With Election Day less than four weeks away, Representative Tim Bishop, a Democrat, and State Senator Lee Zeldin, his Republican challenger, are locked in a close contest to represent New York’s First Congressional District.

Some recent polling indicates a dead heat, though the Cook Political Report put the race in its “Lean Democratic” column on Friday. Also on Friday, the Rothenberg Political Report put the race in its “Toss-Up/Tilt Democrat” column, a downgrade for Mr. Bishop from its previous “Lean Democrat” designation.

Mr. Bishop, the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Water Resources and Environment subcommittee, a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency caucus, and of the Long Island Sound caucus, picked up an endorsement from the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund on Tuesday. The environmental group’s president, Gene Karpinski, called the six-term congressman “an environmental leader who fights for policies to combat climate change, protect our clean air and water, and promote renewable energy.”

Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski has also endorsed Mr. Bishop, citing the congressman’s commitment to education, the environment, and investing in Long Island infrastructure.

Mr. Zeldin visited East Hampton last week, meeting supporters at Cittanuova restaurant on Newtown Lane in an event sponsored by the East Hampton Town Republican Committee.

Mr. Bishop and Mr. Zeldin were scheduled to meet last night at the Riverhead Polish Hall in a debate hosted by the websites RiverheadLOCAL and SoutholdLOCAL. The candidates will debate again tomorrow at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue.

Next Thursday at 7 p.m., the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons will host a debate in the auditorium of Westhampton Beach High School. The league’s Cathy Peacock will moderate the debate, in which the candidates will present opening and closing statements and answer questions posed by David E. Rattray, the editor of The Star, and others, including audience members. The debate will air on the Town of Southampton’s SEA-TV, Channel 22.

The following evening, LTV will present an open discussion at its Studio 3 in Wainscott. Robert Strada of LTV will host participants including Mr. Bishop, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., Suffolk Legislator Jay Schneiderman, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, and Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst. The discussion will be broadcast live on LTV Channel 20 in East Hampton, but residents have been encouraged to attend in person. Questions can be submitted online starting next Thursday at 6 a.m. and during the broadcast at phlive.at with the passcode LTV.

Mr. Thiele, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, will face a Republican challenger, Heather Collins, and a Conservative Party candidate, Brian DeSesa, on Election Day, Nov. 4. Mr. Thiele is also running on the Working Families Party and the Independence Party of New York State tickets.

On Monday, Mr. Thiele released a list of more than 20 groups that have endorsed his candidacy. Law enforcement groups including the Coalition of Suffolk Police Unions and the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association; policy groups including the New York League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and the Long Island Environmental Voters Forum; labor unions including the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees, and policy advocates including Planned Parenthood and the Empire State Pride Agenda are backing his re-election.

State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, running on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party of New York State tickets, ran unopposed in the Republican Party primary. He will face Michael Conroy, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

When the East Hampton Farm Museum opens on Saturday, visitors will be transported back to 1900, a time when the North Main Street locale of the Selah Lester house, which is now the museum, was a bustling nexus serving the Freetown neighborhood, populated by African-Americans, some of whom were former slaves, and Native Americans. The Lester house reflects the life of a farm family of the time, when barters of eggs and other farm goods could raise needed cash.

“This is what my grandfather used to call God’s country,” Prudence Carabine said during a recent tour. Ms. Carabine, a key member of the volunteer group that has created the museum, said she hopes it will imbue visitors with a sense of community life in Bonac, a “rich place” dominated by the land and the sea where families cared for one another.

The grand opening on Saturday will include period banjo and fiddle music, doughnuts and apple cider, and an opportunity to help Alex Balsam of Balsam Farms plant garlic on the two-and-a-half-acre property, where a period garden is planned.

In 1900, the Lester family was raising seven children in the two-bedroom house at the corner of North Main and Cedar Streets, Ms. Carabine said. It was built as a replica of Miss Amelia’s Cottage in Amagansett, she said, and moved to the site around the turn of the century by sled. It is now filled with early 20th century objects from a number of East Hampton’s old families.

