AMAGANSETT

Black to Susan Kaufman and Shawn Young, Abraham's Path, $215,000.

Rattenni to Cape Hampton L.L.C., Montauk Highway, $387,500.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Traphagen to Alden Warner 3d, Corwith Avenue, $360,000.

Davidson to John Gault, Day Lily Lane, $347,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Flushing Savings Bank to Montauk Group Productions Inc., Goodfriend Drive, $775,000.

DeMaio to Paul Galluccio, Spring Close Highway, $265,000.

Ausnit to Carl and Jo Ann Quinn, Georgica Close Road, $565,000.

MONTAUK

Anderson to John and Angela Costello, Elm Lane, $225,000.

McLaughlin to Leslie O'Donnell, Essex Street, $265,000.

NORTH HAVEN

Amendolia to Richard and Barbara Canalizo, Cedar Avenue, $262,500.

NORTHWEST

Bondlow Jr. to Stanley Siegel and Joey Smith, High Point Road, $230,000.

Stratton to Blaise Melagrano and Andrew Napp, Cordwood Lane, $289,000.

NOYAC

Holwell to Ronnie Moskowitz, Island View Drive, $335,000.

Gemini Prop. to Farrell Dev. Co. Inc., Fourteen Hills Court, $235,000.

SAG HARBOR

Weinberger to Michael Tannen, Brick Kiln Road, $210,000.

Grancagnolo to Jean and Ellen Holly-Gant, Hillside Drive East, $156,500.

SAGAPONACK

Louise to Elisabeth Ocker and Peter Berg, Farmview Drive, $635,000.

Georgica Pond House Inc. to Selig Zises, Sagaponack Main Street (vacant 5.3 acres on Sagaponack Lane), $1,350,000.

SPRINGS

Havlicek to Mark and Joan Muller, Lafayette Place, $190,000.

WATER MILL

Denis to Catherine and Rony Shimony, Osprey Way, $445,000.

Ferenczi to Kenneth Custer, Mecox Road, $490,000.

The Group for the South Fork has invited the landscape designer Betsy Perrier to speak on the art of landscaping with native plants. Ms. Perrier's talk is scheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Main Street, Bridgehampton offices of the Group.

Reservations are required, and may be made by telephone.

Elsewhere on Saturday, the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society will hold a "movable feast" hike in Montauk County Park at 10 a.m. This will be the first hike along a newly cut section of the Paumanok Path, and features two spectacular views over meadows and through hardwood forest.

The two-and-a-half-mile hike will end where it began, back at the historic Third House, with light refreshments. Third House is about half a mile east of East Lake Drive.

The Southampton Trails Preservation Society will host an Easter egg hunt at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, at the corner of Wainscott Harbor Road and Merchant's Path in Bridgehampton. The event is designed for children 8 and under. They have been asked to bring their own Easter baskets.

Like their human caregivers, pets are living longer and healthier lives. Twenty-five years ago it was unusual for a cat to live into its 20s or a dog into its late teens, but nowadays it's a relatively commonplace occurrence.

Dr. Dale Tarr of the East Hampton Veterinary Group, who has been practicing on the East End for 30 years relates, "Longevity is definitely increasing. Slowly it's come about that pets often lead much longer lives." He attributes this to advances in veterinary care, better nutrition, and "the care and concern of owners."

Dr. Claude Grosjean of the Olde Towne Animal Hospital in Southampton concurs. "People used to say, 'Oh, it's just a dog' or 'just a cat,' but now pets are part of the family."

Nine Lives Plus

A recent nationwide survey by Cat Fancy magazine turned up several felines well into their late 20s and one cat in his early 30s. (It must be stated that this geriatric kitty is in a highly advanced state of decrepitude. But, according to his owners, Grampa Rex's Allen is in no discomfort and still rouses himself on occasion to bring the other cats in the household into line.)

Dr. Tarr suspects that the local contender for the oldest kitty award may well have been the cat owned by Sam and Ethel Pierson of Wainscott who lived to be 26.

Dogs are also enjoying longer lives. So much so that the old rule of thumb about a year of a dog's life being equivalent to seven of a human's is no longer thought to be valid. The new equation used to estimate the scale between human years and dog years is cumbersome and complicated.

Age Is Relative

For the first three years of a dog's life each year is equivalent to 7 to 10 years. (Larger dogs with their shorter lifespans get the higher figure.) After the age of 3 each dog year is evaluated at progressively less than seven years. A dog's year for a 10-year-old dog would be evaluated at two to four human years.

