125 Years Ago — 1896
From The East Hampton Star, November 27
I heard Miss Varnum in her lecture "Who Pays the Freight." It is brimful of original packages of valuable thoughts. She has a witty, winning way of saying things and what she says is as profitable to consider as pleasant to hear. The lecture is a combination of wit, eloquence and wisdom. The lecturer is a refined and excellent lady.
Geo. W. Bain, Lecturer
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W.F. Muchmore has had a hot air pumping engine placed in the basement of his building. He also has the hose pipes so arranged that in case of a fire he can turn on two or three streams of water in any part of the building.
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The "Ladies Church Sociable" will resume their meetings on Thursday, Dec. 8, 1896, and we cordially invite all who can join the society and attend as often as possible. The society receipts are intended for church work, and are spent for what appears to be most needed. It is earnestly hoped that all who can will join us, and help make the meetings both profitable and pleasant.
A.A. Sherrill, Pres.
100 Years Ago — 1921
From The East Hampton Star, November 25
According to a recent report on the licensing of dogs in New York state, Suffolk county harbors 10,048.
A total of $504,486 was collected for licenses for dogs between July 1st and November 12th, 1921, according to a report received by Commissioner of Farms and Markets Berne A. Pyrke, Monday. Of this amount, there was turned over to the treasurer of New York state $47,918.90, the remainder being remitted to county and city treasurers and a part turned over to police pension funds.
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It is not yet too late to send donations of canned fruit and vegetables, jellies, etc., for the Southampton hospital, to the homes of Mrs. Wm. Gay, Mrs. N.H. Dayton or Mrs. Wm. Vincent. They will be sent to the hospital Monday.
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The sheriff of Suffolk county is opposed to prohibition because "it is a failure" — because it doesn't prohibit — and because its advocates are "fanatics," so he told Robert E. Corradini of the Bureau of Statistics of the Anti-Saloon League of New York. Mr. Corradini, however, with the sheriff's permission began an investigation of the books of the county jail and he discovered from the sheriff's own records that prohibition has greatly reduced commitments, and that there were only twenty-one for intoxication in 1920 as against 136 in 1917 and ninety-three in 1918.
75 Years Ago — 1946
From The East Hampton Star, November 28
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated in this country 325 years ago. Plymouth, Massachusetts, is holding special ceremonies today to observe the occasion. What with the government-defying coal strike, the far from peaceful condition of the world, and one thing and another, we are apt to feel disgruntled and distraught today, rather than thankful. However, if the Pilgrim Fathers could give thanks for the meager harvest they had, and the narrow margin of safety they enjoyed in 1621, we certainly should be able to.
Let us give thanks for a roof over our heads; for a good dinner today and no grim shadow of hunger stalking over our beautiful countryside; for family and friends together — not "displaced persons." For such measure of health we enjoy, and for the comfort of knowing we have the best of medical and nursing care when sickness comes. For freedom to say what we think, in person and in print. That, after all, is the basic freedom; so long as America has that, we need not despair of her politically. Our forefathers sought to achieve freedom; we seek to keep it. This is a day for thinking, as well as for feasting. Long thoughts will give us a thankful frame of mind.
50 Years Ago — 1971
From The East Hampton Star, November 25
Reports that there were diseased cats and an unsafe furnace in the home of Mrs. Edith Bouvier Beale on Apaquogue Road, East Hampton, have resulted in a threat by the County Health Department to evict Mrs. Beale, 76, and her daughter, 54. The case has received international press coverage.
Officials of East Hampton Village, the County Health Department and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals pronounced the home unfit for human habitation following an inspection on Oct. 22.
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The future of Gardiner's Island, the Old Fort, Cartwright Shoals, Hicks Island, and some 1,000 acres of duneland at Napeague between Gardiner's Bay and the Atlantic Ocean sits pending in Washington before the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.
Congressman Otis G. Pike, who made the proposal that Gardiner's Island become a "National Historic Monument" administered by the National Park Service along with the adjacent open lands, hopes to see his proposed bills scheduled for study before the committee early in 1972. In the meantime, testimony pro and con the proposed Federal acquisition continues to flood his mail.
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Montauk Fish Notes
Uihlein's reports that the "Montauk Thanksgiving turkeys" have moved in and are now taken one to three miles from shore in the Bell-Buoy and Pocketbook Grounds. A few skids took flounders from the Harbor during the rough weekend.
The Cove Marina is hauling boats out.
The Inlet had a few cod and pollack brought in during the otherwise quiet weekend.
The Marine Basin reports plenty of stripers, and cod are at Great Eastern, Shagwong, and the Point.
25 Years Ago — 1996
From The East Hampton Star, November 28
Three East Hamptoners who use basketball as a means to work with youth — Mark Crandall, William Hartwell, and Anthony Allison — have formed a nonprofit organization, Hoops for Hope, that they hope will not only spur the growth of the sport in South Africa and Zimbabwe's high-density suburbs, but also will serve as a link between young people of the South Fork and the South Bronx and those of Cape Town, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe.
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The lines have been drawn in the battle over Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The newly formed Island Citizens Action Network, with the international activist Dr. Helen Caldicott in the lead, is pushing to shut down the lab's two nuclear reactors, and for accelerated cleanup of the Superfund site there.
Lab scientists have begun their own campaign, to convince the public that radioactive releases from the lab into the air, groundwater, and the Peconic River estuary system pose "small" risk to surrounding communities, when measured against Federal standards, and to demonstrate that the lab provides thousands of jobs and is of benefit to society through its medical, industrial, and defense research.
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Should a public boat-launching ramp be built on state property at the old Atlantic Processing fish processing plant at the foot of Gardiner's Bay? That question occupied the East Hampton Town Board and planners last week during a discussion of general waterfront policy.
The debate pointed up the delicate nature of creating policy for the town's valuable and finite waterfront areas, including state and county-owned land. The discussion was part of a massive Local Waterfront Revitalization study, authorized by the state.