Numerous pieces of furniture and a cast iron cook stove from 1915, which is now in the kitchen, were salvaged from the Tillinghast barn in East Hampton after that property was sold and before the buildings were demolished.

A copper sink was donated by Stuyvesant Wainwright, Ms. Carabine said, and her own aunt hand-painted, with a bee design, a collection of small dishes that line the wall above the kitchen sink. Ms. Carabine added that beehives will be kept at the site, if feasible.

A table in the kitchen holds cast-iron baking tins, tintype portraits, and a rug beater. There are eyeglasses dating from about 1920 donated by the family of Dr. William G. Abel, who recently died at age 92, and a rattrap from the old Dune Alpin dairy farm in East Hampton owned by the late Abe Katz.

In the parlor a table is set with silver made by the Alvin Silver Company in Sag Harbor and a cabinet contains pewter pieces from Mr. Katz’s family. A circa-1840 clock came from the Talmage family house at Willow Hill in Springs.

Several pieces, such as a blanket chest made by someone in the Dominy family and a quilt, are on loan from the East Hampton Historical Society, which has helped the museum and is accepting donations until the museum obtains its own nonprofit status.

The organizing committee is continuing to seek objects dating from 1890 through 1920; its specific wish list includes period clothing, a copper wash pot, a hand pump, and a china cabinet that can be locked to protect valuable items.

A letter just donated to the museum is displayed on a wall. Dated September, 1932, it was sent to Miss Marge E. Lester, a young woman living in Millerton, N.Y., presumably to attend school, by Sineus Conklin Miller Talmage, a man who was her senior by decades. “I like you,” he wrote her. “Will you be my wife?”

Another room has been designated a media room, where films about East Hampton history that include interviews with local farming and fishing families and one about three wind-powered sawmills once on the site, will be shown.

A Dominy family mill was once on the property, and its foundation is believed to be just under the surface in an area close to North Main Street. Gaynell Stone, an archeologist, with Robert Hefner, a historic preservation consultant, plan a dig to unearth it. A possible grant would enable Ms. Stone to assemble a team of archeology students to continue the work next year.

Ms. Carabine said the group hopes the museum will have 50 to 70 docents so it can be open at least one day a week with two on hand at all times. That way, volunteers would have to work only one day a year, she said. A training session is to be offered next month.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays through Dec. 6, when holiday activities will take place following the East Hampton Santa parade. It will reopen in April.

On coming weekends, there will be a pumpkin pie-eating contest, and talks designed to illuminate “what 1900 was like on North Main Street,” according to Ms. Carabine. Diane McNally, the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, will give one of the talks, on East Hampton’s government of that time.

East Hampton Town, which owns the property, spent $200,000 to restore the house and a restoration of the barn is planned.

“What we have here is a gem,” Ms. Carabine said. “We see this as a beautiful property, and something that can teach a lot of Bonac values.”

Police were on high alert Friday and local schools were briefly put on lockdown as officers from nine departments conducted a townwide search for a despondent man who had fired a shotgun at his house in Springs and then left in his car with the gun.

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Valon Shoshi, 28, later told police, but his family said they feared that he might hurt himself.

Mr. Shoshi had been staying with his parents and brothers on Gardiner Avenue. According to court papers, his mother, Atifet Shoshi, found him lying in his room Friday morning on top of a Mossberg pump-action shotgun he had recently purchased in Riverhead. She tried to take the gun away, but he pulled it from her hands and fired three rounds toward the wall, striking a TV and a clock. According to Mr. Shoshi’s statement to police, he was only trying to scare her. He told police he kissed her and then left the house. She was injured from flying debris, and was taken to Southampton Hospital, where she was treated and released.

After leaving the house, he called his brothers, Tony and Beni, who said they knew he had the gun with him and were worried. “That is why we had to get the cops involved. We were afraid he would do something to himself,” his brother Tony said yesterday.

Both brothers said yesterday that Mr. Shoshi had fallen into a deep depression in the past few weeks. He is grappling with an impending divorce from his wife, who lives in his native Kosovo, and had just returned late last month from a brief trip there.