To know a horse's age in human years one performs the following calculations: Subtract four from the horse's age, multiply by three, and then add 20. Thus, a 25-year-old horse would be the equivalent of an 83-year-old person. One wonders which mathematician slaved over this equation!

Horses are living longer as well, though, alas, equine veterinary medicine has not been advancing at the incredible speed that small animal medicine has. The larger population of pet cats and dogs (roughly 120 million in the United States as compared to six million horses) makes funding for research into these species more available.

Research Spills Over

There is also another somewhat surprising reason. Though medical research on live animals is a controversial and emotional topic, it is indisputable that research into products for human health has had a spillover benefit for animals. Many products developed for use on humans and tested on animals are now routinely used to preserve and protect the health of pets.

Additionally, as painful as it may be to contemplate, experimentation on cats and dogs has greatly increased understanding and knowledge of their physiology. Horses, given their size, are not utilized in a labratory setting and therefore remain less well understood.

Dr. John Andresen of the Mattituck-Laurel Veterinary Clinic gives credit to the changing attitudes of modern-day horse owners for the increased number of elderly horses in our midst. He feels that people have a higher regard for horses as companion animals now and are more inclined to keep them around long after their useful lives are over.

Good Old Horses

Additionally, he credits horse owners with a much more sophisticated understanding of basic care. "Owners are much better educated about horses than they used to be. There are so many more sources of information out there, lots of magazines and books. They're keeping us (the vets) up to speed," he laughs.

Dr. Tarr recalls a mare from Montauk named Katie who was reputed to be 41 when she died. One can find accounts of horses who have lived into their 60s, but Dr. Andresen is skeptical. "They're not documented. The oldest horse that I've known was 39," he says. "It could be verified because the horse was a registered Tennessee Walking Horse and had papers."

Sadly, this past summer saw the passing of one of the East End's oldest horses. Mr. Gray Lo, owned by Doris and Bob Willumsen of Southampton, died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 37. This lovely Quarter Horse gelding was distinguished not only because of his vast age but also because of his many accomplishments.

A Centerfold

During his long, illustrious show career he won the highest honors in trail and Western riding classes. And he also was the featured Stablemate of the Month, centerfold picture and all, in the November 1972 edition of Horse of Course magazine.

The Willumsens have another contender vying for the equine longev-ity award living in their barn, the tiny pony Minnie, who is pushing 40. Elderly as she may be, the diminutive creature is still spry and able to stand on her hind legs in return for a carrot. And it's clear that she still has all her marbles, as she counts out her age by pawing at the ground.

Well, almost counts out her entire age. . . . "She's 29 and holding," laughs Mrs. Willumsen.

Good care from the Willumsens have kept Minnie the picture of health, but there is another factor that may well contribute to her well-being, her devoted and loving relationship to a younger pony named, of course, Mickey. The two are inseparable and jealously guarding Mickey from the attentions of their pasturemate keeps Minnie alert and occupied.

Warding Off Senility

Having a younger companion is a tried and true method of keeping older pets in good health and mentally stimulated. And stimulation is important for the elderly pet, particularly in warding off the senile dementia conditions often seen in dogs. "I tell owners to try to keep their dogs as active and alert as possible so they don't progress into senility as rapidly," says Dr. Grosjean.

Elderly dogs that become senile present a heartbreaking problem to their owners. Frightened and disoriented, the animal becomes unable to negotiate even the most familar territory. The only recourse up to now has been euthanasia of the stricken pet.

But there may soon be medication to aid in the treatment of this distressing condition. According to Dr. Tarr, the State University of Kansas is conducting an extensive study into the use of drugs to increase cognitive function in elderly dogs.

Nutrition Is Key

All the veterinarians interviewed stressed the importance of good nutrition to promote a long, healthy life. There are many pet foods formulated specifically for the slowing metabolism and digestive system of the elderly pet. "The increased number of older pets has made up a whole new market for pet food manufacturers," states Dr. Grosjean.

Dr. Tarr has become convinced of the value of a more holistic approach to treating pets and he feels that cat and dog owners should feed their pets some fresh raw meat on a daily basis. "The meat contains pro-biotics and enzymes that aren't available in processed foods," he states. Dr. Tarr recommends the book "Natural Health for Dogs and Cats" by Dr. Richard Pritcairn as a valuable resource for pet owners.

But beware of too much of a good thing! Overindulging the elderly pet is not going to contribute to a longer lifespan. "Keep them trim, active, and fit," advises Dr. Grosjean. Obese pets are more susceptible to arthritis, back problems, and hip dysplasia.

