Christine Sampson and Jason Nower have Guild Hall and the John Jermain Memorial Library to thank for bringing them together, Ms. Sampson said.

The two first met at a WordTheatre benefit for the Pushcart Prize held at Guild Hall in July 2015. Ms. Sampson was a guest and Mr. Nower was a crewmember working at the event. They reconnected more than a year later, in September 2016, at a board game night at John Jermain in Sag Harbor.

“We both said, ‘I know you from somewhere,’ ” Ms. Sampson said. It took them more than an hour to recall where they had first met, “although, to be fair, we were distracted by the game of 7 Wonders,” the bride said.

They began dating soon after that and were married on Feb. 17 at East Hampton Town Justice Court. It was a small, private ceremony attended only by the couple’s parents and their siblings.

Their witnesses were Ms. Sampson’s sister, Jessica Zanco of Massapequa, and Mr. Nower’s sister, Shannon Nower of Southampton. Also in attendance was Mr. Nower’s 12-year-old brother, Christian McClain. Justice Lisa R. Rana officiated. A formal reception will be held at a future date.

Ms. Sampson is a daughter of Janette and Toki Yoshioka of Port St. Lucie, Fla., and the late Robert Sampson. Mr. Nower’s mother and stepfather are Colette Gilbert and Andrew McClain of North Sea.

The bride, a reporter for The Sag Harbor Express, previously wrote for The East Hampton Star. She earned a degree in journalism from Hofstra University. Mr. Nower, who studied cinematography at Suffolk Community College, is an assistant technical director at LTV in East Hampton. They live in Amagansett.

Despite a dozen hearings on its agenda, the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals moved swiftly through its meeting on Friday, closing most hearings after the applicants had satisfied its concerns or requests.

The board’s effort to maintain the historical character of the village’s neighborhoods was underscored in a new hearing, in which the Corwin family of 25 Cooper Lane sought variances to alter and construct additions to the house and add a second story to a detached garage located in the front yard, where garages are prohibited.

The garage is 21.4 feet from the front-yard lot line, where the required setback is 35 feet. A variance is also needed to alter it, as the maximum floor area of accessory structures on the lot is 445 square feet and the garage is 513 square feet.

The other variances sought would result in a residence with 2,955 square feet of floor area. The current size of the house, which was built before the zoning code took effect, is 2,762 square feet; the present code permits a maximum of 2,226. Also, 3,100 square feet of lot coverage is sought, where the maximum permitted is 2,951. In addition, the applicants propose to lift the house, which falls within front and side-yard setbacks, in order to construct a new cellar.

Ingress to and egress from the habitable space proposed for the new cellar require the increase in floor area, said Trevor Darrell, an attorney representing the Corwins. “We fully recognize that the home as it sits, pre-existing, nonconforming, currently exceeds the permitted” floor area, he said. The applicants and their architect have done their best to minimize the increase, and the neighbor that would be most affected by the alterations has submitted a letter in support, Mr. Darrell said.

The existing garage has a flat roof; the applicants propose a gambrel roof with a peak of 18 feet at the center. “We acknowledge that . . . there are no other garages that sit in the front yard on Cooper,” Mr. Darrell said, but “the garage itself doesn’t sit forward of neighboring homes.” Its proposed alteration, he said, is meant to mirror the house.

“Of course, we all want to encourage young, growing families in the village,” said Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman. But, he continued, the zoning laws “were specifically formulated to push back against large houses on small lots in the village.” The proposed floor area is 32.7 percent more than is permitted on the .28-acre lot, Mr. Newbold said, and the garage and lot coverage both exceed what is permitted as well. “It’s getting very large,” he said.

Adding a second story to the garage for storage is understandable, he said, but “to have something that’s 18 feet tall within 20 feet of the sidewalk . . . compared to some of the other houses on the street, including directly across the street, it’s become a very substantial house.”

Board members agreed. “It’s too much on this small property,” said Larry Hillel.

