LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Three Factors

Montauk
August 29, 2003

Dear David:

To analyze the Republican primary on Sept. 9, Republicans must weigh three factors in making their choice.

1. Supporters.

Bob Kouffman has a former Democratic town justice (who was once cross-endorsed) and a lot of local lawyers behind him.

Lisa Rana has the 38 Republican Committee members and its chairman, who truly represent a cross section of our Republican community.

2. What they bring to the table.

Bob Kouffman is a lawyer with a lot of lawyer friends and little, if any, judicial experience.

Lisa Rana is a lawyer with strong family ties throughout our town. She is a 38-year-old woman with judicial experience. Political parties thrive on new young blood and Lisa brings this precious commodity with her.

3. Who can win the general election?

Bob Kouffman definitely seems organized and energetic, but primaries in local elections tend to leave hard feelings among those who need to be your most ardent supporters, the Republican Committee itself.

Lisa Rana also seems organized and energetic. She has the support of the Republican Committee and she has family in Montauk, Amagansett, and Wainscott, while residing in Springs. We all know that our families are the people we can truly count on and we believe this gives Lisa Rana the edge to prevail in November.

We ask all Republicans to vote in the primary on Sept. 9 and support Lisa Rana, the best judicial candidate for East Hampton in November.

Sincerely yours,
JOE BLOECKER
Republican Comitteeman
CHERYL BLOECKER

Telling Indicator

East Hampton
September 1, 2003

To the Editor:

My family moved to East Hampton in the mid 1940s. I graduated from East Hampton High School in 1969 and have known Bob Kouffman and his family since grade school. I have been a practicing attorney for almost 25 years. The majority of that time working, living, and raising my family in East Hampton.

Although I would not generally dignify the derogatory remarks made about attorneys practicing in this town who support Bob Kouffman for justice, I believe in this instance a response is required.

I, as do most other attorneys regularly appearing in our town justice court, understand what qualifications make for a good town justice. Because I earn a living here representing the townspeople in justice court, my client and I both want a town justice to be knowledgeable and experienced, impartial and fair.

A legal profession openly unified in support of one of its peers is not something sinister, but instead a telling indicator of whom we believe to be the best person for the job.

By running a primary and giving the townwide party membership a real choice and voice about whom our next town justice candidate should be, Bob Kouffman has certainly done our community a real service.

I do not know Bob Kouffman's opponent. I have never met her, although I frequently handle civil and criminal matters in the justice court. I, like others in the legal community, have not been able to observe the other candidate's public temperament, gauge her knowledge of town government and familiarity with community issues, or evaluate her general law experience other than by means of her printed words, not actions. For me, therein lies the problem.

Conversely, Bob Kouffman's legal presence here has stood the test of time. His broad legal and living experience, temperament, dedication, and service to our community and familiarity with town government combine to make him a forceful and eminently qualified person to represent our party in - and win - November's general election.

That is the reason I support Bob Kouffman and will cast my vote for him on Sept. 9, Primary Day.

Very truly yours,
LAWRENCE KONCELIK

Expect a Leader

East Hampton
September 1, 2003

Dear Editor,

If the Democratic Party in our community won't fight for affordable housing, who will?

Affordable housing is an issue that won't go away. The lack of it is damaging, perhaps destroying, our community. With land values seemingly stuck in outer space, longtime residents are selling out and moving UpIsland and taking their profits and skills with them. Young couples, unless they are fortunate enough to have parents who will spin off a homesite or take over a family home as their elders move to Florida, are following. The day may not be far off when we are left with our super-rich friends south of the highway, mere millionaires north of the highway, and undocumented workers and their families willing to double (or triple) up in what were once one-family homes.

What brought me to East Hampton 27 years ago was the diversity in our community. Diversity in all aspects: the power of the ocean, the gentleness of the bay, the deep forests, the plowed fields, the charm of our village, and the wonderful variety of our people. We were tradesmen, skilled craftsmen, famous writers and artists, unknown actors, successful businessmen and women, laborers, sales people, and full or part-time expatriates from New York City. We won't be able to keep that mix unless there is housing available for all of us. It is uncomfortable for me to walk down Main Street or Newtown Lane and see so many high-priced, upscale stores selling luxury goods. Will I soon be left with only upscale neighbors and tourists buying it?

As a Democrat, I expect my party to be a leader in the fight to keep our community a living, dynamic entity. Where is our Democratic leadership leading the way for affordable housing? On this issue (and others) have we become a one-party community? This is not what I, and I think many others in East Hampton, want.

Sincerely,
KATHLEEN L. POLICANO

Plain v. Plains

East Hampton
August 26, 2003

Dear Mr. Rattray,

For as long as I've been a reader, The East Hampton Star has been a part of my life. While growing up in Montauk and attending East Hampton High School, I was told that reading The Star was a way to learn what good writing should be. Later, in college, writing was always easy for me, and I would like to thank The Star for incidentally providing one of the models that engendered that writing.

