The Amagansett Presbyterian Church, founded in 1860, will hold its 100th annual summer fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the church grounds.

    Pony rides, a petting zoo, a magic show, clowns, and more kids stuff is in store, as is the “super raffle,” which will offer hundreds of items for those purchasing winning tickets. The Ron Fleming Plant Table, named for a congregant who ran that event for many years until his death last month, will have plants and shrubbery, as well as hanging baskets, for sale. Also offered will be baked goods, stainless-steel cutlery, books, bric-a-brac, handcrafted garden signs, handmade items from developing countries, and farm-fresh vegetables from the Balsam farm stand.

    The refreshments section will be open all day, offering hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, sodas, lemonade, and, back by popular demand, chocolate-covered bananas.

    Donations of jewelry can be left on the bench of the manse, on Meeting House Lane. All other donated items can be dropped off on the morning of the fair.

    First held in 1913, the fair illustrates both the changes and the continuity that occur across a century, said the Rev. Steven E. Howarth, the church’s pastor. “Part of the charm of the fair today is it really does have a small-town, slice-of-Americana feel to it. As an example, children’s games have always been a significant part of the fair. Some have certainly evolved over time, but some haven’t and are still operated by the same church families who have been operating them for generations. I’ve had the experience of listening as parents have told their children, ‘This was a favorite of mine when I was a child.’ ”

    In the past, Mr. Howarth said, the East Hampton Town Highway Department took leaved branches to the church, and members would weave them into booths for the fair. “Today, we use canvas and pop-up tents,” he said. “In the past, men were in suits and ties, ladies were in dresses.”

    The super raffle, Mr. Howarth said, is another indication of change, “where we tend to see what’s current and hot. This year one prize will be an iPad Mini.”

    The “tea table” once offered classic sandwiches and tea, Mr. Howarth said. A lobster salad dinner used to be held in Scoville Hall at the fair’s conclusion.

    Scoville Hall, owned by the church, was demolished in the spring after an October 2011 fire destroyed it, its foundation and first level now covered by a tarp and the property encircled by a chain-link fence. An update as to future plans for the site is expected soon, Mr. Howarth said.

    It seems as if someone has been taking it upon him or herself to remove no-parking signs from a stretch along the south and north sides of Industrial Road in Montauk. The signs were posted two years ago to prevent patrons of the Surf Lodge from parking their vehicles on the environmentally sensitive strip of land that borders Fort Pond on the south and a smaller pond on the north.

    Another sign, which gives notice that parking is permitted only with an East Hampton Town resident sticker on the east side beach of Navy Road, was also removed. East Hampton Town Police Chief Edward V. Ecker Jr. said that it was either a winter storm that knocked the beach sign down or someone removed it. It was replaced this week, he said.

    The signs on Industrial Road went missing a while ago, he said, and were then replaced with new ones that were bolted to telephone poles by the town’s Highway Department. But they, too, soon went missing. They will soon be replaced, Chief Ecker said, adding that, regardless, a slew of tickets have been issued there.

    In other news of signs, residents of East Lake Drive are calling for parking-by-permit-only signs to be posted at a nature preserve on East Lake that in recent years has become more of a bathing beach. The notion came up again at a meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on July 8.

    Bill Akin, a former president of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, said the strip of beach that sits directly across the street from Little Reed Pond is becoming bigger and bigger each year, with vehicles actually driving onto the small beach to park for the day.

    Committee members asked East Hampton Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione to check if the site could be limited to residents only. “If it’s going to be a beach, then make it a regulated beach with parking by permit only,” said Dr. John Sayers, an advisory committee member and resident of East Lake Drive.

    Also in Montauk, Chief Ecker said in an e-mail message on Tuesday that the Police Department would be conducting a code enforcement initiative regarding taxicabs, which have more than tripled in number in the hamlet this summer. He said in the coming weeks, code enforcement officers will be riding along with police officers primarily for taxicab enforcement, similar to what was done last summer.

    If police stop a cab for a vehicle or traffic violation, the code enforcement officer will conduct an inspection of the cab to ensure that it meets town code requirements.

    Weekend access to public bathrooms at the Sag Harbor Municipal Building was on Nada Barry’s mind when she spoke to the Sag Harbor Village Board on July 9, hoping that new board members might listen to her pleas. By Tuesday, a few possible solutions were on the table, according to Kelly Connaughton, president of the village’s Chamber of Commerce.

    Ms. Barry, a co-owner of the Wharf Shop, joined Ms. Connaughton and Robert Evjen to represent chamber members at a meeting on the subject with the village trustees Ken O’Donnell and Robby Stein.

