Sag Course's Reprieve

The Sag Harbor Golf Course has won a reprieve.

Marshall Garypie, the club president, said yesterday he had been informed that the State Department of Parks had agreed to let the club manage the course for at least another year.

Mr. Garypie said he had learned the news from State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.'s staff. Mr. Thiele was on his way home from Albany and unavailable for comment by press time.

"The state is going to bend a little bit," Mr. Garypie said. "I guess they heard the people on the East End were raising a stink and it finally got through to the government," he said.

PUSH Into Act

The club's worries began earlier this year when the State Department of Environmental Conservation announced it was going to lease the course to a private manager when the club's contract ran out on April 30. The D.E.C. intended to find a tenant willing to invest up to $1.2 million over the next 20 years to upgrade the course and apparently to build a clubhouse.

Last week, however, amid protests about the decision to change the nature of the course and about the timing of the bid process for its private management, the D.E.C. announced it would turn the course over to the State Parks Department. The Parks Department said it would run the course itself.

Meanwhile, Lona Rubenstein, a local political strategist who usually works with Republican candidates, attended an East Hampton Town Board meeting on Tuesday to announce that she had formed PUSH, People United Behind Sag Harbor, to fight the Parks Department's intention to take over the course.

Potential Candidates

Accompanied by Mr. Garypie, Bruce Hulse, the greenskeeper, and other supporters, she said three local officials, all potential Republican nominees in the fall East Hampton Town election, were helping drum up statewide support for keeping the course as it is.

Edward Deyermond, a member of the Sag Harbor Village Board who is the Southampton Town assessor, Brian Gilbride, another Village Board member, and East Hampton Councilwoman Nancy McCaffrey were writing to assessors, fire chiefs, and town boards all over New York to seek support, she said.

Mrs. McCaffrey is almost certain to seek re-election to a third term on the Town Board. Mr. Deyermond and Mr. Gilbride, who live on the East Hampton side of Sag Harbor, have been mentioned as possible candidates for the Town Board, with Mr. Deyermond also reportedly considering a run for Supervisor.

Past Victories

In forming PUSH Ms. Rubenstein recalled a fight 20 years ago between haulseiners and sportfishermen over the rights to striped bass, and the haulseiners' statewide lobbying effort. She said she hoped to duplicate that effort on behalf of the golf course.

"We fought this fight over Barcelona once before. Now we're back there," said Supervisor Cathy Lester. She was referring to the Northwest Alliance, of which she was a founder, and its successful effort to preserve all of Barcelona Neck, including the course.

The D.E.C. bought Barcelona in 1989, creating a 341-acre park that includes, in addition to the course, waterfront on both Northwest Creek and Harbor and more than 20 mile of old roads owned by the Town Trustees.

The State Parks Department is under pressure to make golf more accessible to the public and at the same time to bring in more revenue. It was expected that under its management it would put in an irrigation system, open the course to the public at large, and raise fees.

Supervisor Lester, a Democrat who is expected to run for re-election, wrote her own letter of protest to State Parks Commissioner Ber na dette Castro, and the Town Board sent a resolution of protest to Gov. George E. Pataki.

"We need to make a whole lot of noise because we're just a little fishing village," said Ms. Rubenstein, handing out bags of soil taken from the golf course and golf balls with the PUSH acronym written across them, for inspiration.