Within 24 hours of Southampton Town’s having launched a new online tool that allows residents to report nonemergency complaints and submit service requests, two requests had been logged.

“I think that’s pretty good,” Ross Baldwin said on Tuesday from Southampton Town Hall. He helped lead the charge in setting up the application, called Southampton Online Solutions, or S.O.S.

He said the program helped ensure that requests, like those first two — one for a tree stump removal in Bridgehampton and another for a street light outage in the Remsenburg-Speonk area — would be reviewed immediately by the right department, and allow the residents who made them to see the status of their requests.

Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said the application, which he considers a central portal for community concerns, complaints, and service requests, would ensure that no calls go unanswered. “We are using technology to improve constituent service, and that’s really at the core of it,” he said by phone yesterday. People are accustomed to using their smartphones for almost anything. “We’re an instant gratification society.”

A mobile-enabled website application that was developed in-house, S.O.S. can be used from any computer, tablet, or mobile device, and it has a user-friendly interface. The user is taken through a series of steps to report issues from illegal dumping to waterway navigation hazards, from illegal rentals to excessively barking dogs. Users can submit their names or make requests anonymously. Those who submit anonymously can track complaints by way of case number.

People can also see if someone else has already submitted a request for a specific problem, and staff can run reports to verify that requests are being resolved in a timely manner.

When visiting sos.southamptontownny.gov, users are asked if they are submitting a new request or checking on an old one. Next, a message will pop up saying that if it is a life-safety issue, 911 should be called. The user will then be asked to enter a request type. The drop-down menu is long and coded by department. Users can first select the department to narrow down the choices, or just browse the long list.

Next, a visitor to the site is asked to put in a location. This can be done manually or by clicking on a map. If geolocation is turned on on a device, it can be entered that way, too. Photographs can be uploaded and comments can be left explaining the situation in 150 characters or fewer.

If staff members receive a phone call, they can simply enter the information into the system. “I sometimes joke I’m the head of the complaint department,” Mr. Schneiderman said.

Mr. Baldwin, whose main duty is as the geographic information systems manager for the town (the site uses G.E.I.S. technology as a framework), said the idea has been batted around for quite some time, but got the green light when Mr. Schneiderman took office.

When building the website, Mr. Baldwin consulted with the city governments of New York and Chicago, which have similar online resources for citizens.

There are still some parts of the website that need to be adjusted, such as the zoom-in feature on the map. It also does not allow a user to report every kind of complaint. Potholes, for instance, fall under the purview of the Highway Department, which is not participating in the application, so in that case users are prompted to call that department directly. Alex Gregor, the town highway superintendent, said it is a liability issue.

Similarly, with requests that fall under the purview of the Southampton Town Police Department or a public utility in instances of power outages or street water issues, a phone number to call directly will be offered. Someone using the website from a smartphone can tap the number and place the call immediately.

“The true test will be the reviews the public gives it,” Mr. Schneiderman said.

A group of residents of the Cove Hollow and Dune Alpin area of East Hampton have until Wednesday to file written objections with the East Hampton Town Planning Board to a proposed East Hampton battery-cell facility that is intended to draw electricity at off-peak hours, then release it back into the local grid when needed.

At a planning board meeting on June 7,  at which the board was reviewing the facility’s site plan, it was reported that the energy stored there on racks of lithium-ion batteries would be able to power 4,000 buildings for up to 8 hours. However, several neighbors expressed concern, if not outright alarm, at the proposal.

“Can they explode?” Kathy Marino asked. “Can they catch on fire? In the event they do, can we handle it?”

The questions caused Job Potter, the board’s chairman, to seek answers from Ross Groffman, executive director  of NextEra Energy Resources, which is to install the facility, as well as an engineer with the firm, Ryan McMorrow.

Mr. McMorrow explained that each of the battery cells would automatically go offline if there was any deviation in internal temperature.

Ms. Marino asked what would happen if something went wrong during a hurricane, when Route 27 might be impassible. “There’s preparedness,” Mr. Groffman said, comparing it to what any homeowner goes through before a storm hits.

A repeated concern of the many residents who spoke at the meeting was the potential decrease in the value of their properties. Nina Hakami  said she had bought her house, at 23 Horseshoe Drive in the Dune Alpin subdivision, two and a half years ago. “If I knew this project would happen I would never have purchased the house,” she said.

