125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, December 15
Robert K. Story, of Manhattan, who holds a franchise granted by Sag Harbor Village trustees to establish and maintain an electric lighting plant in Sag Harbor, was at that place last week on business connected with the project. He appeared before the board and had his contract, which would expire on January 1, 1900, extended to March 1, 1900. In company with Mr. Story was H.B. Pope, contractor for putting up poles and wires. They went over the proposed territory to be lighted and maps and surveys were made.
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The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has reversed the judgment of conviction entered in the court in the case of the people against Frederick C. Sands. Judgment in the matter was rendered by the Appellate Court on Thursday last. The defendant, who was indicted for grand larceny, 2nd degree, charged with having unlawfully appropriated to his own use in the town of Islip, on or about Sept. 30, 1896, the sum of $35 belonging to the Singer Sewing Machine Co., was tried and convicted before County Judge Arthur S. Tompkins.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, December 12
Police of Sag Harbor are hunting two baymen, described as rumrunners, who are accused by John Marolo of the Bronx, of holding him up and robbing him of $1,310. The job was pulled off Wednesday night in a deserted house on the Sag Harbor turnpike, according to Marolo.
He was chained to a board in the hot deserted hut with his arms behind his back. The robbers then drove Marolo's roadster to the Bay View Hotel, where they left it and disappeared.
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L.W. Rothstein of Southampton was placed under arrest at Huntington by Constable Bertram Walker early Sunday morning, and turned over to the Federal Prohibition authorities following an accident on the Jericho turnpike when Rothstein's roadster, loaded to capacity with cased liquor, it is alleged, left the road and turned over three times, finally resting on its side in the woods by the side of the road.
When Constable Walker arrived on the scene minutes after he had been notified of the smash, he found that the driver had disappeared. Examination of the wrecked car revealed approximately three hundred and twelve bottles of alleged liquor. Walker reported the incident to Sheriff Amza W. Biggs and the prohibition officers, who located Rothstein several hours later and placed him under arrest.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, December 15
A sure method of conserving Long Island's water supply in the face of growing industrial development and urbanization in the agricultural counties was outlined this week by Henry A. Curtis of Hofstra College at Hempstead, L.I.
The Hempstead geologist urgently recommended county legislation which would make mandatory for new industry moving to the Island the sinking of rejuvenation wells. These would return to the earth for purification water supplies used in maintaining air-conditioning systems and in industrial processes.
Wells of a dual type, one for pumping fresh water, the other for returning used water to the earth, have been voluntarily drilled by some of Long Island's aircraft industries, but Curtis holds that this important conservation method should not be left to voluntary action alone. He holds that local governments should legislate requirements and not leave preservation of the county's natural resources to chance.
Commenting on the plan of the Long Island Association and other Island development groups to invite selected light industries to move here, the Hofstra College geologist declared that the time "to lock the barn" where water stocks are concerned is present and immediate, before commercialization of Long Island has reached a stage where intelligent planning for future contingencies faces almost insurmountable difficulties.
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Plum Island, former site of Fort Terry in Long Island Sound, off Orient Point, is valued at $196,000 by the General Services Administration, but the highest bid the Federal agency could get for the property last week was $16,000.
The bid was thrown out, as were four others, and now the agency will try to negotiate the sale of the property. The lowest bid, described as a "token" offering, was for $1 by the Nassau County Police Athletic League. The bid of $16,000 was made by Harry Glanz of Detroit.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, December 12
The East End's annual outcry over erosion from winter storms is being heard a month or two earlier than usual. It resounds in all quarters, including, this year, the bay side, at Culloden Shore, Montauk; Wainscott, where the famous Nagel house was legally and deliberately burned last week after being undermined by the Atlantic; and Westhampton, where a plea for additional groins seems likely to fall on deaf ears.
In East Hampton Village, where there was considerable erosion along the ocean, particularly near Drew Lane, there are reports that several homeowners are seeking permission to place stone along the base of a strip of dunes and build two short jetties.
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The Town Trustees, meeting for an hour and a half Tuesday night, decided to let Juan Trippe help himself to sand from the bottom of Georgica Pond. Mr. Trippe, former board chairman of Pan American Airways, wanted to replace sand that he said had been washed away from his oceanfront property and that of other members of the Trippe family, east of Georgica Gut, with sand that had meanwhile been accumulating at a submerged sandbar north of the Gut.
"The current takes a lot of his sand away from there and somehow it's deposited across the way or from the ocean. I don't know," Trustee Kenneth Yardley commented.
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, December 16
The town's emergency planners say chances are extremely slim that the Y2K computer bug will cause any problems whatsoever after midnight on Jan 1. Nonetheless, dozens of public servants will start the new century in much the same way they waited out the enfeebled Hurricane Floyd in September — nursing walkie-talkies at firehouses all night, just in case.
"It's like a winter storm," said Dick McGowin, the town's emergency management coordinator. "You never know the severity."
The emergency planners met last Thursday night with Supervisor-elect Jay Schneiderman, Town Councilwoman-elect Diana Weir, and several other town officials to brief them on backup plans in case Grandma finds herself stuck in the cold with no dial tone or lights.
From about 8 a.m. Dec. 31 to the same time the following morning — longer, of course, if the Apocalypse comes — seven firehouses and other emergency facilities will be staffed and equipped with two-way radios.
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David has done it again. Last week, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence scored another victory when Kmart executives decided to pull air guns, paintball guns, B.B. guns, and ammunition from the shelves of its store in Bridgehampton.
Executives from the merchandising and operations offices of the Goliath department store chain had met over a 10-day period to review the matter. They reached a decision on Dec. 6, and that afternoon instructions came from Steve Offutt, the Bridgehampton store manager, to remove the remaining gun and ammunition stock.