Now, however, I would like to question The Star concerning one of its uses of the English language. According to The Star, I would be incorrect to write the following: My grandfather had a house at Ditch Plains.

According to The Star, the sentence should be: My grandfather had a house at Ditch Plain.

Over the last few years, whenever The Star has referred to that section of Montauk where I was raised and where my grandfather did, in fact, buy a house more than 60 years ago, the plural "s" on Ditch Plains has been deleted. I find this disconcerting. During all my years in Montauk not once did I hear anybody say, "Ditch Plain." My mother, who continues to maintain a residence there, has confirmed that the generation of Montaukers preceding her father's similarly referred to the neighborhood in question as "Ditch Plains."

I would like to know what information The Star has used in order to warrant its divergence from accepted traditional usage.

Surely it's not the fact that the possessive "s" when also a plural is frequently not supplied with its correctly placed apostrophe. As you know, the apostrophe should be after the "s," as in "Ditch Plains' Road." It is not uncommon for packagers, sign painters, mapmakers, land surveyors, et al., to leave the apostrophe off the "s."

And certainly The Star would not fail to acknowledge that embedded plural nouns that are part of noun phrases do not require the Saxon genitive, as in "Hither Hills State Park," "White Plains City Court," and, if you will, "Ditch Plains Road."

I'm sure that the staff at The Star has never been in a quandary concerning the above declensional guidelines. My guess is that The Star may be using geographical conjecture rather than grammar rules to insist on "Ditch Plain." Might somebody in your office not be aware that there are two plains meeting at the Montauk ditch in question? If so, please note that a plain becomes plural when broken by a mountain range, a river, etc. Hence, "the Great Plains."

In Ditch's case, its lowland expanse is broken by the creek that drains the swamp near the ocean beach at the foot of Rheinstein's hill, passing in an underground culvert below Ditch Plains Road, meandering around my mother's property through a swath of wetlands toward Lake Montauk. I suspect that long ago the path that today is Ditch Plains Road might have ended at a ditch that had been dug where that culvert is now buried. Before the ditch was dug, the creek running from Rheinstein's swamp must have been highly visible to the old-timers of Montauk, especially during rainy spells. Digging the ditch was probably meant to consolidate the creek's waters to facilitate passing. Later the culvert was added so a road could be laid over the waters. Presently, the creek is the approximate dividing line of Ditch Plains Road and Deforest Road. It is largely hidden in the culvert, and in drainpipes and by landscaping elsewhere.

Surely writers at The Star have noticed that their counterparts in other local papers have been using "Ditch Plains" rather than "Ditch Plain." They might also have read the article in The New York Times last summer about Montauk with a reference to "Ditch Plains Beach." And they might be aware of a columnist in Newsday, at the beginning of this summer, writing about "the beach at Ditch Plains."

I would be very interested to hear why The Star seems to be steadfastly opposing not only the current traditional usage of perhaps thousands of its readers, but also the work of other journalists. Your writers seem to have been instructed to intentionally teach something. However, presenting a model of new language to replace old without constant reiteration of an explanation won't do the job. We would learn better if we knew what our lesson was about. Where are we mistaken? On geography? On grammar? On local history?

Sincerely yours,
CALVIN STEWART

It is not uncommon for a name to gather an "s" in the common vernacular. The local family name Field, for example, is frequently heard as Fields, although the phone book gets it right.

In his book "The South Fork: The Land and the People of Eastern Long Island," the late Everett T. Rattray notes that the first settlers found the Island full of "little plaines," "great plaines," and "meadows." The word "plaines," like "meadows," is plural, while Ditch Plain, Hither Plain, and the others are single entities. Mr. Rattray tells us that "Bridgehampton itself was built upon 'the Brushy Plaine,' " and that "Hempstead Plain [was] the largest prairie east of the Mississippi before its conversion into the Roosevelt Field shopping center, the Nassau County Coliseum, tract housing, and parkways. . . ."

While we have no reason to doubt Mr. Stewart's geographic description, Ditch Plain has been considered a single entity for more than 300 years. The Star tries to keep history alive in this instance, although purists might tell us to add an "e" to the plain. We also have been waging an apparently losing battle to protect the East Hampton Village Sheep Pound from incorrectly being known forever more as the Sheep Fold. But that is another story. H.S.R.

Munificent Sum

Montauk
August 15, 2003

To the Editor:

I am writing about one of our many hard-working and perhaps underappreciated Montauk residents. Art Lucas is a longtime town employee and volunteer fireman. Every day for more than 20 years Art has raised, lowered, and stored our village green American flag. He is now almost retired from this assignment. I think he was paid the munificent sum of about $1 a day to do this work. Maybe each of you could thank Art the next time you see him.

Sincerely,
JOHN WINSTON