Technology has cut millions of people free from the wires and cables of the communications industry, but it also has unleashed an escalating demand for facilities. Some threaten to change the face of the landscape.

Representatives of Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile appeared before the East Hampton Town Planning Board recently to describe a proposed 100-foot radio tower here, but before the discussion was more than half an hour along it became apparent that wasn't all they wanted. Over the next three years, NYNEX plans to seek at least two more such towers, which the company says are needed to improve its cellular phone service.

Nor is NYNEX the only game in town - just one of the first. There will be competitors knocking on the door in the months ahead, and each player will bring in its own bats and balls. One Planning Board member, Job Potter, foresaw a series of "100 and 150-foot towers popping up around town."

Responding to board members' concerns, NYNEX maintained that its towers were a necessary evil. The Federal Communications Commission, said a company attorney, "obliges" cellular service suppliers to "provide seamless service."

The F.C.C. does not, of course, oblige a municipality to put the interests of wireless phone users over those of the environment, at least it didn't the last time we looked.

However hideous a network of towers is to contemplate, there may be something of a silver lining here. Some in the industry predict these communications towers will be superseded in the not-too-distant future by unobtrusive alternatives such as satellite bases. If that is the case, the current proposal and those expected to follow warrant study rather than defiance, even if outside consultants have to be hired to help local officials make judgments about the requirements of cellular technology.

There is little in the master plan to guide the town in deciding whether there is a place here for such towers. Should there be just one? Four? Eight? Where should they go, and when does the door close? Can they be given temporary permission, under the condition that they come down when and if they become obsolete? Or will they become treasured relics, like the sole remaining radio tower on Napeague or the water tower on the Bell Estate in Amagansett?

These are legitimate questions. They deserve considered answers.

"I am Zenbock. I am the son of Scone." So begins a press release introducing the East End's newest public access television personality. Anyone doubting the existence of aliens might want to tune into LTV one Thursday night to catch "Zenbock's Fantasy/Fi," a variety show which has an interesting hook - the host is a Vulcan.

Well, half Vulcan actually. Zenbock's mother was an earthling, and Zenbock (a.k.a. Barry Nijel) resides in the very earthly realm of Patchogue.

Launched on Jan. 17, the quirky show is beamed out each week from the bridge of Zenbock's "spaceship." Meanwhile, the Vulcan host beams himself out into the community to perform such tasks as buying a pizza or applying for a car loan. He also does interviews and plays music with a group called Zenbock and the Galactic Boogie Band.

All Ears

Zenbock and his producer, Russell DePhillips, were in an editing room last week polishing up the second episode when The Star caught up to them. Zenbock was uncharacteristically out of costume.

"Hold on, I have to ear-up!" he said and then disappeared down the hall. He returned 10 minutes later with the requisite pointy ap pendages, as well as a gray cape, a gray polyester-blend shirt, gray slacks, black boots, and some eye makeup.

There wasn't going to be any more shooting that day, but Zenbock seemed to be more comfortable in costume anyway. His persona may not be familiar yet on the public access circuit, but Zenbock is a household name at the numerous Star Trek and fantasy/science-fiction conventions he attends every year.

Convention Circuit

As a vendor, Mr. Nijel sells "earthly antiquities" at conventions up and down the East Coast. His company, Celestial Sights and Sounds, deals in a line of Egyptian art, notecards, postcards, statuettes, and other items, as well as Celtic art, T-shirts, and various novelties.

When night rolls around at the conventions, he brings out the Galactic Boogie Band - that is, Zenbock on blues guitar, vocals, and keyboards standing in front of a mural of backup aliens. The music sounds like a cross between Willie Dixon and Devo.

It was when he was playing music at the fantasy conventions that Zenbock's character was born. It happened about three years, ago, he said. "I wanted to play at these things, but everyone said I should develop a persona." He started hosting an open-microphone night, then went on to become his own act.

"They didn't know what to do with me, so they gave me my own segment," he said. "That's the way these conventions go. By Monday, you don't know who you are."

Zenbock keeps a convention photo album, which is filled with shots of him and various Romulons, Kling ons, elf maidens, and other sci-fi/fantasy buffs. "It's like a mobile family," he said of the group.

Hosting a television show seemed a logical step. A friend told him about LTV's state-of-the-art facilities and open-door policy, and he decided to inquire. Mr. DePhillips, LTV's chief engineer, was on board in no time. The show is fun to work on, he said, calling it "the best thing I've seen come across public access in a long time."

To Fierro's, Scotty

"I think I'd like some pizza," Zenbock says from the bridge of his ship on the inaugural episode Jan. 17. Without further ado he steps into the transporter and, with a B-movie special effect, suddenly reappears in front of Fierro's Pizzeria in East Hampton.

He orders a "Vulcan pizza" and a long segment of the pizza in progress ensues. Customers seem perplexed.

In another episode, Zenbock beams into Country Imports in Southampton to apply for a car loan. When "Star Trek: First Contact" opened at the East Hampton Cinema, he was on the scene interviewing fans outside the theater. Few seemed to realize they were speaking to the self-proclaimed half-brother of Dr. Spock: Zenbock says his 175-year-old father was also father to Spock.

Type Cast

One person slated to become a regular guest on the show is Zenbock's son, Tibock. "He's an earthly 8, but he's a very old son," said the proud father.

Though he said he has had a lot of encouraging feedback over the show (including from other restaurants interested in learning Vulcan cuisine), Zenbock is worried about being misunderstood. Dan's Papers referred to him as a "vampire" in a review of LTV's annual video festival.

"Do I look like a vampire?" he asked. And he fears that "Zenbock's Fantasy" will be dismissed as simply a "Star Trek" thing. "It's a little bit of everything," he said. "The theme is fantasy and fiction."

Alas, though, he sighed, "I'll probably get locked in as a Vulcan." If he had it his way, he'd ditch the pointy ears, but his producer insists they stay.

For those who don't mind, "Zenbock's Fantasy/Fi" is shown on LTV every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and on Riverhead's public access TV Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. Both can be found on Channel 27.