Mr. Shoshi came here with his family as a teenager in 1999, just before the worst of the Kosovo War, with its ethnic cleansing of Albanians by the Yugoslavs. The Shoshis are Albanian. An amiable, hard-working young man, he was quick to make friends and build ties in the community. He volunteered with the Springs Fire Department and the East Hampton Ambulance Association, and had risen to the level of assistant chief in the ambulance association before returning to Kosovo a few years ago to marry.

He had recently moved back to East Hampton.

His depression worsened after his recent trip to Kosovo, his brothers said. He had been drinking heavily and hadsaid in a statement.

“This is not my brother. He is a loving person, a caring person,” Tony Shoshi said.

Initially on Friday, police believed that Mr. Shoshi may have gone to one of his brother’s houses in the area of the Crossways near Baiting Hollow Road in East Hampton. With nine different East End police departments lending manpower, two tactical units entered the house, only to find it vacant.

Police were told to be on the lookout for the black Cadillac sports car he was driving, a new car he had purchased in Florida just a few days earlier and driven home to East Hampton.

Local schools went on lockdown, or lockout as they called it, during the search, with parents informed via email.

About an hour later, Mr. Shoshi’s car was spotted heading north on Abraham’s Path in East Hampton. A police officer put on his emergency lights, but Mr. Shoshi did not stop. The officer followed in a slow pursuit onto Springs-Fireplace Road, until another police vehicle blocked off the Cadillac’s path in front of One Stop Market.

There, a brief standoff ensued, with police speaking to Mr. Shoshi on his cellphone. Eventually, he stepped out of the car, hands in the air, and was arrested.

The shotgun in the car had one shot in the chamber, with the safety off, according to police. East Hampton Town Police found no additional weapons at the house on Gardiner Avenue where Mr. Shoshi was staying with his parents, according to his brothers.

Schools lifted the lockdown and sent an “all-clear” email to parents shortly after Mr. Shoshi was taken into custody.

In East Hampton Town Justice Court on Saturday morning for his arraignment, Mr. Shoshi wore the black T-shirt he was arrested in. It was from the 2008 Golden Gloves, and read “Golden Gloves Eagle Boy.” Mr. Shoshi, a former boxer, fought in the Golden Gloves at 22. His nickname in the ring was Eagle Boy.

His family sat in silence as Justice Lisa R. Rana explained that the district attorney’s office had asked bail to be set at $100,000. He was charged with felony reckless endangerment and three misdemeanors: assault, illegal discharge of a weapon, and possession of a loaded gun in a motor vehicle.

“I have a lot of concerns,” Justice Rana said to Mr. Shoshi. “Your attorney says you would never hurt somebody, but you did. I don’t know what’s going on. You were very engaged in the community. You have been a real asset to the community. You have a squeaky-clean history. But it only takes one set of circumstances to turn someone’s life in the wrong direction.” As she spoke, several of those seated in the courtroom began to cry.

“If you are released, where are you emotionally? No matter what is going on in your life, there is a green pasture on the other side. My courtroom is filled with people who care about you. It can’t be so bad,” she said.

“Turn around. I want you to look at them. They are all there for you.” Mr. Shoshi looked at his family. “The next time you go down that rat hole, you may not come out,” Justice Rana said. While setting bail at $25,000, Justice Rana made a condition that he must immediately seek psychological treatment, ordering his attorney, Edward Burke Jr., to provide proof to the court by today that he had done so, or risk an increase in bail.

Justice Rana issued an order of protection, which allows Mr. Shoshi to see his family, but prohibits him from doing anything that would harm them. She also ordered him to surrender his passport to the court.

After his family posted bail and he was released, he was immediately hospitalized and is undergoing psychiatric examinations and treatment at Stony Brook University Hospital. His brothers said he will be transferred shortly to another facility.