Mr. Potter assured those in the audience that the board had gone over each point of the proposal meticulously with the applicant. Diana Weir, a board member, encouraged those who wanted a better understanding of the issue to watch planning board sessions at which it was discussed over the past eight months on LTV, which has video available online, going back several years.

This story has been updated with the version that appeared in print on June 22. 

Ronald Perelman, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who owns the legendary 60-acre estate called the Creeks on Georgica Pond, lost his bid to change the residential zoning of the property on Friday when the East Hampton Village Board voted unanimously against it.

A small army of lawyers had put Mr. Perelman’s proposal before the board three months ago. One of them, Christopher Kelley, called it a “creative solution” to bring a number of structures on the grounds into compliance with the zoning code.

The structures had been found in March 2012 to have been built without benefit of building permits, a discovery made only when a fire took Ken Collum, a volunteer firefighter who is now the village’s building inspector, to the estate. That revelation, and what Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. described as “a dragging of the feet” ever since in failing to resolve the violations, had annoyed board members.

To bring the structures into compliance, the creation of a new residential district with minimum lots of 240,000 square feet was proposed. The Creeks, the westernmost property in the village, is presently zoned now for parcels of a minimum of 160,000 square feet. Such a district would result in low-density development, Mr. Kelley had told the board, and allow his client to maintain multiple residences on “a family compound.”

Mr. Kelley said there were three existing residences on the property, two of which would be legalized through Mr. Perelman’s proposal. Multiple accessory buildings had been also constructed or expanded without building permits. Mr. Perelman was promising that the future density of the estate would never exceed nine single-family residences, Mr. Kelley said, as well as the “vast improvement of existing and future environmental conditions on the property,” including the replacement of 17 septic systems, some of which may not now have permits from the Suffolk County Health Department, with state-of-the-art denitrification systems.

On Friday, June Lester, the board’s secretary, read aloud its finding that “the proposal is generally inconsistent with the village’s comprehensive plan, including the village’s open-space plan, and generally inconsistent with established good planning principles.” The decision also stated that the board was under no obligation to continue its review, and “declines to proceed with any further review of the petition for a change of zone.” Board members did not comment.

The extensive grounds of the Creeks run down to Georgica Pond, where nitrogen seepage is blamed for the harmful algal blooms that have afflicted it in recent years. On June 9, the East Hampton Town Trustees ordered the pond closed after receiving a report of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, from Suffolk officials.

Mr. Perelman’s representatives had also said he would install permeable reactive barriers to prevent unfiltered effluent and groundwater leaching into the pond; fund measures recommended by the scientist who has been studying the pond, create vegetative buffers along the shoreline and along Montauk Highway, reduce or eliminate phragmites, and preserve as many uncleared areas as possible through scenic easements.

Richard Warren, an environmental, land-use, and development consultant, had also testified in March that under current zoning, subdividing the property could yield 13 lots — “significant development potential” — while the proposed district would allow 9.

Mayor Rickenbach said after Friday’s meeting that he hoped the matter would not be the subject of a lawsuit. “I think there’s been some good-faith movement on the side of Mr. Perelman to try to resolve all the outstanding issues in an amicable fashion,” he said, adding that “the owner of record is going to have to come into compliance on numerous points of interest” with respect to the County Health Department and the State Department of Environmental Conservation. “That’s where we’re going to hold his feet to the fire,” he said.

Josh Vlasto, an attorney representing Mr. Perelman, emailed a statement to The Star on Tuesday. “We look forward to continuing to work with the village,” it said.

A doctor who interned with Southampton Hospital last year and who became an online singing sensation, died following a car accident in Maryland on June 11. His former colleagues on the South Fork are raising money to help his family offset funeral expenses.

Dr. Brandon Rogers, a 29-year-old osteopath, interned at Southampton Hospital from 2015 to 2016. At the time of his death, he was a resident at Riverside Brentwood Medical Center in Newport News, Va.

Dr. Rajeev Santiago Fernando, an infectious disease specialist who started a GoFundMe account two days ago, said Dr. Rogers made life better for those around him. "His exemplary patient care won him many compliments in our hospital," he wrote. Dr. Fernando is trying to raise $10,000.

Described as a gifted rhythm and blues vocalist, Dr. Rogers was known as the "Singing Doctor." He posted videos of himself singing songs by a range of artists, from Bruno Mars to Justin Timberlake, on Instagram, where he had over 80,000 followers. Boyz II Men took notice of his cover of "On Bended Knee," inviting him to perform with them. He took the stage at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas in January for three nights.