Mr. Newbold asked that the architect, Paul Clinton, investigate “if there’s any way to accommodate reducing the visual mass from the street and still accomplishing what the family needs.” The mass from the street, he said, “is just getting out of scale for the lane.”

“I believe we have some work to do,” Mr. Darrell said. The hearing was left open and is to be continued at the board’s next meeting, on Friday, May 12.

Two determinations were announced. Juliana Terian was granted a variance allowing the replacement of a sunroom with a larger sunroom at 19 Lee Avenue. The alteration results in a total floor area of 9,699 square feet, where the current maximum is 8,190 square feet (the pre-existing maximum is 9,490). The board found that the expansion would not create a detriment to nearby properties or negatively affect the character of the neighborhood, as it will not be visible to neighbors or passers-by.

Under the same reasoning, the board granted the Tom A. Bernstein Residence Trust and Andrea E. Bernstein Residence Trust variances to allow the installation of two pool heaters within the side-yard setback at 18 Jones Road

Is the South Fork a pristine paradise lost? Opinions varied among panelists who gathered at Mandala Yoga Center for Healing Arts in Amagansett last Thursday, but all agreed that individual and collective action is essential to protect and preserve the natural environment.

The event, hosted by The Star and its East magazine, featured environmental activists from diverse backgrounds together for a discussion that encompassed climate change, land use, energy sources, and the myriad decisions that have brought us here.

Linda James, the acting chairwoman of East Hampton Town's energy sustainability advisory committee, called the town board's 2014 climate action plan calling for 100 percent of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020 "historic." The town board, she said, is "visionary," and its support, with that of the town's Natural Resources Department, "is really very encouraging." The planned South Fork Wind Farm, to be situated 30 miles from Montauk, will help the town achieve its renewable-energy goals, she said. "I do indeed believe . . . that we are doing a first-rate job."

But Bill Chaleff, an architect and activist who is also a member of the energy sustainability committee, delivered a darker assessment. While "it's terrific that we use wind power and renewables," he said, per capita energy consumption in the United States is three times that of other developed countries, and "maybe five to 10 times" greater on the South Fork. "I chalk a lot of that up to the human settlement pattern we have out here," he said. "As much as we love it . . . it's not the rural paradise that we have in our minds."

The suburban settlement pattern, he said, "is a real killer for us in many, many ways." For example, a house with zero net energy consumption "on a five-acre parcel six miles from the village" is "a lot worse than having a code-minimum house that's right in the village." Lamenting the South Fork's "auto-centric plan instead of a public transportation plan, or other ways of getting around," he likened the South Fork's development to a car speeding in the wrong direction. "You have to slow down, and then you have to turn 180 degrees, and then you start going the other way," he said. "I still believe that we're in the slowing-down phase."

Bob DeLuca, president of Group for the East End, was more optimistic, pointing to the community preservation fund and "some of the most progressive laws on the books" to protect land, water, and wetlands. The town can take pride, he said, in the "big list of real, measurable, tangible outcomes" that results from civic engagement. "The decision to engage in politics," he said, "is critically important to the outcome of your community."

Scott Chaskey of Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett also pointed to the community preservation fund. The C.P.F., he said, "is such a big deal, over a billion dollars, and how much land has been protected. . . ." Today, there are more than 30 organic farms on the East End of Long Island, he said. "What does farming mean to this place? It's the soul. You want to protect it."

But, Mr. DeLuca said, "That doesn't mean that everything that Bill mentioned isn't also happening." Land-use patterns are set, he said. "This is like the final chapter, and the start of the final chapter is us: It's the energy we use, the garbage we produce, the traffic we produce, how we use the energy that comes into our homes." All of those, he said, "are going to be the next generation of environmental change that happens out here."

