AMAGANSETT

Fein to Howard and Bernice Stein, Cliff Road, $220,000.

Mulford 3d to Mary LeBey, Meeting House Lane, $450,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Liotta to Margherita Liotta, Herons Court, $195,000.

EAST HAMPTON

J&P Son Inc. to Arnold and Barbara Ackerman, Barclay Court, $593,500.

Dickinson to Calvin Stewart, Tub Oarsman Road, $152,000.

Hogan to Stephen and Mary Cherry, Springy Banks Road, $425,000.

Gateway Investments to Further Lane Trust, Further Lane, $3,171,000.

MONTAUK

Emerson Dev. Corp. to Sidney and Leslie Wexler, Sunscape Condo, $155,000.

Thal to Marcus Farrell Jr., Old Montauk Highway, $1,700,000.

Hopkins to Louis and Kathy Fava, Flanders Road, $285,000.

Shea to Howard and Myra Bailin, North Farragut Road, $263,000.

NORTH HAVEN

Blake Anthony Inc. to Great Escapes Ltd., Barclay Drive, $215,000.

NOYAC

Torchen to John and Elizabeth Schulman, Crown Lane, $158,000.

SAG HARBOR

Schulman to David Sherwood and Michelle Beebee, Stony Hill Road, $160,000.

Mistler to Michael and Lauren Mishkin, Noyac Road, $565,000.

SAGAPONACK

St. John to Robert Balaban, Highland Terrace, $640,000.

SPRINGS

Schust estate to John Schust Sr., Norfolk Drive, $175,000.

WAINSCOTT

Stockman to Andrea Blumenthal, Debra's Way, $329,000.

WATER MILL

Damiecki to Charles and Natacha Casale, Uncle Leo's Lane, $155,000.

Sarason to David and Florence Friedman, Westminster Road, $580,000.

Sperling to Irwin and Janice Rubin, Water Mill Towd Road, $297,500.

It's all over but for the dinner, awards presentation, and traditional roasts scheduled for Sunday at the Harvest restaurant in Montauk. The Montauk Local surfcasting competition for striped bass ended on Sunday undramatically, with only the occasional small bass caught at the end. Richie Michaelson won for the second year in a row.

The winning fish was small compared to those in past years, and even compared to the 40 and 50-pounders reeled ashore this year by non-contestants.

Mr. Michaelson's winner was a 37.5-pound bass caught back on Oct. 20. Second and third places were captured by Atilla Ozturk with bass weighing 34 and 33.5 pounds. This year, in addition to a cash prize, Mr. Michaelson will take home a custom-made trophy he will relinquish when dethroned, if that ever happens.

Bye, Bye, Bass

He has reportedly offered his fellow competitor Dennis Gaviola special thanks for tipping him off about the good fishing the day he caught the winning bass. The catch put Mr. Gaviola, then in third place, out of the running.

Tickets to the awards party cost $30, which covers an open bar, buffet, and entertainment. The event starts at 4 p.m.

It appears the last cold snap spurred the bass on their migration. Charter fishermen reported a slow pick early this week after a summer of unparalleled bass fishing. The Lazy Bones party boat called it quits yesterday after her anglers succeeded in landing only one bass the day before.

The action has not slowed overall, however, with bottom species reportedly taking up the slack.

Good Eating

Capt. Michael Potts of the Bluefin IV took a party of bottom fishermen off the coast of Block Island on Saturday - passing the bass rips along the way - to get to the bottom dwellers. The result was 22 cod in the two to six-pound range, and a number of sea bass. The latter is considered one of the best eating fish in the ocean.

Bob Valenti of Multi-Aquaculture, a fish-buying company on Napeague, explained that a strong market existed for sea bass year round, with higher quality fish being sold live during the spring, summer, fall, and early winter.

Lots Of Waste

They are caught near shore in traps or by commercial pinhookers during these periods. When the ocean temperature drops in midwinter, sea bass migrate to deeper water. They're on their migration now. Offshore draggers catch them in winter, increasing the supply and reducing the price to dealers.