The diligent souls who have been showing up for regular exercise at Body Tech, the Amagansett fitness center, have been warned,  Southampton Hospital, which took over the facility last April, will move out in March. The hospital will take the fitness equipment with it to a new building on the Montauk Highway in East Hampton, across from the Cook Agency, but the new facility will be a rehabilitation center rather than a health club.

According to plans submitted Jan. 22 to the East Hampton Town Planning Board, the hospital intends to turn the 3,400-square-foot building into a physical therapy and rehabilitation center similar to one it runs in Westhampton Beach. It is making the move through S.H.A. Properties Inc., the for-profit subsidiary of the South amp ton Hospital Association.

Design Plans

Dr. John J. Ferry Jr., the hospital's president, explained that a physician's prescription will be required to exercise there, by appointment and with supervision, and no memberships will be sold. "The losers will be those who want nonsupervised fitness" workouts, he added.

The center will include a traction room, weight-lifting area, physical therapy department, small waiting room, and showers, said Barbara Feldman of Avatar East, the East Hampton architect designing the interior.

Patients, generally, will be those who have had surgery or suffered an injury and who need continuing exercise following a course of physical therapy. Others, eligible for "phase three" cardiac rehab, will have had open-heart surgery or a heart attack, or are considered at high risk for heart disease, but do not need a physician on site during exercise.

Use Change

Health insurance companies are "slow" to cover post-physical therapy personal training, said Dr. Ferry. However, some, including Aetna U.S. Healthcare, have begun to offer patients in other states a specific annual stipend toward exercise as preventive medicine.

"It sounds like something that is legally workable," said Job Potter, a Planning Board member. The hospital will need a special permit to convert the building's use from retail to "semipublic," he said, and approval from the Building Department and the County Health Department.

Richard Balnis, a physical therapist with offices at 300 Pantigo Place, said the hospital "had approached" him to work at the rehab, but added that he was "comfortable where I am" and liked his autonomy.

Future Plans

The new rehab will have 16 parking spaces toward the rear, enough to accommodate five employees and as many as six to eight patients who may be passing through at any given time. The site is "maxed out," however, said Mr. Potter, noting that there is no room for expansion.

The hospital expects to sign a three-year lease with a three-year renewal option with the building's owner, Harvey Bennett.

The building is just east of a row of buildings that accommodates FizzEd, an exercise and dance studio which engendered vocal opposition when it opened regarding parking and traffic.

The hospital has been considering building its own 18,000-square-foot facility on land it owns on Pantigo Place but is not ready to proceed yet, said Dr. Ferry. Eventually the hospital hopes to rent out physician's offices and have a rehab as large as 9,000 square feet on that property.

As he's been doing for the past 11 years, Herb Fischer of Montauk feeds the cats at 8:30 every morning. They are awaiting him and, with the aptly named Underfoot, a tiger- striped female, weaving perilously around his feet, the cats escort him to their feeding stations. But the cats that Mr. Fischer feeds so faithfully do not belong to him; they are feral cats that belong to no one.

Cats are now the most popular pet in the United States. There are an estimated 64 million of them living in American homes. Sadly, the estimate of the number of cats without homes - feral cats - is almost as high. Some experts place it at just under 60 million.

Some of these feral cats can be found on the East End. Helena Curtis of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons said, "It's a very difficult problem. In my opinion it goes back to individual people not spaying or neutering their pets."

Too Wild For ARF

Louise Nielsen of Montauk, who has been involved in feral cat issues for over 20 years, says with some despair that, despite the considerable and commendable efforts on the part of ARF to make low-cost spaying and neutering available to cat owners, the feral cat problem continues unabated.

"I know people find it very frustrating when they call ARF to tell us that there are feral cats in their backyards and find out that we aren't able to take them," said Ms. Curtis. But ARF is unable to take on a true feral (as opposed to an abandoned or lost house cat) for a number of reasons, she explained.

Feral cats are extremely wild. As they have never been handled or confined, they react with considerable ferocity when such liberties are attempted. A cat bite is a serious matter. "Cat bites are very toxic. We worry a lot more about cat bites than dog bites," said Ms. Curtis.

Short Life Spans

With the exception of very young kittens, feral cats are not adoptable. Though the occasional adult can be tamed, it is a long, time-consuming endeavor that most prospective pet owners have no interest in. If ARF were to take these animals, the vast majority of them would spend the remainder of their lives in cages. Not a solution anyone would prescribe, least of all the cats.

Some people choose to romanticize these animals. They see them as the essence of independence, reverting to a wild state that is somehow more honorable than the life of a house cat.

But cats are domestic animals, however much they may appear to insist otherwise! And a closer look at the "independent" life of a feral cat reveals a bleak picture. Experts estimate the average life span of a feral cat to be three years. Many die before they're a year old.

Deromanticized Reality

"I don't think people would romanticize them if they saw kittens, their eyes stuck shut with mucus, sputtering and spitting from respiratory infections or distemper," said Ms. Curtis sharply.

Cats are domestic animals, however much they may appear to insist otherwise. A closer look at the "independent" life of a feral cat reveals a bleak picture.

Respiratory infections and distemper are just two of the many health hazards that afflict feral cats. Dr. Mark Davis of the South Fork Animal Hospital, who has dealt with hundreds of feral cats while participating in the ARF spaying and neutering programs, estimates that fully 50 percent of these animals are infected with the feline leukemia virus.

This virus is the agent of the most prevalent of fatal infectious diseases in American domestic cats. It is easily spread among feral cats and also to any house cats they come in contact with. Fortunately, there is a preventive vaccine for FeLV, which pet cats that have access to the outdoors and may be exposed to infected animals should receive.

New Disease

Feline immunodeficiency virus is a relatively new disease that has been inexorably gaining ground among feral cats. F.I.V. is a blood-transmitted disease mainly found among tom cats who are more directly combative than female ferals. There is no vaccine for F.I.V., and pet cats that war with feral toms are likely to become infected.

Dr. Davis talked sorrowfully of his own pet cat who become infected while defending himself as "the new kitty on the block." Fortunately, F.I.V. has a long incubation period of eight to 10 years, so a cat infected in middle age can usually live out its normal life span without suffering any ill effects.

