At its meeting on Monday the Springs School Board again grappled with increasing enrollment and what the influx of students will likely mean for the coming budget season.

Over the past decade, the school has seen enrollment soar by almost 200, from 555 students in 2004 to 736 as of last week. Districtwide, in grades pre-K to 12, Springs now enrolls 1,100 students.

“We’re at 101 percent capacity,” said Eric Casale, the principal, who led a presentation on scheduling and enrollment. “Every space is being used creatively — and then some.”

Mr. Casale also said that the district sends 31 students to the Child Development Center of the Hamptons, a charter school with open enrollment. Many families, he explained, see its full-day pre-K program as a particular draw, with some opting to continue there for kindergarten and beyond. Currently, Springs offers only a half-day pre-K program.

If the children currently attending C.D.C.H. were to suddenly enroll at the Springs School, class sizes, particularly among the youngest grades, could easily swell to as large as 35 or 36, predicted Mr. Casale.

“It’s now my fourth time standing here talking about space. I want to make sure the community hears it loud and clear,” the principal said. “We’re really stretched with what we can do here. We’re being very creative. But there’s a limit to how much you can stretch.”

John Finello, the district superintendent, said the district faced not only increasing enrollment, but an expanded state-mandated curriculum that makes scheduling, and use of space, difficult.

During public comments, Tracey Frazier, a teacher, spoke of “so many little and big bodies in this building,” all jostling for space, with crowded conditions in the hallways and not enough bathrooms, lockers, or places in the computer labs.

“In two years, we’re going to have classes running around on buses,” urged Mary Jane Arceri, a Springs resident and former teacher. “There are 12 of us here, but we really need to start educating the rest of the public so the community can know how crowded we are and how dire these needs are.”

In other news, Lisa Matz, the PTA president, informed the audience that a “turkey trot” is planned for Nov. 24, beginning at 9 a.m. Students in grades kindergarten to 8 can walk, run, or trot over an established course, with parents and community members pledging however much they wish for each lap covered. All the proceeds will benefit the school’s swimming and ice-skating programs. The school’s booster club has donated an elaborate finish line, valued at $950, and organizers hope to make the event an annual happening. The Hamptons Marathon will donate a pallet of water.

Fourth graders, meanwhile, are gearing up for the 18th annual Springs Opera. In that connection, the school board approved stipends for seven teachers on Monday, with expenses totaling $13,568.

The school board will meet next on Dec. 8, at 7 p.m.

Vinnie Grimes is one of the few people who can say he was born in Montauk — not at Southampton Hospital, but at home in the hamlet on Sept. 17, 1928.

Now 86, Mr. Grimes is credited with bringing several large fund-raisers to Montauk, including the annual Blessing of the Fleet. He first saw one when he was stationed with the Navy in California, and he thought the Montauk fishing fleet could use a little help from the man above. Another fund-raiser was the now-defunct horse show that ran for 38 years.

From his home on Second House Road, on the banks of Fort Pond, Mr. Grimes pointed out a wall of plaques and proclamations he has received over the years, one of which is a Good Deed award that he received from the Boy Scout Council of Suffolk County. He started in scouting when he was 11 and went on to be a scout leader for many years.

When he received the phone call in August that informed him that the Montauk Chamber of Commerce was honoring him as person of the year, Mr. Grimes thought they had the wrong Grimes. His son James Grimes was honored by the Montauk Village Association as its man of the year in August, hence the confusion.

But chamber members told him that they had the right Grimes and that it had been a unanimous decision among board members. He has given a lifetime of service to Montauk, a release said. It also said that it was heartwarming to see that a man who has lived here all his life and raised his family here still had time to give so much back to the community.

“It was the right thing to do for the Montauk Chamber of Commerce to honor such a man who has been doing the right thing all his life,” the release said.

The chamber’s end-of-season party will be on Saturday at East by Northeast restaurant, starting with cocktails and an open bar from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. There will be dinner and dancing until 11. Tickets cost $80 per person and can be purchased at the chamber or at the door if available.

Update, 12 p.m.: According to Southampton Town police, a pedestrian crossing County Road 39 was struck and killed near Burger King in Southampton on Friday morning at about 6:20 a.m. 

Paulino Zeledon Hernandez, 44, of Southampton, was dead when officers arrived. They said he had been strucked in the westbound lane. No charges have been filed against the driver.

County Road 39 was closed between Sandy Hollow Road and North Sea Road in both directions for three hours, and the westbound lanes were reopened to traffic at about 10:30 a.m.

