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Healing on the House

Healing on the House

By
Star Staff

    A free two-day holistic healing clinic organized by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork will take place this weekend, starting tomorrow from 4 to 6 p.m.

    On Saturday, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., various healing practitioners will offer their services free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Anna Marie Wellinis, a nurse practitioner, will screen for sleep apnea, hypertension, and general health issues. Rachel Rudansky will perform cranio-sacral therapy on the head and neck, designed for physical, emotional, and spiritual alignment. Dr. Stephen Braun, an osteopath, will offer overall health assessments and evaluation, joined by Dr. Amy Suesslea.

     Classic five-element acupuncture or a pain-free version with essential oils will be offered by Steve Flores, while Adele Kristiansson will conduct hands-on and energy healing. Margaret Pulkingham, a registered nurse, will give relaxation massages.

    An opportunity to experience reiki healing and to learn how to activate one’s own healing powers will be offered by Joan Garro, and Megan Chaskey will offer a system for self-care and self-help called Eden Energy Medicine in addition to NAAM Yoga and meditation.

    The clinic will take place at the congregation’s meeting house, 977 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, just south of Scuttlehole Road.

Wimpy January, a Look Back

Wimpy January, a Look Back

A large tree in front of Tom Steele’s house on Accabonac Road in East Hampton topped during the snowstorm, blocking the road for several days.
A large tree in front of Tom Steele’s house on Accabonac Road in East Hampton topped during the snowstorm, blocking the road for several days.
By
Carissa Katz

    A week and a half ago as he wrote his monthly weather report for January, Richard G. Hendrickson was asking, “Where’s the snow?” The answer arrived on Friday and Saturday.

    January was a “windy and cold month, but little snow or severe gale winds as we have had in years past,” wrote Mr. Hendrickson, the United States Cooperative weather observer in Bridgehampton. “This is a part of the cycle we are having now that is called global warming. In this cycle, which may last 10 or more years, there will be a very mild year or two, as we are having now.” Had there been such weather in days of yore, it wouldn’t have been possible “to fill the large icehouses like there were at each and every village with the glacial-made freshwater pond ice.”

    It was in the 50s on five days last month, with a high of 56 coming on Jan. 31. The low temperature was 6 degrees on the night of Jan. 24, “the only night in January that the temperature was in the single figure,” Mr. Hendrickson said. The thermometer dropped to freezing or lower on 21 nights in January, but there was measurable snow on only two days. The heaviest was 1.2 inches on Jan. 21; .1 inch more fell on the 29th. The total rain and melted snow for the month was .95 inches, “a light amount for a January month,” according to Mr. Hendrickson.

    There were few days last month when the northwest wind blew 40 miles per hour or more. Winds this winter have generally blown from the northwest, except on the rainy or snowy days, the weather observer said.

    He recorded 15 clear days, 3 partly cloudy, and 13 cloudy days in January.

    In addition to the already heavier snowfall that February has brought, Mr. Hendrickson predicts windier days, lower temperatures, and more opportunities “for skating on the freshwater ponds, plus sledding on the hill.”

ARF’s Week Of Love

ARF’s Week Of Love

By
Star Staff

    The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons has proclaimed it a “week of love” at its adoption center at 90 Daniel’s Hole Road. In celebration of Valentine’s Day and in hopes of finding homes for pets in its care, the center has extended its adoption hours by an hour, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Through next Thursday, those who adopt will receive a free 2013 ARF calendar, a flower pen, and a pet portrait. The adoption fees will be reduced, and tours of the facility will be given. Refreshments will be served as well.

    Matchmaking services include help finding the right pet, spaying and neutering, up-to-date vaccinations, and microchips. More information is available by e-mailing adoptions@arfhamptons. org.

    A meeting of ARF’s Operation Cat volunteers is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the center. The program is intended to reduce the number of strays through trapping and neutering. Prospective members will be welcomed.