The inherent conflict between communal, sustainable design and individual property rights impedes positive action, he said. "You cannot tell people that you can't have something that they believe is inherent in the underlying zoning by law, and if you do, they will fight you and sue you and it will cost you something. . . . It's an inherent conflict in the academic argument about what you can do to design a community that works best for everyone versus the individual freedom that comes with private property."

Mr. Chaskey agreed. "We've chosen to value land on how it can be developed," he said. "Only that."

Two-thirds of the housing stock on the South Fork is second homes, Mr. Chaleff said, "and we're rolling very quickly to making that three-quarters." This, Ms. James said, "is why we're going to have brownouts this summer."

Brendan Davison of Good Water Farms in Bridgehampton said that he too is more hopeful than Mr. Chaleff, but added that a soil test on his farm revealed that it was "super high in nitrates." Nitrogen is one factor blamed for the harmful algal blooms that have afflicted South Fork waterways in recent years. "What's the culprit here?" he asked. "It's the gi-normous homes. People are using all kinds of shampoos, conditioners, laundry detergents. That all gets leached out into our groundwater, which leaches out into our water system, the ocean. . . ."

Scott Bluedorn, an artist and member of the energy sustainability committee who advocates a ban on single-use plastic products such as plates, cups, and utensils, was hopeful that "we are on the verge of a global change of consciousness" in which climate change is both accepted as fact and action is taken to save civilization. He encouraged "changing consciousness about what disposable culture is, which is our de facto way of living," in order to eliminate waste that, in the case of plastics, will remain in landfills for up to 1,000 years.

The slow food movement, defined as production and preparation of food using high quality, locally sourced ingredients and in accordance with local traditions, is a small but positive trend, Mr. Chaskey said. "Probably the greatest impact would be on the overall health of the populace," he said. Only in recent years "has food and health been spoken about in the same sentence. The awareness . . . is passed on right from kindergarten now," he said. "We've got to keep that up."

Mr. Davison agreed. On his forays into supermarkets, "seeing people walking around, the products they're buying, the chemicals they're putting into their body, it blows my mind. . . . In the farming sense, it's exactly what we're doing to the earth, to the environment: We're polluting it, just like we're polluting ourselves. Until the collective consciousness awakens, and hopefully that's soon, it's going to be status quo."

Individual decisions, such as dietary choices and use of reusable rather than disposable products, add up to collective action and change, panelists said. "Individual change adds up," Mr. Bluedorn said. "If enough people start to change, you arrive at a tipping point, critical mass. That is really important."

One of the 20 floats in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade was presented by Montauk’s St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church.

The photos were taken during the three-week effort to get it ready.

Donna Clark, a former art teacher from Babylon, who now lives in Montauk year-round, and the Rev. Tom Murray, the church’s pastor, chose the theme and the church’s eighth-grade religious education students made the snakes.

The photos show Ms. Clark, Stephanie Krusa, and Sally Krusch, who painted the paper mache model of Ireland.  Father Tom is the float’s St. Patrick and Aida Castro is St. Therese, in costumes made by Rose Modica.  By last week, the float was ready to be loaded onto the trailer that will wend its way along the parade route, with leprechauns and religious education students either on  it or walking by its side.

Two organizations that last year condemned the Wounded Warrior Project, a highly visible charity on the East End, have reversed their assessments of the nonprofit and given it their stamps of approval.

Wounded Warrior’s Soldier Ride was founded on the South Fork and occurs here each year, with broad support, but the national organization was dogged by media reports alleging misuse of donations, including lavish spending.

Early last month, however, both the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance and Charity Navigator, a nonprofit that provides “objective ratings to find charities you can trust and support,” according to its website, awarded the Wounded Warrior Project their highest ratings.

The Wise Giving Alliance accredited Wounded Warrior Project, verifying that the organization meets the alliance’s 20 standards for “charity accountability,” and Charity Navigator gave it its top, four-star rating, with an overall score of 90.40 out of 100, noting that it meets all 12 of Charity Navigator’s “accountability and transparency performance metrics.”