However, the price of sea bass tends to remain high for the consumer looking for fillet because the species' ratio of meat to waste (bone and skin) is not profitable. The bass are most often gutted, scaled, and then steamed or poached, and are much favored in the Asian and Asian American markets.

Sea bass are a favorite of Frank Chen, the chef at Montauk's Wok 'N' Roll restaurant, who will cook up a fisherman's catch of the day. He has reportedly been winning raves for his striped-bass-head soup.

Dan Flavin, whose radical fluorescent light sculptures are familiar to museum-goers worldwide, died at Central Suffolk Hospital on Friday of complications from diabetes. The artist, who lived on Beach Lane in Wainscott, was 63.

His minimalist works - he was perhaps the first artist to construct sculptures using electric light - arose from his Abstract Expressionist background, using simple construction, large scale, and saturated color.

While Mr. Flavin's work has mainly been exhibited in major museums and galleries, since 1983 East Enders have had a chance to see it on permanent display in Bridgehampton, at the branch of the Dia Art Foundation on Corwith Avenue. The gallery, a former firehouse and originally known as the Dan Flavin Art Institute, is open during the summer and mounts other exhibits in addition to Mr. Flavin's work.

It is an institution that has had its shares of ups and downs and personality conflicts, given Mr. Flavin's somewhat litigious nature, but also, thanks to Dia's resources, mounted many exhibits of a specificity and range beyond the reach of many East End galleries.

The critic John Russell, writing in 1985, enthused both over this little-known gallery and over Mr. Flavin's work. "The fluorescent light has a soft enveloping glow, quite unlike the needley, pinched aggressive quality of neon . . . but there is no sentimentality, either. Flavin uses candy colors, but he leaves out the sugar substitute. . . . The pieces have no corporeal substance. Switched off, they are as inert as a broken phonograph. Switched on, they lead a charmed life, doubling back and forth between dream and reality. . . . In its radiant, uncombative way, his institute has a unique experience to offer."

While his art may not have been combative, Mr. Flavin himself was more so. He was described by some who knew him as both irascibly brilliant and tediously labyrinthine. But all agreed with Annie Solomon, speaking from Florida, who said he was always warmly generous in defense of other artists whom he admired - not just other minimalists like Donald Judd, but those whose work was far removed from his, like James Brooks and Syd Solomon.

He regularly fired off letters to The Star - trashing lectures by Tom Wolfe and Kirk Varnedoe, George Bush's presidential campaign, the lack of parking on Beach Lane, Henry Geldzahler's curatorship of the Bridgehampton Dia, and, memorably, questioning the artistic merit of certain prominent local artists. This last, as did many of his letters, engendered a barrage of spluttering, irate replies - which was possibly why he wrote them in the first place.

Daniel Nicholas Flavin was born on April 1, 1933, in New York City, a twin son of Daniel N. Flavin and the former Viola Bernzott. He grew up in Queens, where he attended a seminary before moving on to study art history at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University. During the Korean War he served with the Air Weather Service of the U.S. Air Force.

After supporting his art by working as a guard at the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art and as a messenger for the Guggenheim Museum, he had his first exhibit in 1961, at the Judson Gallery in Greenwich Village. Mr. Flavin first showed his light sculptures at the Green Gallery on 57th Street three years later and was with the Leo Castelli Gallery for many years before moving to the Pace Gallery.

His 1961 marriage to Sonia Severdija ended in divorce. He was married in 1992 to Tracy Harris, who survives him, in a dramatic ceremony in the rotunda of the Guggenheim, which was mounting its second major exhibit of his work at the time.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Flavin leaves a son, Stephen Conor Flavin. His twin brother died in 1962.

A private service will be held on Dec. 12, with burial in Wainscott Cemetery.

Memorial contributions have been suggested for the American Diabetes Foundation.

Mayor Pierce Hance had a succinct message for those who attended Tuesday's Sag Harbor Village Board meeting: See you next Wednesday.

That is the day the State Department of Transportation will host a public hearing to hear comments about its plan to replace the Sag Harbor-North Haven Bridge.

"There is broad support for maintaining the bridge as is," Mr. Hance said. "It will be standing room only, I hope."