Watch The Teeth

Dr. Tarr says, "I tell dog owners that when they look down at their dog's backs they should be able to see the definition of a waist. Don't lose that waist!" He stresses that whatever fat can be seen on the outside of the animal there's more lurking inside, and it's crowding inner organs and robbing them of their blood supply.

The best diet in the world will go for naught if the animal has no teeth to chew it with. Dental exams throughout the animal's lifetime are essential to good health, not only to keep the teeth but also to prevent bacterial infections that can enter the bloodstream and cause chronic illnesses.

Elderly pets suffer many of the same afflictions that elderly humans do. But with good, consistent medical care, appropriate food and medication, and loving, attentive care our pets may well be fortunate enough to enjoy the long and active life of a black Labrador of Dr. Tarr's aquaintence. "He was 19 years old, fit and happy, and still retrieving ducks from the bay."

Wariness In Springs On Alateen

At least three Springs parents have questioned the propriety of holding meetings of Alateen, a 12-step program for children of alcoholics, at the school, citing the First Amendment guarantee of separation of church and state.

The program, though it claims not to endorse any particular denomination, does promote the concept of a "higher power" as part of a spiritual philosophy.

Two of the parents spoke out toward the end of a Springs School Board meeting Monday night. The other sent a letter to the board. In a telephone interview Tuesday, the board president, Reginald Cornelia, disclosed that the letter had been discussed in closed session before the meeting began, apparently in violation of the State Open Meetings Law.

'Higher Power'

Phillip Zerillo and Susan Ewing were the parents to speak up at Monday's meeting. Mr. Zerillo questioned Alateen's belief in a "higher power," which he said was equivalent to religion and therefore did not belong in classrooms.

He was also concerned, he said, that a district staff member was being paid to facilitate the program, and told the board he had discussed his concerns with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Zerillo told The Star afterward that the Alateen program involved "too much of an entanglement" between religion and the public school. While he was not against the program, Mr. Zerillo said, he feared some people could take offense at its being offered while school is in session.

Voluntary Program

He said he would not be opposed to the program's taking place after school hours, provided there was assurance that no one religion wanting to use school property was being given preferential treatment.

Springs School has two Friday-afternoon Alateen groups, one for elementary students that meets after school hours and the other for junior high schoolers, meeting during "activity hour." The program is voluntary, and is considered by school officials to be an extracurricular activity.

Parents learned of the program in a letter sent out by Springs Superintendent William Silver. Dr. Silver said Tuesday that it has met just one Friday so far.

The school's psychologist, Mardie Smith, sat in at those meetings, he said, because school officials had some concerns about the outside consultants being sent by Alateen as facilitators.

A.C.L.U. 'Troubled'

The concerns were allayed, Dr. Silver said.

Another staff member, Debra Foster, coordinated the program, the Superintendent said, much as she does other programs, such as "Ba nana Splits" for the children of divorced parents.

"We are very troubled by a program that is based on Alcoholics Anonymous," said Barbara Bernstein, executive director of the Nassau County Chapter of the A.C.L.U., this week.

It was recently declared unconstitutional, she said, based on First Amendment principles, to condition parole or probation on participation in the A.A. program.

That decision, she said, was based on the protections of the Constitution and the fact that the Alcoholics Anonymous program is "based on religious values." That, she said, should apply to young, impressionable schoolchildren even more than to adults.

Alanon: 'Not Religious'

Springs School's claim, expressed in a letter sent home to parents, that Alateen is based on spiritual fellowship and not religious fellowship, is of no consequence, Ms. Bernstein said. "The courts don't make that distinction," she said.

The A.C.L.U. and the American Jewish Congress are sending a letter on the subject to the school this week.

"We are not a religious program, we are spiritual," said a public outreach staff member of the Alanon Family Group headquarters in Virginia Beach, Va.

"The principles of the 12-step program can apply to any culture or religion," she said, and cover "many, many types of religions and cultures." The 12-step program makes reference to a belief "in a higher power or the God of our understanding," she said, meaning whatever a participant considers to be God.

Program Prayer

According to the Alateen brochure: "For our group purpose, there is but one authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience."

For atheists or agnostics, the staff member said, the "authority" "becomes something else."

Many Alateen meetings begin with a "serenity prayer," though not always. It could not be determined whether a prayer was said when the Springs groups met.

Closed-Door Session

Mr. Cornelia told The Star the board had discussed the Alateen matter in the executive session, which members of the public and the press are not allowed to attend, to ask its attorney to look into the constitutional questions raised. He said the parent's letter implied the threat of a lawsuit.