News reports last year by CBS and The New York Times alleged extravagant spending and waste at the Wounded Warrior Project and criticized the group for “aggressive styles of fund-raising, marketing, and personnel management.” The allegations resulted in the dismissal of Wounded Warrior’s top two executives.

But locals who initiated Soldier Ride, a bike-riding event for veterans that now sponsors rides worldwide and has raised significant money for the Wounded Warrior Project, defended the organization last year and have maintained that the news reports were unfounded.

In a letter to the editor last month, Peter Honerkamp, a managing partner at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, where the idea for Soldier Ride was dreamed up and took shape, and who, with other founders, remains involved in organizing its events, refuted the specifics of news reports, which, he said, “got it all wrong.”

Mr. Honerkamp said that the details surrounding information in the news reports were examined and repudiated in an 80-page independent report issued in September by Doug White, a nonprofit expert and author.

Mr. White concluded that the media reports “simply got the facts wrong,” and said in interviews that the Wounded Warrior Project’s “finances were sound and its impact strong.”

Mr. Honerkamp decried the impact of the negative reporting about Wounded Warrior, pointing out its impact on the donations that support programs for wounded veterans. Two of the group’s founders had been vilified and a number of people who worked for Wounded Warrior lost their jobs, he said.

The Better Business Bureau reports on its Wise Giving Alliance website that it reviewed detailed information provided by Wounded Warrior Project about the matters raised in the media reports, obtained answers to numerous questions, and held meetings with staff and board members, as well as with those who conducted the independent, third-party review of Wounded Warrior’s operations.

The result was the full accreditation, and a report that endorsed Wounded Warrior’s operations. “There was no evidence of lavish spending,” it said. The reports cites a flawed methodology in, for instance, analyzing Wounded Warrior’s “program-expense ratio,” which resulted in the negative conclusions delineated in news reports. Its own close review found no such faults, the bureau said.

According to Charity Navigator, 75 percent of Wounded Warrior’s overall expenses go toward providing services to veterans, with fund-raising expenses accounting for 19 percent of the budget, and 5 percent going toward administrative expenses.

It may have been Valentine’s Day, but Sag Harbor Village officials were showing no love for the Bay Street Theater — at least when it came to Bay Street’s request to change the date of its annual benefit, which is held on the village-owned Long Wharf.

The village board approved the original date of the event — Saturday, July 15 — months ago, and the theater has been advertising that date. However, after learning late last month that the Parrish Art Museum will hold a big fund-raiser on the same night, the 299-seat professional theater asked the board to move its benefit ahead a week, to July 8.

The tented event shuts down Long Wharf, stripping the village of 88 parking spaces from the time the tent goes up to when it comes down, which, the board noted, was four nights last year. The three board members present at Tuesday’s monthly meeting were not keen on the idea of closing the wharf to vehicular traffic on what they said would be part of an extended July 4 weekend.

“You’re asking to take 88 parking spots at the end of the equation so that Alec Baldwin can sit down there and drink his scotch,” said Ken O’Donnell, a member and owner of La Superica, who had made a motion to deny Bay Street’s request. Mr. Baldwin, an Amagansett resident, has attended the benefit in the past.

Ed Deyermond and Mayor Sandra Schroeder agreed, and the request was unanimously denied.

Tracy Mitchell, Bay Street’s executive director, apologized for having to make the request but said a number of patrons had asked the theater not to hold the benefit on the same date as the Parrish’s. Not changing the date would have “a huge potential” impact for the theater, she told the board.

By phone yesterday, she said the event nets $500,000, about 15 percent of the theater’s annual budget. Bay Street’s full budget is around $4 million, she said, “and we need to raise $2 million of that from donations every year."

Ms. Mitchell objected to Mr. O’Donnell’s characterization of the event as a “windfall for Bay Street.” She reminded the board that Bay Street is a nonprofit organization.