The D.O.T. has issued a report outlining several different options for replacing the bridge. These include building an expanse parallel to the current span, either to the north or the south (and tearing down the current bridge once the new one is completed), and building in the same location.

Move Bridge?

Moving the bridge north or south has the advantage of allowing the existing span to be used while the new one is being built. However, such a move is widely opposed by residents because it would require the sacrifice of existing parkland and wetlands.

Whatever the location, the new span would be about 13 feet wider than the existing one to meet current D.O.T. requirements and to provide wider shoulders for bikers. Moreover, the D.O.T. wants to build a span that could accommodate increased speed limits of 45 to 50 miles per hour - though it says the speed limit wouldn't necessarily be raised from the current 30 miles per hour.

A two-village task force chaired by Gayle Pickering recommended that a new bridge be constructed where the current one is - by tearing half of it down at a time - and that the current 30-mile-per-hour speed limit be retained. That seems to be the general sentiment of Sag Harbor and North Haven residents.

Rerouting Traffic

Under such a plan, traffic would be rerouted to Brick Kiln and Noyac Roads during the construction time, estimated to be as much as two years. However, access over the bridge for emergency vehicles would be permitted.

The possibility of raising the speed limit has been roundly opposed by the Village Board. Mr. Hance expressed concern about endangering pedestrian traffic to and from Long Wharf at the foot of the bridge.

The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. in the Pierson High School auditorium.

Following a "60 Minutes" segment about deer in the Northeast, which aired on Nov. 24 and focused mainly on North Haven's problems, the village has received scores of letters on the subject.

People from around the country have offered solutions to the dilemma, the North Haven Village Board noted at its meeting Tuesday night.

Some even offered their towns as new homes for the North Haven deer.

One grinch from Arizona, however, suggested the village require everyone to get big bumpers on their car and raise the speed limit to 75 miles per hour.

Three More Months

The board decided Tuesday to extend the deer-hunting season an additional three months until March 31. So-called "nuisance deer permits" will be issued through that date.

The resolution passed by a 3-2 vote. Patricia Frankemolle and Vincent Mauceri voted against it.

The board also decided, without Ms. Frankemolle and Mr. Mauceri's votes, to proceed with a survey of the economic impact of deer on the village. The survey polls residents about deer-related accidents, Lyme disease, and property damage.

Robert Reiser, who heads the board's deer management committee, said a preliminary survey of 20 households appeared to show damages amounting to over $5,300 per family.

Deer Damage Survey

The study, conducted by students at Southampton College, will eventually include 200 families and will cost the village $2,700. "It's something we need to have in our arsenal of defense as a village," Mr. Reiser said.

Some village residents, however, did not think spending the money was a good idea, nor did they agree with the dollar amounts reported in the preliminary survey.

At last month's Village Board meeting, Mayor Robert Ratcliffe and some residents had suggested the deer committee ask hunters to use shotguns instead of bows and arrows.

Bow and arrow hunting can leave a deer seriously injured, but it may not die for several hours or days. Shotgun hunting, they argued, would be more humane.

Bows And Arrows

Mr. Reiser said Tuesday "the committee felt that was an attempt to locate hunters by the noise of the guns" and then to harass them. Bows and arrows alone will continue to be used, he said.

Hunters have donated 10 deer to a group called Hunters Helping the Hungry, Mr. Reiser told the board, and were to donate another 10 animals to the Sag Harbor Presbyterian Church food pantry yesterday.

Following the meeting, Kelly Patton, who wore a lion mask to last month's Village Board meeting (incorrectly referred to as a deer mask in a previous report), proposed the village create a "deer park," where the animals could roam freely and be appreciated, once the herd was reduced.

Deer Park?

"We have to cull the herd, that has to be done," she acknowledged, but suggested that if some land were set aside for the deer, it might help the community reach a truce on the issue.

"It sounds really strange to the people on North Haven, but someday the white-tailed deer will be endangered," Ms. Patton said.

Trustees said the concept sounded good in theory, but asked where the village would get the land and how the animals could be confined to the one area.