By all accounts, Mr. Shoshi has had a difficult year. In November, with his marriage already beginning to sour, he was shot outside his house in Peja, Kosovo’s third largest city, after being approached by two assailants he did not know. The 6-millimeter bullet entered near his navel and exited above his left pelvic bone, just missing his femoral artery. He drove himself to the hospital, where he was treated without anesthetics.

He told The Star in late November that he had closed his arcade business in Peja and gone into hiding, with plans to return to the United States. When he did, his wife stayed behind.

Back on the South Fork, he went to work as a bartender for an old friend, Gino Bombace, the owner of Wolfie’s Tavern in Springs. “He is a great guy,” Mr. Bombace said Tuesday. “I have known him for six or seven years. We are like family.”

“He was one of the best bartenders I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Bombace said. “The customers loved him.”

Mr. Shoshi seems to have been well liked wherever he went. His brothers’ and cousins’ Facebook pages were filled with comments expressing love and concern for Mr. Shoshi and his family.

“He worked hard, he did his job, he was very dependable,” Barbara Borsack, deputy mayor of East Hampton Village said on Tuesday. Ms. Borsack had worked alongside Mr. Shoshi at the Ambulance Association. “I worked with him on calls. He was great,” she said.

Mr. Shoshi had also worked as an aide at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton. “My grandson loved him,” Ms. Borsack said.

Few outside of his family were aware of his decline.

“He went through a lot of stuff back in Kosovo,” Beni Shoshi said yesterday. “He exploded. He is now getting the help he needs.”

A Springs landlord who admitted using cameras to spy on his summer rental tenants was sentenced to five years' probation Thursday in the Riverside courtroom of State Supreme Court Justice Barbara R. Kahn.

Donald J. Torr, 71, now of Celebration, Fla., had pleaded guilty to 14 felony charges as well as nine misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child.

Two families who stayed at his $6,500-a-week rental in the summer of 2012 have brought civil suits against Mr. Torr and his wife, Astrid Torr, in New York State, seeking damages. He was indicted in May 2013 by a grand jury in Riverside and arrested a month later in Florida on a warrant. He was extradited back to New York two days later.

Justice Kahn agreed to transfer his probation time to Florida, allowing him to report to officers on a regular basis in what is now his home state. He will not have to return to New York unless there is a report of a violation of probation. The district attorney's office had recommended that Mr. Torr be sentenced to the maximum of two and two-thirds to eight years in prison.

Mr. Torr, originally from Montauk, is the former owner of the Crow's Nest restaurant there.

William C. Hurley of Sag Harbor, who admitted to being drunk when his pickup truck hit a BMW driving in the opposite direction on Route 114 last year, injuring the driver and her 6-year-old son, was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in state prison.

Mr. Hurley, 62, had been driving north in his 2003 Toyota pickup last July. His truck swerved across lane lines, colliding with a 2006 BMW driven by Elizabeth Krimendahl, whose 6-year-old son, Thadeus, was in the backseat. Dr. Krimendahl suffered a broken ankle in the crash, while the left side of her son's skull was fractured.

Mr. Hurley pleaded guilty in January to multiple charges stemming from the accident, including two felony counts of vehicular assault — one for each victim — two misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated, misdemeanor reckless driving, and a felony charge of recklessly causing a serious injury. At the time, he was the owner of Peconic Beverages on Pantigo Road in East Hampton. He had been facing seven years.

His sentencing had been put off twice previously, once in April, to allow him to get his affairs in order before being incarcerated, then again several weeks later, when he fell off a ladder and badly broke his leg. Despite an attempt by his attorney, Edward Burke Jr., to get one more adjournment on Tuesday, Melissa Turk of the district attorney's office argued in the judge's chambers against any further delay, and Justice Fernando Camacho agreed with her.

Mr. Hurley sat alternately in the courtroom, hands in prayer position, head bowed, and in the hallway on a bench with his wife and several friends and family members who had come to courthouse to support him. Dr. Krimendahl said to her attorney, Kevin M. Fox, that she did not know what Mr. Hurley looked like. Tuesday would be the only time in the 15 months since the accident that two would actually see each other.