Producers from "America's Got Talent" also took notice. He auditioned for this season of the show and was set to appear on TV in the next few weeks.

Boys II Men released a statement on his death, calling him "a genuinely nice person and a really good singer" taken too soon. "It hurts to know that the world will never have a chance to witness what his impact . . . could have been as a doctor and even on the music world."

According to several online news stories, Dr. Rogers was the passenger in a car that hit a tree on June 10 at around 4:30 a.m. The driver was said to have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Many are remembering the doctor on social media by using the hashtag #TheSingingDoctor.

One person posted a comment on his Instagram page Monday, "I check back everyday looking for a video, hoping this is all a terrible nightmare. You have inspired me so much to follow my dreams because tomorrow isn't promised. Thank you Dr. Rogers. Fly High."

Arthur Graham has defeated Philip O'Connell for a seat on the East Hampton Village Board, after residents went to the polls Tuesday in the village's first contested election in more than a decade. Mr. Graham challenged Mr. O'Connell for the seat to which the latter was appointed in November, following the death of Elbert Edwards. 

Mr. Graham won 104 votes to Mr. O'Connell's 74. He will serve the final year of Mr. Edwards's term, and will have to stand for re-election in 2018, should he wish to maintain the position. Michael Elinski received one write-in vote.

Mr. Graham, who is known as Tiger, worked in the financial sector in New York City. He bought a house in East Hampton in 1983 and became a year-round resident in 2003. He is a member of the village's planning board and the East Hampton Historical Society and secretary of the Thomas Moran Trust.

Mr. O'Connell, who grew up in East Hampton, is an attorney and a senior managing director of Corcoran Group Real Estate. A former chairman of the planning board, he is on the village's planning and zoning committee and is the village's liaison to the Town of East Hampton's community preservation fund advisory board. 

The candidates ran a quiet, positive campaign, offering only their own qualifications and praise for one another and for the village board. In a June 1 interview with The East Hampton Star's editorial staff, their views on most issues discussed were largely identical.

"I feel that I am an able individual," Mr. Graham told The Star on June 1, saying he had always planned to run for Mr. Edwards's seat when the veteran board member retired.  "I think I have good ideas. I think I did a good job as president of the historical society. I think I've done a pretty good job as chairman and now secretary of the Thomas Moran Trust."

Participating in village government "was all about public service," Mr. O'Connell said in the same interview. "East Hampton has been very good to me. I absolutely love it here, and I want to give back." His service on elected and appointed boards "has been a good experience, I've learned a lot," he said. He cited the village board's recent moves to acquire the property at 8 Osborne Lane for additional parking and a state grant to install an electric-vehicle charging station as two recent accomplishments.

As of Monday, the Hampton Jitney will introduce a new route: a round-trip service from local schools to Noyac’s Long Beach. The additional route will not be found on the company’s online schedule, and the driver of the bus might occasionally be Geoff Lynch, the president of the Hampton Jitney.

“It’s a busy time of year for us,” said Mr. Lynch, in his Southampton office overlooking the rear parking lot where the black and green coaches were lined up, ready to be dispatched. “So, yes, if the girls need me, I’ll get behind the wheel.”

The “girls” are about 100 middle schoolers, training for a July 13 youth triathlon at Long Beach. The Hampton Jitney will provide free service so that the girls can start their grueling practices in the open water on Monday. The event is the culmination of the I-Tri program, a goal-based, comprehensive empowerment program for middle school girls, whose motto is Transformation Through Triathlon.

I-Tri was founded by an East Hampton resident, Theresa Roden, seven years ago. It is entirely free for adolescent girls who commit to a six-month period of triathlon-specific training sessions and weekly group lessons focused on self-esteem building and leadership skills. In addition, after-school fitness classes such as yoga and spinning, and hands-on nutrition classes, which families are welcome to attend, are offered.

The athletes began their overall training for the triathlon, consisting of a 300-yard open-water swim, seven-mile bike, and 1.5-mile run, in February. In its inaugural season, Ms. Roden organized school buses to shuttle her girls to and from the swim practices, which was fine, she said, when she only had a handful of athletes. But numbers burgeoned, and by the second season the organization had over 30 participants. Ms. Roden approached the Hampton Jitney for help.