The discussion of litigation is one of eight specific exceptions to the Open Meetings Law.

Litigation Threat

Contacted Tuesday, the attorney, Steve Conlon of the Bridgehampton and Melville firm Payne Wood & Littlejohn, told The Star the board had invoked the "attorney-client privilege" to justify the closed session. He would not comment on what was discussed.

Robert Freeman, the executive director of the State Committee on Open Government, disagreed that the implied threat of a lawsuit was a legitimate matter for a closed session.

"The mere threat," Mr. Freeman said, of litigation "is not enough to discuss in executive session." He said the intent of the litigation exception was to allow public bodies to discuss "litigation strategy" without their opponents listening.

"Expedience"

Dr. Silver confirmed Tuesday that the matter was discussed in closed session, but came to the board's defense, saying it was "a question of expedience."

He said the board's attorney could not stay for the regular meeting in case the subject was brought up for discussion.

"There was no intent to hide," said Dr. Silver, adding that it was the School Board's intent to do its business in the public's eye.

After Mr. Zerillo and Ms. Ewing spoke, toward the end of Monday's meeting, the board agreed the matter needed to be looked into further.

The fire that consumed Dick Cavett and Carrie Nye's historic house in Montauk on March 18 appears to have started in the garage, not the roof, according to a press release from the East Hampton Town fire marshal's office.

Issued on Tuesday, the release stated that the investigation was "nearing completion." The owners, it said, would start putting the site to rights in a week to 10 days.

One of seven Association houses designed by Stanford White at the turn of the century, the building was totally destroyed despite the efforts of firefighters from Montauk, East Hamp ton, Springs, and Amagansett. Intense heat and the fact that the timber-framed structure was nearly half a mile from the nearest fire hydrant proved insurmountable obstacles. The house, called Tick Hall, was set on the bluffs high above the Atlantic.

Charred Debris

Mr. Cavett and his wife, who also live in Manhattan, had left Montauk the day before the blaze. Mr. Cavett returned to Montauk the day afterward to survey the damage, according to the couple's caretaker, Gregory Donohue, although Ms. Nye, whom Mr. Donohue described as "speechless," did not.

The destruction extended to valuable antiques, Native American artifacts, artwork, and private memorabilia collected over the years.

Mr. Donohue said he and Mr. Cavett walked through the charred debris with a cardboard box collecting what they could. They found some silver dollars, an old Japanese helmet, and an iron kitten door- stop.

He called Mr. Cavett "a bold, brave man who met it head on" when confronted with the wreckage. Mr. Cavett mentioned the possibility of rebuilding, Mr. Donohue said. He added that the couple subsequently escaped to the Caribbean.

Searching For Clues

Since the fire, fire inspectors, insurance adjusters, and reconstruction adjusters have also combed the site, looking for clues to the fire's origin. SCAN Security, whose alarm system first brought firefighters to the scene, has been working full time to keep the curious at bay.

Meanwhile, the fire marshal's statement should extinguish what it calls "speculation by some that the fire started on the roof as a result of construction workers using a torch on the roof."

Because a renovation project had been near completion at the time of the fire, some had speculated that the crew, who left for lunch shortly before it began, might be responsible.

"There is no evidence to support such a theory," the press release states. "The same is true for reports claiming that electrical equipment or systems were the cause."

Point Of Origin

It was, in fact, the cover photo of last week's Star, the fire marshal, David DiSunno, said, that convinced him that the fire did not start on the roof.

Because the blaze was so thorough, Mr. Donohue said, he thought it would be hard to distinguish how it started. He attributed the house's quick demise to its almost 100-year-old timbers and balloon framing, which leaves air pockets through which flames can race without impediment.

However, the point of origin proved to be the garage, on the building's lower level and accessible by a door at the rear of the property.

Montauk firefighters returned three times last week to the site as the fire rekindled. They were alerted by SCAN Security as recently as 10 a.m. Sunday, when, Dennis Snyder, second assistant chief of the Montauk Fire Department, said, flames and sparks were blowing into the woods.

Two brush trucks and 1,000 gallons of water were used to douse the area.

Mr. Snyder added that the only way to end the outbursts would be to bulldoze the area and bury the debris completely. He said Mr. Cavett and Ms. Nye wanted to wait until all measurements had been taken of the existing foundation and chimney, which still stands, and the fire marshal's investigation had concluded.

With a clearer idea of when the East Hampton Youth Alliance will be able to hand over the keys and operating costs of the planned East Hampton RECenter to the Town of East Hampton, Stephen B. Latham, an attorney and officer of the East Hampton Youth Al liance, asked the Town Board last week to extend its formal agreement with the alliance through December 1998. The center will be built with private funds but will be run with town funds.