When a clerk called out that it was time for his sentencing, Mr. Hurely rose to stand before Justice Camacho, walking with a cane.

Speaking to the court, Dr. Krimendahl described the physical and mental wreckage the accident had caused. After the collision, in the early evening of July 6, 2013, she said, she was separated from her son by the medical crews responding to the accident. She was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital while he was taken to Southampton Hospital, before also being taken to Stony Brook.

When she heard he was at Stony Brook, she asked to be brought to him, she said. Thadeeus was unconscious, she told the court, and his left eye was swollen out the size of a tennis ball. "I held his hand, and said goodbye. I wasn't sure I would ever see him again," she said.

He was taken then to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where two surgeons operated at the same time, one reconstructing his eye socket, the other reconstructing his skull, using metal plates, screws, and rods.

She described the recovery process, which is still ongoing, and the sensation of feeling a metal plate and screws underneath his skin when she would touch his forehead. She said that her son refused to get a haircut for six months, and had constant nightmares. Frequently, she said, he would lash out at her.

"My son learned something that no 6-year-old should ever learn — that his mother can't protect him," she said.

Mr. Hurley addressed the court, as well. "I will try to speak from my heart, through my mouth, without the interference of my brain," he said. "How do I apologize to Dr. Krimendahl and her son? Words don't suffice." He said he has been in treatment since the accident. "I am a better man. I had to injure these two people I didn't know," he said. "What satisfaction does Dr. Krimendahl get because I am a better man? How do I apologize?"

He said that since the accident at least a half dozen of his former customers (he recently sold the distributorship, but has stayed on as an employee) have come to him and said that they had changed their behavior after seeing what he went through.

Justice Camacho started his pre-sentence talk addressing Dr. Krimendahl directly. "I wish you and your son the best. I pray for you," he said. To Mr. Hurley, he said, "I wish we could take a tape of what you just said, put it on loudspeakers, and play it from Montauk to the other end of Suffolk County," he said. "Good luck, Mr. Hurley."

After Mr. Hurley signed some papers, a guard took his cane away from him and opened a side door. She held it open as Mr. Hurley turned and blew a kiss to his family. He was then handcuffed and led away.

Dr. Krimendahl's attorney said afterwards that a civil lawsuit to recover damages has been launched against both Mr. Hurley and Peconic Beverages in State Supreme Court in Riverhead.

Mr. Burke said afterwards that his client will be assigned to a New York State correctional facility over the next few weeks.

Correction: Mr. Hurley was sentenced to two years, not two to four years as previously reported. The Star regrets the error.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell has proposed a town budget for 2015 of $71.4 million, which, he says, will “address quality-of-life issues and concerns,” including code enforcement and the environment, and will “assist those who depend on certain town services.”

The budget reflects an almost 3-percent increase in spending next year over this year’s $69.4 million budget. If it is adopted as proposed, taxes for most town residents would increase by 2 percent, or by just over 3 percent for residents of incorporated villages. In-town residents with property assessed at $4,000 (valued in full at $550,000), would pay $23.08 more than they do now; the figure would be $14.32 more for residents of an incorporated village, who pay separately for a number of services.

The tax levy would rise by $1.4 million. A state-imposed cap would have allowed East Hampton a maximum increase of $1.6 million this year, and the $204,051 in wiggle room will be credited toward the 2016 budget, authorizing the town to increase the levy by that amount at that time. In addition, because the increase is under the cap, residents who qualify under the STAR program would receive a rebate check from the state for the amount of the increase on the town portion of their property tax.

The budget provides for the addition of three new jobs with the town’s 310-member full-time staff, and for making one part-time job full time. It proposes that the town hire one new full-time ordinance enforcement officer. A “public safety coordinator” post that has been held by a town attorney would now become a formal separate title, allowing full-time oversight of the enforcement efforts related to the Building, Fire Prevention, Animal Control, and Ordinance Enforcement Departments.