“If that’s what he thinks about what Bay Street is, that’s so misguided,” she said yesterday. “I’d welcome anyone who really doesn’t know who we are and what we do to come anytime and talk to me and see what we do, because that’s such an incorrect version of who we are.” She added that the benefit, held for most of its past 26 years on Long Wharf, usually takes place early in July. The only reason they had first requested July 15 this year, she said, was that they thought the Parrish party would be earlier in the month.

“We were actually happy with the date of the 15th,” said Ed Deyermond, another village board member, because that weekend would be less busy in the village. Closing the wharf causes “a financial impact to everybody else who runs a business” in the village, he said. With July 4 falling on a Tuesday, he and Mr. O’Donnell think many people may make it an extended 10-day holiday over the weekends before and after. “By moving this thing back to the eighth . . . it’s a bridge too far,” Mr. Deyermond said.

Mr. O’Donnell also took umbrage at the tent’s being up from Thursday through Sunday, including setup and takedown. Ms. Mitchell said that was in part because the Sag Harbor Partnership, also a nonprofit, used it last year for a benefit the following evening. The “Party for the Park!” raised $131,025, which was donated to the village to assist in the creation of the John Steinbeck Memorial Park.

Ms. Mitchell suggested that the real holiday weekend would be the one leading up to the Fourth. “I recognize there are other opinions on this, but it is our one night to try and do the best we can as a nonprofit,” she told the board. She submitted letters of support for the date change from village business owners.

She also took the time to point out that those involved with the theater had been “really good community supporters,” recently raising $15,000 for the Sag Harbor Fire Department and the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and $2,000 for a Pierson eighth-grade class trip.

“Everything we do, we try and give back to the village, not to mention the fact that the money we do raise is spent here,” she said, adding that only a “small percentage” goes to pay actors from away. “We spend at the restaurants, we spend at the hardware store, we rent houses, we spend at the inns, we hire local people.”

The board did not move to reconsider the matter. After the meeting, Mr. O’Donnell said he was not ignorant of Bay Street Theater’s being a good thing for the village. The theater can still hold its benefit on July 15 on Long Wharf, he said, or perhaps elsewhere in the village, like Havens Beach, at another date.

In the two weeks since a fire ripped through Sag Harbor’s Main Street, destroying buildings and businesses at the height of the Christmas shopping season, officials have been working hard to find ways to recoup the financial losses caused by the fire and understand its lingering economic impacts.

The total of the damage has not been estimated yet, as the devastation is still being assessed, said Beth M. Kamper, the village clerk-administrator. However, it will be a significant figure, according to Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who anticipates a long recovery. He estimated that at least 50 businesses on Main and Washington Streets suffered a direct financial loss due to street closures, lost parking space, and blocked access.

A Sag Harbor native who recently served as the village attorney, Mr. Thiele, along with State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, petitioned New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to sign a disaster declaration to give village business and building owners access to low-interest loans through the United States Small Business Administration’s Disaster Recovery program.

The threshold for eligibility is 25 businesses, Mr. Thiele said Tuesday. Financial losses include loss of sales and damage not covered by insurance, among other things. Officials have been in contact with most of the businesses, he said, and are trying to gather information on their losses. “I don’t think it’s guaranteed, but I don’t think it’s a long shot,” he said.

Main Street was closed for most of the day on Dec. 16, the day of the fire. Portions of the sidewalk remained closed while the buildings were knocked down and the debris cleaned up. Two weeks later, several parking spaces in that area remain unavailable to people visiting the village. “The owners of these small Main Street businesses are now facing the loss of their livelihoods for an indeterminate amount of time and an arduous recovery and rebuilding process that will affect the entire village,” state officials wrote in the letter.

Eight businesses and four apartments in a total of five buildings were involved in the fire, with damage ranging from total destruction to light smoke and water damage.

Two buildings, including the front portion of the iconic Sag Harbor Cinema and a neighboring building that housed Compass real estate were demolished in the days after the fire due to structural damage.