Town police are investigating with the assistance of the New York State police accident reconstruction team. 

Anyone with information about the incident are asked to call the Southampton Town police at 631-702-2230.

Update, 10:40 a.m.: The road has been re-opened in both directions.

Original, 9:21 a.m.: Part of County Road 39 in Southampton is closed as police investigate a fatal car accident that took place early Friday morning. 

Since about 6:30 a.m., County Road 39 has beeen closed in both directions between Sandy Hollow Road and North Sea Road. Traffic has been diverted and was reportedly backed up. 

Southampton Town police have not released further information. 

Check back for more details as they become available.

Only a small percentage of pilots flying in and out of East Hampton Airport follow the routes asked of them to minimize noise, according to the first phase of a study delivered last Thursday to the East Hampton Town Board. The study, prepared by Young Environmental Sciences and the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, also said that at some point every flight exceeds the maximum acceptable noise standard for some locations.

The East Hampton Town Board has vowed to address aircraft noise, particularly from helicopters, and, with one of the “grant assurances,” which were entered into when the town accepted money from the Federal Aviation Administration, expiring at the end of the year, the town is exploring how airport restrictions might be put in place.

Defining the noise problem and targeting restrictions to address it, said Peter Kirsch, an aviation attorney hired by the town, is key to gaining acceptance of rules the town may impose by the F.A.A., which will retain a degree of authority regardless of whether grant assurances are in place.

According to Les Blomberg of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, who analyzed flight data for 2013, only a small percentage of flights followed routes over Barcelona Point, Jessup’s Neck, and Georgica Pond that were designed to minimize noise. The compliance rate over Jessup’s Neck was less than 2 percent, while the highest compliance rate, on the Georgica route, reached 37 percent.

The town lacks the authority to mandate routes, but it can design noise abatement routes in conjunction with the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, and ask pilots to follow them.

Mr. Blomberg said that information was not available for about two-fifths of last year’s flights, and that aircraft routes were checked for compliance at only one fixed point.

The F.A.A. and the Environmental Protection Agency assess the degree of noise disturbance by averaging daytime and nighttime noise over a year, Mr. Young said. The system can paint an inaccurate picture in places like East Hampton, he said, where use of the airport is seasonal and the ambient sound low. However, he said the federal agencies and the courts were increasingly acknowledging “that noise even at these relatively low levels does have the potential to be disturbing.”

Mr. Blomberg said that noise levels above those in East Hampton Town’s noise ordinance, which limits sound in residential areas to 65 decibels during the day and to 50 decibels at night, were exceeded by aircraft noise consistantly in 2013 on properties within 10 miles of East Hampton Airport.

“There was no operation that did not exceed the noise ordinance at some point for some property,” he said.

The F.A.A.’s threshold of 65 decibels for a noise disturbance has changed, said Mr. Kirsch, “in particular with regard to helicopters on Long Island.” A 45-decibel threshold is now considered potentially problematic. 

Peter Wadsworth, an East Hampton volunteer who has participated in numerous town airport committees, has done an analysis of noise complaints so far this year. Broken down by type of aircraft, it shows more than two complaints for every helicopter flight and for about 80 percent of jet flights. Over all this year, there have been 15,329 complaints about helicopters, most made on Friday and Sunday evenings and Monday mornings. The majority of complaints came from residents of Southampton Town, particularly Noyac.

Mr. Blomberg said how quiet an area is, as well as the nature of the sound, affects how disturbing noise is. In a 2004 report to Congress, he said, the F.A.A. said that low-frequency sound, which can cause rattling and vibration, such as from low-altitude helicopters, is particularly disruptive.

“This is really the old West as far as aircraft are concerned,” said Ken Lipper, an East Hampton resident who served as a New York City deputy mayor in the Ed Koch administration. He urged the town board not to shy away from airport use restrictions for fear of lawsuits. “There is more than ample data to solve this problem,” he said. “I wouldn’t be intimidated by all the nonsense from the special interests that are threatening to sue.”

Mr. Lipper and Peter Wolf, another East Hampton resident and land use expert, had collected 522 signatures supporting a move by the town board to gain local control over the airport and institute use limits.

State Assemblyman Fred. W. Thiele agreed, praising the data as “of monumental use to the town board and the community. I think it’s long overdue and it lends itself to a reasonable and supportable approach to public policy,” he said.