“We get asked often for help,” said Mr. Lynch. “This one particularly appealed to me because it involves real working folks in the Hamptons, and young girls who are really committed to being active, strong, and healthy.” Through a partnership with goodcircle.org, a crowdfunding campaign site, Hampton Jitney also supports Fighting Chance, a Sag Harbor nonprofit that provides rides for cancer patients to and from faraway doctor’s appointments.

Joan Overlook, a co-founder of Goodcircle, works with I-Tri to raise money to fund the girls’ summer training program and cover costs for professional trainers’ fees and their transportation. As of yesterday, the Goodcircle website showed that its goal of raising some $38,500 for I-Tri was 96 percent complete. None of that money, said Ms. Overlook, will go to the jitney, which donates 100 percent of the cost needed to transport the triathletes.

“Let me give you a dollar value of what the Hampton Jitney does,” said Ms. Overlook. “For three weeks they provide four vehicles, three times a week, plus a team of drivers who will cover 2,300 miles. That’s about $26,500 in operating costs.”

For Ms. Roden, the fact that she was able to eliminate transportation as a line item from her yearly total was a burden lifted. “It is important to note that most of our girls would not be able to successfully finish their training without this service provided by the Hampton Jitney,” she said. “Most of the girls’ parents work, so it’s simply not possible for them to drive their kids around.” In addition to providing coaches and drivers, Ms. Roden pointed out, the bus company will drop off the girls, following practice, at their regular school bus stops, enabling them to walk home. I-Tri participants come from middle schools in Montauk, East Hampton, Springs, Sag Harbor, Southampton, and the William Floyd School District.

Mr. Lynch began his career at the transportation company with a summer job as a trip host in 1998. He moved on to become a reservation agent and then a driver, before being promoted to the top spot in 2002. Occasionally, he says, he still feels the need to get behind the wheel of a bus, so the chance of the girls being driven to their practice sessions by the president of the Hampton Jitney is a good one indeed.

It hasn’t been good. 

For the record, I have not had a successful fishing season so far. I’m still looking for my first keeper striped bass, and while I have caught a fair number of fluke that were 18 inches, none have reached the 19-inch minimum. However, I have had no issue hauling in one sea robin after another. Those ever-present, orange and brown-colored winged wonders have been drawn like a magnet to just about anything I put on my hook. But, as the saying goes, it’s better than nothing.

To be fair, I have not spent much time on the water, so I can’t be too demoralized at this stage. It’s still early in the season. Thankfully, we do have some of the finest fish markets around on the East End to help soothe the hurt of an empty bucket at the end of each trip. The soft-shell crabs at Stuart’s Seafood Market have been particularly sweet and plump this spring. Simply sautéed with a bit of butter and a twist of lemon is the way to go. And I’m always up for the spicy Thai seafood curry from the Seafood Shop in Wainscott. Sometimes getting skunked does have its benefits. 

But my time on the water will significantly increase in about two weeks, as I will formally retire from my job of the past 30 or so years. No more commute, phone calls, sleepless nights, wasted meetings, emails, and multitude of impatient people. It’s over. And not a moment too soon. While I don’t consider myself over the hill by any means, I do have a lot of miles on my body. If I had an odometer implanted on my chest, I’d be pushing past the 200,000-mile mark. And with a combination of six plastic and metal heart stents helping me stay upright every day, backed by the daily intake of prescribed pills of various shapes, colors, and sizes, kicking back and spending more time on the water is a remedy that any cardiologist would fully endorse. 

I’m already planning my summer codfish trips to Cox’s Ledge, and I envision taking my boat to the east side of Gardiner’s Island for those long and lazy drifts for fluke and sea bass off Eastern Plains Point. If I can find them buried in the back of my marina, I may even get my old lobster traps in the water for the chance of a long-favored summer dinner. But alas, my permit lapsed last year and I will need to reapply. 

More time on the water does not necessarily equate to more fish caught. And that’s just fine. Whether or not I bring home a fish for dinner is not the point. Just being on the water is what truly matters. Retirement has never looked more enticing to me. It’s a new chapter in my life. In short, it’s time to savor, enjoy, and appreciate each day more than ever before, even if the fish don’t bite. 

While my fishing luck remains in the lowest part of my bilge, for others it has been a different story. The shark season got underway in earnest this past weekend with the 31st annual Star Island Yacht Club tournament, and the results were truly impressive. 

