Villages

    There is life, and even fun, on a winter Thursday evening in Sagaponack in the form of a weekly quiz night at Townline BBQ, according to Alex Prime of East Hampton, who competed last month as a member of the Most Interesting Team in the World.

    Formerly called the Smarty Pints, the team has won “about 40 times,” so far, according to Mr. Prime, who credited his teammate Ted Benjamin with being “the brain of the team.”

    The Lamb-Baker house at 88 Newtown Lane, which East Hampton Village purchased in 2007 for $1.4 million — and which Robert Hefner, an historic preservation consultant, called “a pretty ambitious Greek Revival-style cottage” — has been sitting unused for several years, but now, the property, perched next to the East Hampton Middle School, is ready to be renovated, Mr. Hefner said at the village board meeting last Thursday.

    Nick Kraus emerged the winner of the third annual Mr. Amagansett contest held on Saturday to benefit the Donald T. Sharkey Community Memorial Fund. As the manager of the Stephen Talkhouse, where the event was held, it would seem to some that this was an easy win, but his fiercest competitor was his boss, Peter Honerkamp.

    It was up to Fighting Chance, a free-of-charge cancer counseling center serving the East End, to help a young cancer patient continue on his chosen path as a composer.

    Last week for Mardi Gras, the East Hampton Town Senior Citizens Center was decked out for the occasion, with masks adorning each table and purple, green, and gold streamers hung from the ceiling. There were beads for all, and the kitchen staff had prepared the traditional king cake, a cinnamon roll with multicolored icing that is a New Orleans specialty.

    About a year ago, John Behan of Montauk, a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, received a phone call from Tom Morrison, who was also a marine in Vietnam. Mr. Morrison told him that he was the crew chief on the helicopter that picked up Mr. Behan on May 23, 1966, the day he lost both of his legs in battle.

    Further discussion about an upcoming change to the laws governing the size of real estate and construction signs was eclipsed at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting by a preliminary talk about placing cameras in the Reutershan parking lot behind Main Street.

    For want of a nail, a shoe was lost. And for want of the exact lumens generated by a light in a parking lot, the plans to break ground on the East Hampton Library’s children’s wing will have to wait another day.

    The room was full to capacity at the East Hampton Village’s Design Review Board meeting on Feb. 15, mostly with supporters — including Tom Twomey, the chairman of the library’s board, and Sheila Rogers, a library trustee — hoping to see a green light at the end of an eight-year tunnel.

    Sybil Christopher, a founding member of the Bay Street Theatre and its co-artistic director, is stepping down after 20 years.

    Approaching her 83rd birthday next month, Ms. Christopher remains a strong supporter of the Sag Harbor institution, and is staying on as a consultant. But, she said on Tuesday, “I had to decide how I was going to leave — was I going to be carried out feet first?”

    On Jan. 31, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the Atlantic sturgeon an endangered species. Both industry leaders and fishery regulators oppose the listing, saying it will have a severe impact on a number of fisheries, the near-shore gillnet fisheries for striped bass, bluefish, and monkfish in particular.

    “The first thing to make clear is that White’s is going nowhere,” said Hal Zwick, the Devlin McNiff Halstead Properties broker who recently listed the building at 81 Main Street, home to White’s Pharmacy since 1873, for $7.75 million. “The business is going very strong,” Mr. Zwick said.

    A request by the Three P. Corporation to add approximately 400 square feet to a 1,400-square-foot contemporary saltbox located on a .1 acre on Collins Avenue was denied by the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday.

    “It’s just too big,” said John L. McGuirk III, who sits on the board.

    “You’re looking for a variance of almost 30-percent gross floor area,” Andrew Goldstein, the chairman of the zoning board, said. “That’s a substantial variance.”

    What will take place on the downtown green in Montauk on Memorial Day weekend is now up for determination by the East Hampton Town Board. Two groups, the Montauk Artists Association and the Montauk Memorial Committee, have filed applications for gathering permits to use the site for a full weekend of activities.

It’s customary on Valentine’s Day for a husband to give his heart to his wife, but a kidney?

    The ongoing saga of the 16-foot “Legs” sculpture on the Lehr-Vered property in Sag Harbor has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yfork Times, newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, and on “News 12 Long Island” and the CBS affiliate in New York.

    Now the village’s zoning board of appeals will hold a hearing on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to determine whether the structure can remain where it stands, at the corner of Madison and Henry Streets.

Sitting beside a 20-foot altar set with flowers, bowls of water, crystals, and statues of the Buddha, Gen Nordin guided about 20 students through stages of prayer, silent concentration, and discussion

    On Tuesday, Benito Villa, a founder of the Harborfrost festival, was en route to the Sag Harbor fire marshal’s office to request that ice sculptors be granted last-minute permission to set fire to their sculptures, in keeping with this year’s “Fire and Ice” theme. Also freshly added to this weekend’s lineup — which includes a Grucci fireworks display and live music, in addition to the artwork in ice — was an icy ring toss using glow-in-the-dark necklaces that participants will be encouraged to wear into the evening.

    “The town will be glowing,” Mr. Villa said.

East Hampton Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione got an earful of complaints.

The new configuration for entering and exiting the Montauk I.G.A. parking lot has locals, the East Hampton Town Police Department, and motel owners perplexed.

    David Conlin of Springs was having his cesspool pumped on Jan. 10 when his dog Mookie ran out the back door and fell some 18 feet into the open cesspool.

More than 100 people turned out for an informational forum at the Bay Street Theatre organized by its management team and members of its board to discuss the theater’s future home last Thursday.

After more than 15 years of discussion, Sag Harbor’s popular Havens Beach is going to have the remediation required to make it safe for swimmers.

The Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee looked over plans submitted by Dr. Molly Miosek, a veterinarian, for an animal clinic that she would like to build.

Jonathan Russo of Shelter Island was the winner of the East End Classic Boat Society’s 2011 fund-raising raffle.

Renovations to restore a parking lot at the end of Lily Pond Lane at Georgica Beach, which was chewed up by Tropical Storm Irene, were presented to the East Hampton Village Board by Drew Bennett, the village engineer.

    The State Department of Environmental Conservation has asked Molly Zweig, a Georgica beachfront resident, or her legal representative to meet with agents next Thursday in an attempt to convince her to remove the fencing erected seaward of her property earlier this year.

A beach scene featuring a blue sky, a lifeguard chair, beach umbrellas, and dogs and cats playing together will soon grace a loft area at the recently renovated thrift shop run by the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons in Sagaponack. The mural, a gift from Carol Saxe, a Springs artist, will be installed tomorrow.

    Need some preliminary screenings but are a little short of scratch after the holidays? The East Hampton Healthcare Foundation, in partnership with the South Fork Community Health Initiative and Southampton Hospital, is sponsoring a free community health fair on Friday, Jan. 6.

    It seems as if Patsy Topping has brought new meaning to “a warm and fuzzy Christmas.” Ms. Topping, who lives in South Carolina, arrived at her Bridgehampton farm early Friday morning with 20 puppies and young dogs saved from high-kill shelters in the South.

The East Hampton Village Board meeting on Friday started off with a presentation to local contractors who volunteered their time and efforts to put the Hook Mill back together again.