In a draft intended for discussion, Mr. Kirsch wrote possible restrictions could be based on use of the airport according to the time of day, day of the week, or season; by increasing fees during peak periods or for specific types of aircraft, and managing air traffic flow by limiting the number of takeoffs or landings per hour for certain aircraft.

“A restriction that is carefully tailored to a defined local problem is reasonable,” and could be acceptable to the F.A.A. and upheld in the courts, Mr. Kirsch said. “You need to make sure that the solution and the problem are carefully matched,” he told the board.

After last week’s presentation, the Friends of the East Hampton Airport, in a press release, called the noise study “deeply flawed.” The data used was inaccurate, the group said, because it did not take into account a change in the flight tracks that pilots were requested to use, which took place midyear, and said that higher approach and departure altitudes used this year would show “a dramatic reduction in noise levels” over those of 2013.

On the other hand, the Quiet Skies Coalition, in its release, said the noise study provided “a rather stunning confirmation” of what was known all along by those affected by noise — “the noise is terrible, rates of compliance with helicopter abatement routes are abysmally low, and the single-event noise impacts above accepted community standards are in the millions.”

Mr. Kirsch appealed to the public to help the town collect further information. “We need comment from people from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of airport noise,” he said, regarding what the problem is and how it should be addressed. Comments can be sent by email to HTOcomments@ EhamptonNY.gov.

The noise study is posted on the East Hampton Town website, at town.east-hampton.ny.us.

—

Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of complaints about helicopter noise during 2014.

State Senator Lee Zeldin won a decisive victory over Representative Tim Bishop on Tuesday, unseating the six-term Democratic congressman with 55 percent of the vote. Mr. Zeldin had unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Bishop in 2008.

With 87 percent of the districts reporting, Mr. Bishop of Southampton conceded the race shortly before 11 p.m. Addressing supporters, he said he had telephoned Mr. Zeldin and pledged his cooperation in the transition.

Mr. Zeldin, a Republican and major in the Army Reserves from Shirley, surged in late polling as he rode a wave of anti-incumbent fervor. In January he will become part of an expanded Republican majority in the House of Representatives. As of yesterday, the Republicans appeared set to enjoy their largest majority since the 1940s. The Republicans also took control of the Senate, picking up seven seats for a 52-44 majority with 1 independent. As of noon yesterday, three Senate races had yet to be decided.

The race for New York’s First Congressional District has been watched nationwide, as Mr. Bishop was seen as vulnerable. An ethics investigation over allegations that his campaign expedited permits for a constituent’s fireworks display in exchange for a campaign contribution damaged him. At the same time, outside political action committees and SuperPACs poured money into the district, with a conservative group called the American Action Network pledging to spend $1.2 million to defeat Mr. Bishop. Voters were inundated with television, print, and social media advertising, most of it negative.

Greg Mansley, media director for the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, called Tuesday “an important night for this country.” Of Mr. Zeldin’s victory, he said that “the people spoke loud and clear: it’s time for change. He represents change. He’s a younger face, and we need the younger people to get into politics. Our work doesn’t end now,” Mr. Mansley said. “Our work starts now.”

Jeanne Frankl, chairwoman of the East Hampton Democratic Town Committee, lamented the loss of what she called “an exemplary congressman.” Mr. Bishop’s defeat is more than an emotional loss, she said. “He’s someone we relied on so heavily so for many things that it’s a worry for our community. . . . He went to Washington to work hard, to get legislation passed, and he came home to listen to his community so he could represent them effectively there, and also to help them in every way he possibly could to negotiate the federal bureaucracy. I don’t think anybody here doubts the loss we’ve suffered.”

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle easily won re-election, defeating little known and under-funded challengers. Mr. Thiele, running on the Democratic, Independence, and Working Families tickets, won with 60 percent of the votes, defeating the Republican candidate, Heather Collins, and the Conservative Party candidate, Brian DeSesa. Mr. LaValle, running on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party of New York State tickets, withstood a challenge from the Democratic Party candidate, Michael Conroy, taking more than 70 percent of the vote.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo won re-election, taking 54 percent of the vote. He will begin his second term in January with a new lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul. Mr. Cuomo defeated the Republican team of Rob Astorino and Chris Moss and third-party candidates. Eric Schneiderman, the state attorney general, and Thomas DiNapoli, the comptroller, also won re-election by comfortable margins.

Among the questions voters were asked to consider, a proposal to restore Suffolk County’s Drinking Water Protection Program by returning almost $30 million that had been used to cover the county’s general operating expenses was passed by more than 65 percent of votes cast.

