Skip to main content

A Place For Peace in The Swirling Storm

A Place For Peace in The Swirling Storm

Members of a Montauk group called 12 Women put the finishing touches recently on a stone labyrinth they laid out in the field at Eddie V. Ecker County Park on Navy Road.
Members of a Montauk group called 12 Women put the finishing touches recently on a stone labyrinth they laid out in the field at Eddie V. Ecker County Park on Navy Road.
Joanne Pilgrim
Labyrinth is Montauk women’s gift to community
By
Joanne Pilgrim

As all of the pre-summer frenzy was under way here this spring, slowly taking shape — stone by stone, row by concentric row — on a field of grass overlooking Fort Pond Bay in Montauk was a labyrinth, an ancient shape for a walking practice of contemplation and meditation.

A project of a community group called 12 Women — comprising, as might be expected, 12 Montauk women — the labyrinth was completed late last week in an area of the Edward V. Ecker Sr. County Park at Navy Road.

12 Women groups have come together in various communities all over, with a goal, local members explained, of contributing “something of beauty” to their town and environs.

The Montauk women did not know each other before forming their group in 2012. They came from different segments of the community, but many of them had adopted some form of spiritual practice.

They met once a month, at first focusing each meeting on a topic or workshop, and using rituals, like passing around a talking stick and a listening stick, to frame their time together. “It’s a commitment that supercedes all commitments,” said Laurie Cancellieri, a member.

For a while before the idea of building the labyrinth took shape, the group decided that they were the “thing of beauty,” and just gathered in solidarity, with no particular goal.

The fellowship and sharing was a healing thing, said Michelle LaMay.

The women have “become like family,” Allison Harrington said, “soul sisters.”

Sarah Conway walked a labyrinth in Mexico and so loved the experience — one that is “very grounding and uplifting, calming, and joyful,” she said — that she brought the idea to the group in Montauk.

In researching labyrinths and how they can be built, she talked not only to the designer of the one in Mexico, but to a woman who has a labyrinth on Block Island, and to labyrinth builders around the country.

The process in Montauk took about a year and a half, and, early on, included a facsimile drawn in the sand.

“We are 12 very diverse women with diverse interests and expertise,” Ms. Cancellieri said. “So whatever we need to do we can figure it out.” They motivated one another.

Ms. Harrington is a hiker and birdwatcher. Joanie Schilling is a yoga practitioner. There’s an artist and a dancer and a computer person. Susan Vitale, the ladies said, is the group’s “Mother Earth.”

And the labyrinth, said Cathy McGuire, would never have been built “if it wasn’t for Sarah figuring out how to get it from the paper to the earth.”

Several Montauk sites were considered, such as at Camp Hero, in Kirk Park, and near the lighthouse.

To test the energy of a location, Ms. McGuire learned about dousing, and took a reading of each potential site — a tradition in labyrinth building that is a way to “speak to the land,” Ms. Conway said.

“This was the strongest energy spot,” she said, standing on the windswept field at the Navy Road park. Initially, the group chose another location, but at Ms. Conway’s behest revisited the site on Fort Pond Bay. A perfect circle had been mowed into the tall grass, the women said, with a path leading to a tree.

With the help of East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, the women got permission to build the labyrinth there.

Dousing was used to pinpoint the labyrinth’s center, where a tall mullein plant happened to be growing.

The shape was laid out with a long rope, and the paths — seven lanes in four quadrants — were marked with flags. To begin, each woman gathered a collection of 35 rocks.

Ms. Conway said she is “grateful to my 12 Women sisters for embracing the project with me and bringing it to fruition.”

“The greatest thrill for me in building the labyrinth here in Montauk is watching others discover it and walk it, seeing children and adults delight in it and walk it together,” she said.

Stone labyrinths dating from medieval times have been found all over the world and were built at gothic cathedrals such as the one at Chartres Cathedral in France.

The symbol and shape has appeared in various cultures — depicting, some believe, a path to God or enlightenment. Walking the labyrinth, a sacred path, may be seen as a substitute for a pilgrimage, a devotional practice.