In addition, Mr. Cantwell said Tuesday, “in response to the seasonal influx” and its related issues, $50,000 was added to the Police Department’s part time or seasonal salaries budget, $25,000 to the Marine Patrol’s salary fund, and $12,000 will pay for more seasonal help to pick up litter, which will “add more coverage in the busy summer months and boost compliance with parking regulations, traffic control, and local ordinances.”

The tentative budget also includes $100,000 to complete the development of a townwide comprehensive wastewater plan. Ten thousand dollars, for a total of $20,000, would be added to the Natural Resources Department budget to determine whether bodies of water should be closed to swimming or fishing, and to help identify the causes of pollution and how they might be addressed.

Increased appropriations are earmarked for programs for senior citizensmarked for programs for senior citizens in Montauk and at the East Hampton Senior Center, and to increase the hours of a cook for the nutrition program. A $10,800 allotment would cover a new, part-time youth coordinator in the Human Services Department.

Allocations to outside groups would be continued, such as $80,000 to the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center, $35,000 to the Project Most after-school program, and $50,000 to the Family Service League. In addition, a $25,000 grant would be made to the South Fork Behavioral Health Initiative to help cover the costs of providing mental and behavioral health services.

The East Hampton Historical Society would receive $20,000 toward repairs to the Second House Museum building in Montauk.

The executive assistant to the supervisor, a post held by Alex Walter, would become full time under the tentative budget. A 2-percent salary increase for department heads has been budgeted for, and provisions made for the settlement of a contract under negotiation with the Civil Service Employees Association.

Because of a financial deficit accrued under a previous administration, the town had to borrow $21 million in 2010 and 2011, and has been paying that off. The total now owed is $12.9 million. The supervisor has proposed moving $1.7 million of surplus next year to a reserve fund earmarked for debt repayment, which would bring that reserve to $2.9 million — enough to cover approximately 25 percent of the deficit borrowing still due. A $2.5 million principal payment is due next year.

The town currently has a fund balance totaling $18 million. The proposed budget would rely on a total of $677,499 in appropriations from fund balances and reserves. This year, $800,000 in set-aside money was used.

The budget relies on conservative estimates of income next year from mortgage tax and other revenue sources, such as grants, fees, and fines. While mortgage tax revenue this year is expected to reach almost $4.7 million, the proposed budget estimates $4.1 million coming in next year. “This is a cyclical revenue source subject to change in the real estate market, and it is prudent to be cautious in estimating this revenue,” according to the budget message.

Should mortgage taxes result in more income than expected next year, Mr. Cantwell said Tuesday, the overage would help the town improve its financial standing.

Closure of the town scavenger waste treatment plant this fall will save the town almost $460,000 next year, compared to this year’s budget.

A proposed spending plan for the community preservation fund, which is separate from the town’s operating funds and receives income from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax rather than property taxes, calls for $25 million to be spent next year on land purchases. As of Sept. 20, the preservation fund had a cash balance of just over $52 million, of which $30 million has been earmarked for pending acquisitions.

The current part-time position of environmental technician would become a full-time job, with the C.P.F. paying half the cost of the increased salary. Because the staffer would also help to manage properties not acquired with the preservation fund, the remainder of the salary would come from the town’s general fund.

C.P.F. revenue this year is expected to total $25.2 million. Next year’s spending plan was crafted with a “conservative projection” of $18.3 million in 2015 income in mind.

The town board will review and discuss the proposed budget at its next two work sessions, on Tuesday and Oct. 14, and will schedule a public hearing during November. A final vote on the budget must take place, according to state law, on or before Nov. 20.

Last month as 18 students made their way into Kristen Tulp’s classroom to begin their first day of kindergarten at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton, not a tear was shed, from either parent or child.

Chelsea Fromm was the first one in the door, promptly alerting her teacher that she had lost her first tooth only the night before.

Parents escorted their children into the room, helping them locate their cubbies, unzip their brand-new backpacks, and separate snacks from extra clothes (in case of accidents).

After parting ways, Ms. Tulp gathered the class for its first morning meeting on the rainbow-colored rug, a cornerstone of each day when songs are sung and the weather is carefully tabulated, when the days of the week and the months of the year are committed to memory through daily repetition.