Environmentalists championed the vote to approve the proposal. “This is an amazing outcome that should lift the spirits of every water quality advocate,” Robert DeLuca, president of Group for the East End, wrote in a statement issued yesterday. “A win of this size demonstrates that protecting and restoring our troubled waters is not only an issue that is understood and supported by the vast majority of the public, but if there was any question whether clean water was a top-tier political issue, last night’s results clearly put an end to that speculation.”

 

Update, 9:30 p.m.: A Louse Point house sitting on top of an old barge caught fire on Thursday afternoon, but firefighters put a quick stop to the flames spreading to the main part of the house, Amagansett Fire Chief Dwayne Denton said. 

By phone Thursday night, Chief Denton said a contractor at 73 Louse Point Road in Springs, which is a part of the Amagansett Fire District, called 911 when he saw smoke in what was described as the basement. It was really a portion of an old barge that Chief Denton said had been floated up into the meadow and had a house built on top of it. The fire department was called at about 2:40 p.m.

Allen Bennett Jr. and Wayne Gauger, the first and second assistant chiefs respectively, were in charge, and decided to cut a small hole in a deck on top of the barge to get to the source of the flames. About 40 firefighters responded. The East Hampton Fire Department's rapid intervention team was called, as well, as backup.

"They made an excellent stop," said Chief Denton, who arrived later. There was minimal damage to the barge. Firefighters were there about an hour. 

The East Hampton Fire Marshal's office is investigating the exact cause, but Chief Denton said it appeared it may have been connected to landscaping wiring coming from the house.

Original, 2:48 p.m.: The Amagansett Fire Department is responding to a basement fire on Louse Point Thursday afternoon. 

The fire was reported at 73 Louse Point Road in Springs, which is part of the Amagansett Fire District, at about 2:40 p.m.

Chiefs asked for the East Hampton Fire Department's Rapid Intervention Team to respond in case firefighters needed to be rescued. 

Check back as more information becomes available.

East Hampton High School's boys volleyball team lost to Eastport-South Manor in the county Class B championship game on Thursday evening at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood.

The match went to four games. The Eastport-South Manor Sharks took the first, 25-14, and the second game went to East Hampton, 25-16. After the Sharks nabbed the third game 25-12, the Bonackers rallied in the final one, leading it at one point 15-14. However, a couple of aces for the Sharks and a couple of errors from the Bonackers, not to mention Tyler Brandow's three kills for the win, meant the Sharks finished up 25-19. 

The Bonackers, the top seed in the county's Class B, or Division II, bracket, had earned the right to play for the title after winning three straight against Sayville at home on Monday.

Josh Brussell, the head coach, said his team fought hard and that while they came up short, it did not take away "the amazing accomplishments that these young men have achieved throughout the season, including becoming the Division II champs. I am so proud of my team for rallying it together and giving it their all during this great season." 

Eastport-South Manor will play in the Long Island Division II championships on Saturday.

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. will begin an indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons on Wednesday.

"I am going to turn the reins over to our deputy mayor, Barbara Borsack, who, with her colleagues, will make sure that everything is done with due diligence," the mayor said at the conclusion of the village board's work session on Thursday. "Hopefully I'll be back on the scene sooner than later."

The mayor is to undergo knee replacement surgery next week.

Loretta E. Lynch, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which includes Long Island’s East, has reportedly been named by President Barak Obama to be the next Attorney General of the United States. Many national news agencies had reported the planned naming of Ms. Lynch, with “PBS Newshour” and The New York Times being the most recent outlets to report the expected nomination by the President, Friday evening.

In the past year, Ms. Lynch has pressed the prosecution of two local cases that came to national prominence. In what she called “one of the largest investment frauds in Long Island history,” Ms. Lynch prosecuted two brothers-in-law, Brian R. Callahan of Old Westbury and Adam J. Manson of New York City, for a Ponzi scheme that involved the Panoramic Resort in Montauk. Both men pleaded guilty in plea-bargained deals and are awaiting sentencing.

She also was leading the prosecution of the franchise owners of eastern Long Island 7-Elevens, including the Sag Harbor store on Long Island Avenue, on charges of harboring and exploiting undocumented immigrants.

She first became part of the prosecutorial team in the Eastern District of the United States in New York in 1990. One of the cases that brought her to national prominence was the prosecution of New York City Police Department Officer Justin Volpe on charges of sodomizing a prisoner, Abner Louima, in 1997. Mr. Volpe pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

She named to her current post in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, left the position in 2001 after the election of George W. Bush the previous year, and was renamed to the post in 2010 by President Obama, becoming the only attorney so honored twice.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she will replace Eric Holder, who has been in the position since shortly after President Obama’s swearing in on 2009.