East Hamptoners young and old will welcome Santa to town on Saturday at the annual Santa Parade, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. The parade will begin at Guild Hall and continue down Main Street to Newtown Lane and the railroad station.

Floats, bands, church associations, scout troops, and fraternal and civic organizations will march - not to mention the man of honor, who usually makes an appearance in some sort of snappy vehicle. Awards will be given for best floats and best marching groups.

Participants will begin lining up at 9 a.m., and the parade will begin at 10 a.m. sharp. Afterward, Santa will greet children at the East Hampton Cinema and hear their Christmas wishes. A movie, "Balto," will be shown courtesy of The East Hampton Independent at 11:15 a.m.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Santa will visit the Gardiner Brown House in East Hampton to pose with children for photos. The Ladies Village Improvement Society is sponsoring the session, and the photos will cost $6.

If ever there was a smooth evacuation, East Hampton School District officials said this week, it was at the John Marshall Elementary School Tuesday afternoon - the whole operation completed "in a heartbeat."

It all began with a midafternoon accident "not uncommon at construction sites," officials said. A backhoe digging a drain line in a parking area 100 yards or so from the school cracked an old steel gas line, and it sprang a leak.

Workmen alerted the school's principal, the fire alarm was sounded, and 360 students and roughly 40 faculty and staff moved out of the building through a rear exit in "45 seconds," Thomas Lamorgese, the interim principal, told the East Hampton School Board Tuesday evening.

School Was Ready

The school had been prepared for such a possibility, noted Jim Dunlop, Chief of the East Hampton Fire Department, who was quickly on the scene.

In light of continuing construction at John Marshall, the Fire Department had approved an evacuation plan for the facility the week before school opened in September.

Mr. Lamorgese, who stressed that fire safety was a priority, said he had conducted several fire drills during the term, bringing evacuation time down from two minutes to less than a minute.

Service Shut Off

Dispatchers notified the Long Island Lighting Company, which arrived within 15 minutes to shut off the gas service to the school.

Firefighters attempted to close off the gas, but "were worried about breaking the line," said Mr. Dunlop. They opted instead to defer to the utility company.

"LILCO," he added, "is good about getting to gas leaks."

Though passers-by reported smell ing gas several blocks away, there was "never any danger to the school," said Jim Terry of Terry Construction of Riverhead, the subcontracting firm whose workman hit the line.

Gas lines generally are marked with tape so that workmen avoid them when using excavation equipment. But, Mr. Terry said, there were "some discrepancies" in the markings at the John Marshall site, which he said was "fairly typical with old utility lines."

Police and fire officials cordoned off the area until it was deemed safe to return.

Students were moved to the Learning Center, which houses the East Hampton Day Care Center, where they were dismissed.

Kindergarteners, who are normally bused back to John Marshall from their temporary digs on Meadow Lane by dismissal time, were instead transported to the Learning Center, where parents were directed to pick them up.

Service Restored

LILCO replaced a portion of the damaged steel pipe with plastic pipe, April Dubison, a utility spokeswoman, confirmed yesterday.

Service was restored by 7 p.m. Tuesday, and school was in session, problem-free, yesterday morning, Mr. Lamorgese reported.

"The kids thought it was a great adventure," Denise Simmons, the John Marshall Parent Teacher Association president, told the School Board Tuesday evening.

"It's too bad it had to happen," said Noel McStay, the East Hampton District Superintendent, yesterday. But the incident showed "how everyone really came together," he said.

Two years of on-again, off-again talks are stalled again among the school districts in East Hampton Town over the contracts under which districts pay East Hampton to educate their middle and high school students.

Most of the school boards' discussions about tuition, or arguments as the case may be, have taken place in closed-door sessions. Members of the boards say they have been advised to meet privately by their attorneys. However, the executive director of the State Committee on Open Government said the law did not allow closed, or executive, sessions in this situation. He is expected to send the districts a written opinion soon at the request of The Star.

The talks involve contracts signed in 1992 by the Springs, Amagansett, Montauk, Wainscott, and Saga ponack School Districts with East Hampton.

