An 83-year-old man was found floating in his pool on Ocean Avenue in East Hampton Village on Saturday afternoon. 

Mark Handler was found at about 1:15 p.m., according to Police Chief Gerard Larsen. Police started cardiopulmonary resuscitation before emergency medical service providers arrived. He was taken to Southampton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

Mr. Handler's death does not appear to be suspicious; police are investigating it as an apparent drowning. 

Two near-drownings, one in Springs and one in Bridgehampton, were reported over the weekend. Both involved young children in pools.

Responding to complaints from Montauk residents and town and state elected officials, New York State dispatched a contractor last week to remove seven of the eight "Welcome to New York" signs that went up in Montauk shortly before the July 4 holiday weekend.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell confirmed Monday that the signs, which were widely criticized in the hamlet, had been removed sometime between Thursday afternoon and Saturday. He had likened them to the type of billboard one would see on a state throughway. The last remaining sign, which still stands at the intersection of West Lake Drive and Flamingo Road, is to be replaced by one half its size, he said.

"I'm grateful the state responded to our concerns," he said. "However, their decision to leave one sign is still out of character with a small fishing village like Montauk, and that should be removed as well."

The huge blue signs were erected as part of the Empire State Development Corporation's signature "I Love New York" tourism campaign, a spokesperson for that entity said in a statement on July 2. Similar signs reportedly caused a stir in Port Jefferson and on the North Fork.

On Monday, the corporation issued a statement that said, "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with local leaders which addresses their concerns but continues to promote the world-renowned 'I Love N.Y.' campaign. New York State tourism has generated a record-breaking economic impact of $102 billion across the state, supporting over 894,000 jobs and generating $8 billion in state and local taxes in 2015."

Mr. Cantwell, who was joined by Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle in calling for removal of the signs, acknowledged the community effort it took for that to happen.

"I think the community and its elected officials on the local and state level were all on the same side for sure, without question," he said. "I just wish all the signs were gone."

Mr. Thiele said Tuesday that the signs had been part of a $25 million statewide tourism campaign, though he could not pinpoint exactly how much had been spent on the ones in Montauk. "I would say that I could think of a better way to use $25 million than these signs." While he did not have a figure for the cost to take them down, he said, "In contrast, I think it was money well spent."

Mr. Thiele said the lesson learned from all of this is that communication between governmental agencies is of the utmost importance.

"I think a lot of this could have been avoided by simply discussing this with the local town supervisors and village mayors," he said. "These signs simply appeared. One of the things I've learnd about government and politics is that most times, surprise isn't a good thing."

Montauk Highway in Southampton, between the Stony Brook Southampton campus and Peconic Avenue is closed due to a car accident. 

Southampton Town announced the closure at 3:30 p.m. 

Check back for updates during your evening commute.

Like last summer, when all East Hampton Middle Schoolers were asked to read a particular poem to give them a unifying experience and prepare them for classroom discussions when school started up again, students have again been given a specific summertime reading assignment.

What's different this year, according to Charlie Soriano, the middle school principal, is that the students are being asked to read a set of three contemporary poems, rather than a single classic poem. They are "[Traveler, your footprints]" by Antonio Machado, "blessing the boats" by Lucille Clifton, and "Art & Craft" by Robin Coste Lewis.

The three poems are all available for free on the website poetryfoundation.org.

In an email, Dr. Soriano explained that the poems tie into the phrase "believe in yourself," which has been adopted as a school-wide theme for next year. He outlined several "focus questions" the students should think about as they read the poems. Those include:

- What does it mean to believe in yourself? How do you enact that? What can get in the way?

- Are there times that fear can be positive? Negative? How do you overcome your fears?

- What makes you effective as a learner? How can school best help you?

- How do the three poems relate to one another? How are the voices different? Similar?

- How do these poems compare to last year's Walt Whitman poem, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"? Or with Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"? Are Machado and Frost's travelers different? The same?

In comments directed to parents, Dr. Soriano said, "I am asking that you please join us: Read the poems, talk at home about them, and about what your child is learning at the middle school. Your involvement is welcome."

The announcement Monday of an intimate concert by Coldplay on Aug. 7 at a "secret location" was accompanied by a poster picturing the band in front of a structure that appears to be the Montauk Lighthouse.