“Dear Kindergarteners,” read Ms. Tulp, from a letter at the front of the room, as Darlene Rigby, an aide, stood nearby. “Welcome to your first day of school. How do you feel about starting school today? Happy? Excited? Nervous?”

Eager hands shot into the air.

“I was nervous,” said Taylor Baratta. “And a little sad.”

“I felt a little nervous,” said Chelsea.

“Me too,” said Clay Lynch.

“I felt super-duper happy,” said Liliana Hopson.

Ms. Tulp tabulated each student’s response, with feelings of nervousness far outweighing the others.

An announcement over the loudspeaker prompted students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, most mumbling just a few words.

This marks Ms. Tulp’s 29th year in the classroom. At 49, the Connecticut native has more than 20 years of kindergarten experience. The youngest of her own three children is beginning his senior year at East Hampton High School. Her husband, James Tulp, teaches third grade at John Marshall.

Kindergarten is her passion, and she considers these the magic years — when students enter her classroom as blank slates, their personalities and interests just beginning to form.

The East Hampton Star will spend the school year embedded in Kristin Tulp’s kindergarten class at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, watching how the year takes shape for her young students. Over the coming months, a handful of children and their families from an array of different backgrounds will be profiled to illustrate the changing face of East Hampton through the lens of its public elementary school.

“Your child will be reading by the end of the year. That is a goal and expectation we have in kindergarten,” she said to a packed room of parents during last week’s open house. Turnout was strong, with only 5 of the 18 families absent. “Your child comes in scribbling and by the end they will be writing complete sentences. It’s an amazing journey from September until June.”

Since moving to East Hampton in 1987, Ms. Tulp has witnessed a rapid transformation — from a district that formerly enrolled a vast majority of white students to one where Spanish is increasingly the primary language spoken at home. In this year’s class, for instance, 10 of her 18 students have Latin American surnames. Within Ms. Tulp’s class, students whose families have called East Hampton home for generations will spend the year alongside recent transplants from different states or different countries.

According to the school’s state-issued report card (now three years old), John Marshall students are 47 percent Latino, 43 percent white, 6 percent black, 3 percent Asian, and 2 percent multiracial. And among students in kindergarten through fifth grade, a third of the student body qualifies for either a free or reduced-price lunch.

Ms. Tulp spends the first six weeks of school establishing the culture of the class — focusing on things like social skills, the importance of hand washing, and getting along with peers. Though in past years, formal academics weren’t tackled during the early weeks, this year, math and reading lessons are already underway.

“You have to have a solid foundation on how your classroom is going to run,” explained Ms. Tulp. “If I can’t get that in place, I can’t teach. We’re aiming for a well-oiled machine, but it takes a long time to get there. They’re 5. They forget.”

The dynamic is intense, with three separate lessons often occurring in the span of 40 minutes. For this reason, it’s not uncommon for substitute teachers to refuse a kindergarten placement. Ms. Tulp is always on, rarely sitting still, whether limiting the number of Oreos during snack time or spotting would-bedisciplinary problems before they escalate.

Since arriving at John Marshall, she has witnessed a change in family dynamics, with more families requiring two incomes to make ends meet. As a consequence, she has seen a decline in parental involvement, with children spending an increasing number of hours at school — given breakfast and lunch, in addition to participating in after-school programs that stretch into the early evening hours.

On Sept. 11, the flag outside John Marshall hung at half-staff. A moment of silence was observed, though Ms. Tulp’s class carried about its usual business, the 4 and 5-year-olds blissfully unaware of the planes that had struck the twin towers years before they were born.

After a hot lunch of chicken tacos and orange slices (about half opted to bring their own), the class tackled learning labs, or centers, where they rotated among an assortment of activities — whether art, drama, Play-Doh, or puzzles. Soon, talk turned to what they wanted to be when they grow up.

“I want to be a teacher,” said Olivia Chapman.

“I want to be a policeman,” said Chelsea.

“I want to be a painter,” said Sophia Herrera.