Nothing Paid

East Hampton has been anxious to extend the agreements, most of which end in 1999, to June 2001 in anticipation of a $5.3-million expansion and renovation of its high school, which was approved last night by public referendum. Sagaponack and, to some extent, Sag Harbor, are the only districts outside the town that send some of their students to East Hampton schools.

At a meeting of the East Hampton School Board Tuesday night, it was reported that Sagaponack was the only district that had paid anything so far on this year's tuition bills. Board members noted that the first bills had gone out unusually late, on Oct. 31, and added that by Dec. 1 the district had received $89,000 in tuition, as compared to $600,000 last year.

In the past, in response to reporters' questions, members of several districts' boards have recounted tuition-related discussions held behind closed doors. Others have been tight-lipped, as members of the East Hampton School Board were after an executive session in June when tuition "came up suddenly," according to one member.

BOCES Plan

A major decision was made at that session - to hike tuition by 6 percent for this academic year.

An exception to the practice of keeping a lid on what has gone on at tuition meetings was an announcement in October by the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services of the provisions in a tuition agreement it had proposed.

The BOCES proposal found acceptance in East Hampton, but Springs outlined a counteroffer in a confidential letter to that district on Nov. 1, and Montauk and Amagansett voted to postpone their decisions until a reorganization study of the four districts is completed in the spring. The talks have been stalled ever since. The reorganization study is being done with an eye toward equalizing the costs of education among the town's school districts by consolidation or by establishing a central high school district.

Opposing Views

"It's preposterous" to suggest that we should "discuss money matters - what we should and should not propose" - in public, said Reginald Cornelia, the president of the Springs School Board, which is disputing the 6-percent hike. "It's just not a practicable way to do things."

Mr. Cornelia acknowledged that board members "talk about [tuition] over coffee" - though he did not specify where or whether a majority of board members was present. He had "no idea how many times we've discussed this in executive session."

The Open Meetings Law has eight provisions for closed, or executive, sessions. They include collective negotiations pursuant to the Civil Service Law, which governs teachers or custodial unions. The law also allows closed-door talks on proposed, pending, or current litigation - but not the possibility or mere "threat" of litigation.

"If meetings were closed every time lawsuits were threatened," said Robert Freeman of the state open government committee "there would be no point to the Open Meetings Law." The executive session can be used only to discuss specific litigation strategy, he added.

Attorneys' Blessings

William Silver, the Springs Superintendent, said that Susan Janece of Payne Wood & Littlejohn, a Bridgehampton and Melville law firm, had advised the board it "can do this in executive session." Dr. Silver said, however, that the board would "reconsider" if supplied with a written legal opinion to the contrary.

Of Mr. Freeman, Noel McStay, the East Hampton School Superintendent said, "He thinks everything should be open."

Polling An Issue

Sharon Bacon, the East Hampton Board president, said its tuition discussions in executive session had the blessing of Robert Sapir, the board's attorney, "ever since I've been here." During some sessions, Ms. Bacon said, Michael Tracey, the vice president, and Claudia Maietta, another board member, had reported on talks they had held with board members of other districts.

Mr. Tracey, a former board president, recalled that about a year ago the matter of discussing tuition in public came up. Since then, he said, board members have been reviewing various tuition proposals "disseminated through interoffice mail." The board's will is then determined by polling its members by phone, he said. Decisions reached by polling rather than at public meetings also are considered a violation of state law.

Mr. Sapir of the Melville firm of Cooper, Sapir & Cohen, explained that he had advised the board that their tuition discussions were "an exception" to the Open Meetings Law because it was a "real matter involving the real possibility of litigation."

He said both Springs and East Hampton formally agreed to "hold off filing suit" during negotiations.

"Ripe For Litigation"

In his opinion, "these discussions are actually 'settlement' discussions to try to resolve a legal matter," which he characterized as "ripe for litigation."

During Jack Perna's two-year tenure as Montauk School District Superintendent, tuition also has been discussed in executive session. "I don't know why," our attorney advised us to meet this way, said Mr. Perna this week, - "perhaps because it's a large amount of money in a contractual agreement." The board's attorney is Bill Mullen of Huntington.