    In other ARF news, Sara Davison, its executive director, has been voted in as the chairwoman of the new Suffolk Pet Store Rating Board, which was established by the County Legislature. The board’s first meeting was on Feb. 6.

Leases Renewed at Sea Spray Cottage

Leases Renewed at Sea Spray Cottage

By
Christopher Walsh

    The 13 Sea Spray Cottages at Main Beach will remain in the hands of their current tenants for the 2013 season, rather than having their leases auctioned as they were in 2010.

    The East Hampton Village Board held a live auction that year for 3-year leases on the cottages, which are owned by the village, and prices paid were “very competitive,” said Larry Cantwell, the village administrator. All tenants have remained for the duration of their leases, so “the board has negotiated renewal leases with an increase in rent every year,” he said. Rather than holding another auction, “the board’s feeling is that the first auction set the market for those prices. The tenants are all paying their bills, so the board felt they should hang on to them and increase rents every year,” Mr. Cantwell said.

    The cottages are a source of substantial revenue for the village — a total of $932,093 will be collected in 2013, with an increase of 3 percent set for both 2014 and 2015. Rental rates this year range from $34,067 to $108,150.

    Nearly all of the cottages suffered roof damage between Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent northeaster, Drew Bennett, a consulting engineer working on behalf of the village, told the board at its Jan. 3 work session. Mr. Bennett advised the board that it would have to consider reroofing the buildings and suggested a piecemeal approach.

    The brick chimneys featured on some of the cottages have weathered substantially above the roofline, Mr. Bennett said, and their caps were damaged by the hurricane.

    “We are going to get prices on doing two of the roofs,” Mr. Cantwell said Monday. “There was some damage to the roofs, to shingles of all the cottages,” which he described as fairly minor. “We’re doing bids to redo roofs on two cottages, and the plan would be to do them all, a couple at a time, rather than a shingle here and a shingle there.”

Son Blocked from Department, Trustee Sees ‘Payback’

Son Blocked from Department, Trustee Sees ‘Payback’

By
Carrie Ann Salvi

    In what was otherwise an uneventful meeting, the Sag Harbor Village Board erupted Tuesday night when the son of one of the board members was denied admission to the Sag Harbor Fire Department.

    Kevin J. Duchemin, a trustee who has been a member of the Fire Department himself for over 20 years and is an East Hampton Village policeman, said he was “blindsided” when Mayor Brian Gilbride announced that his son, Kevin J. Duchemin Jr., could not join the department.

    The younger Mr. Duchemin, a student at Suffolk Community College, expected his membership in the department to become official at the meeting. He had looked forward to becoming a member since serving in the department’s junior program as a high school freshman, his father said.    

    The senior Mr. Duchemin told The Star yesterday that he was extremely disappointed, and that the decision had come without warning, without its even being mentioned during the 20-minute executive session prior to the public meeting. That his son was to be added to the insurance rolls as an active, probationary member of Gazelle Hose Company #1 was an item on the regular meeting’s agenda.

    In a letter faxed to The Star yesterday, Mr. Ducemin alleged that the mayor’s decision was “payback for me running for village trustee in June.” He noted that he had not received any support for his run. Although the by-law reads that “undergraduates attending local schools are not eligible for membership,” Mr. Duchemin wrote that the provision “is over 30 years old, and never has it been challenged until last night.” 

    “The bottom line is what the by-laws read,” Mayor Gilbride said at the meeting. “It has nothing to do with Kevin.” He had “voted for Kevin. . . . I asked for a interpretation. . . . The laws need to be changed,” he said.

    Reached yesterday, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the village board’s attorney, confirmed that he had been asked on Monday afternoon by Beth Kamper, the village clerk, to look at the section of the by-laws regarding membership, specifically the provision about undergraduates’ eligibility. She did so at the behest of the mayor, he said.