The invitation-only show will be sponsored by SiriusXM Radio, which is holding a contest for its subscribers to win tickets to the performance, which will be broadcast live on SiriusXM, as well as a trip for two to "New York," along with a hotel stay.

The announcement prompted speculation that the band would play at Montauk's Surf Lodge, which recently reinstated its concert series after a music license snafu delayed the start of its summer music season. But Steve Kasuba, a Surf Lodge spokesman, said Wednesday that the Coldplay show would not take place there; a band called Bob Moses is scheduled for that day.

Chris Martin, Coldplay's lead singer, has a connection to the area; he was married to Gwyneth Paltrow, and the couple bought a house in Amagansett. He and Ms. Paltrow separated several years ago and were recently divorced, but are often still seen together with their children.

The band is touring following the release of its most recent album, "A Head Full of Dreams."

An East Hampton man is facing an assault charge after allegedly punching an acquaintance on the side of the head hard enough to send him to the hospital with bleeding on the brain.

The incident occurred at Little Albert’s Landing beach in Amagansett on July 2, where people had gathered to watch the fireworks display. According to Detective Sgt. Greg Schaeffer, alcohol appears to have been involved. 

Alexander Alvarado gave Timothy M. Egan, 33, such a “playful bear hug,” the detective said, that Mr. Egan’s sunglasses fell to the ground and broke. Enraged, Mr. Egan “cold-cocked him,” knocking Mr. Alvarado out. He was taken to Southampton Hospital, then to Stony Brook University Hospital on July 3 early in the morning, “due to the fact that he had incurred bleeding on the brain,” his mother-in-law wrote on a GoFundMe page set up for the Alvarado family. Though he has since been discharged, he has been unable to return to work at his automobile repair company, Alvarado Mechanical, on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton. 

Mr. Egan was arrested last Thursday morning and arraigned before East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana. His lawyer, Trevor Darrell, told the court that Mr. Egan, who has family in East Hampton, was here for the summer but lives year round in Merritt, N.C. 

Justice Rana, reading from the record, noted that Mr. Egan has one felony conviction and four for misdemeanors. Bail was set at $2,500, which was posted.

A longtime resident of Sag Harbor Village, an older black man, stopped in to police headquarters this week to have a word with the police chief. Austin McGuire, a former East Hampton Town police lieutenant who took the top spot in the small village force less than a year ago, was happy to see him.

• SIDEBAR: Few Minorities on the Force 

“He wanted to talk about how concerned he is about the police and everything going on and how much he supports us,” Chief McGuire said during an interview afterward. “I said to him, correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like we live in a bubble. We don’t experience what other folks are experiencing in other parts of the country,” the chief said. Middle-class and wealthy black professionals have long been a part of the Sag Harbor community, the gentleman agreed. But even so, that didn’t mean he should have no cause for concern. 

Police chiefs The Star spoke with this week say they are not ignoring the deaths that have occurred elsewhere and are taking steps to try to ensure such violence never erupts here. Following the continued shooting deaths of black men in other parts of the country and the recent apparently retaliatory attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., they report they are thinking more than ever about community relations and officer safety. 

“It’s a difficult time to be a police officer,” Chief Michael Sarlo, a 21-year veteran of the East Hampton Town Police Department, said. He is more concerned about his officers’ safety than ever before, he said Monday, wearing a mourning band over his gold shield for the eight officers killed over the last week. “To see good, hardworking, family police officers being targeted just because they show up to work is a really tough situation for all of us to accept. It weighs on our guys — even here.”

As a leader, Chief Sarlo said, he was determined to continue building bridges with the community and ensuring that his officers treat everyone with respect. It is a philosophy he said was fostered through his predecessors and his parents, including Chris Sarlo, a longtime principal of East Hampton High School. He believes that “most agencies, most officers do the right thing” and that good training and accountability are big factors. 

“Here in Suffolk County, I think we do a very good job of addressing a lot ofthese issues with use of force and handling traffic stops and treatment of people,” he said. His officers, along with those in the East Hampton Village and Sag Harbor Village departments, have long been trained to de-escalate and diffuse situations without confrontation, using a tactic known as “verbal judo,” he said.