Though F.I.V. is similar to H.I.V. and causes a disease in cats similar to AIDS in humans, current research shows that it does not present a health hazard to humans.

Not Unsociable

Rabies, however, definitely is a health hazard to humans. Though feral cats are considered to be a weak link in the rabies chain, cats now surpass dogs in the number of rabies cases reported annually in the United States.

Though no cases of rabies have been reported in Suffolk County for more than 50 years, Dr. Davis said, "It's such a serious disease that you have to be concerned." Experts advise people who handle feral cats on a routine basis to have a pre-exposure rabies vaccine. And, of course, all pet cats and dogs should be vaccinated.

Feral cats confound the popular perception of cats as solitary, unsociable creatures. When sufficient food resources exist, the cats will form stable communities consisting primarily of females and their female offspring.

Cat Colonies

Researchers of feral cat colonies report that females are never observed migrating outside of their colony to join other colonies as males are frequently observed doing. The females have been seen to communally nurse kittens, and to one another their behavior is generally amicable and sometimes downright affectionate. But not so to any strange females who attempt to approach the colony; they are repulsed quite fiercely.

Social arrangements among tom cats are more freeform. A detailed study of free-ranging cats that Swedish ethologist Dr. O. Liberg did in 1980 indicated that toms have four categories of social standing:

breeders - dominant adults who monopolize breeding females, a position that all other tom cats aspire to;

challengers - 2 to 3-year-olds aggressively vying with the breeders for access to females;

outcasts - young emigrant males avoiding all contact with other cats; and

adolescent novices - who still remain with their birth colony but are coming under increasingly frequent attack from the breeders.

Obviously, toms fight a great deal. Apart from spreading F.I.V. among themselves, they are frequently covered with abscesses from infected battle wounds. Dr. Davis described some of these warriors that have been brought into his clinic as "exploding" with abscesses.

Cat colonies will form around any reliable food source. Restaurants, delis, picnic grounds, and the backyards of those unwary enough to feed their pet cats out of doors. Feral cats are highly intelligent and extremely desperate animals - if there is food, they will come.

As a child I observed a feral colony that was founded upon a rather unique food source. While visiting the outdoor enclosures of the bears in the Central Park Zoo, my father, younger brother, and I were astonished to see a gray-striped cat slip through the bars of the polar bear's cage and snatch a hunk of fish from right under the bear's nose.

"Bear's Cats"

The zookeeper to whom we rushed with the astonishing news of this sighting was entirely unimpressed but did kindly direct us to look behind the bears' cages to see where the "bears' cats" lived.

There we discovered, to our great delight, a cat shantytown consisting of about 12 small houses erected just outside the bars of the enclosures. Though the cats eventually received supplementary feeding from the keepers and other kindly souls, the original draw to that site had been what they could steal from under the noses of bears.

Feral cats have their human supporters - an estimated 20 million people in this country take part in sustaining these animals to some extent or another. They also have their detractors, and with good reason.

Noise, Odor, Disease

Breeding colonies of feral cats are extremely noisy. The mating calls of the females and the screams of battling males disturb many a good night's sleep. When there are many tomcats in an area, their urine-spraying tendency can become a highly odiferous nuisance. And there is no doubt that they are vectors of disease.

But what has become the most controversial and emotionally charged concern is the issue of cats preying on wildlife, songbirds being the particular concern.

Worldwide, it is certainly true that the predation of cats has resulted in the extinction of many native species. However, these extinctions have occurred on islands that had no or few native predatory mammals; the unfortunate resident animals had no defenses against the invading felines. Since American native species have evolved alongside predatory animals, most researchers feel that feral cats have little effect on overall populations.

The declining number of songbirds is due to the destructiveness of humans, not cats. Cats are chiefly predators of small mammals. Analyses of the stomach contents of feral cats killed by cars indicate that birds form only a small part of their diet.

Don't Blame Them

However, though cats are not the bird-annihilating demons that some environmentalists paint them as, they are contributing some stress, however minor, to already depleted bird populations.

In 1916 Edward Howe Forbush, the state ornithologist of Massachusetts, wrote that it is "our duty to . . . eliminate the vagrant or feral cat as we would a wolf." Though wolves are now regarded in a more kindly light, at least by those who regard them from afar, many still espouse Forbush's solution for feral cats.

Endless Cycle

However, trap and kill policies are not only "unacceptable in this community," as Ms. Curtis put it, but they have been proven time and time again to be highly ineffective and extremely expensive.

It is difficult to trap all members of a breeding colony, and even if that is accomplished there is always a new supply of feral cats (and always will be as long as people continue to neglect the basic health care of their pets by not spaying or neutering them) to move into the newly vacated site and begin the cycle all over again.

The only solution to the heart-rending problem of feral cats is not a quick fix but one that requires time and diligence. Studies have shown that when the cats are trapped and then neutered or spayed, much of their objectionable behavior such as noisy fighting (with the attendant spread of F.I.V.), spraying, and, of course, multiplying in number are eliminated.

Devoted Caregiver

The colony that Mr. Fischer dedicates himself to are all spayed and neutered. It was no small task to accomplish this, but Mr. Fischer is very devoted to the cats.

"They are my hobby. Some people play golf - I take care of these cats," he said. It took patience as well as knowledge of the individual animals for him to accomplish the goal of neutering the entire colony.

"I'd have to sit there and watch and wait for the right cat to get into the trap," he recalls. In addition to their surgeries, the cats received vaccinations for rabies and distemper and had their ears notched so they could be easily identified as having already been treated.

Louise Nielsen was the guardian of a colony that resided at the Montauk dump. When she first undertook their care, the cats numbered around 30. After spaying and neutering, the colony slowly dwindled to nonexistence. Mr. Fischer's colony has decreased slowly in number as well; the original 19 cats now number 14.

Spaying and neutering programs are now advocated nationwide as the only workable, humane solution. One of the major stumbling blocks is lack of funding for this work. Cats, alas, fall between the funding cracks as far as state and Federal programs are concerned. Concerned individuals and organizations such as ARF are forced to take up the slack.