The quiet and calm space of the labyrinth offers a “counterbalance,” said Ms. Harrington. “For me, this type of creative and spiritual energy is a really needed respite from the money-driven self-indulgence that seems to define so much of the Hamptons in summertime. It gives me hope and restores my spirit.”

The circular shape, on a slight incline, aligns with the curve of a mowed line as the land rises at a slight hill sloping toward Hither Woods.

Entering the labyrinth, you cannot worry about where you’re going; you take each step and follow the path, trusting in the rightness of the circles you are walking, their tight turns and long sweeps, circle-backs and stretches that take you clear to the other side.

You notice the grass, its greens and carmine, the birds singing, the sun, the breeze, the variety of stones. You stop anticipating and just follow the rhythm of the circle, of the rows. You stay in the moment and all is well.

Over to the side of the park, people amble out on the old Navy pier. They walk their dogs. A plane crosses overhead. The train passes on the tracks close by. All is peaceful.

On the wide outside edge the stones, tighter together, make a perimeter boundary. In the center there are two black locust stumps to sit on and an altar of sorts, a jumble of rocks, a glitter heart on one, with tall feathers stuck in the dirt, and coins sprinkled atop, encircled by long strands of beads.

It’s a good bet that this altar will change and grow as people discover the labyrinth and leave tokens, mementos, talismans of their own.

As the grass grows, the 12 Women group members will keep the labyrinth paths cut short, a continuing commitment to come back with weed whackers in hand.

On her visits to the site, Ms. McGuire said, she has met a woman from Denmark, who said she wants to start a 12 Women group of her own and make a labyrinth; two girls from the Czech Republic who also want to get involved in a similar project, and two young men, new to meditation, who vowed to bring the practice to their corporate workplace. 

“It’s just so exciting to see people so interested,” Ms. McGuire said. “I really can feel that this is going to be an amazing, healing place.”

The labyrinth, said Louise Juliano, a member of the 12 Women group, was a “labor of love.” She believes it will inspire those who walk it to meditate and will help people “get in touch with their higher selves, to promote healing and a sense of well-being.”

The other labyrinth makers were Anna Guebli, Connie Judson, Melissa Mahone, and Stephanie Whiston.

“I think each time it will probably become a different experience,” said Ms. Harrington, who was waiting to take her first walk through the Montauk labyrinth until the 12 Women could “christen” it together. “It’s a container for everything,” she said.

Party Bus Awaits Its Passengers

Party Bus Awaits Its Passengers

Kayla Briska, left, a Hampton Hopper “ambassador,” rode the bus with Karin Gosman, a driver.
Kayla Briska, left, a Hampton Hopper “ambassador,” rode the bus with Karin Gosman, a driver.
Britta Lokting
Riding Sag-to-Montauk loop, again and again
By
Britta Lokting

Sunday marked Kayla Briska’s third day as the Hampton Hopper’s “ambassador,” or chaperone, but already she had witnessed a woman urinate outside the bus and dealt with two disoriented teenagers unable to find the stop. She met people from Miami, danced beneath the Hopper’s flashing strobe lights, and waved out the window when she spied previous riders on the street the next day.

“I love it here. Right? You’re my best friend!” she joked to Karin Gosman, the bus driver, who’s back for her second year with the Hopper.

The duo wore matching, cuffed Hampton Hopper T-shirts in a bold aquamarine, the same hue as the well-known Hopper party bus that has a “dance floor” in place of seats and arouses late-night boogying. That day, though, the women drove in the one other bus the company owns. Ms. Briska, who is 19, described it as the “friend” bus where passengers connect and converse. Palm tree prints adorn the ceiling and wrap around the cobalt exterior. Stickers remind passengers of its hashtag, #thehopper. Otherwise, thisHopper is a regular school bus equipped with paper towels and a broom.

Derek Kleinow, 33, launched the Hampton Hopper last summer after years of frustration with the East End’s lack of affordable transportation, particularly for medium-haul trips like East Hampton to Montauk where taxi prices can reach $100 each way. He grew up in Westchester, but has a house in Southampton. Unfortunately for him, the Hopper only loops from Sag Harbor down to East Hampton and westward to Montauk with stops in between at popular hangouts like Cyril’s and, starting this week, @Bernie’s, on the Napeague stretch.

