Three Tell Their Stories

   Florence Jansson lives in Montauk. One afternoon last spring, a contractor knocked on her door. He said he had just finished a paving job up the street and could pave her grass driveway with asphalt and bluestone, re-tar her flat roof, and replace a cracked concrete walkway, all in a day.

   Mrs. Jansson told her story last Thursday to members of the Town Licensing Review Board who were holding a hearing on whether to revoke Arrow Asphalt of Riverhead's town license. Police said similar stories were reported to them by Lois Landauer of East Hampton and Rebekah Fuchs of Springs. All of the women are over 80.

   Mrs. Jansson showed the board a canceled $2,300 check with which she had paid for the work and photos of the results: tar streaked along the side of her house under the roof, water damage in the kitchen during the last northeast storm, weeds through the gravel on the driveway, and cracks in the walkway, which, she said, had been whitewashed rather than replaced.

   According to Mrs. Landauer's statement to police, Nick Stanko of Arrow claimed to have material left from a recent job for the East Hampton Town Highway Department. Officials later said he never worked for the town. She said she had given him $9,010 in cash to pave her driveway, fix a subsequent drainage problem, and replace Bilko doors and some shingles damaged in the process.

   Mrs. Fuchs's statement said that Mr. Stanko had "confused" and "tricked" her. It stated that he had filled out several of her checks himself for various small amounts, saying that would save him taxes, and that he took her to the bank to cash them. Altogether, she paid him more than $11,400.