Another obstacle to successful implementation of spaying and neutering programs is the actions of well-intentioned cat feeders. Trapping the cats cannot be accomplished when alternative sources of food are being offered.

To leave a supply of food for a hungry animal may appear kind, but it is only serving to perpetuate the problem. As Mr. Fischer observed, "You can't feed a group of breeding cats and not expect their numbers to increase threefold or fourfold in a couple of years."

Deeper Commitment

In the case of feral cats, it would seem that kindness involves a far deeper commitment to their welfare than just simply supplying food.

Readers who are interested in participating in or supporting ARF's upcoming low-cost spaying and neutering campaign can contact the organization at its East Hampton offices. Information on feral cats and what can be done for them can be had from: The Feral Cat Coalition, 9528 Mirmar Road, San Diego, Calif. 92126, or Alley Cat Allies, P.O. Box 397, Mount Ranier, Md. 20712.

Northwest Woods is being primed for a new wave of pioneers. The East Hampton Town Planning Board granted final approval to one large subdivision last week and is just a step away from stamping approval on another twice its size.

When the ink dries, 50 new house lots will be on the market for development, covering 113 acres of what is now contiguous forest. Another 170 acres will be left undeveloped.

The Planning Board signed the final approval for Grassy Hollow Estates at its meeting Jan. 22. The cluster subdivision will create 16 new lots on 91 acres to the southwest of Alewife Brook and Hand's Creek to Ely Brook Roads.

Cluster Model

Meanwhile, the map of the 190-acre Northwest Estates has come back from the County Planning Commission and is awaiting final approval from the board. Only a few questions over roadway clearing remain before the 34 new lots are carved out.

Planners have touted both subdivisions as "model" cluster plans that preserve a significant block of forest. Review of the two plans was coordinated so that the preserved areas of both could be linked. As a result, 170 acres of contiguous privately owned land will remain untouched.

As for the lots, brokers agree they won't take long to sell. "It's a very desirable area right now. Prices are up and builders are looking for prime lots," said Frank Newbold, a partner in Braverman Newbold Brennan. Spec-house builders have been some of the main buyers in the area.

Selling Well

"Builders are doing good quality work and their houses are selling quickly," Mr. Newbold said. "It's really rocking and rolling up there."

Depending on size, topography, and other factors, the Grassy Hollow and Northwest Estates lots, averaging two acres, could fetch between $125,000 and $185,000, Mr. Newbold said.

The County Planning Commission approved the Northwest Estates plan Jan. 8, but raised several concerns. They included emergency vehicle access, ownership of the reserved areas, wetland protection, and the location of a road entrance. The Planning Board last week ruled that most of the concerns were already addressed and the board overrode the county's conditions.

Once the final road plans are agreed to and approved by the Town Highway Superintendent, the subdivision will be ready for final approval.

There's a miniature range war brewin' down Montauk way over bottomland owned by Rick Gibbs, the Crabby Cowboy, as he's known in those parts. Actually, the Crabby Cowboy is the name Mr. Gibbs has given his East Lake Drive resort and restaurant, formerly the Blue Moon.

At least one bayman thinks the Crabby Cowboy name fits. Mr. Gibbs has chased him off the five acres of bottomland be bought last year along with five upland acres.

The property contains boat slips, a restaurant, a number of resort accommodations, and, if Mr. Gibbs's plan works out, a clam ranch that will supply his restaurant for part of the season. He said on Monday he had already paid $100 to the state for an aquaculture permit.

Don't Fence Him Out

Don't fence me out, says Anthony Sosinski, a bayman who concentrates much of his digging in Lake Montauk. Mr. Sosinski claims Mr. Gibbs lacks the right to keep him from digging clams, and also believes the Cowboy will be hard-pressed to get state permission to grow clams for his patrons' consumption.

After researching town records in the East Hampton Library, Mr. Sosinski made his argument during a Town Board work session last month. He told the board Mr. Gibbs was not the only owner of private bottom to chase clammers away.

"Since I have been shellfishing in Lake Montauk, there have been disputes about who owns what. The town owns some of the lake, and the residents own some. The problem is, we, as shellfishermen, don't know who owns what."

Who Owns The Clams?

"There have been incidents," said Mr. Sosinski, "where the landowner has taken the shellfish out of people's trucks, because they say they own the clams because they come from their land."

The clammer said his research had shown this was not the case - that in 1983, the town initiated a program to stock Lake Montauk with clams. "They were for all the residents." He said state law saw clams as a common resource.

On this point, Bill Hastback, a shellfish specialist with the State Department of Environmental Conservation, agrees, at least in part.

Common Property. . .

"An individual private bottom-owner does not have clear ownership of the resource," he said, citing a legal precedent set five years ago when a similar dispute arose in Asharoken, in the Town of Huntington.

State Supreme Court Justice Peter Cohalan ruled then that because free-floating shellfish larvae settled heedless of property lines, mature shellfish were common property, just like free-moving finfish and scallops.

Stuart Heath, another Lake Montauk bayman, said this week that few property owners seemed to know the law. He fears that local police, who are sometimes called by property owners to chase away baymen, may not be familiar with it either.

"This is not a hobby. It has a direct effect on my income if I'm ordered out of an area," Mr. Heath said.

. . .With One Exception

The exception to the law, Mr. Hastback said, is when a bottomland owner gets permits for the "on-bottom culture" of shellfish and actively engages in their farming and marketing, as Mr. Gibbs intends.

While Mr. Gibbs has applied for his permit, he has not received it, and technically cannot keep people from clamming until he does.

According to Debbie Barnes, who handles bottom-culture permits for the D.E.C., one drawback in Mr. Gibbs's plan is that his property is in an area closed to shellfishing from May to November.

'On-Bottom Culture'

Not a problem, Mr. Gibbs said. "I plan to be open year-round. I have a resort property and a restaurant, and I'll have clams and steamers I can harvest and sell in the restaurant. It will help pay the property taxes each year."

"I would rather do that than fight the town to make this place larger," he added.

He intends to put horses on his five acres, too, he said, "instead of 10 more units," and instead of trying to squeeze more boats into his small marina. He has applied to the Town Zoning Board to put a corral on the property.

