Church Repairs Get Going

Exterior painting and repairs got under way this week at Sag Harbor's historic Old Whalers Church - part of a $3 million plan of renovation, which is to include rebuilding the 187-foot steeple that went down in the 1938 Hurricane.

A fund-raising campaign kicked off in June so far has yielded roughly $35,000 from many individual donations, Leonard Mayhew, its spokesman, said this week, while about $350,000 raised previously already has paid for asbestos removal, roof repairs, a heating system, and restoration of the church's fence and coffered ceiling.

Among recent gifts was $12,500 in state funds, which Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. obtained as a "member's item." Last year, Mr. Mayhew said, Senator Kenneth LaValle obtained $10,000 the same way for the 153-year-old church. A 13-member restoration committee has begun sending personal letters of appeal to members of the community and other supporters.

High Gear

The campaign, which the letter says, "is moving into high gear," has among its quests securing a tenant for the steeple once it is rebuilt. In June, Larry Carlson of Bridgehampton, the campaign president who is an executive vice president at Time Warner for Home Box Office, said he was talking with AT&T and other telecommunications companies about putting a cellular phone antenna inside the steeple.

As of this week, those talks were continuing. Also considering the possibility, it was reported, are several Long Island communications companies, such as Long Island Waves of West Babylon and Goggin Research of Calverton.

"We're not close to closure yet," Mr. Mayhew reported, "but I think we will be."

The church is one of only 200 structures in the state with national historic landmark status.