    Speaking for the Duchemins at the meeting, Robert Bori, secretary of the Fire Department and the village harbormaster, who was in the audience in his department uniform, said the by-law went back to the 1970s and that several college students had served in the department since that time. He said to the mayor, “You were sitting on the board on 1978. . . I got in. . . . We all went to Suffolk Community. . . I don’t see what the problem is.”

    “All of a sudden it’s my son and there’s a problem?” Mr. Duchemin asked Mayor Gilbride. “I ask you what kind of a message is the mayor sending to the youth of the community? Is he telling them either decide to be a volunteer or further your education?”

    Edward Gregory, another board member who is also a member of the Fire Department, said that the term “undergraduate” was ambiguous. He said that in the past it was thought to mean high school, with the provision adopted so that students did not run out of a classroom for a fire call. “Once you’re in college, it’s okay,” he said.

    “This is wrong,” Mr. Bori said. “That’s another three months this kid’s got to wait.” Muttering obscenities in a low voice, Mr. Bori left the meeting early.

    On a positive note during the meeting, the mayor praised the ambulance squad, which responded to calls at the height of last weekend’s snowstorm, noting that three calls had come at around midnight. He also thanked the Fire Department for accompanying the ambulances with a four-wheel drive truck.

    Mr. Gregory thanked Dee Yardley and the Highway Department for working 31 hours straight to clear the north end of the village for its HarborFrost celebration on Sunday. Sag Harbor was “packed like a summer weekend,” Mayor Gilbride said, and “looked like a Norman Rockwell village.” He congratulated everyone who made the event successful.

    The poor condition of a Howard Street house also was discussed at the meeting, as it has been previously. It was reported that no one has seemed to be taking care of the uninhabited house in recent years. Residents at the meeting called it an eyesore and public safety hazard. The mayor referred the matter to the village's building inspector, Tim Platt.

Pedestrian-Friendly Powwow

Pedestrian-Friendly Powwow

Residents highlighted safety concerns and possible improvements at a Sag Harbor Active Transport workshop Saturday.
Residents highlighted safety concerns and possible improvements at a Sag Harbor Active Transport workshop Saturday.
Carrie Ann Salvi
By
Carrie Ann Salvi

    A vision of Sag Harbor 10 years from now was imagined on Saturday afternoon by more than two dozen residents — lifers, newcomers, year-rounders, and weekenders — at a Sag Harbor Active Transport workshop held in the parish hall of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church. Asked for one word describing how Sag Harbor could be, responses included safe, progressive, quiet, athletic, peaceful, visual, innovative, healthy, green, enlightened, accessible, slow, and sociable.

    Calling transportation and quality of life in Sag Harbor issues that were “near and dear” to him, Jonas Hagen, who grew up in the village, led the workshop. He said bike lanes were his initial idea, but coming up with a more comprehensive plan became the goal after he met with Susan Mead, Jon Shaka, and Mia Grosjean of Save Sag Harbor, which sponsored the event, and those who helped establish a Safe Routes to School program in Springs.

    Mr. Hagen’s urban planning expertise was evident during the structured, informative, hands-on program. He has a master’s degree in urban affairs from Hunter College and has worked for the United Nations and projects in New York City, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil. Mr. Hagen consults on large-scale infrastructure for various international organizations and municipalities through Despacio, a group based in Bogota, Colombia, that emphasizes the Slow Movement philosophy. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in urban planning at Columbia University.

    Also part of the group was Mr. Hagen’s father, Anton, who attended as a 33-year village resident and — not officially — as chairman of the village’s zoning board. Robby Stein, a member of the village board, also attended unofficially as an avid biker. A number of cyclists were in attendance, many of whom said they commute to work on their bicycles.

    “Speed makes you blind,” Jonas Hagen said, using statistics to back up his claim. Range of vision dramatically decreases when speed increases from 15 to 30 miles per hour, he said. Moving more slowly increases the chance of surviving a collision, he explained.

    When walking, he continued, trees, wildlife, and other details can be seen, heard, and smelled, he said. Studies have shown that people who travel in light traffic have more friends and acquaintances, he added.