"I want it to be part of East Lake," said Mr. Gibbs, "not a club. The place will close early. I believe in building to suit the land. The spawn from my clams will go throughout the lake. I want to give back to the lake."

Clam Ranch

Greg Rivara, an aquaculture specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, said he had met with Mr. Gibbs and believed the clam ranch was technically feasible.

"Five acres is enough to support a cottage industry," Mr. Rivara said this week. "He's not going to get the Fourth of July because of the closure, but the price of clams at Christmas is just as high."

Both Mr. Rivara and Ms. Barnes said the proposed farm's proximity to the Crabby Cowboy's own marina, and to Gone Fishing Marina next door, did not preclude the farm as long as the harvesting took place outside the closed season.

Dredging Disruption

Bayman and would-be clam-rancher alike are concerned about continued dredging in the area, which could disrupt shellfish beds and bury the resource.

Mr. Rivara, however, said approv ed dredging projects included safeguards such as "silt curtains" that keep nearby shellfish from being buried.

Mr. Sosinski said on Tuesday he was not giving up on his effort to keep Lake Montauk an open range for commercial shellfishermen. He said he knew of the proposed farm, but there were other arguments to make.

Before 1852, the right to fish in Great Pond, as the lake was known, was a common right, he said, guaranteed by the Dongan Patent of 1686.

Bayman Cites History

The right remained after the breakaway, and after Arthur Benson's purchase of Montauk in 1879, Mr. Sosinski contends, because that purchase did not include land below the low-tide line. Therefore, the bottom remained common land, just as in the rest of East Hampton's harbors and bays, which Town Trustees have owned and managed since colonial times.

Furthermore, said Mr. Sosinski, when the lake was opened to Block Island Sound in the mid-1920s, "it became Federal tidal waters," and after the inlet was dredged in 1936 "to qualify for Federal construction [funds], the town and the county agreed to provide certain public rights in the use of the water."

Shellfishing is one of the rights, Mr. Sosinski said.

Town Councilwoman Nancy Mc Caffrey said the Town Board was unlikely to take up the question unless and until Mr. Sosinski files a complaint with the town attorney's office.

United States Representative Michael Forbes and Senator Alfonse D'Amato, declaring that they were "fed up" by contamination of groundwater at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, called last week for investigations by the Federal Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency into lab operations following the finding of high levels of radioactive tritium less than 100 feet from B.N.L.'s main nuclear reactor.

"While we have been informed by the lab that drinking water has not been affected," they wrote in a letter to Acting U.S. Secretary of Energy Charles B. Curtis, "it is part of a pattern with respect to groundwater contamination that has continued to exist at the lab over the past year. Quite frankly, we are fed up."

Lack Of Confidence

"We are not confident that Brookhaven National Laboratory has an adequate handle on the health and environmental sensitivities of the surrounding residential neighborhoods. This recent incident raises questions as to whether there is further contamination elsewhere at the lab and the lab's ability to detect and/or prevent such contamination."

"We believe that a full-scale, top-to-bottom review of the operations at Brookhaven National Laboratory needs to be undertaken by officials at the highest levels within the Department of Energy," they went on. "In addition, we believe that the High Flux Beam Reactor -- which is being investigated as a possible source of contamination -- should remain shut down until it is proven that it is not the source of this latest groundwater contamination."

Ongoing Problem

In a letter to the E.P.A. Administrator, Carol M. Browner, the Congressman and Senator wrote that "this is the third time in one year that B.N.L. has indicated significant groundwater problems emanating from the site. Obviously, something is very wrong. Due to the repeated and ongoing contamination problems, we urge you to send a senior official from the E.P.A. to B.N.L. to find out exactly what has occurred and insure that every step is taken to protect the health and safety of the surrounding residents and on site workers."

In a letter of response which Mr. Forbes made available, Mr. Curtis said that a D.O.E. "team" is being formed "to conduct a health and safety review to investigate the source of the tritium contamination and insure that the appropriate mitigative and corrective actions are identified and implemented as quickly as possible."

Reactor Still Shut

He also said that "the High Flux Beam Reactor, a possible source of the contamination. . . will remain shut down until the situation is satisfactorily understood and resolved by the Department of Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory."

Suffolk Legislator Michael Caracciolo, a Wading River Republican whose district includes the lab, last week also called for the continued shutdown of the High Flux Beam Reactor at the lab. Mr. Caracciolo said that he was especially concerned about the tritium moving with the groundwater to houses near the lab. "I want the laboratory to get a handle on this," he said. "Then and only then should they be permitted to reopen the facility."

According to a lab press release, tritium beyond the E.P.A. and New York State drinking water standard was found in a test well near the High Flux Beam Reactor.

A computerized marketing system said to be revolutionizing the fish business in New England was an attention-getter during the Long Island Fishermen's Forum on Jan. 17.

The Buyers and Sellers Exchange, known by its acronym, BASE, operates from Homer's Wharf in New Bedford, Mass. Richard Canastra, a spokesman, told fishermen that their New England counterparts were seeing higher prices for their product, the latest price information, and more marketing opportunities, all thanks to an online system linking fishermen, buyers, and buyers' representatives who check on the quality of a catch at display auctions. A similar system is used throughout Europe.

Computer Bidding

He asked fishermen to consider BASE as an alternative to dealing with New York's Fulton Fish Market.

Mr. Canastra visited the forum at the request of Robert Link, president of Mariculture Technologies Inc., the company that plans to grow summer flounder (fluke) on 200 acres of leased bottomland off of Plum Island. Mr. Link said he would use BASE to market his farmed fish.

The vast majority of fish caught by Long Island's market fishermen are sent to New York City's Fulton Market on consignment - that is, the final price is not known until after the fish is shipped.

More Buyers

Like the Fulton Market, BASE requires that a catch be shipped to a designated facility to be displayed, inspected for quality, and bid on. Unlike the Fulton Market, the BASE system includes many more buyers bidding on a catch via computer. Agents hired by individual buyers, or groups of seafood customers, recommend bids based on firsthand inspections.