The Youth Alliance, Mr. Latham reported, has raised close to $2.7 million, and hopes to raise another $300,000 by the end of June. He announced that recent large donations had come from Charles and Wendy Entenmann of Springs ($60,000) and from the Dolan Family Foundation, the family that owns Cablevision and recently moved to buy Madison Square Garden ($50,000.)

To Design Review

Construction on the first part of the building - 17,000 square feet of space that will include large and small swimming pools, a canteen-lounge, a fitness and technology center, locker rooms, and offices - is now expected to begin in September. The estimated cost for the first phase is $3.4 million.

A 7,500-square-foot gymnasium is to be added in the second phase of construction, bringing the total cost of construction to $4 million.

The Youth Alliance has a design for the facility with a few alternative site plans and will bring these before the East Hampton Village Design Review Board for final approval this spring, Mr. Latham said. By the end of June the group hopes to begin interviewing contractors.

He also reminded the board that the alliance, the town, and the Village of East Hampton, which is donating the land, would have the job of establishing a seven-member recreation commission to develop programs and an operating budget.

"We need to think about the kinds of people who will put in time to work with kids . . . really dedicated, committed people," he said.

Many of the practical questions surrounding the center, such as what programs will be offered, whether there will be membership fees or passes for out-of-town guests, and how security will be handled are yet to be addressed.

One notable dilemma is how students from Montauk, or even Springs, will get to and from the facility.

Transportation will be a key topic at a meeting the lliance plans to hold in the Montauk School gymnasium Tuesday at 7 p.m. "This comes at a great opportune time," Supervisor Cathy Lester said.

The results of a townwide transportation study are expected to be released in mid-April.

Mary Ellen Harrington Gosman, who helped spread the lilting poetry of the Irish brogue from her family's restaurant to the rest of Montauk and beyond, died of a heart attack on Saturday night at Southampton Hospital. She was 87.

Matriarch of a large family, owner with her husband of a fishing dock that grew into the largest restaurant complex in town, and a good conversationalist, Mrs. Gosman was also the pied piper who first brought to Montauk the young Irish students who have become the backbone of the summer labor force.

The first two, one a cousin, arrived in the early 1960s to work in the restaurant. The word spread, and now an estimated 500 arrive in town each spring. Their coming marks the true start of the season. Their departure in the fall, a month or two after the American students, marks its end.

Most of them still take the train to Montauk and get off asking directions to Gosman's restaurant.

Mrs. Gosman was born on June 17, 1909, in the village of Cloonkerin, in Mantua, County Roscommon. Her parents were Hubert James Harrington and Margaret Shannon Harrington. Her father's family had been "tailors for generations - some of the best in Ireland, if I must say so myself - and we lived on a farm," said Theresa Harrington Sarno, a younger sister.

Mrs. Gosman came to the United States in search of work in 1927, at the age of 17. She and a cousin were 10 days at sea between Queenstown and New York. She was sick for eight of them, she told The Star in an interview 30 years ago.

After two weeks selling gloves at Lord and Taylor, she took a job in a New Jersey hotel. In the summer of 1931, she came to East Hampton to work as a domestic for a wealthy family.

She met Robert H. Gosman, a young widower, at a party that summer, and married him the following January. They raised six children in a house on Devon Road in Amagansett. In the early years of their marriage, in the depths of the Depression, both made money however they could, Mr. Gosman as a carpenter on road crews. They managed to buy a house and a saloon nearby to fix up and rent.

They took over a small gas dock at the Lake Montauk inlet in 1943, when there was virtually nothing on the west side of the lake, and added a lunch counter to one side of a fish-packing shed three years later. Mrs. Gosman cooked, serving breakfast and her popular chowder to fishermen.

With eight seats at the counter and some tables on the deck, she hit on the idea of serving a meal on a beer tray. For $3, she laid out half a lobster, french fries, cole slaw, and some crackers. The lobsters pushed the tiny shack into success, and in 1951 the Gosmans moved an old house to the site and opened their first proper restaurant.

In 1958, the family grew tired of the commute from Amagansett and moved into the harbormaster's house at the inlet. With family members waiting tables, cooking, and doing every other job in the place, Gosman's expanded again in 1968.

The complex now comprises the popular seafood restaurant, two smaller eateries, a seafood distributorship, a fish-processing plant, a scattering of boutiques, an ice cream stand, and the dock. Some of Mrs. Gosman's children and grandchildren work there still.