“The weather was not great on Friday, but the action was good, with a nice number of large sharks weighed in,” said Ben Mahler, general manager of the Star Island Yacht Club. “Saturday’s weather was calmer, but the fishing was off.” 

The top shark landed was a 453-pound mako taken by Capt. John Levitt of the Gotta’ Go. Second place went to the boat Mandible with a mako tipping the scales at 430 pounds, while the Mountaineer captured third place with a 378-pound thresher shark. Capt. Steve Roland of the charter boat Professional Cryer hooked into a monstrous 780-pound mako late in the day on Friday, but unfortunately missed the 6 p.m. final weigh-in by about 40 minutes. Tough luck there. 

Another tournament, the 47th annual Montauk Marine Basin shark tournament, gets off the docks this Friday and Saturday with upward of 150 boats expected to get into the action. No doubt there are some mighty big fish swimming out there. 

And since we’re on the topic of tournaments, the Montauk SurfMasters Spring Shootout is in full gear. The seven-week invitation-only competition ends on July 3 and is open to all current and previous SurfMasters. Entry fees and sponsorships help fund college scholarships for local high school seniors who participate in the tournament. Topping the leader board is Paul Pira with an over-fat striped bass of nearly 48 pounds caught on May 21. Weigh-ins take place at Paulie’s Tackle and the Westlake Fishing Lodge, and more details and applications can be found at montauksurfmasters.com

For those inclined for the peace and solitude of skinny water, action for fly fishermen has been solid of late. Capt. Merritt White, a light-tackle and fly-fishing guide, has ventured into the waters in and around Gardiner’s Bay and reports that the action has been excellent. “Lots of bait around, especially sand eels,” beamed White. “It’s a very good sign for the season so far.” Stripers up to 36 inches have been taken in recent days, with some bluefish mixed in.  

Fluke and porgy fishing have been solid off Accabonac Harbor and Clearwater Beach, reports Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett. “Lion’s Head Rock has been especially hot for large porgies. Also, small bluefish have been picked up at the Three Mile Harbor breakwater and I hear rumors of weakfish off Clearwater as well as in the bays to the west. Seems like a strong run of them.” Bennett said that some shad have appeared along the Napeague stretch and White Sands, along with some small bass, but the recent wicked rip currents have churned up the water and made fishing difficult. Larger bass have been taken by boat from Plum Gut on diamond jigs. 

“Fishing has been a bit picky,” said the ever-smiling Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton. Gorgone said that small striped bass still inhabit the local harbors, creeks, and coves, and that large bluefish are still roaming the shores along Gerard Drive. He did note that the fluke fishing perked up a bit outside of Three Mile Harbor. 

On a side note, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a free fishing weekend on Saturday and Sunday, during which anyone can fish the fresh or marine waters of New York State and no fishing or recreational marine fishing registry is required. This special exemption weekend provides a good opportunity for those new to the sport to try fishing for the first time, especially if those with youngsters in tow. At other times, anglers 16 years of age and older desiring to fish in the marine and coastal district or for migratory marine species must enroll in the no-fee Recreational Marine Fishing Registry, online at dec.ny.gov/permits/.

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing

The blue-green organisms that cause the slicks on the local coastal ponds like Lake Agawam, Mill Pond, and Georgica Pond, to name a few of the worst blighted, are among the oldest organisms known to man. They arose more than three billion years ago, and if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here, as they produced the first oxygen. They did it by photosynthesizing carbon dioxide and water. They were after making sugar, then starch; oxygen was a mere byproduct, but they used it to metabolize the sugar for energy and for building protoplasm.

The ones today are not exactly the same as the first ones, but some come quite close. As man, who was one of the latest comers, began to study the world around him, what did he study first? Why himself, of course. What did he study last, or if not last, almost last? These first cells without nuclei, these blue-green ones. Superficially they resembled algae, which are mostly green and which also produce sugars and starches from water and carbon dioxide, but algae have nuclei, cell walls, and chloroplasts containing chlorophyll.

It is only recently that they have been properly assigned to the bacteria kingdom. Thus the name “blue-green algae” is now defunct. These widespread primitive organisms are more properly called cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria occur just about everywhere, not only in water, but in lichens on rocks. You may have a few on the rim of your birdbath. They are not capable of moving independently as animals are, but they get around by various means — wafted in the atmosphere, carried on the feet of ducks and other water birds, attached to the fir of aquatic mammals and the shells of turtles, drifting from one part of a water body to another, and so on. They show up in residential aquariums regularly and can become a real problem. 