He wants to add more destinations, expand the fleet and eventually run 18 hours a day with a bus arriving every 30 minutes. Right now, it takes about 90 minutes to complete an entire circle, and interruptions like traffic, the crew’s bathroom breaks, and unexpected hails or drop-offs can disrupt the schedule. Mr. Kleinow rationalized that the start-up is still in its first phase and will evolve as demand grows.

“We had hoped to have more vehicles, but it’s been a slow ramp up,” he said, and the budget is a small one.

The Hopper costs $12 for a one-way ride, $20 for an unlimited day pass and $99 for a summer pass. It runs Friday through Sunday, from about 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday and until 11 p.m. on Sunday. 

Mr. Kleinow’s biggest challenge has been marketing the business, but the buses’ eye-popping paint jobs serve as the best tool of all. Sometimes when Ms. Gosman drives slowly, people will trot alongside the vehicle while simultaneously filming on their cellphones.

When the bus rolled into Amagansett around 5 p.m. Sunday, it parked behind Mary’s Marvelous since it can’t block traffic on Montauk Highway. Two men, obviously regulars because they knowingly waited at the unmarked stop, walked on and Ms. Gosman excitedly stood up.

“Hey, how are you, Bobby? How’s the fam?” she asked, embracing the first passenger, a bony man with tanned skin and white scars spattered on his right arm. He wore a backwards cap over his long, brown locks. Bobby, who is 28 and declined to give his last name because he said he is awaiting trial, introduced his cousin, Nick Gaviola. Mr. Gaviola, 21, still had plastic blue star beads hanging around his neck from the night before and wore a camouflage fishing hat. They both grew up and live in Springs.

Ms. Briska offered their only riders Vita Coco coconut water, whose logo is stamped on the bus’s outside, from a cooler with the choice of peach, lemonade, mango, and plain. They paid in cash instead of with the iPhone app, which charges upon purchase, not at boarding when an ambassador scans the barcode. The men told Ms. Gosman they needed a lift to Montauk to retrieve Mr. Gaviola's car.

They chatted about how much the Hopper has helped cut back on the prevalent drunken-driving arrests here.

“At least they found a way to help people,” Mr. Gaviola said. They griped however that the bus only runs until 2 a.m., the time their night starts, not ends.

The bus bounced along Montauk Highway and idled next to the Lobster Roll before moving on with no new passengers. Ms. Gosman weaved through downtown Montauk and dropped the men off at the Royal Atlantic Beach Resort to find their parked car. She then drove a few blocks west to the Montauk Beach House. The owner, Larry Siedlick, briskly walked over and leaned against the opened door.

“It was up two nights with a nice metal sign and someone stole it!” he exclaimed about a Hopper lawn sign wedged into a grassy patch out front. The post exists, Mr. Siedlick said, because he supports young entrepreneurs and asked for it. The only other Hopper post is in front of @Bernie’s.

Mr. Siedlick believes, “any service that takes cars off of the road during the tourist season is automatically a good thing in my mind.”

Ms. Gosman waited for about three minutes before leaving with an empty bus once again. Mr. Kleinow declined to give rider numbers but claims every week this year has proven busier than the same one a year ago.

“There was one situation last summer where a bus was at capacity,” he said, acknowledging that was a rare occurrence that has not yet been repeated.

Ms. Briska guessed the quiet day might be a function of people recovering from the Fourth of July. But as the bus inched through traffic in front of the Surf Lodge, cabs jammed the streets, bouncers lined the entrance, and another bus inadvertently parked in the Hopper’s spot. Groups of partygoers in breezy sundresses, linen shirts, and polarized Ray Bans spilled out from the road’s shoulder on their way to the St. Lucia concert. The blue bus streaked by without stopping and finished its lonely Montauk round devoid of riders.

Every few minutes Ms. Briska checked the company’s Twitter for messages and the app’s GPS tracking system to locate the other bus. The timetables on the app lag, and the small bus icons moving along Google Maps seem more reliable both for Hopper employees and people wondering about arrivals. Ms. Gosman also gives out the bus’s phone number and people often utilize it.