Last year, the East Hampton department piggybacked with the Suffolk County Police Department on a bias-free policing program given through the Department of Justice. Nearly the entire patrol division took the training, with his department one of the only East End agencies to ensure so many took part. Nevertheless, he said, reminders are needed. The three chiefs sent out memos to their officers over the past week about being vigilant and letting cool heads prevail.

East Hampton Village Police Chief Gerard Larsen said he was not only concerned about officer safety and police-targeted shooting but about the community’s safety in light of worldwide terrorism, particularly the attack in Nice, France, last week. “Emotions are running high,” Chief Larsen said. 

He has instructed officers to review the department’s use of force policies as well as freedom of speech. Just because police here believe they have a generally excellent relationship with the community, it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t come in contact with someone who feels differently, he said. “We’re a tourist community. You are getting people from all over.”

As a member of the town’s anti-bias task force, Chief Sarlo said he understands the importance of continually addressing racial tensions. In East Hampton, there is a much larger population of people whose first language is Spanish than of African-Americans. Given so large a Latino community here, he said he recognizes that immigration and mistrust for police are major factors. His department has “zero concern” about immigration status, he said, barring a felony deportation warrant. The hope is that residents will trust the police here enough to report crimes. Allowing crimes to go unreported is one of his major concerns. 

When Chief McGuire attended the Federal  Bureau of Investigation National Academy in Virginia two years ago, he met Ron Johnson, captain of the Missouri Highway Patrol who, just a few months later, would be appointed to oversee the riots in Ferguson, Mo. Even before the shooting death of Michael Brown by a white police officer, the talks Chief McGuire had with the captain about race relations in the Midwest were “eye-opening.” Having an open dialogue is key to repairing damage already done, he said. 

Chief McGuire said many communities around the country have a lack of trust in their officers. “I don’t think locally we have that issue; I’ve never been made aware of it. I think we do a good job. I think the communities are pretty happy with what they’re getting.” He said having educated, well-trained officers who have been well-vetted helps. “Is a bad apple going to slip through every now and again? Sure. But I would say 99.9 percent, you’re getting a good product.” 

Nevertheless, “Anything could happen here. I think you’d be foolish to think it couldn’t,” he said. 

The chiefs reported that few civilian complaints are filed. “Typically they revolve around how someone feels they were treated on a traffic stop,” Chief Sarlo said. “By the time you dig into some of these complaints, you find maybe the person didn’t handle the traffic stop so well themselves.” 

Ninety-five percent of traffic stops in East Hampton Town are now recorded by cameras on patrol car dashboards, installed about a year ago, and supervisors review the footage with officers. East Hampton Village police also have cameras in patrol cars, but neither department has body cameras. Sag Harbor police have neither dashboard nor body cameras, and no immediate plans to get them. 

“We strive to make sure our police officers understand how stressful it is for a civilian to be pulled over by a police officer, as well,” Chief Sarlo said. As a result of what’s happening nationally, he said, stress had risen for both officers and drivers. 

“A kid here in East Hampton may never have had an incident with a police officer ever, and when he gets pulled over for the first time, he’s going to assume what he saw on YouTube or through a news video is the way he is going to be treated by the police officer, and that’s a big concern of mine.” 

He said it had become harder for officers to do already difficult jobs because of the national rhetoric. Overall, he’s seen a respect for authority decreasing and thinks that is alarming. “We all have to come together to improve the situation.”

Earlier this year, the town Police Department distributed pamphlets titled, “What to do when stopped by the police.” Available in  English and Spanish, the material explains why an officer might pull someone over and how to behave if you are stopped. Tips include avoiding sudden movements, keeping your hands on the steering wheel, and turning on dome or interior lights so the officer can easily see inside the car at night. The pamphlet also outlines what officers should do: provide their name upon request, offer credentials if they are not in uniform, and “only use the force necessary to affect the arrest of a suspect.” 

Use of force incidents are few and far between here. They include deploying a Taser — which all officers carry on the South Fork — or using maneuvers to handcuff a defendant.  There have been seven uses of force documented  halfway through 2016 among 458 arrests and 3,567 violations. Last year, there were six in all. In East Hampton Village last year, there were 273 arrests and no use of force, Chief Larsen said. 