Using their personal computers, fishermen are able to learn "what's being hailed," i.e., what fish are being sold, and how many boats have landed the same species. Price trends can be determined in this way.

BASE can also arrange deals with fishermen for future catches, finding customers willing to pay in advance for a certain amount of fish to be delivered at a later date. Mr. Canastra said it was possible for fishermen to be paid daily and that the efficiency of the system enabled the market to pass along more money to the fishermen. BASE charges four cents per pound for the service.

Better Records

Fishermen said that when "daytripping," they could wait no later than 7 p.m. to decide where to ship their fish. Not a problem, Mr. Canastra said, adding that the price could be decided before shipping.

He admitted that the logistics and cost of shipping from Long Island was an unknown. "If there's enough volume, we could set up a big cooler to hold the display auction on Long Island," he suggested.

An extra benefit was improved record-keeping. Fishermen received a hard copy receipt of their transaction and were able to access their landing histories at any time. "The permanent data base saves time and money," Mr. Canastra said. And, he added, the system was being viewed favorably by the Federal agents who collect landing data.

Better Records

Mr. Link, a longtime fish dealer before entering the mariculture business, told fishermen, "I've traveled all over the country selling dead fish. New York is an enigma. You guys are getting the worst deal all the time. You've got the commodity, you should get more money," he said.

Local merchants, many of whom were trying to move out merchandise with winter clearance sales during a traditionally slow retail period, said they were pleased with the results of the one-week suspension of sales tax that ended Friday and would like to see the experiment repeated.

"It was very successful for us," said Tom Steele, an owner of Above the Potatoes at the corner of Main Street and Newtown Lane in East Hampton. "People really enjoyed not having to pay the sales tax. We saw a significant rise in sales."

Although the state and county are again collecting sales taxes, Mr. Steele said the store would continue its "tax-free zone" promotion through Sunday by giving customers an extra 8.25-percent discount on the men's and women's clothing it sells.

"We had bigger sales than we usually do at this time of the year," said Sal LaCarrubba, an owner of LaCarrubba's clothing store on Main Street in Amagansett. "We had a storewide 25 percent off sale on top of the 8.25 percent. People really took advantage of it."

"I was surprised how few people knew there was no sales tax," said Jennie Voorhees, a clerk at Punch, a women's and children's store on Newtown Lane. "Once they found out, they were happily surprised." The store was "definitely busier than usual," she added, "especially during the first couple of days."

"From everything I've heard, it was overwhelmingly successful," said State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. "Certainly consumers liked it and businesses liked it."

There have already been calls to offer another tax-free week, perhaps in late August or just after Labor Day to spur sales of back-to-school clothing. Mr. Thiele said he thought "the chances are excellent" the state will approve it.

The tax suspension, which started Jan. 18, is expected to cost Suffolk County about $1.6 million in revenue, and County Legislator George Guldi said he doubted it would be possible to offer it again this year.

"About all this rhetoric of doing it again: We projected our budget based on 51 weeks of sales tax revenue back in October," he said. "If we are going to do another week, we'll have to make that up somewhere, and I don't know where it will come from."

Nonetheless, Mr. Guldi said he took advantage of the savings. "I bought shirts," he said.

Although Mr. Thiele said he would support a permanent repeal of the sales tax on clothing "if it got to the floor" of the Assembly, he added that he thought that would be highly unlikely. "Because of the budget constraints of local governments, the counties in particular, I think it would be very difficult to get a complete and permanent repeal" of the tax, he said.

While talk of tax cuts is a perennial political issue, Mr. Thiele said, "school tax relief rates higher than sales tax relief for most people."

Mr. LaCarrubba said he would welcome a repeal. "It would definitely make a difference," he said. "It would stimulate sales and keep people from taking bus trips to Pennsylvania" to shop.

Mr. Steele agreed that repealing the tax would help business. "All the people who are driving to New Jersey or using mail order catalogues to save on sales tax would drop those dollars in New York State," he said. "It would lead to more income, more taxes, and more jobs."

He said he was confident the state would see the wisdom of getting rid of the tax and even offered a symbolic carrot to Governor Pataki. "If they were to drop it altogether, I'd wash the Governor's car every week for a year," he said.

Need For Study

East Hampton

January 25, 1997

Dear Helen Rattray,

Both Senator Al D'Amato and Representative Michael Forbes should be commended for asking that Brookhaven National Laboratory close down its high flux beam reactor, suspected of releasing incredibly high and dangerous levels of tritium. But Assemblyman Fred Thiele and County Legislator George Guldi also should be commended for opposing continued operation of another small Brookhaven reactor that can be shown to be equally dangerous.

I have learned that letters carried in The Star, including the very revealing, recent defensive letters by B.N.L. employees, play an important role in moving our elected officials to action.

Here is one example. Mr. Guldi, representing the Second District of the Suffolk County Legislature, responded to my announcement that the New York State Department of Health has just completed tabulating the breast cancer incidence data for Suffolk County for the years 1988-92 and was thus in a position to update a tabulation released in 1990 of age-adjusted breast cancer rates for the years 1978-87 for each of 62 community groupings that make up the county.

That tabulation offered the first official indication that the highest breast cancer rates were those near the lab. For example, the age-adjusted rate for the grouping Brook haven/Bellport, defined as three specified Census tracts located at the southwest perimeter of the lab, was the highest on Long Island, about 40 percent above the Suffolk County average. The updated data would add to the statistical significance to any similar finding, which would of course be of great importance to residents of that area who have recently filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the lab.

To our astonishment, Dr. Mark S. Babtiste replied that he had no budget that would permit the State Bureau of Cancer Epidemiology to provide such an update, because the 1980 Census tract definitions have been changed!

A similar instance of bureaucratic foot-dragging that requires public discussion comes from a letter from Dr. Marilee Gammon of the Columbia School of Public Health, who has just received $8 million from the National Cancer Institute to conduct a study of the environmental causes of the Long Island breast cancer epidemic, which, however, does not include possible radioactivity in drinking water.

