100 Years Ago 1923
From The East Hampton Star, May 11
East Hampton, the home of “Home, Sweet Home,” fittingly observed the one hundredth anniversary of John Howard Payne’s immortal song Tuesday evening, at his boyhood home. Over 600 school children and nearly a thousand men and women participated in the exercises, which were held on the lawn of St. Luke’s church property, next door to the old Payne homestead.
The “lowly thatched cottage” that has withstood the storms and tempests of the past two centuries seems to breathe anew the presence of the famous poet.
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The monthly meeting of the King’s Daughters’ circle was held at the Presbyterian manse, Tuesday, May 8. Fifty members were present. The meeting was opened with singing, “Lead as We Go,” followed by the reading of the minutes of the April meeting. The treasurer reported that the circle begins the year with $100 in the treasury. It was voted to place an electric light over the porch of the Session House, subject to the approval of the trustees of the Presbyterian church.
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The twenty-third annual track and field meet of the Suffolk County Interscholastic League gives all signs of being the biggest and best meet since the founding of the league many years ago. Many schools in the county have shown more interest this year than ever before.
Schools never entered in the past are preparing to send teams to compete and rivalry among the schools entered before is high. The strength of every school is not known but from the dual meets held about the county, Patchogue, Huntington and Riverhead are very promising, with an abundance of good material. Southampton, Westhampton, Sag Harbor, Sayville, Bay Shore and many other schools are not to be overlooked.
75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, May 13
The 300th Anniversary Committee held an additional meeting on Tuesday night, following one last Friday night, to settle the question of holding the East Hampton historical pageant and parade on one day, or two. After much discussion it was decided to hold the parade on Friday afternoon, June 25, at three o’clock, and the pageant on the Village Green on Saturday afternoon, June 26, as scheduled. The Guild Hall players, who are putting on the pageant with some 500 participants, felt that there would be too much confusion if both took place on the same afternoon — traffic difficulties and delays, since many people expect to take part in both.
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The Economy Ticket, headed by Willard B. Livingston as candidate for mayor, and with Edward H. Tillinghast and Dudley Roberts Jr. as trustee candidates, is being signed up and will be filed for the annual village election, June 15, when the terms of Mayor Judson L. Banister and Trustees Chester M. Cloud and Kenneth Hedges expire. Mayor Banister will be a candidate for reelection as well as Trustees Cloud and Hedges on the Peoples’ ticket. Mr. Cloud has been a Trustee since June 1940 and Mr. Hedges since 1942.
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The third annual Victory Ball of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Everit Albert Herter Post, will be held tomorrow night in Guild Hall from nine p.m. to one a.m. Howard Hovey’s orchestra will play for ballroom and square sets; the latter will be called by Leonard Bennett of Amagansett.
There will be a door prize — two albums of records donated by the House of Music in Southampton — and a prize donated by Norman Dakers for the ballroom dance. The third Victory raffle will take place at 12 midnight; the prizes, displayed at Parsons Electric Shop, are a Zenith radio phonograph, a G.E. electric blanket and a cocktail shaker set.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, May 10
The 15-year-old question of whether Georgica Pond should be “stabilized” by a drain pipe was raised again on Tuesday when the County Legislature passed a resolution “requesting the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to prepare plans, specifications, and estimates of cost for water control measures between Georgica Pond and the Atlantic Ocean in the Town of East Hampton.”
The resolution, introduced at the request of County Executive John V.N. Klein and passed over three negative votes, states that “discussions have taken place between the County Executive, the Commissioner [Henry Diamond], and representatives of the Department of Public Works of the County of Suffolk, wherein a proposal for containment of the fresh water resources of Georgica Pond has been developed to consist of a sand barrier and overflow pipe. . . .”
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Twenty-five mini-bikes, a $7,500 gift from the American Honda Corporation, arrived last week in East Hampton for use in a Young Men’s Christian Association-sponsored program which was to have been conducted on Town-owned land, but because Town officials have apparently hedged on granting formal approval to the program, the bikes may remain crated.
Anthony C. Wimbauer, the Y’s chairman, John Welch, its executive director, and Robert Denny, former Y chairman, all expressed their dismay this week at the turn of events. In separate interviews the three maintained that Town Supervisor Eugene E. Lester Jr. had granted written approval to the program in March of 1972.
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The East Hampton Village Police Department made one arrest last week, charging a Boston, Mass., man with loitering.
Anton Balsor Schindler, 49, the defendant, who gave his address as care of the Salvation Army, Boston, Mass., was detained by Patrolman Randall Sarris at about 8 a.m. Monday after Mr. Schindler allegedly had tried to “bum a cup of coffee” at Eddie’s Luncheonette on Newtown Lane.
Taken before Town Justice Sheppard Frood, Mr. Schindler pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 days in the Suffolk County Jail at Riverhead.
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, May 14
South Fork taxpayers from Bridgehampton to Montauk will decide Tuesday whether to spend a total of nearly $70 million next year to educate students in eight public school districts.
For the most part, the School Boards are proposing modest budget increases, not more than 7 percent, with the lion’s share of the hikes going to salaries that will rise according to contracts already in place. Sagaponack, though, the smallest district, is an anomaly: It will propose a budget lower than last year’s.
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Though Brookhaven National Laboratory’s latest annual environmental report stresses that its radioactive emissions are well within Federal standards, Standing for Truth About Radiation, the East Hampton-based activist group, has demanded a ban on deer hunting on the lab grounds and a “consumption advisory” for deer taken from the area around it.
“If particular individuals are consuming this contaminated meat on a regular basis, the health implications are alarming, and this unnecessary exposure should be stopped,” said Scott Cullen, a lawyer for STAR, in a statement released yesterday.
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The recent accidental discovery of what looks to be a 1,000-year-old Indian encampment in Montauk has added determination to East Hampton planners’ wish for better ways to protect such resources.
The site is in the general vicinity in which a subdivision planned by Edna and Ralph Capurso has been on hold for years while studies of suspected Indian sites are prepared and litigation plays out.