Perhaps the best known of them are those in the genus Spirillum, named for their twisty forms. I say best known, because these cyanobacteria are favorites of those of us who tend to be homeopaths and vitamin freaks. Google Spirillum or visit your nearest health foods store and you will see several different forms of it packaged in vials with the seals of several different companies.

These biomeds crafted from farmed Spirillum are said to do the following: provide energy, depress appetites, aid the immune system, and clear body fluids and tissues of arsenic and other poisons, as well as serve as antioxidants that can prevent DNA and cell damage that can ultimately result in cancers. As described in the health food literature and its advertisements, they are almost miraculous in their ability to provide longstanding well-being and vigor.

But Spirillum can be a double-edged sword. Throughout the world it has been implicated in the poisoning of livestock and pets, which drink from ponds and other water bodies (even rain puddles) in which it thrives.

In ponds on grazing lands there are more than enough fertilizers in the form of urine and fecal depositions to provide the nourishment for “blooms” of Spirillum. If you buy it in a health food store it is most likely safe, but if you lap it up from the surface of a polluted water body, watch out! Remember the dog that drank from Georgica Pond a few years back and died soon after.

There is some recent evidence linking cyanobacteria, including Spirillum, to human diseases, those that affect the liver, brain, and neuromotor tissues. A few scientists have even pegged cyanobacteria as a cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and other degenerative nerve and muscle diseases. Waters with surface blooms of cyanobacteria should be avoided at all costs, thus the numerous health advisories emanating from county and state health departments in this decade warning people not to swim or wade in such waters or eat fish and shellfish caught in them.

People who live in the vicinity of ponds with longstanding blooms — such as those occurring in Lake Agawam, Mill Pond, and Georgica Pond — should take care, as the air above the blooms may contain cyanobacteria cells or parts of cells that can be inhaled. Over a long period of time, say a summer, the inhalation of such cells can add up.

Take Georgica Pond, for example. It was once much larger, stretching far out into what is now ocean. Georgica Pond’s shorefront has been retreating at more than a foot a year for the last 300 or 400 years and coastal geologists say that the rate of retreat will increase during the rest of this century as sea level rises. It is not common knowledge that the freshwater in the near-shore aquifer, which is less dense than seawater, is buoyed up by rising seawater levels. Therefore, look for Georgica Pond levels to rise commensurately during the coming decades.

It is interesting to note an observation of the late Jim McCaffrey, who lived on the pond for most of his life and who was the pond’s untitled caretaker, knowing it as well as he did and being an East Hampton Town trustee for much of that time. He noticed that when the pond was let out, the water level in other nearby ponds, especially the one in the sandpit just to the pond’s northern boundary on the north side of Montauk Highway, also dropped. A long time ago, Georgica Pond and Hook Pond to the west in East Hampton Village were in the same watershed, one that reached north beyond the airport and half way up Three Mile Harbor Road to the north of the village.

A spill of gasoline or some other chemical at the airport, or the salt to melt the snow on Three Mile Harbor Road will eventually work its way toward those two ponds at a foot or more a day at the top of the underground water table. Ample road runoff from Montauk Highway already enters these two ponds every time it rains. If it doesn’t run directly overland into Georgica Pond, as it does in the case of Hook Pond, it reaches it via the southerly directed flow of the underlying water table. 

What many don’t know is that a significant part of Southampton Town contributes its groundwater to Georgica Pond, including the fields and woods west of Town Line Road, as well as the Poxabogue golf course. In the early part of the new millennium, I took subsurface water samples from the extreme southwest bottom of the pond and the nitrate nitrogen levels were more than 10 parts per million, which is above the New York State drinking water standard. I attributed it to nitrate fertilizers coming off those fields to the west. 

We also have septic wastes and runoff from residences situated on the edge of the two ponds and upgradient of them. The golf course half surrounding Hook Pond is another large contributor. Fortunately, the phragmites, or common reed, surrounding much of the pond, which no one likes, sops up a lot of nitrates, phosphates, and other chemicals that would otherwise run into the pond.