In a Nov. 4 letter to Miriam Goodman and a group of concerned members of the Long Island Breast Cancer Network who queried her about this curious omission, she stated: "At present our protocol and our budget do not include examination of radionuclides in the water samples. If there is scientific justification for adding additional laboratory analyses, additional funding would need to be obtained."

This clearly underlies the need for our independent study of the varying amounts of radioactivity in baby teeth near B.N.L., information for which is available from Bill Smith of Fish Unlimited on Shelter Island. The good news is that our study, started with a grant from the Methodist Church and some East End family foundations, has been now endorsed by the New York Physicians for Social Responsibility and will be extended to include families living close to the Indian Point and Millstone reactors, using techniques developed by the German branch of P.S.R.

We shall soon have on hand a 32-page translation of a publication by the Berlin International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, describing their success in analyzing the strontium-90 content of thousands of German milk teeth. These tests are so sensitive that they found a tenfold increase in children born in 1987 over those born in 1985 because of the Chernobyl radiation cloud arriving in 1986. This finding has yet to be revealed by the mainstream press despite the fact that I.P.P.N.W. received the Nobel Peace Prize for peace in 1985. Readers wanting more information on this exciting new development can call me.

Cordially,

JAY M. GOULD

First To Report

East Hampton

January 25, 1997

Dear Helen,

I took special delight reading in The Star about the shutdown of Suffolk's only nuclear facility: Brookhaven National Laboratory Incorporated.

My interest in radioactive contamination of Suffolk's drinking water dates back to 1975, when I served as an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County. I would constantly read Karl Grossman's investigative reporting on this issue in The Star. As you know, Mr. Grossman was the first to report on the radioactive contamination found in the drinking wells of four hapless residents whose homes adjoined the property of B.N.L. This story was reported by Mr. Grossman in The Star before The New York Times ran it.

What makes the shutdown genuinely joyous is that The Star's Mr. Grossman was almost alone in those days in reporting on the mischief of B.N.L. And B.N.L., for its part, rather than address the problem divulged by Mr. Grossman, continued to stonewall the public: reciting the usual, inane liturgy, "There is no hazard to the public health." Now that the problem is out of hand, they shut down.

But who is to pay for their nonsense?

B.N.L., although it somehow appropriated the word National in its corporate name, is a private corporation owned and operated by seven universities. It is no more a governmental entity than National Car Leasing Corporation.

But we have the right to expect decency from these academic institutions. Instead, what we get is a bad neighbor. B.N.L. has contaminated Suffolk County's drinking water supply in addition to its radioactive contamination of the Peconic River. Had B.N.L. adopted an open view (consistent with men and women of science) it would not have continued its relentless contamination once the issue was raised over 20 years ago by The Star and Mr. Grossman.

Credit for making this lonely effort should be given to both The Star and Mr. Grossman. But the next step is for the lawyers: a class action suit against the individual trustees of the defiant and reckless universities. To them, Suffolk County was worthless. What was it worth to us?

Yours,

SIMON PERCHIK

YesYesBonacs

Sag Harbor

January 27, 1997

Dear Helen,

Picked up on the sub-ether radio...

East Hampton School Board announces course in standard English as a second language for native speakers of YesYesBonacs.

For those unacquainted with recent linguistic trends (analogous in many ways to beer-drinking trends with the tendency of sophisticated imbibers to prefer "micro-brewed" beers), modern linguistic educational thought scoffs at the concept of "dialect" and requires the recognition of variations in English as languages in their own right.

In line with this trend, the East Hampton School Board announced that it will offer courses in remedial standard English for native speakers of YesYesBonacs.

This language is the result of generations of isolation of native speakers on the eastern end of Long Island. Features of the language include the following:

- Frequent repetition of the affirmative emphative ("YesYes");

- Appositive renomenclature of the second person with a standardized form ("Bub," "Bubby" [diminutive]);

- Vowel substitution of unstressed "U" for other short vowels ("Got sum big scullups in 'em drudges, Bub");

- Frequent and colorful use of expletives and scatological phrases (examples deleted);

- Substitution of different pronoun forms and removal of "th" initial sounds (" 'em cod was thicker'n [example deleted], Bub").

Educators, hoping to remove the social stigma attached on such native speakers in the job markets, also hope to bridge the social gap between YesYesBonacs speakers and newer residents, referred to in YesYesBonacs as "[adjective deleted] summa people" by fostering a spirit of mutual respect between the two. They point out that "Bonac twang," as the unique inflections and intonations of YesYesBonacs has been referred to by other commentators, is a linguistic heritage from the forms of English spoken by early settlers to this part of the United States.

As a living linguistic heritage it is, as has been remarked by so many native YesYesBonacs speakers, "finest kind."

Best Wishes,

BILL FRISBIE

Nothing To Fear

Sag Harbor

January 26, 1997

Dear Editor:

Damage control spokespeople at Brookhaven National Laboratory - a facility which consumes huge amounts of our tax money on outdated cold war projects using deteriorating technologies and which operates secretly so no one can really know what is going on there - are "talking down" the recent accident where major amounts of radioactive tritium got into local groundwater. When will the madness stop?

Lab representatives claim that there was no leak from their atomic reactors. Perhaps it came from one of the lab's neighbors - the guy who runs the chop shop and paints cars with radioactive primer, or one of the local kids with a "nuclear" chemistry set. (You know, one of those people who have to have their water brought in from elsewhere despite the fact that lab-contaminated wells "pose no threat to public health.")

In a conversation I had with a nuclear engineer several days ago, he informed me that the tritium could have easily come from a nearby commercial firm that, for example, makes exit signs for airplanes. These signs contain tritium. He suggested that the radioactive sign material could have gotten into the aquifer and then traveled to the lab. Come on, all you folks who live around the lab, stop dumping all that radioactivity into your water. It's getting into Brookhaven Lab wells and has migrated to within 100 feet of one of their reactors.

Personally, I believe all those unsolicited, objective letters written by the extremely well-paid scientists at Brookhaven about how safe the place is, and about all the good work they claim they do. If they were wasting our $415,000,000 a year on projects of little value wouldn't they be the first to admit it?