Ahead of the opening of East Hampton Town waters to the harvesting of scallops on Monday, officials of the town’s shellfish hatchery, marine enforcement personnel, the town trustees, and baymen are hoping that a self-policing effort among those harvesting shellfish will bolster official efforts to thwart poaching.

A healthy harvest is in store, said John Dunne, director of the shellfish hatchery, where each year millions of larval scallops, clams, and oysters are spawned and then seeded throughout town waterways to supplement existing shellfish stock. “Napeague, for sure, looks good,” he said of Napeague Harbor, “reminiscent of two years ago. Maybe not quite as robust, but awfully close.” Scallop season opened in state waters this past Monday.

Last November, the 8,000-square-foot scallop sanctuary on the east side of Napeague Harbor, one of two shellfish sanctuaries in East Hampton waterways, was breached, with the buoys delineating its perimeter dragged aside and bottomland uprooted. Mr. Dunne and his staff seed waterways including the sanctuaries at Napeague and Three Mile Harbors, where commercial and recreational fishing is prohibited. “The sanctuaries are looking robust, but that would be expected,” he said. “It’s going be enticing,” he said of the upcoming harvest. He is preparing signs to erect around the sanctuaries. “Everybody seems to know about it. I’m hoping they will police themselves if the enforcement isn’t there.”

In September, Nat Miller, a trustee and 13th-generation bayman, warned his colleagues that the taking of shellfish without a permit or in quantities exceeding that permitted was a problem that was “spiraling out of control.” Fully half of the harvest, he predicted, would be lost through illegal practices, doing significant harm to the local economy.

“I hope people will play by the rules,” Mr. Miller said on Tuesday. “As I said before, you get an attitude of, ‘If everybody’s going to do wrong, I have to do wrong.’ We’ll see how the season goes. Maybe some people will think about it.”

The State Department of Environmental Conservation requires scallops to measure two and a quarter inches and show an annual growth ring. According to the town’s shellfish ordinance, commercial permittees are allowed to harvest five bushels per day. Two or more commercial permittees occupying the same boat while harvesting scallops are allowed up to 10 bushels per day. If only one person in a boat holds a commercial permit, only five bushels per day are permitted. Those with recreational permits are allowed one bushel of scallops per day.

Ed Michels, the town harbormaster, said on Tuesday that a meeting with the trustees and baymen to discuss enforcement had been scheduled but postponed. He said that he has held discussions with town officials regarding an increase in fines for code violations, but no changes would take effect before next year. “If I get to do what I want to, we’ll make those recommendations over the winter and get the code amended,” he said.

Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, said that she had discussed enforcement efforts with Mr. Michels after the trustees’ last meeting on Oct. 28. “In this day and age with cellphones, if you see an officer near Accabonac, you can call somebody and say ‘You’re free to do whatever you want in Napeague or Three Mile,’ ” she said. “Ed’s going to talk with his guys.” She said that she had suggested strategies to surprise those potentially poaching in town waters. “I think people going shellfishing are very smart,” she said. “If you want to break the law you can find a way to do it. We just do our best.”

Many praised marine enforcement efforts but decried what they called insufficient manpower. The department, Mr. Michels said, has two full-time and six part-time officers and has documented some 1,300 inspections and issued around 35 summonses related to shellfish this year. “It’s not marine patrol or the quality of the officers, it’s just that there’s not enough of them,” Mr. Miller said. “I notify them occasionally,” Mr. Dunne said. “I see something suspicious, and they’re right on it.”

While the harvest is expected to be a good one, efforts to maintain a healthy environment for shellfish are ongoing. In addition to providing coastal communities with protection from erosion, seagrass improves water quality and offers a safe habitat for shellfish and finfish. “The eelgrass in Lake Montauk is just gone,” Mr. Dunne said. “There used to be a nice bed just off the Gone Fishing Marina. Now it’s just barren.” 

The Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Marine Meadows program is one effort to protect and improve eelgrass beds. As part of it, eelgrass shoots are woven into biodegradable discs, which are then planted by divers in waterways including Napeague Harbor. The Save Our Seagrass Celebration, a fund-raiser for the Marine Meadows Program, will be held on Saturday at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton. Details can be found in the Bridgehampton notes this week. Freshly harvested bay scallops will be served.