Not ironically, perhaps, the airport occupies almost a third of Georgica Pond’s watershed, and most of that land is in Long Island’s aquifer protection district, which is different from the town’s watershed overlay district created a few years earlier. The two districts were so designated more than 40 years after airport clearing began. Ironically, the Town of East Hampton exempts itself from following the rules and regulations governing these two districts, thus a new landscaping company was able to clear 10 acres of prime oak and pine woodland bordering Industrial and Town Line Roads for its private business use near the end of last year.

Hook Pond has not been the same since the early 1930s when it began permanently draining to the ocean through an overflow pipe. And Georgica Pond will never again be the pond that Jim McCaffrey came to know intimately during the last half of the last century, when alewives routinely ran up to its northern border to spawn. It is now plagued with all of the evils of the 21st century and needs to be opened more than two times a year to purge them.

People arrested over Memorial Day weekend received something no defendant here has ever before been given: A guarantee of legal representation from the moment they are taken in to East Hampton Justice Court to be arraigned.

In a program financed by the office of the Suffolk County District Attorney, either Brian DeSesa of the Adam Miller Group or Carl Irace of Carl Andrew Irace & Associates, both experienced in the field of criminal law, will now be in court on weekends and holidays. The program, years in the making, began on May 27.

It was Mr. DeSesa’s turn that weekend. “It is definitely necessary, both for the defendant and for the court,” to have a defense lawyer present, he said after a busy morning of arraignments. Without an attorney in the room, he said, it falls to the presiding justice to explain the law where necessary, and defendants, left to fend for themselves, may fail to understand.

It has not been unusual, for example, that someone charged with driving while intoxicated, after the court has read out the charges, will blurt out, “I’m guilty.” In weekends past, the town justices, Steven Tekulsky and Lisa R. Rana, would frequently have to warn people without lawyers not to speak to the facts of their case, because arraignments are recorded and anything they say could and would be used against them.

On the holiday weekend, before Justice Rana took the bench, Mr. DeSesa spoke in private with each of the three men charged with drunken driving, and the subsequent proceedings, court observers agreed, went much more smoothly than before. A key question the court asks of every defendant is, “Do you want to be heard in respect to bail?” If the facts warrant, an attorney may then point out that the person has local ties and is therefore not a flight risk, that he or she is employed, or that this is a first arrest.

“You’re there to offer comfort,” Mr. DeSesa said. Defendants, particularly women who have never been in trouble with the law, are frequently in tears.

Both Mr. DeSesa and Mr. Irace have been on both sides of the aisle. Mr. DeSesa has worked in the county D.A.’s office and Mr. Irace for the Bronx D.A. Mr. DeSesa went on to work for Edward Burke & Associates for eight years before joining his current firm. Mr. Irace, who lost a bid for town justice in 2013, heads his own law firm.

“Driving-while-intoxicated cases are the most technical cases in the criminal justice system, other than murder,” Mr. Irace said on Sunday, after representing the weekend’s one arraignment. Having a lawyer to deal with the technical aspects of a D.W.I. arrest — challenging a traffic stop, for instance, or a breath test reading — may give a defendant a stronger case,

Mr. Irace is already familiar with the program, which was launched in Southampton last July. He recalled a case involving an accident on Sunrise Highway in which his client faced charges of drunken driving. The prosecution had asked for high bail, but, said Mr. Irace, after he reviewed her history and argued that she was not a flight risk, the court set bail at an amount her family was able to post. (The woman, Ulyana Yaremko, was ultimately indicted on multiple felony charges stemming from the incident, in which an East Hampton couple were seriously injured, and the case is now in State Supreme Court.)

No matter how good a job they do at arraignment, Mr. Irace and Mr. DeSesa will not be representing the defendant afterward. The county program, formally known as the Assigned Counsel Defender Plan, specifically prohibits the attorneys’ further involvement in a case, unless they have represented the person before.

The program has been 10 years in the making. It stems from a class action launched by the New York Civil Liberties Union in 2007 (Hurrell-Harring v. the State of New York). The suit singled out five counties: Suffolk, Ontario, Onondaga (Syracuse), Schuyler, and Washington, accusing them, among other things, of failure to provide defendants with counsel during critical stages of a case and of creating caseloads for court-appointed attorneys that were so onerous that proper defense was impossible to provide.

The case was in the courts for years, reaching the appellate level before it was settled, on Oct. 21, 2014, the day before it was to go to trial. The weekend lawyer program was an important part of the settlement, which also provided the Legal Aid Society with funding to send staff members to all weekday arraignments.