Officers know they are under a microscope, Chief Sarlo said. While there hasn’t been a shooting by police in East Hampton in recent memory, officers do draw their weapons from time to time. “It’s not as infrequent as you think,” he said. The officers are well prepared for such instances and training to de-escalate the situation kicks in, he said. 

Between Saturday and Monday there were three serious accidents in which helicopters were called to take people to Stony Brook University Hospital’s level-one trauma center. 

On Saturday evening, an uninsured Yamaha all-terrain vehicle driven by Christopher Rivera of East Hampton, 21, was headed south on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, approaching One Stop Market, when a Ford pickup truck driven by Fernando Rosas pulled out of the One Stop lot. The A.T.V. struck the front of the truck, East Hampton Town Police Capt. Chris Anderson said yesterday, and Mr. Rivera was ejected. 

Photographs taken by bystanders show Mr. Rivera wearing only a bathing suit. Police issued him several citations, including one for not wearing a helmet as required by state law.

The next morning there was another accident on Springs-Fireplace Road, this time near Church Lane. Shortly before noon, a 2002 Ford driven by Paul Goerz was turning off Church and onto Springs-Fireplace when it collided with a bicyclist, Angela Witte. No tickets were issued.

The third serious incident happened on Monday near Swamp Road on Route 114, where Thomas Sparacino of Peconic was headed north in a 2013 Dodge sedan. “He crossed into the southbound lane,” Captain Anderson said. The Dodge hit two vehicles, a 2016 Mercedes Benz driven by Joseph Giardina and a 2008 Mazda driven by Daniel Bedoya, and then rolled over. Mr. Sparacino had to be extracted from the Dodge by the East Hampton Fire Department, after which the helicopter picked him up. The other two drivers did not request medical treatment, though their vehicles were severely damaged. An investigation is said to be continuing.

Finally, an East Hampton woman was taken to Southampton Hospital July 11 after being struck by a 2012 Jeep on Amagansett Main Street. The pedestrian, Fiona Vonoshen, 19, was looking east, a witness told police, but failed to see the Jeep, which was moving at a slow speed. The Jeep’s driver, Robin Goetz of Springs, was not ticketed.

A proposed 200-seat sports bar at East Hampton Indoor Tennis may be headed for a time out, if five town residents get their way. On June 24, they filed an action with the State Supreme Court in Riverhead against the East Hampton Town Planning Board, which has approved both the bar and the expansion of the sports club, asking the court to annul the decision. All seven members of the planning board are named as defendants.

Scott Rubenstein, the owner of Indoor Tennis, said yesterday he knew nothing about the action and could not comment extensively. “I’ve never been served,” he said. “I wish I had known.” He said the club has been spending money on the planned changes.

The sports bar in question is part of a larger plan, in which two tennis courts on the property at 175 Daniel’s Hole Road would be replaced with a building housing the bar and restaurant, a 10-lane bowling alley, a miniature golf course, and other amenities.

The residents’ challenge calls the planning board’s May approval of the proposal, made after a public hearing at which nobody spoke, “contrary to law” and “arbitrary and capricious.” It attacks the board’s approval on several fronts, first stating that the proposal is a sizable expansion that should require a special permit before it can move forward and questioning a kitchen said to be 1,870 square feet in size.

Noting that the tennis club is in a water recharge district and also in a recreation overlay district, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jeffrey L. Bragman, writes that recreational uses, as defined in the town code, “involve active sporting activities. Permitted uses do not include drinking and eating in a bar and restaurant.”

Further, he writes, the land is zoned residential, which would prohibit a bar and restaurant. Mr. Rubenstein did say yesterday that he believes the entire plan complies with the code.

The filing also questions the idea that the bar and restaurant is a natural extension of a bowling alley as an accessory use. “While the petitioners do recognize that a small bar may be ‘customarily incidental’ to a bowling alley, the applicant has not proposed a small, incidental bar,” it says, going on to call the restaurant “another primary use.”

“The sports bar and lounge will be one of the largest restaurants in East Hampton,” according to the action, which also criticizes the town’s Planning Department, stating that planners focused exclusively on the 10-lane bowling alley and miniature golf course while ignoring the presence of the 200-seat restaurant and the increased traffic it might produce. The residents’ action, formally known as an Article 78 proceeding, also points out that the Suffolk County Planning Commission had said in approving the plan that the East Hampton Planning Board should require a traffic study focusing on South Breeze Drive. The planning board did not do so.

