Villages

The big question on everyone's lips this month seems to be whether or not they should receive a third (in the case of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines) or second (if they opted for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine) "booster" dose against Covid-19.

A proposal to name the Amagansett Youth Park for Lee A. Hayes, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II and a resident of East Hampton Town for most of his life, gathered strength on Tuesday. 

As it marks its 100th anniversary, the Amagansett Village Improvement Society demonstrates a remarkable continuity. Now, as then, the society constitutes a committed group that cares deeply about its unassuming hamlet and wishes to preserve its inimitable charm and beauty. It maintains the hamlet's triangles, planters, benches, trees, flagpole, and flower boxes, lines Main Street with flags at the appropriate holidays, and helps to decorate the tree on the green at Christmas and organize caroling up and down Main Street.

The Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee had to make do Monday without its expected speaker, Katy Casey, executive director of the East Hampton Housing Authority, who couldn't make it to the Zoom meeting at the last minute, leaving the committee with a number of questions but few answers.

Stony Brook Southampton Hospital remains convinced that a 4.5-acre parcel on Pantigo Place in East Hampton is the most appropriate site for its proposed emergency room annex, and it hopes to break ground on the project by the end of the year, according to Robert Chaloner, the hospital's chief administrative officer.

In so many ways, the fact that we are still having to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic feels like a kick to the gut, but here we are. At this juncture in the pandemic, it is worthwhile to once again review some of the current public health guidelines aimed at stopping the spread and protecting yourself and your community.

Much to the chagrin of her legions of loyal customers, Mary Schoenlein announced this week that her retail bakery and takeout spot Mary's Marvelous on East Hampton's Newtown Lane will be shutting its doors for good at the close of business on Sunday.

East Hampton Village will hold a celebration of the 100th anniversary of its incorporation next weekend, and to mark the occasion, Rose Brown, a trustee, Ray Harden, an owner of Ben Krupinski Builder and a former trustee, and James McMullan, an architect and vice chairman of the village's zoning board of appeals, joined forces to create a keepsake for posterity: a model of Village Hall that will be on display in the parade down Main Street on Sept. 25, and then stored at Mulford Farm. 

Next week, East Hampton Village begins its belated centennial celebration of the village's incorporation. Inspired by the 1920s while planning the events for this anniversary, the village also looked at many of the Town of East Hampton's large anniversary events, such as the 350th anniversary celebration in 1998. One of the earliest town anniversaries we have photographs from is the August 1924 pageant for the 275th anniversary of the town.

Children with special needs and their families got a chance to experience the healing power of the ocean on Saturday at A Walk on Water's surf therapy event at Ditch Plain in Montauk.

A deputy commissioner in former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's office, Bradford Billet of East Hampton helped oversee a program to locate people who had been injured, killed, or had gone missing after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in Manhattan. "At one point we had a list of over 20,000 missing people that we had to pare down," he said. "We had a solemn obligation to give the families closure."

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, made an indelible mark on New York City and the rest of the United States, which mourned 2,977 victims of terrorism that day. Some of East Hampton's first responders paused this week to reflect on the impact the terrorist attacks had on them personally.