As part of a fire investigation, fire marshals typically will determine total damages based on square footage and the cost to rebuild, but given the expanse of destruction in Sag Harbor, Tom Baker, the lead investigator, could not readily provide a figure. “In this case, you’ve got multiple buildings, multiple businesses, not to mention all the merchandise that was lost,” he said yesterday. “I’m probably not going to put a dollar figure on it.”

The Sag Harbor Cinema was most recently listed for sale at $14 million. “Was the building worth $14 million? Heck no,” he said. Main Street is prime real estate, but figuring out the building’s worth is more difficult. The assessed valuation of the property, according to town assessment rolls, is $1.3 million.

The cause of the fire remained undetermined as of yesterday, Mr. Baker said, which means investigators cannot pinpoint what started it, though he suspects it was electrical. He does not believe it was arson, however.

It remains to be seen whether a third building will be demolished.

Last week, Thomas Preiato, the village building inspector, ordered that a structural engineering report be completed on the Brown Harris Stevens building at 96 Main Street. The inspection had been done, but he had not received the report as of Tuesday. “I have a letter going to the building owner today as to the timing of the report and the fact that the building must be safeguarded,” Mr. Preatio said. East End Land Corporation is listed as the owner, with Hank Katz as one of the principals.

Richard J. Demato, who owned RJD Fine Arts Gallery located in the front of the Sag Harbor Cinema building, said he already put in a claim with Lloyds of London for $1.2 to $1.3 million. Between the fire and the demolition, everything in the building was destroyed, he said.

He is gearing up for a fight with the insurance company because he said it is trying to negotiate the claim and will not make a proposal until the end of January. If he agrees to its figure, money will not be paid out until the end of February or the beginning of March, he said. “For a normal person that would decimate them and put them out of business,” he said.

When artwork is destroyed, it is considered the same as sold, Mr. Demato said. There were 73 paintings from 15 artists, including about 8 from Frank Oriti and some from Jesse Lane. About $800,000 worth of artwork was on consignment, he said, and he owes the artists half that amount. “I will pay the artist out of my own pocket if I have to,” he said.

In addition to a fight with the insurance company, he is also bracing himself for a fight with the landlord, Gerry Mallow. He had paid his $5,000 monthly rent for the 1,000-square-foot space on its due date, Dec. 15, a day before the fire. After seven years in the space, it is money he hoped would be returned, along with his security deposit, but according to Mr. Demato, the landlord has refused. Mr. Mallow could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Demato is aware that loans are available, but said, “I don’t need a loan. It would be taking money away from somebody else. . . . I need the insurance company to pay me so I can get on with my life.”

Mr. Demato, who also lives in Sag Harbor, is looking to reopen his gallery elsewhere. “I’d love to stay in Sag Harbor, but there is nothing available,” he said. He looked in East Hampton, but found the vacant spaces too expensive; one 1,100-square-foot space was $20,000 a month, and the landlord would not negotiate.

Down the line, officials are looking for ways to help the village with a revitalization project during the rebuilding through the regional economic development council or the State Legislature. They are also looking for ways to fund the cleanup costs. The village took on demolition and cleanup soon after the fire, fees that can get recouped by adding them to property owners’ tax bills.

After the 1994 Easter fire that destroyed Emporium Hardware and other businesses on Main Street, the Town of Southampton waived fees at the landfill, where debris was taken. Mr. Thiele, the town supervisor at the time, recalled that the hardware store’s insurance did not cover the cleanup costs. “Insurance is going to enter into the picture here, too,” he said.

In the meantime, the village is settling into a new normal. Machines could be heard at work from within the theater portion of the Sag Harbor Cinema on Friday. Total Restoration Inc., which specializes in water and fire damage, was doing the work through a back door. Its truck was parked behind the theater, a sign that the seating and screen could be salvaged. Brown Harris Stevens had set up an office next to the Grenning Gallery on Washington Street.