Golden light touched the horizon as the Hopper whizzed past the Hither Hills overlook on its way back west. Ms. Briska kept talking about the characters she had encountered from faraway places.

She swayed her copper hair that reached down her back and sang a line from a Michael Buble song: “I just haven’t met you yet.”

Ms. Gosman honked her horn as she drove through East Hampton and the women headed toward Sag Harbor to begin another round, and another and another, until their shifts ended at 10 p.m.

Correction: The car that Bobby and Nick Gaviola needed to retrieve belonged to Mr. Gaviola, not Bobby, as previously reported.

Update: Bicyclist in Critical Condition After Being Hit on Napeague Stretch

Update: Bicyclist in Critical Condition After Being Hit on Napeague Stretch

Traffic was backed up headed east after an accident in front of the Lobster Roll restaurant that left a bicyclist with serious injuries on Sunday.
Traffic was backed up headed east after an accident in front of the Lobster Roll restaurant that left a bicyclist with serious injuries on Sunday.
David E. Rattray
By
Taylor K. Vecsey

Update, July 6, 4:04 p.m.: The bicyclist who was seriously injured when he was struck by a car on the Napeague Stretch Sunday afternoon may have tried to cross the street, East Hampton Town police said. 

Captain Chris Anderson said David Disick, 77, of East Hampton, was riding his bicycle east in the westbound shoulder, facing traffic, when he "suddenly attempted to travel across the lanes." A 2015 GMC, driven by Joseph Moleti of Nesconset hit Mr. Disick in front of the Lobster Roll, near Beach Plum Court, at 12:12 p.m. 

Captain Anderson was not sure if Mr. Disick had been wearing a helmet, but did note bicyclists are supposed to ride with the flow of traffic instead of against it. 

Mr. Disick was flown to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he is listed in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

No citations were issued to Mr. Moleti or Mr. Disick. 

Originally, July 5, 1:10 p.m: A bicyclist was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle on the Napeague Stretch Sunday afternoon. 

The crash occurred in front of the Lobster Roll restaurant on Montauk Highway, east of Dolphin Drive, at about 12:15 p.m. The Amagansett Fire Department's ambulance crew treated the bicyclist and transported their patient to the former 555 property to meet a medevac helicopter. The bicyclist was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, the nearest trauma center, with a possible head injury. 

In the midst of the busy Fourth of July weekend, traffic on the Stretch between Montauk and Amagansett was briefly stopped in both directions because there are no side roads in that area to bypass that stretch of Montauk Highway. As of 1 p.m., traffic had been reopened in both directions, according to police.

It was unclear what caused the accident. East Hampton Town police are investigating the accident. 

Two Sent to Hospital After East Hampton Crash

Two Sent to Hospital After East Hampton Crash

The East Hampton Fire Department extinguished a fire under the hood of the minivan involved in a two-car accident on Cedar Street in East Hampton on Monday morning.
The East Hampton Fire Department extinguished a fire under the hood of the minivan involved in a two-car accident on Cedar Street in East Hampton on Monday morning.
Morgan McGivern
By
Taylor K. Vecsey

A minivan involved a two-car crash on Cedar Street in East Hampton on Monday morning briefly burst into flames.

The accident took place between Stephen Hand's Path and Old Orchard Lane at about 8:25 a.m. Traffic was diverted for a time.

The East Hampton Fire Department responded with two engines, Second Assistant Chief Gerard Turza Jr. said. When firefighters arrived, they found a flames under the hood of the minivan, which was pressed against the driver's side door of a pickup truck. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames. All of the occupants were out of the vehicles before the first emergency personnel arrived on the scene.

Two people were taken to Southampton Hospital with minor injuries. Two East Hampton Village Ambulance Association ambulances transported the patients.

It wasn't immediately clear what cause the accident. After the vehicles were towed away, East Hampton Town police reopened the road to traffic.

