125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, March 30
The Horton law to allow public boxing contests, but which really permits prize fighting with gloves, ought to be repealed. The Governor in his annual message recommended repeal. A repeal bill passed the Assembly, but has got stuck in the Senate. The Democrats oppose repeal, and it is said that two Republican senators, Coggeshall and Willis, are to vote with them, thus preventing passage of the bill. Such a law is a disgrace to this state, and the decent people should see to it that every senator, whether Democrat or Republican, who votes against repeal should be defeated for re-election.
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That the East End farmers are intending to do business on a very large scale this year is demonstrated no better than by the immense quantity of fertilizer that will be put into the soil. During the past week about twenty-five car loads of fertilizer have been delivered at Mattituck station. An equal number has been left at Riverhead, many more car loads at Cutchogue, Peconic, Southold and all the other stations in that vicinity. The cars contain twenty tons, and this number doesn't represent what one farmer will put into the soil in some cases.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, March 27
Early Tuesday morning of last week, while cruising about in the Sound, Coxswain Lawrence L. Regan, in command of the thirty-six-foot government picket boat 2334, noticed a suspicious looking sloop, the captain of which was evidently endeavoring to work his way without attracting undue attention. The patrol boat was headed for the mysterious looking craft and in a short time the swift government craft ran alongside the sloop and ordered the crew to stop. A crew from the picket boat boarded the vessel and found that the craft was the sloop Virginia, loaded with about five hundred cases of Scotch whiskey.
While transporting the sloop to the Coast Guard base in New London it was discovered the engine room was filling with water. Upon reaching Bartlett's Reef a light ship was moored next to the Virginia to keep it afloat while the crew and prisoners were moved. A Coast Guard vessel arrived shortly after to tow the boat to New London; halfway outside the entrance to the harbor, however, the Virginia sank.
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A dream a number of years ago was fulfilled last Thursday evening when over 300 residents of Amagansett and surrounding territory attended the dedication exercises of the new $20,000 Amagansett Parish house on Meeting House lane, next to the manse.
By careful planning and scrupulous saving, half of the cost, $10,000, was raised. Members of the church parish have suppers and entertainments, the proceeds always pouring into the common building fund. Considerable money was also raised by public subscription.
The lot upon which the parish house was built was given to the church by Mrs. Harry L. Hamlin.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, March 30
If it is so desired, Suffolk County could resell, and at a profit, the erstwhile government reservation of Plum Island which it picked up for $85,000 last week. Along with official confirmation of Uncle Sam's acceptance of the county's bid, there came Monday to the Board of Supervisors an offer to take the sea-girt site of Fort Terry off the county's hands for $85,000 plus.
Members of the board evidenced no interest in a resale, but they did see in the offer further justification of their decision to acquire the island for the county. The supervisors have been roundly criticized in some quarters for spending $85,000 of the taxpayers money for something which the critics contend is more of a "lemon" than a "plum."
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One of the most interesting real estate transactions in recent years took place here this week when Robert W. Dowling purchased the windmill at Hayground. The mill was built in 1801 at its present site, which occupies a commanding position on the north side of Montauk Highway between Water Mill and Bridgehampton. And like many other Long Island mills, the Hayground windmill is going to be moved.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, March 27
The Sunrise Highway Extension project, as it is currently envisioned at least, is dead. Governor Hugh Carey delivered the death blow Tuesday in a special message to the State Legislature on transportation police in which he said he would request the return of the proposed 23-mile route's environmental impact statement from the Federal government and would withdraw the State's application for location approval.
Officials of the State Department of Transportation and a spokesman for the Halt the Highway Committee, a South Fork organization opposed to the project, agreed yesterday that the Governor's action "wipes the slate clean." Reactions were joyous on the part of those opposed to the Extension, or Bypass as it was known, and disappointed on the part of those who favored it.
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An "underwater archaeology" course to be offered this summer by the New York Ocean Science Laboratory at Fort Pond Bay, Montauk, will include visits to remnants of the HMS Culloden, a 74-gun ship of the line wrecked nearby 196 years ago.
Moored off Long Island during the American rebellion, the vessel had been dispatched in pursuit of three French blockade-runners when, on the night of Jan. 18, 1781, a blizzard and gale sprang up. She grounded near the eastern shore of the Bay, near what is now called Culloden Point. The British abandoned ship and set her afire the next morning.
Following diving expeditions to the site, the State Office of History moved to safeguard the wreck by appointing the Laboratory its "official caretaker."
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, March 30
Following up on a tip from East Hampton Town detectives, the Suffolk County Police Narcotics Division capped an eight-month undercover investigation Saturday afternoon with the arrest of four women said to be "a major source of supply" to East Hampton drug dealers.
The buy-and-bust sting took place at the Tanger Outlet Center in Riverhead. Law enforcement officials called it the "largest hand-to-hand" drug bust in county history. More than 25 East Hampton and Riverhead officers participated, along with aerial and K-9 units.
Police seized a total of eight kilograms of pure cocaine, still packaged in its original wrapping. Its street value was pegged at $2,560,000.
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Is talk of a potential building moratorium in East Hampton Town spurring some longtime owners of vacant lands to develop them before it can become impossible?
The answer is yes, according to some who make their living helping landowners through the development process, and who saw a huge influx of clients after the pine barrens plan -- which could create a large no-build area -- was discussed last month at a public hearing.
Many saw their lots that night on a map showing where development could be restricted or even prohibited under the plan, designed to protect groundwater. While those landowners would be compensated at fair-market value or awarded development rights elsewhere, many apparently fear losing their investments and are rushing to install foundations, at the very least, to establish vested property rights.