There was a strong movement afoot to shop locally last week. Even Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who had visited the village on the afternoon of the fire, returned on Dec. 21 for some last-minute Christmas shopping. At the Wharf Shop he bought a baby’s onesie with the Sag Harbor logo, designed by Peter Spacek, The Star’s cartoonist, and grabbed lunch at the Golden Pear. 

Gwen Waddington, who owns the Wharf Shop with her mother, Nada Barry, said sales seemed to be up compared to last Christmas. “I heard people who said they did not go to Tanger. They intentionally came to the village, and we felt it,” she said.

There was extra foot traffic, too, with many people visiting the village to see what was left at the site of the fire, she said.

“People consciously made an effort to shop on Main Street and we really appreciate it,” Ms. Waddington said. “I am hoping there might be something even better for the village that comes of all of this.”

The fire in Sag Harbor on Friday ravaged buildings and closed businesses, but at least two people, Fred Kumwenda and Michael Lynch, lost everything they owned when the blaze ripped through their second-story apartment above Compass real estate on Main Street.

Their building was between the Sag Harbor Cinema and the one that housed Sagtown Coffee. While Mr. Kumwenda was not at home at the time the fire broke out, Mr. Lynch was awakened by a village police officer and escaped with only the clothes on his back.

Four apartments were involved in the fire, according to the village building inspector, Tom Preiato, but other apartment dwellers have not yet stepped forward.

April Gornik, an artist and North Haven resident who is involved with the Sag Harbor community, organized an online fund-raiser the day after the fire to help Mr. Kumwenda get back on his feet. According to her post on Crowdrise.com, he works at the Highway restaurant in Wainscott. “Fred lost all  his clothing, his laptop (which was a MacBook Pro), his beloved Takamine guitar, and of course his home,” the description on the site read. It was signed “Friends of Fred.” As of yesterday morning, $45,750 had been raised.

In an updated post after more than $4,500 had been raised, Ms. Gornik and Mr. Kumwenda’s sister, Mbachi, wrote that they were moved to tears by the support. “In the midst of all this tragedy, to have a community that steps up like this is just amazing.” Housing possibilities quickly came to light, and GeekHampton is arranging for a new computer.

On Monday, Mr. Lynch’s sister started an online campaign for him, as well. Mr. Lynch had moved into the apartment just three days before the fire, according to the post on Crowdrise.com. “He lost everything: clothes, computer, his phone, shoes, wallet, and [was] left [in] the freezing cold with only a coat, pants, and slippers,” she wrote. As of yesterday morning, $12,675 had been raised. Links to donate to both of these efforts can be found in The Star’s online stories, at easthamptonstar.com.

Meanwhile, the Sag Harbor Partnership, a nonprofit organization that has been raising money for a possible waterfront park, is gearing up to raise money to help with rebuilding. In an email, the partnership said it is in a position to obtain tax-deductible contributions through its historical building fund. “Many of our well-loved small businesses were affected, and of course our iconic streetfront will need to be repaired.”

The Sag Harbor Cinema and the Compass building were demolished between Friday and Monday. Three other buildings sustained heavy damage.

To make use of the historical building fund, any potential recipients of the money — building owners or tenants — will have to convey a need and explain the restoration of their building in the application process, the partnership said.

Donations can be made through the partnership’s website, or checks can be sent to the Sag Harbor Partnership, P.O. Box 182, Sag Harbor 11963, with “Historic Building/Fire” in the memo line. Links to donate online can be found on The Star’s website.

The Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee named its yearly award winners — the East Hampton Town Board, Simon Kinsella, and Sara Davison — at its monthly meeting Saturday. 

In an announcement, Barry Frankel, a committee co-chair, said the group had created a Most Valuable Board award for the entire East Hampton Town Board, citing its “tireless efforts on a number of initiatives, including the East Hampton Town Airport, the business district moratorium, and others.” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell accepted the award, saying there was “mutual respect among all of the board members to working things out in a way that resolves problems and comes up with decisions that are beneficial to the town.”

