75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, May 27
The Three Hundredth Anniversary Cook Book prepared by the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society is now here. Mrs. Nathan H. Dayton, chairman of the Cook Book Committee since the L.V.I.S. was founded, is again responsible for the compilation and sale of this, the eighth Cook Book to be published by the society. She already has had some 125 orders. The cost of printing the Cook Book was entirely covered by the advertising, for which Mrs. Frederick Yardley was chairman; so that sales of the book will be a complete contribution to the good work of this very able society. The book is on sale at Mrs. Dayton’s, the Star office, and Home, Sweet Home.
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Cordial greetings to the people of East Hampton on the occasion of the Town Tercentenary were expressed this morning on behalf of the people of Maidstone, Kent, England, by Ray Boorman, editor of the Maidstone Messenger, in a telephone call to the editor of The Star. The call came through shortly after 9 o’clock this morning and was quite clear, for a trans-Atlantic call. In his message of friendship to East Hampton, Editor Boorman said that he was speaking on behalf of the people of Maidstone, who were particularly grateful to the Friends of Maidstone for their gifts of food and clothing to the people overseas. A cordial message of appreciation was expressed for Miss Dorothy McCauslan, who organized the Friends of Maidstone, and who was responsible for its success in obtaining so many gifts for the people of Maidstone.
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Gail Hillson will reopen her Hamptons Playhouse at Bridgehampton, July 2nd, with the Broadway smash hit “Voice of the Turtle.”
William Chambers will direct “Voice” and play the leading role. Mr. Chambers was with the Boston company of “Voice of the Turtle” for two years as Stage Manager and Director, and on numerous occasions played the lead.
William Chambers has appeared in the Broadway productions of “Johnny Belinda,” “On Your Toes,” “Bury the Dead,” “Skydrift,” “200 Were Chosen,” “Great Lady,” “Excursion,” and many others. On the radio he has been heard on such programs as “We, the People,” “Ellery Queen,” “Aunt Jenny,” “The Falcon,” “Ave Maria,” “School of the Air,” and innumerable Television shows.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, May 24
Two priests were stranded on the roof of a submerged car beneath the railroad bridge over Route 114 “during the torrential downpour that struck East Hampton” on Sunday evening, according to the East Hampton Town Police, who rescued them with a 16-foot aluminum boat.
They were identified as the Revs. Joseph Sedley and Donald Ware, both of St. Gabriel’s Parish, Shelter Island. Marooned on another car, beneath the same bridge at the same time, was a man identified as Francesco Heredick, of Accabonac Highway and Town Lane, East Hampton. The periodic lake has defied the ingenuity of State highway engineers for decades.
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A ban on dredging and filling between Feb. 15 and Aug. 15 was approved, a Town historian appointed, 20 more resolutions adopted, and several citizens heard during Friday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Board.
After a brief public hearing, the Board resolved to add this sentence to the Town’s excavation ordinance: “To protect spawning periods and other biological activity, dredging or filling of any waters within the boundaries of the Town of East Hampton, with the exception of the maintenance dredging of existing channels and basins, shall be permitted only from August 15 through February 15.”
The resolution, said supervisor Eugene E. Lester Jr., was a response to a suggestion made three months ago by the New York Ocean Science Laboratory. One of the Laboratory’s scientists, Dr. Herbert M. Austin, had been studying fish eggs and larvae in Lake Montauk and, noting that they were “extremely sensitive to the slightest fluctuations in the environment,” had urged “that any alterations to the ecologically fragile shoreline and bottom be done during the months when there are no eggs and larvae present in the water.”
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Deceased American servicemen will be honored on Monday with a Memorial Day parade in East Hampton, with ceremonies at the Memorial Green.
The parade, under the supervision of the local Post of the American Legion this year, will begin at 10:30 a.m., and will include members of the Legion, the local Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a contingent from the Montauk Air Force Base, Scouts, the East Hampton High School band, the East Hampton unit of the American Cancer Society, and local Fire Departments. The paraders will march the accustomed route “down” Main Street, from the Village Green near Guild Hall to the Hook Mill.
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, May 28
The 40-odd East End residents who addressed a panel of Federal officials on Tuesday morning each demanded a permanent shutdown of the Millstone Three nuclear power plant across the Long Island Sound in Connecticut, vehemently contending the station had a long history of unsafe operation and it would be impossible to swiftly warn and evacuate the East End in the event of an accident there.
Nearly to a person, the residents of the North and South Forks and of Shelter Island in between recalled the public outcry against the Long Island Lighting Company’s nuclear power plant at Shoreham.
They reminded the panel that Shoreham was defeated by the realization that conditions on Long Island, such as population density and a limited road system, made infeasible the evacuation of millions, especially through the bottleneck of New York City.
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The State Senate has approved the latest version of the 2-percent real estate transfer tax legislation that could raise millions of dollars a year for open space, farmland, and historic preservation in the five East End towns.
Supporters of the bill, which was sponsored by Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, are optimistic the State Assembly will do the same.
The East Hampton, Southampton, and Shelter Island tax would apply to vacant property over $100,000 and improved property over $250,000. In Riverhead and Southold the tax would apply to vacant land over $75,000 and improved property over $150,000. In each case, the 2-percent surcharge is to be paid by the buyer.
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Queries and rumors abounded this week as the Amagansett Farmers Market, which led the way on the South Fork in the marketing of specialty foods, along with fresh produce, had yet to open. But the Struk family, which owns what has become an institution on Amagansett’s Main Street, was not talking.
The Star received numerous calls from the curious and the anxious as Memorial Day weekend went by and the market’s plastic and canvas flaps had not been rolled up for business. One caller, from Amagansett, even expressed interest in buying the business if its owners wanted to sell.
Attempts to speak to Pat Struk or her son, Brenndon, who run the business, were unsuccessful. Mr. Struk’s wife, Jody, said the reasons why the market did not open were a private matter.