 

After Curfew No East Hampton Airport Logjam

After Curfew No East Hampton Airport Logjam

At East Hampton Airport on Monday morning, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, front, and Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, at right, joined Jemille Charlton, the airport manager, and Peter Boody, an airport staffer, to see how things stacked up as the first full weekend of an overnight curfew came to an end.
At East Hampton Airport on Monday morning, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, front, and Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, at right, joined Jemille Charlton, the airport manager, and Peter Boody, an airport staffer, to see how things stacked up as the first full weekend of an overnight curfew came to an end.
Joanne Pilgrim
By
Joanne Pilgrim

The East Hampton Airport was busy, but not overly so, on Monday morning after the first weekend of an overnight curfew on flights — a holiday weekend to boot.

The decision by East Hampton Town, which owns the airport, to close the airport overnight in response to complaints about aircraft noise was challenged in federal court, but a judge's ruling paved the way for the nighttime closures, which took effect on July 2. The new rules prompted an outcry from aviation businesses and other opponents, but did not seem to cause much turbulence at the airport, at least in their first few days.

Late morning on Monday, Jemille Charlton, the airport manager, summed up: "It was very smooth; uneventful."

Supervisor Larry Cantwell and Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the town board's airport liaison, were in the operations center overlooking the tarmac at 9 a.m. Monday as the curfew on flights by "noisy" aircraft was about to be lifted. A half-dozen or so seaplanes stood waiting for passengers, their pilots performing pre-flight checks. There was no queue of helicopters waiting to take off, nor any circling in a holding pattern, waiting for the magic hour when they could land.

A few minutes after 9, a couple of helicopters took off. The morning "rush" was over, and the tarmac virtually clear, by 9:45.

Data on the exact number of takeoffs and landings over the long weekend had not yet been compiled, but traffic was "pretty on par for a Fourth of July weekend," said Mr. Charlton. On Sunday, he said, there was "a steady flow." And at 7 a.m. Monday, as the overnight curfew expired for less noisy aircraft, Mr. Charlton said that "there wasn't any big, 'All right, the light switch went on ... curfew's ended; let's get in there!' "

He did notice over the weekend, though, that some pilots with flights scheduled close to curfew hours seemed to be feeling the pinch of the restriction. "You can see their anxiety goes up," Mr. Charlton said, "40 minutes before they have to leave, and their passengers haven't arrived yet."

Aircraft that are rated "noisy," based on a decibel measure used by the F.A.A. and including many helicopters, can no longer take off or land here between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. For aircraft that fall below the noise threshold, the curfew is 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

There had been some concern, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said, that quieter helicopters not subject to the extended curfew would depart East Hampton as soon as possible, at 7 in the morning, fly to New York City, and zoom back to the airport to pick up more passengers just at 9. That could create a traffic jam, with choppers wanting to land just as aircraft waiting for the 9 a.m. all-clear were ready to take off. But that didn't happen.

Aviators got word of the curfew in several ways, Mr. Charlton said. The Federal Aviation Administration's flight safety district office was notified; a notice was sent to area airports; some pilots were contacted by email, and the airport's fixed-base operators — the aviation businesses based there — informed their customers.

The Eastern Region Helicopter Council, a trade group, was "very instrumental" in getting the message out to its members, said the airport manager. And, he said, an alert about flight restrictions is included in the airport information for pilots, so that those doing their "due diligence" will be advised to check with the airport office.

Jeff Smith, the chairman of the helicopter council, sat down at a table in the airport operations center on Monday morning. He was back and forth from his home base in New Jersey several times over the weekend, he said, monitoring how things were going at the airport, "to see how we could do better." He echoed Mr. Charlton's assessment that it had largely been smooth sailing.

Information about noise complaints prompted by aircraft flying within the designated hours over the holiday weekend was still being compiled early Monday. But Mr. Charlton said he "did get a lot of voicemails from people who are pretty agitated at the traffic."

Those affected by noise, who had anticipated the impact of another law adopted by the town -- a one-round-trip-per-week limit on noisy aircraft -- were disappointed by Judge Joanne Seybert's decision to enjoin the implementation of that rule and were perhaps, Mr. Charlton suggested, expressing more aggravation than usual about the daylong air traffic.

Judge Seybert, of Federal District Court in Central Islip, ruled on June 26 that the overnight curfew was justified, to control noise, but ruled that the plaintiffs -- a group of aviation companies, along with an organization called Friends of the East Hampton Airport — had shown their businesses could be harmed if the once-a-week limit was enacted.

