Editorials

New York State lawmakers are likely to revisit a new bail reform law that went into effect on Jan. 1. The law eliminated bail money for most arrests and took away judges’ longstanding discretion on whether or not an individual should be held pending a formal court date or post a sum of cash designed to assure the alleged offender’s return to face charges. In some cases, defendants might be tempted to leave town, hoping to outrun the law; in others, police and critics of the law say, they might reoffend.

It is almost inconceivable that the future of a grand jewel among protected lands on the entire East Coast remains in doubt, but though there is hope that Plum Island could someday be preserved, it is far from certain.

East Hampton Village has a new official flag depicting a windmill, the ocean, and a passing seagull overhead. It is attractive and it also contains an error.

Pity the drivers who must daily wend the pitted hellscape that is the East Hampton-Sag Harbor Road, better known as New York State Route 114.

Among his greatest blunders, President Donald J. Trump’s decision to assassinate the top Iranian army commander may prove to have the longest lasting consequences, both in the Middle East and in this country.

Far be it for us not to comment when a bit of oyster news crosses the transom.

It may be self-serving for us to speak about the role of the local press in today’s closed-loop media ecosystems, but several responses from readers last week to an editorial about the sharp rise of anti-Semitism and its ties to a tone set by the president got us thinking.

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. is now former Mayor Rickenbach after stepping down on Dec. 20, closing out 27 years in the post. Mr. Rickenbach first began service when he joined the village Police Department in 1958. He became a village trustee in 1988. He has seen the village in times of boom and bust and ably oversaw and balanced the desires of residents first and foremost with summer visitors and businesses. This has been no simple task, but Mayor Rickenbach handled it with aplomb, and with the continued support of the community.

Fires in two huge South Fork houses, one in Bridgehampton on Dec. 19 and another in Water Mill on Saturday, should remind residents and visitors of the tremendous commitment of our volunteer firefighters and ambulance personnel.

As 2019 rumbles to an end, it is fair to think about the year to come and to make wishes about things that we think should change and things that we would like to see improve.

No matter what the project is, there are always going to be people opposed to it. It is just human nature to watch out for one’s own interests, to suggest that new infrastructure and essential services are fine as long as they are put somewhere else.

Something had to be done. The North Main Street bridge had only 10 feet of clearance beneath it, and the one at Accabonac about three inches less than that.

As evidenced by the police-blotter stories in the South Fork newspapers, spray-painted swastikas have turned up with some regularity over the years here — at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor, written in shaving cream on Newtown Lane in East Hampton on Halloween, and on a soccer team photograph at East Hampton High School, among other places.

A new sewage treatment system may be installed at a public restroom at the edge of Herrick Park in East Hampton Village using money from the community preservation fund, which should give both environmentalists and good government observers pause.

Why the United States has remained in a state of war in Afghanistan for 18 years is not clear. It is not clear to the American people. Nor is the purpose clear to U.S. military and Foreign Service leadership, much less Congress. We were lied to.

East Hampton Town's citizens advisory committees seem to have forgotten that their roles are as advisers, not decision makers.

An early snow remained yesterday morning, thinly painting the Mulford Farmhouse roof and Village Green in white. Highway Department workers have been wiring the temporary firs on Main Street and Newtown Lane. The guy with the holiday light show in the back of his pickup truck has been out once again, new and improved with blinking LEDs making patterns as he rolls through town at dusk. Just like that, a Christmas feeling comes to East Hampton. How quickly the year turns.

As the House Judiciary Committee takes over the process of impeachment looming over the Trump presidency, one central figure with strong East End ties will almost surely not appear at any hearing, though his actions are close to the core of the allegations. This is a person whom many on the South Fork social scene have sat next to at a benefit or lifted a glass with at an informal dinner. Unlike Paul Manafort, who has family here and had owned a Water Mill house that helped him launder millions in illegal foreign payments, Rudolph Giuliani, a part-time Bridgehampton resident, could be considered a regular on the circuit. How he went from an apparently mild-mannered former New York City mayor and Hamptons summer hobnobber to someone making a mockery of both the legal profession and democracy itself is a matter of speculation.

Sympathy for a Cooper Lane couple whose house may soon be over-loomed by an extra-tall utility pole should lead to action by PSEG-Long Island to find another location.

An extraordinary lineup of women running things gathered earlier this month to share the message with high school girls that they, too, can make a difference.

Food grown on the East End of Long Island will fill many tables here this week. Traditional Thanksgiving dinners include many of the staples long grown here, and increasingly, a dazzling variety of meat, vegetables, and beer and wine from these parts will be served as well. Though it may be less than a passing thought as we tuck into the first courses, there is a remarkable struggle behind each of the local foodstuffs.

In the House of Representatives impeachment hearings so far, a valuable lesson has stood out: the dignity of the members of the United States Foreign Service who have appeared as witnesses. Starting with George Kent, the senior State Department member in charge of Ukrainian relations, and William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, American television viewers, as well as those listening on radio or live stream, were reminded of the professionalism and dedication that is the hallmark of public service at its best.

Now that Election Day has passed, perhaps East Hampton Town can return to the question of a new, centralized shellfish hatchery on a site off Gann Road at Three Mile Harbor in a less politicized atmosphere.

Members of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals had had enough. Late last month, they vetoed a request from the owner of a Georgica Pond-front house to legalize a number of changes that had taken place without the board’s okay.

For the most part, the now-mandated low-nitrogen septic systems being installed on eastern Long Island work as promised. The big if is whether they will deliver on the environmental improvements.

In March, the swallows come back to the cliffs of Capistrano, and in November the scallops come back to the dredges in the Peconic Bays and the suppers of the salivating. Until they don’t.

Far be it for a newspaper to encourage its readers often to turn on the television, but this is an extraordinary time in the history of the United States.

What town government really may need are views from the left — a more liberal, more pro-environment and anti-growth point of view.

Affordable housing, a recurrent campaign theme in East Hampton elections, is a bitter paradox. As the total number of vacation houses climbs upward, there are fewer and fewer places for year-round residents and the seasonal work force to live.

David Gruber makes a good case for himself — for some public role, but not the role of town supervisor. Foremost among our concerns is his temperament: We have never known Mr. Gruber to admit he has been wrong, and he can be relentless in his attacks on those who differ with him. These are not helpful qualities in an elected official, much less the de facto leader and chief spokesperson for the town. A supervisor must be not just a combatant, but a skillful peacemaker, too.