    Tools to slow traffic were described with visuals from Mr. Hagen’s world travels — wider crosswalks, narrower streets, smaller cars, textured surfaces, and varied styles of bicycle lanes.

    “Using your body to get around is the most healthy thing we can do,” he said, recommending that people add activity into their daily routines — walking to work or school, for instance. The number of kids cycling and walking to school has decreased, he said, from 50 percent in the 1960s to less than 15 percent now. This results in more obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular problems.

    Walking is in the DNA of Sag Harbor, said Mr. Hagen. “It grew as a pedestrian village.”

    Mr. Hagen also suggested that the community think creatively when it comes to public spaces, which he defined as “anything that is not private property.” The design and implementation need not be costly or time-consuming, he said, showing examples of pop-up sidewalk cafes, medians with planters, and spaces for parking 12 bicycles instead of one car.

    With maps, markers, and Post-its, five teams highlighted areas they felt were working well, needed improvement, or were dangerous. They were asked to keep in mind those villagers who are elderly or not able-bodied.

    A need for more bike lanes, especially near the schools, was stressed, as were bike lanes on roads that connect parks.

    A traffic circle or traffic guard at the intersection of Long Wharf and Bay and Main Streets was deemed crucial. Cars are backed up to North Haven and the Bulova watchcase factory in the summer, and there is a constant flow of pedestrians then.

    All agreed that the entrance to Mashashimuet Park is a disaster and that Long Wharf, a focal point of the village, should be a park, rather than used for parking spaces. The village’s “most valuable piece of real estate is a parking lot, and now it belongs to us,” Ms. Grosjean said, referring to the impending county handover.

    Eric Cohen, who spoke on his own behalf and not for the John Jermain Memorial Library, where he works, said he has drafted a plan for increased public space, ways to slow traffic, and a way to make the historic district near the library more of a central part of the village.

    “A group of engaged residents can move this forward,” said Mr. Hagen.

    Elizabeth Mendelman of Springs offered an example. She worked with many others to get a Safe Routes to School grant, a federal program whereby the access to schools are improved for child pedestrians and cyclists. What she called “a tough road,” which required municipal support, data collection, car counts, and much more, resulted in a $554,000 grant that will now help Springs School students from kindergarten through eighth grade walk safely to school.

    The group ended with a brainstorming session of short, medium, and long-term ideas. More involvement is sought. Mr. Stein said that residents who serve on boards and run for office can “make a huge difference.”

 

Beach Permits: Get ’Em While It’s Cold

Beach Permits: Get ’Em While It’s Cold

By
Christopher Walsh

    Nonresident parking permits for East Hampton Village beaches are selling briskly.

    As of noon yesterday, some 600 permits had been sold since they were made available last Friday, said Sue Dayton, principal clerk at Village Hall. A total of 3,000 will be available, she said.

    Between May 15 and Sept. 15, a permit must be displayed to park at the village’s Georgica, Main, Wiborg, Egypt, and Two Mile Hollow beaches. Full-season parking permits are free to residents of the village but cost $375 per vehicle for nonresidents. The latter are issued on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Permits are available Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Village Hall, and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the office at Main Beach. They can also be obtained via mail by sending a check to Village Hall, 86 Main Street, East Hampton 11937.

    Residents and nonresidents alike must provide a copy of a valid vehicle registration, a copy of their driver’s license, a telephone number, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope if applying by mail. Residents must also provide the street address and owner of the property listed on their tax bill as well as proof of residency. Nonresidents must also provide a check or money order in the amount of $375 per vehicle, payable to “Village of East Hampton.”

    In the village, Main Beach and Two Mile Hollow Beach offer parking payable by the day. The cost is $25 per day, on weekdays only, excluding holidays. On weekends and holidays, both beaches will sell 25 daily parking tickets each day. Payment is made at the parking lot entrance.