    The bathrooms at the Municipal Building were open to the public on weekends at one point, but Mayor Brian Gilbride decided to close them for a number of reasons, he said last week, claiming to have pictures of an incident or two that would explain his decision. He was also concerned that the bathrooms are close to confidential village records and with the cost of replacing the fixtures in them with commercial-grade ones.

    The public bathrooms at Marine Park, which are open on the weekends, see damage as well, he said, but a hose can take care of some of the issues in that setting. A village employee would have to check on the restrooms, he said, because learning too late about a flood issue at village offices could be costly.

    Most retailers cannot let customers use their bathrooms because they keep stock in back rooms and even in the bathrooms, due to limited space, Mr. O’Donnell said at the July 9 meeting. Ms. Connaughton said the chamber had some ideas in mind and that its members may even help to monitor the bathrooms. The mayor ultimately supported a meeting to discuss the matter.

    Ms. Connaughton said yesterday that the group is working on solutions to be implemented as soon as the village and chamber boards approve them.

    With two new board members, Police Chief Tom Fabiano also hoped that his pleas would not fall on deaf ears. Since losing a full-time officer and being restricted in his use of overtime, he said, he has serious concerns about the safety of the village. The mayor, who has been steadfast in his campaign to reduce police costs, said Chief Fabiano could hire a part-time officer.

    Water quality was on the minds of residents, too. Simon Harris, a real estate agent concerned about shellfish safety, suggested the village take proactive measures to avoid another Department of Environmental Conservation shellfish closure, emphasizing that runoff and fertilizer, organic or not, is an issue that requires more public education.

    Angela Scott, a Spring Street resident, made her monthly plea for the village to deal with flooding and to prepare for hurricane season. Ed Deyermond, another newly elected trustee and former mayor, suggested a meeting with other municipalities to tackle the issue. Mayor Gilbride agreed to looking at a bigger plan while working on state and federally-mandated stormwater management upgrades.

    Also at the meeting, Mr. Deyermond and Mr. O’Donnell declined to go along with Mayor Gilbride’s move to appoint Edward Gregory to replace Jeffrey Peters as a member of the harbor committee.

    The subject of the unfinished pollution abatement efforts at Havens Beach, which were to be complete by the start of swimming season, did not come up. Calls to the village clerk regarding the status of the project and reason for the delay were not returned by press time.

    An informational meeting on the future of police service in Sagaponack and a hearing on limiting yard sales to one per year were scheduled on Monday at a meeting of the village board. The board has been discussing the cost of its contract with the Southampton Town Police Department for some time. “I think it’s time for us to make a decision,” Mayor Donald Louchheim said on Monday.

    The mayor reported that the board has had presentations on how much it would cost if policing were provided by a different municipality or by the village itself. “The worst case would be saving $500,000 per year,” he said. “The best case would be $1 million per year.”

    The police tax is the biggest item in the village budget. “We pay $2.3 million per year to Southampton Town for a police force,” he said, explaining that he hopes to have details finalized by the board’s September meeting, and to be ready for a change at the end of the year.

The informational meeting was scheduled for Aug. 10 at 9 a.m. Mr. Louchheim  stressed that police options would be explained at the meeting and that a formal public hearing would be held on any change the board decides to make.

The hearing on limiting the frequency of yard sales will be held on Aug. 12 at 3 p.m.

    Other discussions at the meeting focused on the village roads. The board has decided to create three-foot-wide bike lanes on both sides of some of the roads, while keeping the visuals low-key. “I don’t want the roads in Sagaponack to look like 114 in North Haven,” Mr. Louchheim said.

    The work is to be included in road projects to begin shortly after Labor Day. Jeff and Lisa Tennebaum, who first suggested lanes, have volunteered to do research and assist with the project.

    “I agree with Don,” Lee Foster, the deputy mayor, said. She said it made sense to do the work while repaving projects were under way and that they should be safe “but not too elegant.” Grant money will be sought for the project.

    A lengthy discussion ensued on Monday as it had at the previous week’s meeting about parking at the Sagg Post Office and Sagg Main Store. Mayor  Louchheim asked Drew Bennett, the village engineer, to look at the entire designated parking areas on both sides of the street.

    Also at Monday’s meeting, the speed limit between Montauk Highway and the bridge on Sagaponack Road was reduced from 40 miles per hour to 25 by a unanimous vote.

    The board was also unanimously in favor of placing a historic marker at 79 Parsonage Lane, where Beverly Stewart lived. He was the only African-American to own land and farm in Sagaponack in days gone by.