In Amagansett, George Eichhorn, the School Board president since July 1, said he planned to "call Albany" to get the word firsthand that tuition talks have to be held in public. "Normally in the past," he acknowledged, such "talks took place in executive session."

Mr. Eichhorn was reluctant to make the change, saying, "We've never tried to cover anything, but anytime you have to talk about finances, it doesn't make sense to reveal your bargaining position."

A year ago, Matthew Grady was talking about raising money for an East End AIDS hospice for the dying. These days he also talks about how to help people who only recently seemed resigned to death, but now may have a reprieve.

Mr. Grady heads the East End AIDS Wellness Project, an educational and support agency. In recent years he has fought the good fight on behalf of continued state-subsidized drug treatment for people with AIDS, local support of the East End AIDS Clinic at Goodfriend Park in East Hampton, and Federal Ryan White Act monies for prevention programs in schools and among minority populations here.

But the introduction of protease inhibitors, an expanding group of medications which appear to prolong life, "took people by surprise," he said this week. Protease inhibitors attack the virus's ability to replicate and appear to be more effective the earlier in the illness they are taken.

Alive, But Little Else

As a result of the medicines, some East Enders with advanced AIDS who had sold most of their worldly possessions and "maxed out" their credit cards are still alive, but have become virtually impoverished, Mr. Grady said. "The only thing they own now is a cemetery plot."

AIDS was the third most common sexually transmitted disease in the nation last year, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Long Island, with roughly 5,000 cases, is said to have the largest number of AIDS patients in any suburban area. One out of every 100 U.S. AIDS cases and AIDS-related deaths occurs here.

Protease Inhibitors

The World Health Organization estimates that about 22.5 million people are infected with AIDS worldwide, about 42 percent of whom are women. Half are under 25.

Federal Drug Administration approval this year of the first protease inhibitors, with more expected in the next few months, has added a new demand to life in the age of AIDS. The challenge now, advocates say, is to keep those with the disease physically and financially alive and at the same time push for more and earlier AIDS testing.

Adam Grossman, a 31-year-old attorney and Noyac resident, was diagnosed H.I.V.-positive in August 1994. He said he began treatment the following year with A.Z.T. (Retrovir), which is thought to disable the AIDS virus.

He "never did get sick," he said, but he did not tolerate A.Z.T. well, experiencing severe nausea.

In time, Dr. Jennifer Schranz, who until recently worked at the East End AIDS Clinic, began prescribing experimental combinations of drugs. This fall he began taking Crixivan, the protease inhibitor known as Indinavir, in combination with Videx (ddI) and Zerit (d4T).

Activist: "Get Tested"

"The virus is now almost undetectable," Mr. Grossman said. "While no one knows yet how long this will last, my perspective of my lifespan has changed from five to six years, max, to longer."

"What I don't know is - a little longer, or a lot?"

Mr. Grossman is committed to helping the East End's young people understand that "the way of the world now, if you're sexually active, is you get tested." It's the only way to "protect their future and their health."

"I had two sexual partners in my life," Mr. Grossman said. "All you need is one."

He tells teenagers that there are many ways to express physical intimacy besides intercourse, and practices what he preaches.

"This virus," Mr. Grossman promised, "is only taking ME out."

Suspicious Colds

Janie, 33, has been living with AIDS for a decade. She acquired the virus from a man who injected himself with drugs. About two years after their relationship ended, and after marrying another man, she found she was "getting a lot of colds and not getting better."

She also had repeated "yeast infections, abnormal Pap smears, and cervical warts." She did not know, she said, that "there was any connection" between those symptoms and H.I.V.

After testing positive, she recalled thinking, "I can stand here and cry - or go on to [a graduate school] class."

Janie moved to the East End about two years ago and was referred to the University Medical Center at Stony Brook, where she joined a study on Crixivan.

"I feel well now," she said, adding that her biggest concern is fatigue.

New Lease On Life

Janie takes 25 pills a day, at 8 a.m., 4 p.m., and midnight. Besides the Crixivan, she takes A.Z.T. and 3TC (Epivir). The regimen requires that she take the pills on an empty stomach, but that she eat something within an hour.