    At East Hampton Town beaches, a valid town parking permit must be displayed in order to park at town beaches, which include Townline and Wainscott beaches in Wainscott, Atlantic and Napeague in Amagansett, all ocean beaches in Montauk, and all bay beaches in Montauk, Amagansett, and East Hampton.

    For nonresidents, permits cost $375 per vehicle. There is no charge for resident permits; previous-year resident permits will be valid for 2013 provided the vehicle and license plate have not changed.

    At Atlantic and Kirk Park, beachgoers can pay by the day for parking on weekdays only, excluding holidays; the cost is $10.

    Town parking permits are available in person between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at Town Hall, or by mail, Town of East Hampton, attention Town Clerk, 159 Pantigo Road, East Hampton 11937. Residents and nonresidents alike must provide a copy of a valid vehicle registration, a copy of their driver’s license, a telephone number, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Residents must also provide the street address and owner of the property as listed on their tax bill as well as proof of residency. Year-round renters must be registered to vote or have their local street address on their vehicle registration.

    Nonresidents must also provide a check or money order in the amount of $375 per vehicle payable to Town of East Hampton.

M.C.A.C. Goes From Erosion to Lightbulbs

M.C.A.C. Goes From Erosion to Lightbulbs

East Hampton Councilman Dominick Stanzione spokewith Marguerite Wolffsohn, the East Hampton Town planning director, at the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday and agreed that they should narrow down the hamlet’s most important issues and lobby the town board to prioritize them.
East Hampton Councilman Dominick Stanzione spokewith Marguerite Wolffsohn, the East Hampton Town planning director, at the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday and agreed that they should narrow down the hamlet’s most important issues and lobby the town board to prioritize them.
Janis Hewitt
By
Janis Hewitt

    It was another rousing meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday. Beach erosion was a primary concern, and Steve Kalimnios, the owner of the Royal Atlantic Resort Motel, spoke passionately about his efforts to save it.

    Members and guests, including Marguerite Wolffsohn, East Hampton Town’s planning director, and Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the East Hampton Town Board liaison to the committee, also addressed the best way for a hamlet study to get done. In the end, all agreed that the hamlet would be better served by an outside professional planning organization.

    After considerable comment about the concrete septic rings that were put on the ocean beach in front of the Royal Atlantic in an effort to keep it from falling into the sea, Mr. Kalimnios stood, saying he was offended by the members’ statements. He warned the group that if his 60,000-square-foot building was allowed to go, it would create a breach into the downtown area.

    An order to remove the rings had been issued on Jan. 11 by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the motel owner said he was working with the D.E.C. in a timely manner to have them removed. The agency had given permission for them to be installed only as an emergency measure.

    “They’re not after me like everyone here seems to be,” Mr. Kalimnios said. “If my building is to go in the ocean you get a breach that will swallow up sections of downtown Montauk. Has anybody thought of that? The water is into me, through me, and into the town. Do you think I want them there? Do you think I don’t want my beach back?” he asked, his voice raising.

    Noting that the building had been rocked by storms before Hurricane Sandy did its damage, Mr. Kalimnios said the building’s footings and foundation are now exposed and the foundation is cracked. He said the company that insures the motel had questioned whether every precaution had been taken to secure his asset. “He’s ready to tell me that my $40 million dollar property might no longer be insurable,” he said.

    Ms. Wolffsohn attended the session because she had been asked to review the recommendation that a hamlet study be done. At last month’s meeting, the group discussed a letter from East Hampton Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley requesting that the town’s citizens advisory committees tackle such work as additions to the town’s comprehensive plan.

    Members balked at the suggestion, claiming they were not professional planners and saying the work should be left to the town’s Planning Department. But Ms. Wolffsohn said the Planning Department was understaffed. Moreover, she said the department’s priorities were dictated by the town board. “We have five bosses. They tell us what to do,” she said.