    The seventh installment of the Accabonac Protection Committee’s Long Live Accabonac film series, “Grasslands,” will be screened on Friday, July 19, at the Springs Presbyterian Church. The free showing will start at 7:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion and refreshments.

    In the movie, several of Long Island’s grasslands are depicted, as well as many of the various species of plants and wildlife living in them. “Grasslands” mainly emphasizes how the grasslands and all of their plants and wildlife are in danger of extinction today.

    “Anyone connected to the environment should see this film,” said its producer and writer, Cile Downs.

    The 30-minute film continues the protection committee’s series of environmental offerings. Others in the series include “Salt Marsh,” “Dark Skies,” and “American Lawn.” The entire series is available at the East Hampton Library, the Amagansett Library, and the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. Each can also be found on YouTube.

    Ms. Downs came up with the idea for the series several years ago. She had been volunteering at the LTV station, where there was always a lack of material to air, she said, when she thought of making environmental videos. She collaborated with Genie Henderson of Springs for the first few episodes, producing the videos for the Accabonac Protection Committee. As more episodes were produced, Matt Hindra, a professional cameraman and editor, was hired to help.

    “Grasslands” took almost a year to make, mainly because of unavailable participants or bad weather. “We were delayed by every conceivable problem,” Ms. Downs said. Production was “very painful and long.”

    The film has no story, per se, since “there’s no beginning or end” in the ongoing effort to preserve the grasslands, Ms. Downs said. Instead, it follows a number of experts describing the importance of the grasslands and how they are threatened. The participants are all “big authorities and experts on the subject,” as Ms. Downs put it. The primary and most quoted expert is John Turner, a well-known naturalist who played a large role in the establishment of the Pine Barrens reserve on Long Island.

    Looking ahead, “I’ve always wanted to do an episode on the situation with the beaches,” Ms. Downs said.

    “Over all, I’m very glad we did it,” she said. “ ‘Grasslands’ was one of the best episodes in the series, if not the best, and it carried its message very well.”

    Alfredo Corchado, the prizewinning Dallas Morning News journalist, whose beat is the dangerous border between the United States and Mexico, returned to the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton recently to suggest, along with Shannon K. O’Neil, a senior fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, that Mexico and the United States each stand to gain appreciably if the relations between the two “distant neighbors” are strengthened.

    Both the Mexican-born Mr. Corchado, a Nieman Fellow and a Woodrow Wilson Scholar, and Dr. O’Neil, who holds degrees from Yale and Harvard and who has taught at Columbia and testified before Congress on U.S. policy toward Mexico, have written books lately — “Midnight in Mexico,” in his case, and “Two Nations Indivisible,” in hers.

    Having received four death threats arising from his courageous reporting — one ironically stemming from his revelation of a cartel-government peace pact that angered those on both sides used to huge drug-route kickbacks — Mr. Corchado, who was born in Durango, remains devoted to Mexico, a love that presumably informs his bravery, though at one point in “Midnight” he says at times he wouldn’t mind living a quiet family life in the country with a pet dog.

    At another point in the gripping account of his struggle with Mexico’s corrupt politicians, the drug cartels, and the Gulf cartel’s heinous hit men, the Zetas, a struggle that continues to this day, his girlfriend tells him that the border is no place for big thoughts, such as he might have entertained during his Nieman Fellow year (2009) at Harvard.

    Dr. O’Neil’s book, which is more policy-oriented, makes a good companion piece to Mr. Corchado’s. In fact, they probably should be read hand-in-hand by anyone interested in the subject, which most Americans, including those expats living out of the range of fire, would do well to further acquaint themselves with.

    Dr. O’Neil, who, rather than a policed wall between the two countries, recommends bridges, as existed during the guest-worker program spanning World War II and the Korean conflict (a program leading to American citizenship in which Mr. Corchado’s own family participated), asserted during the talk and in the subsequent question-and-answer period that the North American Free Trade Act had, all things considered, been a success, and urged further efforts aimed at increasing mutually beneficial trade.

    “Nafta transformed Mexico and helped secure the economic underpinnings of today’s broadening middle class,” she writes, adding that “Mexico, not the Middle East, should be the test case for solidifying market-based democracy.”

    “. . . In the end, Mexico’s path, of course, depends on Mexicans. No other nation can decide its future. But, through our actions or inactions, the United States can either support Mexico or throw further obstacles in its way. And whichever path Mexico takes will have far-reaching repercussions for the United States.”