When they told us Three Mile Island was not a threat to public health I believed them. So did all those people who lived near the atomic plant who are now dying of cancers at rates well above the national average.

When they said the Chernobyl accident was nothing to fear, even though the panic-stricken nuclear scientists and local politicians were flying their families out of the region within hours of the explosion, I felt reassured. So did the several million people near Kiev who continue to eat radioactive food every day of their lives and whose kids are now dying of leukemia at unprecedented rates.

When the recent space probe, filled with nuclear material, ran amok and dropped a major load of plutonium on Chile and Bolivia, I slept well knowing that chances of another accident like this, where enough highly enriched radioactive substance to kill everyone on the planet might wind up landing in my Jacuzzi, was one in 600 trillion.

And when they tell us that daily emissions and leaks from their atomic reactors are not giving Long Island women breast cancer, I rest assured that we have nothing to fear. I like these guys, and I trust them. They speak the truth.

In fact I suspect that the recent release of tritium into Long Island water is "too small to meter," that it "poses no threat" to anyone or anything, and that those who were responsible "were only following orders."

And when they tell us that there will only be a slight increase in cancer deaths as a result of Brookhaven's activities, I feel content. A small increase in cancer is not much. Not much, that is, unless you, or your daughter, or mother, or son, or spouse happens to be the person who gets it.

People like Jay Gould, Karl Grossman, Bill Smith, Helen Caldicott, and me may not buy the argument that the operation of an atomic reactor that releases radioactive toxins into a suburban environment of several million people is no big deal, but come on, these malcontents are upset because they aren't on the payroll at the lab and don't get to cure cancer with atom lasers and flux beams for a living.

I, for one, would like to send out positive affirmations to all the nuclear scientists and co-workers associated with those two very safe reactors that have been operating since the days when many of the commercial airplanes coming into Kennedy Airport still had propellers.

And because I know Brookhaven scientists are never less than forthcoming about what it is that they do (whatever it is that they do do), I would like them to honestly answer a few questions which could end forever this dialogue about whether they are underappreciated cosmic saviors of the next millennium or, as many have ungraciously claimed, mad scientists hell-bent on destroying the human race in the pursuit of what they believe constitutes scientific progress.

First: How much of your extremely large budget goes for medical work that accomplishes anything of value? I know you radiate people in the hopes that their cancer will go away, but does this really work? Is there any scientific evidence to show that you are curing people or extending their lives as opposed to destroying their immune systems, making them bald and nauseous, and separating them and their health maintenance organizations from tens of thousands of dollars? Is there any truth to the claim that radiation as a therapy can in fact increase rather than decrease the growth rate of tumors, causing people to die faster than they would without these treatments, as for example with prostate cancer?

Second: Do you really believe that when you release all that radioactivity into the air we breathe and water we drink, intentionally or otherwise, you are not causing breast cancer and other diseases? Are you aware there are hundreds, if not thousands, of studies showing that radiation causes fatal diseases like leukemia and other cancers and that no level of exposure is safe? Can you really be in the healing business and generate enough toxins to become a Superfund site at the same time? Do you see any contradictions in this? If not, why not?

Third: (This is a hard one.) Is it true that you were involved in experiments in the early 1990s where healthy people were essentially taken off the street, given radioactive substances, and placed in machines that used something called a gamma camera? That these people were told there was an extremely small chance that they could develop cancer from these experiments even though there was no accurate way for anyone to honestly gauge the risk to them and that they were paid $100 a day to participate in this experiment? And now at least one, and probably others, may have developed cancer as a result?

Take your time on this one. An inappropriate answer might shed bad light on your lab and its role in the "care-giving" field.

For extra credit: Can you think of another period in history when experiments like this were carried out on humans in laboratories by people who espoused an ideology based on the view that they were superior in their judgments and that their cause was of such import that other members of the human race were expendable?

Fourth: How much of your budget goes to run those decades-old atomic reactors? You love to claim that Brookhaven creates jobs, but how many more jobs could you create if you shut down those reactors and hired people with that money to do something beneficial for the human race? Surely all that atomic fuel (that you don't spill) must cost a fortune.

Fifth: Are you really generating income for Long Island, or is it true that the lab is really a cold war relic that has been overlooked by the Welfare Reform Act? It seems to me that you are consuming taxpayer dollars, not generating economic value. Could you please provide a definition of the term nuclear pork barrel and distinguish this term from the activities going on at the Brookhaven Lab?

Note: Let's say you changed what you are doing. Perhaps, since you operate under the Department of Energy, you convert over to a center that develops and manufactures wind power and solar technologies to be sold in the United States and overseas. There will be hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of this technology demanded all over the globe in the coming decades and it would be nice if the Japanese and Europeans did not get it all.

Why fight for the dangerous technologies of the past when lots of private dollars could be flowing into the Long Island region because we've become leaders in the development of renewable energy? And you wouldn't need to spend more and more of your time telling us a nuclear Peconic River is okay, that radioactive wells are not a threat to our health, and that local breast cancer rates are not related to the Superfund toxins and atomic leaks you generate. Instead you could spend your time hiring people to fill all the jobs that this work would create. Tomorrow belongs to the wind and the sun, not to atom splitting, n'est-ce pas?

Sixth: What really happened in this recent accident? It appears to me that some sort of cover-up is taking place. Why is there no information coming out about this? Is it true that because you are a Federal laboratory the public will not have access to the site and that secrecy will continue to be the norm? Is this appropriate for an institution that employs people who are as committed to public health as your scientists and well-paid public relations people tell us you are? Is it true that once tritium gets into the groundwater you can never remove it again?

Can we really expect to get truth from the Department Of Energy or Environmental Protection Agency on this matter when you are all sleeping in the same bed together? Wouldn't a Congressionally appointed independent investigator of the goings-on at your lab be far more likely to get to the bottom of all this business of spills and poisons than the good old boys who are checking things out now?

Seventh: Would you let your kids drink the water around Brookhaven Lab? If not, doesn't this mean that you believe your kids are more deserving of not dying of cancer than the children living near your lab? Don't you think it's time to stop doing what you're doing to us?

RALPH J. HERBERT, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

of Environmental Studies

Southampton College