"She was such a memorable personality, such presence. She was intuitive, very romantic, with a brilliant sense of humor, very Irish," said her son John, who runs the smaller restaurants. "She talked and talked. She sure kept the customers listening."

"She was very generous. First and foremost the mother," said her daughter Roberta Gosman Donovan, an East Hampton Town Planning Board member who runs the seafood restaurant.

In 1965, the Irish romantic bought a romantic house, known as the Windmill House, on Fairview Avenue. An architect had built it for himself in 1927, the same year she came to America, and it was later owned by Lindsay Hopkins, the president of Coca-Cola. The windmill, an architectural whimsy, does not function as such but contains the garage and a circular bedroom above.

Mr. Gosman died in 1983, some 15 years after the couple retired and began spending winters in Key West, Fla.

A member of the Montauk Garden Club and a Friend of the Montauk Library, Mrs. Gosman was honored by the Friends of Erin in 1982 as the first woman ever named grand marshal of Montauk's St. Patrick's Day parade. She participated in the parade for many years, in a pony-drawn carriage imported from Ireland.

She is survived by five of her six children, all of whom live in Montauk. Besides Ms. Donovan and John H. Gosman, they are Robert Emmett Gosman, William Shannon Gosman, and Richard Fleming Gosman. The sixth, Hubert James Gosman, died in his late 30s of cancer.

Mrs. Gosman leaves 11 grandchildren, all but two of whom are Montauk residents, and two great-grandchildren. Her sister Mrs. Sarno also lives in Montauk.

Four more sisters and three brothers live in Ireland: Brigid Brohan, Nan Quig ley, Una Herbert, Christine Noon, Patrick Harrington, Michael Har rington, and Hubert H. Harrington.

Visiting hours at the Williams Funeral Home on Newtown Lane in East Hampton were yesterday and continue today from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. A memorial service will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, followed by burial in Fort Hill Cemetery, Montauk.

Mrs. Gosman was a member of Montauk's St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, which is closed for repairs. The family has suggested memorial donations to the church building fund, to the Montauk Library building fund, or to the Montauk Ambulance Company.

In 1991, after an illness, Mrs. Gosman wrote a letter of thanks, published in The Star, to her many well-wishers. "I don't know how long I will be on this good earth," she wrote. "I know it won't be easy leaving Montauk. My Irish intuition tells me I will be back every now and then, not as a ghost, just a voice in the wind. Be sure you are listening."

The chorus of complaints about the condition of Route 27 and the state's decision to hold off on much-needed repairs until the year 2000 is growing louder.

Last week, the East Hampton Town Board agreed to join other local officials in "definite opposition" to the proposed starting date: December 2000. East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. have already written to the State Department of Transportation on the issue.

Low-Accident, Low-Priority

"Route 27 has been allowed by the state to deteriorate to a poor, unacceptable condition," reads a resolution introduced by Town Supervisor Cathy Lester at last Thursday's Town Board meeting.

Indeed, those who drive the highway every day get to know the standard potholes well enough to swerve around them without thinking about it. When the traffic is too busy for slalom-driving, motorists pray their shock absorbers will hold out.

The Town Highway Department can do little to change the condition of this road, a main access route for tourists, commuters, and emergency vehicles. Route 27 is a state highway under the care of the D.O.T., which is charged with repairing the cracking pavement and drainage problems, signing off on pavement-striping and shoulder repairs, and generally keeping the East End's most traveled road in working order.

"We're still negotiating with our main office on what projects should have priority," Bart Howe, the assistant to the regional director of the D.O.T., said Tuesday.

The Route 27 project is of low priority, because, he said, "this location has a low accident rate."

A 'Quick Fix'?

The regional office is aware of local sentiment, Mr. Howe acknowledged, but he said it was still unlikely this project would make it to the front of the line.

"We could negotiate with our main office to maybe do a quick fix," he said. But he added, "We call it quick, but I don't know how quickly it could be done."

A "quick fix," he explained, would improve the condition of the pavement with "one or two coats of asphalt," but would not address some of the larger problems that cause the road to deteriorate under the stress of heavy use and inclement weather.

Economic Effect

On the East End, the D.O.T. tries not to do roadwork of this kind between Memorial Day and Labor Day because of the detrimental effects on the local economy.

Assuming the Band-Aid approach was taken, work would have to start today or wait until after this Labor Day, or the next one, or the one after that.

"If the people said: Do it right away, we don't care about that, then, well. . . ." Mr. Howe ventured, reluctant to make promises and well aware of the traffic nightmares that could ensue with a blocked highway on a summer weekend.