Daniel A. Russo, who administers the Suffolk County plan, stressed on Tuesday that his nonprofit organization thoroughly vets attorneys for the weekend responsibilities. Experience is an important qualification; an inexperienced lawyer can make a crucial mistake at the start of the process and doom a client’s case.

Where a lawyer lives is also important, said Dennis Brown, who runs the program, because of the distances on the East End between courthouses. The lawyers are on call all weekend long, and all day on holidays. They are paid $30,000 a year.

Not only can renters find a house on Airbnb, they can book a stay on the water now, too.

The Sag Harbor Village Board approved a request Tuesday to allow a boat owner, renting dock space from the village on West Water Street, to periodically rent her 42-foot powerboat, which she has listed on Airbnb.

Airbnb, an online hospitality service that helps homeowners lease to short-term tenants, has become popular among homeowners on the East End. “Airbnb is a hot phenomenon,” Ed Deyermond, a village board member, said. “It’s happening with houses, on what I presume to be a good scale in Sag Harbor, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it being used with boats.”

Although Airbnb is an ongoing discussion nationwide because of code enforcement, tax, and transparency concerns to neighbors and municipalities alike, Bob Bori, the Sag Harbor Village harbormaster, put the issue before the board after finding a listing for the Ali Nash on the website. He recommended that the board allow Hilary Offenberg to rent out her boat on a short-term basis, for a trial period.

The request was granted, though Mr. Deyermond, who is stepping down from the board later this month, was opposed. “The boat is docked in a location that is mostly residential boating slips, and now we are commercializing it,” he said. “It needs to be vetted.”

Allowing the Ali Nash to remain at the municipal dock, known as the B-Dock, while being rented may have implications. “B-Dock is quiet and sleepy,” Mr. Deyermond said. “It’s very residential. I would like to hear from other boat owners.”

Not only might neighboring boaters be disturbed, but James Larocca, another board member, brought up a liability factor. “If a renter were to fall off the boat, then we would be a part of the lawsuit,” Mr. Larocca said.

Louis Grignon, the owner of a private marina at 53 Bay Street, is against rentals because of just such concerns. At his Sag Harbor Yacht Yard, a boat owner, family member, or crew member can sleep aboard overnight, but they cannot rent out the boat and allow others to sleep on it. “I do it for insurance purposes,” Mr. Grignon said, “because my contract is for the owner of the boat. That is what my insurance would cover if something happened.”

Prior to the board meeting, Ms. Offenberg took precautionary steps to ensure safety. She said her insurance for the boat also covers people getting to and from the dock, and promised to give the village board a copy of the forms.

While Ms. Offenberg does rent her boat, she reserves it for half the summer for personal use. “We didn’t realize it was considered commercial use when we thought of this,” she said. “We did it because it subsidizes a little bit of the price it is to live in Sag Harbor.”

The Ali Nash is listed at $450 per night, with a security deposit of $500, a cleaning fee of $100, and a two-night minimum stay required. Weekly and monthly discounts are available. The listing touts the boat as close to beaches, nightlife, public transportation, and  restaurants on Sag Harbor’s Main Street. “It’s great for couples, solo adventurers, business travelers, and families with kids,” it says.

A Post Marine yacht with a 16-foot beam, the Ali Nash is described as being very comfortable. It sleeps up to four, with two “bedrooms” and one bathroom. Pets under 20 pounds are allowed. Overnight trips to neighboring harbors can be arranged with a licensed captain, but parties and events aboard are prohibited.

The boat has already been rented out at least once; it was given a positive review online in May.

Although nothing was said about it at the board meeting, a search of Airbnb turned up at least five other boats for rent in Sag Harbor, with nightly fees ranging from $347 to $2,379. Mr. Bori, the harbormaster, said by phone on Tuesday that he first became aware of the phenomenon last summer, but said nothing about it because the boat, a sailboat, was moored outside village jurisdiction.

While the village code does not address renting boats at public docks, it  does prohibit people living on the water, aboard a vessel at anchor, between April 1 and Oct. 31. Mr. Bori said he had no problem with people staying on a boat for a weekend.

In East Hampton Town, “floating homes,” or houseboats, defined as not having an engine or sails, are prohibited. In Southampton Town, a permit is required for a houseboat.