The appeal also challenges the planning board’s “failure” to require sanitary calculations for the bar-restaurant, particularly because of its location in the water recharge district, “where disproportionately large volumes of rain water are recharged and stored in underground aquifers.” Beyond the town’s designation of the site, it is also in a Suffolk County Special Groundwater Protection area, key to East Hampton’s drinking water, the action notes, going on to warn that thousands of gallons of septic flow could result from a 200-seat restaurant with two bars.

The five petitioners, two of whom live on South Breeze Drive, are Joanna Grossman, Marie Zerilli, Barry Raebeck, Stephen Bernstein, and Dominique Weiss.

“I am disappointed,” Mr. Rubenstein said. “Neighbors were aware of what is going on. People have a right to develop their property under the zoning code.”

As of yesterday it did not appear that a judge had been assigned to the matter. The planning board’s chairman, Reed Jones, said that, like Mr. Rubenstein, he was unaware of the action, and declined to comment.

A house believed to be the only surviving 19th century dwelling of a member of the Montaukett tribe is slated for designation as a historic landmark, after a public hearing on the proposal next Thursday.

The 1.7-acre property, near the intersection of Springs-Fireplace Road and North Main Street in East Hampton, is believed to hold the broken-down remains of a residence that was moved from Indian Field in Montauk to the area then known as Freetown. In the late 19th century, Arthur Benson, who owned and developed much of Montauk, offered deeds to plots of land in Freetown to Montauketts, to entice them to vacate their traditional tribal lands.

A number of houses were apparently moved. The saltbox-style house in question, now owned by East Hampton Town, once belonged to George Lewis Fowler and his wife, Sarah Melissa Horton.

Freetown was so called because it was settled by former slaves of wealthy local families. The Fowler house is the only one that remains.

George Fowler worked as a gondolier and gardener for the artist Thomas Moran, whose Main Street, East Hampton, house and studio, a national historic landmark, is being restored. Fowler was also a caretaker at Home, Sweet Home.

His house was moved to Freetown around 1890 and “is possibly one of the most historically significant structures in the Town of East Hampton,” according to town documents.

The history of the area will be the subject of an oral history project, “Mapping Memories of Freetown,” for which those with connections to and memories of the Freetown neighborhood have been invited to the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum, at Cedar and North Main Streets, on Sunday between noon and 5 p.m.  A program at 1 p.m. will include comments by researchers and others.

Allison McGovern, an archeologist and professor at the State University at Farmingdale who has been surveying the museum property (the former Selah Lester farm) for the possible remains of a wind-powered sawmill that was once used by the Dominy family of craftsmen, will be on hand, along with anthropologists, to collect oral histories about the neighborhood, as well as ideas about restoring and interpreting the Fowler house and lot.

A 1790 census reportedly recorded East Hampton’s residents as 1,299 whites, 99 slaves, and 99 people classified as “all other free people,” according to the Center for Public Archeology at Hofstra University.

“The Fowler house completes the picture of the Moran house and Home, Sweet Home,” Robert Hefner, a history consultant to the town, said in a report. “This puts Main Street and Freetown together.”

With its connection to the former Indian Field site in Montauk (now Montauk County Park), and its archeological resources, the Fowler house is also likely eligible for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, wrote Marguerite Wolffsohn, the town planning director, in a report delivered recently to the town board.

“The house and its property are a valued part of the cultural, historic, economic, and social history of the town,” she wrote. “History tends to record the wealthy and powerful. George Fowler was neither, and we have much less information about the ordinary and poor people in our history. Yet the people who lived in Freetown were the workers who supported the wealthier households in East Hampton Village, Gardiner’s Island, and elsewhere in town. His house and property have the potential to teach us about the lifeways of the Montauketts after they were dispossessed of their homes in Montauk and detribalized by the New York State government. It is a potential interpretive tool for understanding the history of Freetown, which is minimally understood by historians.”

The public hearing on the historic landmark proposal will begin at 6:30 p.m. next Thursday at Town Hall.