"This job has been pushed off quite a bit," he admitted.

To Promote Tourism

The Town Board has forwarded a copy of its resolution berating the decision to various officials in the D.O.T., to local government officials, and to the various citizens advisory committees in the town.

Also at its meeting last Thursday, the board:

Agreed to give $7,000 apiece to the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce and the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, and $1,000 to the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce for promotion of tourism in the town.

Authorized emergency road repairs on Towhee Trail, a private road in Northwest Woods.

Signed off on the town funding for the East Hampton drug and alcohol treatment center, APPLE (A Planned Program for Life Enrichment). APPLE has asked for the funding now so it can obtain a line of credit.

Following through on East Hampton Town's new open space plan, the Town Board has invited the public to speak its mind on the plan's recommendations to upzone 140 parcels - some large and some small, some innocuous and some highly visible - located from Wainscott to Montauk.

The open space plan, like its predecessor, addresses the development or preservation of more than 700 lots townwide. For decades officials have sifted through the list of vacant parcels and farmland earmarked for acquisition and acted to buy or otherwise preserve them as funds and the willingness of the owners allow.

Planning Tools

Calling the recommendations "tools the town can use to be sure our planning keeps in step with the march of development," Supervisor Cathy Lester said she supported all 140 upzonings, plus two others that are covered separately.

"It's really critical that we take this next step to rezone properties that are inappropriately zoned for today's planning situation," she said.

The largest block proposed to be upzoned is owned by a pool of investors led by Imre Rosenthal, Richard Brockman and his mother, Elizabeth Brockman, and the estate of the late Jolie Hammer.

Their seven lots in north Wainscott and Northwest Woods - bordered by Sag Harbor Turnpike, Stephen Hand's Path, and Wolf's Hole Road - represent nearly 321 acres altogether.

Five-Acre House Lots

The open space plan recommends rezoning each to require at least five acres per house, and including all the lots in the water recharge district, where restrictions on clearing and construction are more stringent. One lot is now zoned for commercial-industrial use, others are two-acre residential, and all but one are already in the water recharge district.

Last year, a lawyer for the Rosenthal group spoke against adoption of the open space plan, saying the recommendations to upzone his client's land were unfair.

Lauder Land

New to the upzoning discussion is a 129-acre parcel nearby, on the Sag Harbor Turnpike just north of Goodfriend Park, owned by P.W.J. Associates. The plan recommends it be upzoned from commercial-industrial to five-acre residential.

Also in Wainscott, Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder and their daughter, Aerin, heirs to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, own five lots between Beach Lane and Wainscott Pond. Their holdings come to 30 acres altogether, and some have buildings - the main Lauder house and the relocated church that caused a minor stir a few years ago - on them already.

All the lots are now zoned two-acre residential, and the open space plan calls for no change to that, but for the inclusion of those parcels in the agricultural protection district. That means any further development or subdivision would be subject to the strictest of rules.

"This is a housekeeping thing. The town wants to put all its agricultural soils in the agricultural protection district," said Lisa Liquori, the planning director.

Cagramar Farm

The same goes for the nearly 21 acres owned by Joseph and Caroline Martuscello between Springs Road and Accabonac Highway in East Hampton. They sold the development rights to 16 acres of their Cagramar Farm to the town last year and are expected to begin planting wine grapes this spring.

The owners of Cagramar, other- wise zoned one-acre residential, were instrumental in the adoption last year of a law allowing wineries to be built in East Hampton.

Jonathan T. Gardiner's 44 acres on Wolf's Hole Road in Wainscott would go from commercial-industrial to five-acre residential, and 97 acres between the west shore of Three Mile Harbor and Springy Banks Road, owned by Anthony Duke and the Harbor for Boys and Girls, would be upzoned from two to three acres per house.

The largest of Mr. Duke's four lots, nearly 69 acres, would remain in the harbor protection district.

Off Accabonac

A long list of small lots in the Northwest Woods water recharge district, each about an acre and all in the names of different owners, would go from a half-acre to one acre per house.

In Springs, a string of one-acre lots between Fireplace Road, near its intersection with Fort Pond Boulevard, and the northwest shore of Accabonac Harbor would be up zoned from half-acre to one-acre residential and added to the harbor protection district, created after the open space plan was last revised.

Just to the south, at School Street, Fireplace Road, and Old Stone Highway, a cluster of larger lots, two acres and up, would go from one to two-acre residential. Among them is more than 25 acres owned by the Springs School District and Ibram and Ernestine Lassaw's 30-acre parcel.

