125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, March 23
Southampton is to have another electric light plant. The present plant was built in 1894. No dividends have yet been paid on the stock, but the entire earnings have been spent in improving the equipment.
There has been friction between the managers of the light company and some of the summer residents, and for the past two years there have been threats of a new company organized and controlled by the summer residents. One of the summer residents has now taken active part in the matter and has sufficient stock subscribed to apply for a franchise.
Village trustees debated the question until nearly midnight and they decided to grant the application in a modified form provided no poles are set in the street, except under supervision of the trustees.
—
The article recently printed calling attention to a new form of the grip, where the disease is accompanied by a scarlet rash resembling scarlet fever, has attracted wide-spread attention on Long Island. It appears that numerous cases of this new form of grip have puzzled physicians in many places for a time. Instances have been discovered where a quarantine has been established before the disease was understood in its proper form. Physicians have found it best to take every precaution while studying what appeared to them to be a new form of scarlet fever, but in reality is nothing but ordinary grip.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, March 20
That the State Health Department is absolutely right when it says that the state waters shall not be polluted by emptying open sewers into the harbors, rivers and bays, we firmly believe. Over in Riverhead a meeting is to be held soon, when the state health authorities will meet with the town board to discuss this subject as it affects Riverhead as well as Sag Harbor.
Although the Riverhead and Sag Harbor townsmen say they will fight any attempt on the part of the State to stop them from emptying their sewage into the harbor and bay, we cannot but feel that deep down in their hearts they know that lending their official sanction to the pollution of these public waters is all wrong.
—
A protest meeting was held last night at Sag Harbor, at which village residents of eastern Long Island villages, town trustees and other officials and newspapermen were present. The meeting was in protest against new Sag Harbor-New London board schedule to go into effect April 21.
H.L. Desanges, Marine Superintendent of the Long Island Railroad states that the company has decided upon a new schedule for the Steamer Shinnecock, plying between Greenport, New London and Sag Harbor, which will result in improved service for Greenport. The change of time, as planned by the company, differs somewhat from last year, as the steamer will leave Sag Harbor one hour later than last year.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, March 23
An age old precedent was smashed at the Village election held at Sag Harbor on March 21 when Miss Elizabeth A. Hall was elected village trustee. Miss Hall is not only the first woman in the 103 year history of Sag Harbor to seek the office of trustee but the first woman to be elected to the office.
Miss Hall and James S. Sterling running on the Economy party backed by individual voters of the community won a smashing 3-1 victory over the long established and once powerful Advancement party.
—
The fate of 840-acre Plum Island, one-time guardian of Long Island Sound, will be decided in the next few days, it was revealed on Monday as bids were opened in the offices of the U.S. General Services Administration.
Suffolk county led seven other bidders with an offer of $85,000, but Walter F. Downey, regional director of the GSA’s Liquidation Service, said all the bids would have to be “taken under consideration” before the island could be disposed of.
It was the second time in a year that Plum Island has been put on the block. Declared war surplus by the War Assets Administration, the island was put up for sale on a priority basis last August. In December, the GSA, taking over the duties of the WAA, turned down six offers, including a high of $16,000 made by a Detroit speculator and a token bid of $1 made by Suffolk County.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, March 20
“The Superintendent of Highways got shafted again,” according to the Superintendent of Highways. “Justice was done,” according to a spokesman for highway employees.
A labor foreman, Herbert Anderson, had complained that Highway Superintendent John Bistrian was making him drive a truck, in effect demoting him to the post of automotive equipment operator, or truck driver, without a “proper hearing.” Another foreman, Gil Keller, had complained that Mr. Bistrian was making him report to East Hampton although he was foreman of the Montauk crew.
—
Thirty-three East End fishermen took a bus to Washington recently to point up their keen interest in Federal bills that would protect the sanctity of their fishing grounds by keeping their formidable competition, the foreign fishing fleets, 200 miles offshore.
Scott Bennett, captain of the dragger Judy and Betty and president of the new Montauk Fisherman’s Cooperative, came back from last week’s Congressional hearings with a mixed verdict. “I think the bill’s going to go through the House again this year,” he speculated, “but then slow down in the Senate.”
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, March 23
With a smaller Latino community living in East Hampton, the problem of an undercounted population was not as significant in the 1990 census. But with an increase since then, the issue of undercounting has become a concern for 2000.
Town Councilwoman Diana Weir said that this time there is a strong effort to get people to participate. “As a community, we have been proactive in trying to get the information out there,” she said.
But not everybody agrees that there is enough information. Harriet Hellman, a nurse at the Hampton Community Health Care Center in Water Mill, said that many people she sees are not even aware of the census.
Martin Esguerra of the East Hampton Town Hispanic Advisory Committee said that fear that their information could be accessed by other government agencies is one reason many feel hesitant to comply.
—
In a strong appeal to the Southampton Town Board, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. urged the town not to withdraw from the South Fork pine barrens initiative. The board is expected to vote tomorrow on a motion by Supervisor Vincent J. Cannuscio to formally rescind its support of the initiative, maintaining that the state plan is “not the vehicle” to protect the town’s groundwater.
Having met with widespread skepticism in both Southampton and East Hampton, the plan is expected to founder. A new stripped-down proposal introduced by Assemblyman Thiele would give towns a year to adopt a joint map of “core protection areas,” in which at least 90 percent of properties would be set aside for open space acquisition.