Mr. Kinsella received the annual Most Valuable Person award for what Mr. Frankel said is his “energy, passion, and intensity.” Mr. Kinsella had sent letters of concern about the possibility of chromium-6 in Wainscott groundwater to a number of government agencies last month. Rick Del Mastro, chairman emeritus of the committee, said Ms. Davison won the committee’s Citizen of the Year award for her commitment to the community.

 “She is hardworking and has taken on many challenges, including the moratorium, pushing to get the hamlet study completed after years of inaction, and she has taken charge and added to every committee she has joined,” he said. Ms. Davison is the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation’s project manager.

The 55-foot steel-hulled dragger that ran aground in Montauk on the morning of Nov. 27 was finally pulled free Tuesday by the tugboat Judy M., the hole in her hull having been patched by an underwater diver the day before. The vessel, the Miss Scarlett, was towed across Long Island Sound to a boatyard in North Kingston, R.I., where she will be refurbished. Before the towing could begin, though, she received an inspection from two Coast Guard officers, who spent over an hour on board. 

“The state of the main engine is going to determine what happens next,” Rob Morsch, one of the boat’s owners, said as he watched the Miss Scarlett being pulled free. Much will depend on how much water got into the cylinders. “Air compresses, water doesn’t.” An insurance adjuster was on hand for the entire operation Tuesday.

According to both Mr. Morsch and Lt. William Stewart of the Coast Guard, the captain and crew were asleep at 6 a.m. when the boat ran up on the beach at Navy Road off Fort Pond Bay, apparently having hit a rock. The bridge navigation-alert watch system, designed to ring every few minutes to keep the helmsman awake, was turned off at the time. The captain, whose name has not been released by the Coast Guard, submitted to an alcohol test shortly after the incident, Mr. Morsch said, and passed it.

He later submitted to a drug test. Mr. Morsch said it was his understanding that the captain passed that as well, and Lieutenant Stewart said yesterday that it was unlikely that criminal charges would be brought.

Rumors that the boat might have struck a rock elsewhere than off Navy Beach were unfounded, Lieutenant Stewart said. The amount of water rushing in through the hole in the hull would have sunk her too quickly for that to have happened, he said.

Navy Beach became a popular destination for Montaukers and others over the 10 days the Miss Scarlett was stranded, particularly for those in the fishing community, several of whom were on hand as she was freed from her sandy prison. Also on hand was Nick Havens of Montauk, who had been hired to watch the vessel at night. Mr. Morsch believed that a certain Montauk resident, whom he would not identify other than to say “one idiot,” might try to get aboard the craft, which was accessible from shore at low tide. The fear was not so much thievery, Mr. Morsch said, as that someone could slip, get hurt, and sue the owners. 

The Coast Guard’s first concern “was the pollutants,” Lieutenant Stewart said. Twelve hundred gallons of diesel fuel were pumped out of the boat two days after she ran aground, and a boom was placed around her to prevent toxins from entering the water. “We want to prevent any type of pollution. It can be batteries, it can be fuel, it can be lube oils. Hazardous stuff,” the lieutenant said. 

The tugboat Judy M., also based in New London, pulled the Miss Scarlet free. Among watchers on shore, the talk was of engines and the fishing industry. 

“It doesn’t matter what gets legalized. Don’t drink on the boat, don’t smoke pot on the boat,” Mr. Morsch said. 

“It is something you just don’t do,” said George Miller, owner of the Sahara Dust II, a 44-foot dragger out of Montauk.

On the other hand, Mr. Morsch said, what the crew does on land is their own business. “To drug-test all the mates — there wouldn’t be any fishermen,” he said. “Every fishing port would be empty. Every boat would be rusting at the bow.” 

The Miss Scarlett arrived safely in Rhode Island at about 6:30 Tuesday evening.