The lawsuit will now go to trial, and it could be a long time before the ultimate outcome is determined.

Woman Thrown from Moped in Montauk

Woman Thrown from Moped in Montauk

Emergency medical technicians with the Montauk Fire Department loaded a woman into an ambulance after she was thrown from her moped in Montauk on Monday afternoon.
Emergency medical technicians with the Montauk Fire Department loaded a woman into an ambulance after she was thrown from her moped in Montauk on Monday afternoon.
T.E. McMorrow
By
T.E. McMorrow

A Patchogue woman was taken to Southampton Hospital on Monday afternoon after being thrown from a Schwinn moped she was riding on South Emerson Avenue in Montauk.

The name of 34-year-old victim was not available from East Hampton Town police.

Two police officers stationed in Montauk, along with Vincent Franzone, the first assistant chief of the Montauk Fire Department, were among the first on the scene, and treated the victim in the back of a police department vehicle before the arrival of an ambulance. Emergency medical technicians took over treatment of the woman, who suffered multiple abrasions and complained of having difficulty breathing.

The accident occurred outside the Royal Atlantic Hotel, where the woman was staying.

Amagansett Food Institute to Take Over Farmers Market

Amagansett Food Institute to Take Over Farmers Market

By
Christopher Walsh

Several months after a new tenant for the Amagansett Farmers Market was expected to be named, the Peconic Land Trust and the Amagansett Food Institute, a nonprofit organization of farmers and food producers, announced on Monday that the latter has signed a lease to operate the market. The institute plans an Aug. 1 opening of the longtime landmark on the hamlet's Main Street.

The market, which will be open daily through the summer, will offer produce and other products made almost exclusively by East End and New York State farmers, fishers, vintners, and other food producers. The institute's members include Amber Waves Farm, Bhumi Farms, Carissa's Breads, the Amagansett Sea Salt Company, Dock to Dish, Food Pantry Farm, Balsam Farms, the Milk Pail, and Quail Hill Farm. South Fork Kitchens, the Institute's commercial incubator kitchen at Stony Brook Southampton, will also contribute to the market's offerings.

A mission to educate the community and visitors is among the institute's goals for the market, with programming, events, and educational materials integrated throughout the 3,000-square-foot space. The programming, according to a statement issued on Monday, will be aimed at reintroducing seasonality and a more traditional relationship with food as well as issues including health and nutrition, food waste, food insecurity, and sustainability.

"It's going to be quite different from what has been there before in that the vast bulk is going to be local," Kathleen Masters, the institute's executive director, said on Monday. "We're really excited about being able to have an outlet for goods produced in our incubator kitchen, and we're already hearing from a lot of other East End producers about the wonderful products being made here and who are interested in getting their products to the market. We're very excited about that."

Eli Zabar's lease on the space expired in November, and the land trust put out a request for proposals seeking another tenant for a three-year term, with a three-year renewal option. While it was known that the company would not be returning, and that the institute had been selected as the new lessee, discussions with the town as to what activities would be permitted on the site, such as cooking, caused a long delay in the announcement. Those discussions are ongoing, Ms. Masters said.

The Amagansett Farmers Market was opened in 1954 by Ellen Struk, known as Pat. In 2008, the trust, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve working farms and natural land, announced an agreement under which it would lease the property from Margaret de Cuevas, who had purchased it from Ms. Struk for $5.5 million. At that time, the Town of East Hampton purchased development rights on 7.56 acres of the 9.33-acre property. Amber Waves Farm, a not-for-profit educational farm with a community supported component serving 150 members, as well as farmers markets and restaurants, occupies that land.

Mr. Zabar had been the lessee since the trust's 2008 agreement with Ms. de Cuevas, his first lease expiring in November 2011. After the second lease expired, the trust issued a request for proposals, with the institute selected from among five applicants.

Throughout the winter and spring, the structure was in some disrepair. A new awning was recently installed after the previous one collapsed under the winter's heavy snowfall. Railings on the back deck were replaced, and parts of the roof and driveway were repaired. "For the purposes of running a farm stand," Ms. Masters said, "it's in reasonable shape."