Not unlike others taking the new medications, Janie now views her condition as a "chronic" illness, rather than a death sentence.

"Four years ago, I didn't think I'd be here," she said. "Now I have dreams of a house and a picket fence."

"I feel very grateful, especially on birthdays," she added. "It sounds corny, but sunsets are a lot more beautiful, and watching the seasons, you appreciate life a lot more. I don't sweat the small stuff."

Hopeful Diagnosis

John, 38, another East Ender, was diagnosed in 1984. Within four years, he had become ill and was in and out of hospitals, experiencing fevers and night sweats so intense the sheets frequently had to be changed. He also complained of periodic memory loss.

John, too, began taking protease inhibitors this year, and within a few months was told that his "viral load" - that is, how much AIDS virus is present in the blood and lymph nodes - had been dramatically reduced. He takes Crixivan, d4T, and 3TC as well.

A recent study at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam showed that 90 percent of the AIDS virus "lurks" in the lymph glands, where it destroys the architecture of the immune system.

To cover living expenses, John and his lover, who died in April, liquidated an insurance policy that had been sold to a company that paid just a few cents on the dollar. "It was the only option," he said.

Vulture Insurance

A slew of companies have come on the scene, explained Mr. Grady, that will buy a percentage of life insurance policies covering terminally ill people. "The amount they'll pay is determined by how close to death they are," he said, with the highest payments going to the sickest.

As demonstrations marked World Aids Day in more than a dozen world capitals on Sunday, Mr. Grady pointed out that on the East End "there is nothing set up yet to help people who now look ahead to lives which may be longer than expected."

Such support efforts as Ryan White funds, he said, "are still helping people die."

The East Hampton Star shone brightly in this year's Suburban Newspapers of America competition, winning top awards for its coverage of the environment, business, education, arts, and this summer's T.W.A. disaster, among other honors.

The Star took home nine awards in all in the national contest, including first-place honors for breaking news, environmental reporting, and best editorial pages. The awards also included two second-place honors, three third-place awards, and an honorable mention.

A total of 904 publishers of weekly newspapers throughout North America competed in this year's contest. The Star is judged against weeklies in the 10,000-to-20,000 circulation range.

T.W.A. Coverage

Judges were particularly impressed with The Star's team coverage of the T.W.A. Flight 800 crash. A four-page special section bannered by Russell Drumm's first-person account of the Coast Guard rescue effort, with striking photographs taken the night the plane went down, won first place in the breaking-news category.

The section also won a second-place award in the category of in-depth reporting. And Mr. Drumm's cover photo of an exhausted Coast Guardsman earned a third prize for best news photo.

The Star's ongoing coverage of beach-erosion issues was rewarded with a blue ribbon for best environmental reporting. A series of articles by Mr. Drumm and Michelle Napoli looked at erosion from environmental, legal, and long-range planning perspectives.

The paper won the S.N.A.'s first prize for environmental reporting last year as well.

Tops In Editorial

For the seventh time in the last 12 years, The Star's editorial pages were judged tops in the field. The section contains a wide range of features, including letters to the editor, editorials, the "Guestwords"and"Relay" columns, and the paper's regular columnists, Jack Graves, Helen S. Rattray, and Val Schaffner.

"It gives me tremendous satisfaction to have won so many first prizes for our editorial pages," said Mrs. Rattray, The Star's editor and president. "We're being recognized for providing an excellent community forum for the expression of opinions."

The paper was ranked second this year for its educational coverage and business-and-economic reporting, based on the strengths of three consecutive issues.

Arts And Photography

The Star's arts coverage was also recognized, winning third place for best entertainment/lifestyle section. The arts section has won consistently in this category.

Photography also got a nod. An honorable mention was awarded for sports photojournalism. Shots by Edwin Gifford of rugby, roller hockey, and baseball in action were submitted.

The East Hampton and Southampton Independents, which now compete in the same circulation category as the Star, also made a showing, taking home a number of photography awards among other honors. Jerry Della Femina's weekly feature "Jerry's Ink" took first prize for best column writing.