    Both Mr. Corchado and Dr. O’Neil agreed that absent any effective bilateral action in dealing with what sometimes seems the overwhelming drug problem that links both countries — reducing demand for drugs in this country as well as stemming the alarming southerly flow of assault weapons — Mexico might well become another Afghanistan.

    Mexico’s growing middle class — though the incidence of extreme poverty continues to provide fertile ground for cartel recruitment — offers a realistic hope, the speakers said, that over time, with governmental reform, an end to criminal impunity, a reconstituted judicial system, which is weak today, and a reversal of misguided U.S. immigration policies, can, with the help of an aroused Mexican citizenry, turn that country around.

    “Yes, it’s been a long night,” wrote Mr. Corchado on the flyleaf of a copy of his book, “but after midnight comes the dawn.”

    The biggest summer fund-raisers for the Montauk Playhouse Community Center start tonight with a show at the Playhouse by Break8, a group of roller-skating breakdancers who have performed on “America’s Got Talent.”

    The event is part of a four-part FamilyFest that, in addition to tonight’s performance, will happen on July 25, Aug. 8, and Aug. 22. Tickets for each show cost $15 per person or $50 for the entire series, and each starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door, at Willow, a gift shop on the south Plaza, or in advance at montaukplayhouse.org.

    On July 25, the Hamptons Ballet Theater School and the Hamptons Festival Orchestra will present “Peter and the Wolf‚” with a surprise celebrity guest narrator.

    The National Circus Project, a renowned circus arts-in-education program that makes use of audience participation, will perform on Aug. 8. A circus-skills workshop for the kids will take place a bit earlier that day, at 4 p.m.

    The Harlem Hoopsters will bring their freestyle moves with fancy dribbling and footwork to the Playhouse on Aug. 22. The Hoopsters will incorporate music and choreography with their basketball routines.

    And for adults is the eagerly anticipated Diamond in the Rough benefit on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. on the Playhouse grounds. The party will be outdoors under a lighted tent with dance music by Celtic Cross and plenty of flowing cocktails. A full-course dinner will be served after the cocktail hour, and live and silent auctions will take it from there.

    This year’s director of the benefit is Rori Finazzo Butterfield, who is sure to get the party rocking. Each year the event honors some of the Playhouse’s biggest financial backers, with the honors this year going to Drew Doscher, Andy and Sally Richardson, and Dennis and Rosanna Sisco.

    Festive summertime attire has been called for, and there are always celebrities in the mix. Tickets cost $250 per person and are available at montaukplayhouse.org or at Willow on the Plaza

    Noise related to aircraft going to and from East Hampton Airport is an environmental intrusion and should be addressed as such, the chairman of the Village Preservation Society of East Hampton’s airport noise committee told the East Hampton Village board at its regular meeting last Friday.

    “We’ve come up with a modest and, we think, very workable way to address the airport issue, specifically the noise that the airport produces, impacting almost everybody in the village, and of course in the broader regional community,” Peter Wolf told the board. The society’s airport noise committee debated throughout the winter before formally adopting its policy with respect to the airport, Mr. Wolf said.

    “Our policy was made avoiding the trap and the zero sum game of dealing with routes. Changing routes just impacts one group when you lighten the burden on another group. It’s not the answer,” he said, then read the society’s four-point policy, some of which pertained to the town, not the village.

    “We understand that the airport is not under your complete jurisdiction,” Mr. Wolf told the board. “But we also know that you’re a very influential body and so we’re trying to elicit your support.”

    The group wants the town to refuse additional money from the Federal Aviation Administration, he said. “Acceptance of F.A.A. funds will doom any chance for local authority over airport scale and intensity of operations,” he read. The airport, he said, has run at a surplus and can function without federal dollars. Increasing landing fees and initiating parking fees would provide additional income, he said.

    “No flights should be permitted over any East Hampton Village inland water bodies or other sensitive natural environments such as Hook and Georgica Ponds,” he continued. Inland bodies of water, he said, amplify sound, impacting a larger area.

    Airport operations should be limited to the hours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Mr. Wolf said. “This was very deeply debated in our own group. We understand about the noise policies having to do with gardening, lawnmowers, construction projects, and so forth. This is a completely different type of noise. This does not produce a lot of jobs, this is not noise requested by village residents, and the hours that service workers have to complete their jobs has nothing to do with airport operations.” This schedule, he said, would reduce aircraft noise during most residents’ “peaceful hours.”

    Lastly, limiting the frequency of operations would mitigate intense clusters of flights, which he said are currently as often as two or three minutes apart.