Two Hospitalized After Being Struck by Taxi in Montauk

Two Hospitalized After Being Struck by Taxi in Montauk

By
T.E. McMorrow

Two men were injured, one critically, when they were struck by taxi in downtown Montauk early Sunday morning.

Benjamin Pileski, 20, of Mattituck, was taken to Southampton Hospital after the accident, which was reported at 3:09 a.m., and later transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital. He was listed in critical condition on Monday afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Another Mattituck man, Justin Tyler, 20, was also taken to Southampton Hospital, and then transferred to Stony Brook, police said. He was suffering from several injuries, though apparently not as severe as Mr. Pileski's, and was listed in fair condition on Monday afternoon. Word quickly spread through the North Fork community that the two friends had been injured, according to Southold LOCAL.

According to East Hampton Town police Captain Chris Anderson, the two men were crossing Montauk Highway from the south near Carl Fisher Plaza, when they were struck by the westbound taxi, which, Capt. Anderson said, did not have a passenger aboard at the time.

The taxi driver, Irfan Mohammad, 43, of Shirley was not injured and was not charged in the incident.

The 2001 Honda van Mr. Mohammad was driving is registered to JEB Tech of Bohemia, a company that leases vehicles to drivers on a weekly basis. The company rents an office in East Hampton Town, which allows it to operate cars for hire.

 

Springs to Tap Reserve Fund for Repairs

Springs to Tap Reserve Fund for Repairs

By
Christine Sampson

The Springs School Board will hold a hearing on Monday on a plan to tap into a repair reserve fund to complete a handful of projects this summer.

The hearing will be at the school following the district's annual organizational meeting, which will begin at 5 p.m.

Liz Mendelman, who served as president of the Springs School Board this past school year, said Monday that the district has about $766,000 in that repair reserve fund, and that the district is not looking to spend all of it this summer.

The district's buildings and grounds committee, which is different from the recently created facilities committee, gathered estimates from contractors for a number of small repairs, Ms. Mendelman said. The specific items that need to be fixed will be detailed on Monday.

"They will be making recommendations on projects that are of a repair nature for the school board to look at, and then the board will decide whether to spend that money or not," she said. "They're all relatively little projects."

If the school board approves the projects, the district will most likely be able to complete them by the time school begins again in September. Ms. Mendelman called it "a tight timeline."

Unlike with the district's capital reserve fund, the school board does not need voter approval to spend money from the repair reserve fund. It was established by the school board during the 2009-10 school year. Since then, Ms. Mendelman said, Springs has been putting aside end-of-year surpluses, "essentially giving us a savings account" for repairs.

Springs has $2 million in its separate capital reserve fund. In May, voters in Springs rejected a proposal to spend all or most of that on a new parking lot, a reconfigured drop-off and pickup loop, and other physical changes to the campus.

Montauk Highway Closed in Wainscott

Montauk Highway Closed in Wainscott

The driver of a truck that crashed into a utility pole on Tuesday afternoon was not hurt.
The driver of a truck that crashed into a utility pole on Tuesday afternoon was not hurt.
Taylor K. Vecsey
By
Taylor K. Vecsey

A box truck crashed into a utility pole on Montauk Highway in Wainscott, bringing down wires across the road just west of the new Home Goods store on Tuesday afternoon. The highway was closed between Wainscott-Northwest Road and Sayre's Path while utility workers cleaned up the downed wires and replaced the pole. 

The accident was reported in front of SRK Pools at 370 Montauk Highway at 4:23 p.m. Only the truck was involved. Details of the crash were not immediately available. The pole cracked in half, coming to rest on top of the box truck. Wires from across the street were hanging low over the road, which is why police closed the road to traffic. 

The driver was not hurt. 

The Bridgehampton Fire Department responded, along with East Hampton Town police. Officers diverted traffic off the highway. PSEG-Long Island responded within a half-hour of the accident to start repairs. It was not clear how long the road would be closed.

Workers in the area said it was the fifth time a pole at that location had been hit in recent years, including one accident last year after which the pole was replaced.