     After Ms. Wolffsohn suggested that the committee could limit its study to certain pertinent items, it was agreed that the most important concerns were coastal erosion, sewage treatment, and lighting, or lack thereof, in the downtown area. Nevertheless, members insisted professional planners should do the work.

    As to lighting, Dan Stavola, a member, reported that the bulbs in at least nine of the downtown streetlight fixtures were out.

    “It’s pitch black, rather than talking about this for the next two years, can we just get the light bulbs changed? I want to make the motion because nobody does anything,” he said.

Service for Two Lost at Sea

Service for Two Lost at Sea

By
David E. Rattray

    A celebration of life service for two men who were presumed lost at sea aboard the Foxy Lady II, a commercial fishing vessel that frequently packed out in Montauk, will be held on Deer Isle, Me., on Feb. 24.

    Wayne Kendall Young, 50, and Wallace A. Gray II, who was known as Chubby, were aboard the ocean scallop boat when it went missing on Dec. 15 or 16. According to a report in Gloucester Times of Massachusetts, sunken wreckage from the Foxy Lady II was identified in January between Provincetown and Cape Ann, Mass., after several fishing vessels reported getting their trawling gear stuck on a previously unknown obstruction.

    The Gloucester-based scalloper had left port on Dec. 15 and had been expected back two days later. A Coast Guard search for the men covered 2,800 square miles of open water. It was suspended on Dec. 19, according to the newspaper account.

    Mr. Gray was a son of Wallace and Carol Gray, who survive. He was born in Sanford, Me., on Sept. 25, 1986, and attended school on Deer Isle in Stonington, Me. Tara Dalton Skarimbas, a friend, said that it had been his lifelong dream to become a commercial fishing captain. He was 26 and left a son, Wallace A. Gray III, who is 3. His siblings, Steve Gray, Robin Gray Bond, and Shannon Gray, all live on Deer Isle.

    Mr. Young was born in Bangor, Me., to Wayne Young and the former Sylvia Barter. He went to Deer Isle-Stonington High School. He is survived by his children Lindsay MacDonald of Deer Isle, Kayla Young of Stonington, Ashley Nevells of Deer Isle, and Jared Young; a son, Jacob Kendall Young, died before him. In addition to his parents, he also left two brothers, Barry Young and Richard Brown, and a sister, Valarie Jones.

    The Island Fishermen’s Wives Association will host the Feb. 24 service at 2 p.m. at the Island Community Center on Deer Isle. Elder Mike Shepard of the Sunset Restoration Branch Church of Jesus Christ in Stonington will officiate.

    Friends and family of the two fishermen have suggested donations to the Foxy Lady II Family Fund, c/o Bar Harbor Bank, 25 Church Drive, Deer Isle, Me. 04627.

    A vigil in their honor was held at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial in December.   

Upstart Wins With Tattoos

Upstart Wins With Tattoos

Matt Schmitt, a k a Matt from the Meeting House, was crowned Mr. Amagansett on Saturday night at the Stephen Talkhouse.
Matt Schmitt, a k a Matt from the Meeting House, was crowned Mr. Amagansett on Saturday night at the Stephen Talkhouse.
Carrie Ann Salvi
By
Christopher Walsh

    A relative newcomer to the hamlet was crowned at the fourth annual Mr. Amagansett pageant, held on Saturday night at Stephen Talkhouse.

    Matt Schmitt, competing under the name Matt from the Meeting House, dashed out from that restaurant’s kitchen, just across Main Street, and onto the Talkhouse stage at the last minute to best the competition as $5,000 was raised for the Donald T. Sharkey Memorial Community Fund.

    “Everyone knows what this is about,” Peter Honerkamp, a contestant and an owner of the Talkhouse, told the crowd as the pageant got underway. “We lost our dear friend Don Sharkey. A couple of his friends came up with an idea to start a fund to help people in the community. We’re supporting that fund tonight, and no one would be happier to see the kind of event we do here than Don, who, like most men in the audience, was expert at women making fun of them in bars.”