    The airport and the society’s proposals, Mr. Wolf repeated, are outside of the board’s jurisdiction, “and maybe even comfort zone. But what we’re dealing with is the public realm, and that is the quiet enjoyment of air. It’s the same as water rights; it’s the same as land use.” The entire community has a right to enjoy a tranquil environment, he said, and a large majority does not use or benefit from frequent flights into and out of the airport. “We implore you to try to think about a way that you can be helpful and influential,” Mr. Wolf concluded. “Your silence on this issue is, in a sense, an approval of the current status quo. Speaking up is the opposite of that.”

    Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. asked Mr. Wolf if his committee was taking its policy proposals to the East Hampton Town Board. Mr. Wolf said that he came to the village first, given the society’s close alignment and collaborative relationship with the village’s governing body. “But after having presented this to you, we do intend to go to the town as well,” he said.

    Allowing that he might be speaking for himself, the mayor said that he saw no resolution in the short term. “There are remediation abilities that can take place,” he said, “but that has to play out at the town board level. . . . If there’s some sunlight at the end of the tunnel, this board of trustees would like to be a party to that, as it’s applicable to village residents. We hear you loud and clear.”

    “I think you make some valid points, said Richard Lawler, a board member. “It’s worth further discussion by this board.”

    In other news from the meeting, the board adopted the 2013-14 budget it had unveiled at its May 2 work session. The budget, at $19.6 million, represents a spending increase of 3.2 percent. This results in an increase in the tax rate of 2.2 percent, with the spending increase partially offset by a non-tax revenue increase of 6 percent. On a related note, the board amended its budget to increase estimated revenue and appropriations for federal aid received from disaster assistance for Hurricane Sandy. Estimated federal aid is in the amount of $188,283.

    The board also announced a public hearing to be held July 31 at 11 a.m. at the Emergency Services Building regarding a proposed amendment to its code that would provide an appeals process for the denial of mass gathering permits.

    Earlier in the meeting, Hugh King, East Hampton town crier and director of the Home, Sweet Home Museum, had announced that Hook Mill would be open every day starting this weekend — provided a particular item on the meeting’s agenda was approved: the employment of three tour guides for the season, at an hourly rate of $12. The board did so, unanimously.

    “The windmills will turn,” Elbert Edwards, of the board, told Mr. King.

    “Thank you,” Mr. King replied.

    Finally, the mayor noted that summer had officially begun. “Put a smile on your face, and be nice to the person to your left or right,” he said. “It’s going to be testing your abilities at some point, but let’s show all the others what East Hampton Village and our surrounding community is all about.”

    A loan taken out several years ago to pay for repairs and renovations to Ashawagh Hall, a Springs community building, has been paid off thanks to a $60,000 donation from the Alec Baldwin Foundation and Capital One Bank.

    Last month Mr. Baldwin called Loring Bolger, the secretary of the Springs Improvement Society, which owns the building, to say he’d like to help. Rather than make a general donation to the nonprofit group, which exists to oversee Ashawagh Hall, he suggested donating directly toward the building. The donation will relieve the S.I.S. from its monthly $1,400 loan payments.

    “With no monthly loan payments, thanks to the Baldwin Foundation’s fabulous gift, the Springs Improvement Society can now put money aside for a much-needed new roof and cupola,” Ms. Bolger said in an e-mail on Tuesday. “Sitting on a green in the heart of historic Springs, Ashawagh Hall serves as an art gallery, a community house, and gathering spot for everyone in the community,” she wrote.

   Mr. Baldwin had earmarked the money he makes as a spokesman for Capital One’s credit card ad campaign for donations benefiting arts and cultural organizations. His foundation gave grants of $250,000 each to Guild Hall in East Hampton, to the East Hampton Library for its new children’s wing, and to the Hamptons International Film Festival, and continued its gifts to other East End organizations with another round of awards in May and June.

    Besides Ashawagh Hall, the recipients include the Group for the East End, with two recent donations of $5,000 each, the Amagansett Village Improvement Society, which was given $1,000, and the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center, which received $2,500 in May.

    As a board member of the center, Mr. Baldwin had also given the organization a $250,000 grant.

    Johnson Nordlinger of Montauk has been working since April as the assistant site manager of the Montauk Lighthouse, a spot that has long been special to her.

    Raised in Montauk, she remembers playing there as a girl with her good friend Caroline Driscoll, whose father, Paul Driscoll, was the officer in charge of the Lighthouse from 1979 to 1983. And as an adult, she said, she drove there almost daily to walk the wooded trails and ocean beach.

    Ms. Nordlinger made news in January when she abruptly quit her job as assistant to East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson.

    Her new job, she said, is amazing. “The people are so nice and the ride [to work] is incredible.”