered your website, and it is coming along nicely.

I did notice that not all of the letters which you publish are on the Web. I didn't get my full edition of The Star this week (the middle sections are missing), so I am a little disappointed. Not to get distracted, it really is a nice job.

Yours,

BOB FICALORA

Star On Line

Mountain View, Calif.

March 27, 1997

To The Editor:

As a native of East Hampton who has moved far away, I'm so excited to see The Star on line. However, I wonder about some sections of the paper that aren't, such as wedding announcements, news from the different villages, etc. These are the things I would really like to read about, to be able to keep abreast of happenings in my hometown. Are there privacy issues or something surrounding these? I'm curious.

I would appreciate your reply.

Thank you,

APRIL ROSCOW

Readers who want to read cover to cover are invited to subscribe. They'll find subscription information on the Web. Ed.

Please address correspondence to [email protected]

Please include your full name, address and telephone number for purposes of verification.

There are days at this time of year, like last Sunday, when you can laze outdoors on the grass while the glory of spring whirls around you in a blur of daffodils and birdsong. Then, one's menu thoughts turn to exquisite salads of homegrown greens, a small earthenware bowl of garlicky gazpacho, perhaps, or a delicate carpaccio of tuna in black pepper.

And then winter returns, tearing through the new green shoots in a fury of wind and sleet and fueling freezing torrents in the gutters as you totter on the sidewalk in your new strap sandals. That's when you want comfort food: garlic bread and thick soup, heaps of pasta, and something with lots of chocolate.

And to find it, you could do a lot worse than put on your earmuffs and head to Il Monastero on East Hampton's restaurant row: North Main Street. It doesn't seem so long ago that Chez Labbat was the only game in town - now you need two hands to count the village's good restaurants.

For all its restrained, elegant decor, Il Monastero remains a family restaurant - a down-to-earth Italian place where you know what you're going to get, where you get a lot of it, and where children are not greeted with a frosty glare but given toys to keep them happy and quiet.

On a recent evening, the restaurant was completely full, but five people around a roomy table could still hold a conversation and not have to shout.

The delicious, oily garlic rolls will put paid to any spring diet you have started, but it's hard to resist them. In fact, it's probably best to forget about the calorie count at Il Monastero, because the portions are huge. This is great for doggy-bag toters, who like to have enough for lunch the next day, but can shrivel the appetite of delicate flowers who don't eat a lot.

Mussels Stood Out

The restaurant (which makes a whisky sour from a mix, we regret to say) has a modest but sensible wine list, from which we chose an interesting, fruity amarone. It wasn't a good year, according to our wine expert, but when in doubt choose a bad year of a good wine rather than a good year of a mediocre wine.

Of the appetizers chosen, the mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce were outstanding. I don't know if it was the particular wine used or what, but the sauce was divine. Also high on the celestial chart was the fried mozzarella (see what I mean about calories), which was so good that another diner had to restrain herself from ordering a portion.

Baked clams have always seemed a bit on the heavy side to me, but these had a pleasantly creamy sauce and if they were a little overseasoned, well, that was the way their recipient liked them. Stuffed artichoke, a traditional staple on Italian menus, seems to have unfairly slipped out of fashion recently, so it was nice to find it listed here. And very good it was, too.

Flawless Salad

The other appetizer chosen was a salad, so often a restaurant disappointment because all the attention is lavished on the fancier dishes. This one - basically arugula, endive, and radicchio - was flawless, with bouncy, fresh ingredients and a delicious dressing.

Among the entrees, the two pasta dishes, a linguine with prosciutto, olives, garlic, tomato, arugula, and pine nuts, and a rigatoni with fresh tomato, garlic, and pancetta, were judged fine and hearty. But I noticed slightly envious glances being cast upon the fine plate of orange roughy served with spinach and mashed potatoes.

I don't know what kind of fish an orange roughy is - maybe it goes by some other name on the fishmarket slab - but it was a delicate-flavored white fish cooked, in this case, to tenth-of-a-second perfection. High marks for good flavor and juicy tenderness go to the roast chicken with garlic, too.

Disappointing Desserts

Also among the entrees we tried was a hot breaded veal scallopine served with spicy cold chopped tomato, arugula, and mozzarella. The hot and cold made an invigorating contrast.

Raw tomatoes were once considered poisonous and were only eaten if cooked for a minimum of three hours.

It wasn't until 1840, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson defied death by publicly eating a raw tomato on the steps of the Salem, N.J., courthouse, that the superstition was disproved.

Colored Sprinkles

So we can thank that gallant soldier for the occasional reprieve from the ubiquitous "spaghetti sauce."

As in many other restaurants on the East End, the desserts didn't quite live up to what had gone before. So often people go without dessert, and making them is so time-consuming, that it must often be easier just to buy them from somewhere else. The danger of this is that the restaurant is then judged as if the desserts had come from its own kitchen.

There were some pleasant poached pears, a rich tartuffe ice cream, and a huge slice of chocolate mousse cake, all of which were okay. But there were some far-too-sweet cannoli dipped in horrible little colored sprinkles, which weren't. But this quibble weighed little upon a group of diners who had eaten well, enjoyed Il Monastero's cheerful, unpretentious atmosphere and reasonable prices (the average entree is $14 or $15), and left the restaurant ready to face the rest of winter with fortitude.