    The fund, in honor of East Hampton Town’s former chief building inspector, who died in 2009, supports community members in need and efforts for which Mr. Sharkey volunteered his time, such as the Wounded Warrior Project.

    Mr. Honerkamp then introduced a short film by Nick Kraus, the club’s booking manager and winner of the third pageant, “which was a disgrace, in my opinion,” said Mr. Honerkamp. “He’s not a contestant this year, but he’s even more egocentric than me, so he made a video anyway.”

    “It’s been a great year: I’ve been dwelling on beating Peter the entire year, and I know my video will be better than his,” said Mr. Kraus. True to his word, his video presentation was superior to Mr. Honerkamp’s, which betrayed a vast storehouse of anxiety and phobia and was mostly unfit for description.

    Dominick Stanzione, a town councilman and member of the Amagansett Fire Department, followed “Computer Shop Lee,” who led the audience in a sing-along of the alphabet song. “They’ve refused to let me do my act tonight, which is a shame, because it was an incredible act,” Mr. Stanzione lamented. “I understand that Peter had something to do with killing it. The last four years, I have claimed that the judges have been paid off.” Next year, the councilman promised, “the gloves come off, and I get to do my act without any interruption or interference from the people who have fixed this gig for four years in a row.”

    Curtis O’Brien, a bartender at Sotto Sopra, detailed his family’s deep roots in the community, pointing out that his grandmother was Miss Long Island 1946. “Sixty-seven years later, her proud progeny stands before you,” he said. “Along with the beauty-pageant genes, there’s also the fact that I coach the local youth basketball team. If that’s not giving back, I don’t know what is.”

    “Peter Mullet,” bearing a striking resemblance to Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, sang a song about Amagansett. “When I can’t stand it, I go to Gansett,” he crooned. “Down to Indian Wells, watch the ocean swells, then I forget it. Oh Amagansett, keep your beaches free, for you and for me.”

    No sooner had the Amagansett Village People, featuring Joe Bloecker, a town trustee, completed its performance of “Amagansett Girls” — to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” — than Mr. Schmitt made his dramatic entrance.

    Mr. Schmitt, too, adapted a popular song, Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” performing solo, a plaintive vocal with harmonica accompaniment. “It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday, and the bartenders shake their heads No,” he sang. “ ‘Cause they know it ain’t me that they wanted to see, on the stage at this ridiculous show.” The crowd went wild, though by that point a correlation between its enthusiasm and the volume of beverages consumed was impossible to ignore.

    The final contestant, Boo Bonack and the Plague, continued the theme, performing “the Don Sharkey version of a Western classic,” Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher’s “Don’t Fence Me In.” “Just let me wander over yonder,” Mr. Bonack, a k a Gordon Ryan, an attorney, sang. “Is your pool sorta over your border? Well, tough luck, pardner, because here is your stop-work order.” The audience reaction was overwhelming, but the act would be named runner-up by the judges, Tina Piette, Britton Bistrian, Debbie DiSunno, Erica Yardley, and Mr. Kraus.

    With all contestants assembled on the stage, the upstart winner was announced. “I’ve only been in Amagansett for two years,” said a jubilant Mr. Schmitt, “but I’m going to take it over. This is my town.”

    The pageant is one of many fund-raisers Mr. Honerkamp has hosted since he acquired the storied watering hole in 1987. Beneficiaries have included fire departments, scholars, underprivileged children, and residents facing medical emergencies. “It’s not uniform, it’s not perfect, but it helps people in need,” he said. Mr. Sharkey, he said, “was a jovial, beloved character in town. Everyone knew him.”

    On Sunday Mr. Honerkamp was still fuming about the pageant’s outcome. “I thought the entire process last night was criminally corrupt,” he told The Star. “Prior to the contest, I paid off every one of the judges, and all of them betrayed me. One thing a good judge does: When he’s bought, he stays bought. So they were dishonest to the extreme, and all my bribery went to naught. And they gave it to a guy with tattoos.”