Offshore, a one-acre island that used to be connected to Gardiner's Island has no zoning at all. Known as the Ruins, the Federally owned island, containing an old fortification used for years for aerial target practice, would become parkland.

To Three Acres

The Devon Yacht Club's 11.7 acres between Bendigo Road and Napeague Bay in Amagansett would go from two-acre to three-acre residential, as would Francis Fleetwood's nearby 33.6 acres between Abram's Landing Road and Ocean View Lane and several smaller parcels in the Bendigo Road neighborhood.

Also going from two to three-acre residential would be 37.6 acres at the privately owned Montauk Airport, on East Lake Drive, 10 acres at the Carillo family's Flying C Ranch, nearby on Melchionna Road, and several smaller parcels on Startop Drive, some owned by the Star and Abplanalp families.

Nearly 98 acres owned by 511 Equities between Flamingo Road and Greenwich Street are zoned partly for two acres per house and partly for three acres. It would all be put in a three-acre zone and would remain entirely in the water recharge district.

The same real estate development firm owns roughly 95 acres on the north side of Montauk Point State Boulevard, next to Midland and Upland Roads. Its current zoning is likewise fractured, part in commercial-industrial, in a water recharge district, and part in a three-acre residential zone.

The open space plan calls for it all to be in a five-acre residential zone and the water recharge district.

Town Land, Too

Members of the Akin family own a combined 22 acres bordered by Flanders Road, Glenmore Avenue, Foxboro Road, and Farrington Road. Their nine lots, already in a water recharge district, would go from half-acre to one-acre residential.

The town is planning to upzone its own property as well. Thirty acres comprising the town dump in Montauk, now all in a commercial-industrial zone, would be split, the southern part to remain there and the northern part, extending into Hither Woods, to be designated parkland.

The town-owned 30-acre Fort Hill Cemetery, above Edgemere Road, is to receive the same parkland designation. It is now zoned for half-acre residential use, as is Rita Foster's nearly 18-acre horse ranch on the south side of Lake Montauk. Ms. Foster's land would be upped to a one-acre zone.

The public hearing will be held on Friday, April 4, at 10:30 a.m. in the Town Hall courtroom.

Willem de Kooning's funeral service at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in East Hampton on Saturday was both stately and simple. The church was full, but not uncomfortably so. The music and readings were familiar, but strong.

The master painter, who died of the complications of Alzheimer's disease on March 19 at the age of 92, would have liked the colors - blue, yellow, and white, colors reminiscent of his painting in the mid-'50s.

His casket, of pine, was draped in white brocade marked by a blue ribbon; massed yellow tulips and roses were complemented by blue delphinium.

Among those who gathered were many who had been a part of de Kooning's world for a long time and some who had been a part of it a long time ago - family, friends, lovers, colleagues, assistants, nurses. A few undoubtedly were surprised to recognize each other.

The Rev. Thomas Pike of St. George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan, who officiated, read from the Old and New Testaments and offered personal remarks. Mr. Pike described himself as being daunted to be chosen to speak before a group that represented "so much history, relationship, community, and time."

He had become acquainted with the family only as the "shadows were darkening," he said, referring to de Kooning's long decline, but he stressed the artist's "inner light, the twinkle in his eye," and his place in art history.

The "shapes and forms, lines . . . colors were an entrance into possibilities that we never would have had without Bill de Kooning," he said. "His work endures."

Edward Carroll, a trumpeter who, like de Kooning, comes from the Netherlands, interrupted a tour to take part. Among other pieces, he played the hymn "Morning Has Broken," "The Prayer of St. Gregory" by Hovhaness, and the Triumphal March from "Aida." He also accompanied the church organist, Jane Wood.

There was no graveside service.

The guests at a reception at the artist's studio on Woodbine Drive in Springs, which followed the funeral, moved from drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the living room with reverence into the two-story glass-walled space where the artist had worked and where a few of his later works remain, along with the brushes and tools he used.

His three small grandchildren were there too. One of them, picking up a dry brush, was seen daubing at a canvas. The family has suggested contributions in de Kooning's memory to the East Hampton Day Care Center.

Joan Ward of Springs, Lisa de Kooning's mother, who had stood by the artist until the end, also spoke at the service.

"He knew he had lost a battle," she said. "Like an old soldier with a mortal wound, he was retreating step by stubborn step, no breaking of ranks, no wild scattering of troops, but a measured withdrawal, marked by the iron control and discipline of a lifetime. He surrounded his beloved paintings, and slowly moved them back, and back, and back. His flags are still flying, his ranks standing firm, his status, though challenged, unconquered to the end."