“I want to do carpentry, just like my dad,” said Ephraim Munoz.

“I want to be a monster truck driver,” said Clay.

Before dismissal, the class celebrated a birthday, with Grace King festooned in a pink-sequined tutu and matching sequined bow for her fifth birthday. Bite-size cupcakes and cookies, supplied by her parents, were passed out. After learning the hard way, Ms. Tulp now saves the sugary treats until the very end of the day.

By Sept. 18, picture day, children were already starting to get sick, with Sophia running a slight fever. Several of her classmates, including Madison Alvarez, battled runny noses.

Wearing a turquoise dress and black headband, Madison diligently worked on her math packet, counting the vertices, or intersection points, of various squares and triangles. Madison is 4 and her favorite color is pink. She loves eating pizza and wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

Her parents, Antonia and Fernando Alvarez, both attended last week’s open house. Antonia grew up in Long Beach, Calif. Mr. Alvarez, a native of Ecuador, relocated to the United States 12 years ago. The family has split its time between California, New Jersey, and Washington — moving where the contracting work was plentiful. They relocated to East Hampton two months ago, along with Isaac, their 2-year-old. Mr. Alvarez works as a property manager. Ms. Alvarez is a stay-at-home mother. “We were very hesitant of sending her to a classroom, but decided it’s better that she comes here and socializes with other kids,” said Ms. Alvarez. “We’re planning to stay here permanently and make this our home.”

On Sept. 22, the class sat in its morning circle as six of the children were out of the classroom receiving additional help with English. Ms. Tulp read aloud from a nonfiction book about feelings.

“It seems like just yesterday you were sitting here on your first day,” she said, prompting students to begin illustrated journal entries highlighting things that made them happy.

Olivia, 4, drew a picture of herself playing with her brother. She is the youngest of four children. Her favorite color is pink, and she loves eating cheese pizza. “I already know how to write,” she explained. “But I want to learn how to make more letters.” She has wavy blonde hair, interrupted by two bright pink streaks of color, procured over the summer.

Her mother, Abby Chapman, calls her a spitfire. “She’s the youngest and very determined. She knows what she likes and when she wants it,” said Ms. Chapman, who works as a secretary. Her husband, Adam Chapman, is an electrician. Both graduates of East Hampton High School, their families have “been here since the dirt was laid down,” said Ms. Chapman.

Meanwhile, Jake Calloway, 5, drew a picture of himself playing on the monkey bars, alongside Drew, his 7-year-old brother. He has a blonde buzz cut and blue eyes. A Batman T-shirt barely concealed two glitter tattoos from a weekend trip to Greenport. His favorite food is watermelon and mango. “I don’t know what I want to be yet,” he said, “But I want to learn how to paint.”

Nicole Calloway, his mother, is a speech and language pathologist at East Hampton High School, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Her husband, Ben Calloway, buys and sells wine to private clients. Growing up in Nassau County, Ms. Calloway spent summers in Springs and Montauk, visiting family. Her husband is from Iowa.

Sitting at the same table, Alonso Garcia, 5, drew a picture of himself playing soccer with his dad. His 15-year-old sister, Valentina Sanchez, also had Ms. Tulp. Whenever possible, the school pairs siblings with the same kindergarten teacher. Alonso has closely shorn brown hair and brown eyes. In between bites of a plum and sips of a yogurt drink, Alonso said he loves playing with Play-Doh. When he grows up, he said he’d prefer to simply “stay in my room and sleep.”

His mother, Adriana Garcia, emigrated from Colombia 18 years ago. Along with her mother and sister, the three women run Elegant Touch, a nail salon on Railroad Avenue in East Hampton. Her husband, Juan Garcia, also a native of Colombia, works as a painter. When it comes to Alonso’s future, she envisions college, though her son, for the time being, “dreams of playing soccer in a big stadium.”

Ephraim Munoz, 5, snacked on a container of raspberries. He has straight brown hair and brown eyes. He likes eating pizza and taking the bus home. Stung by a bee during a horse show over the summer, he said he doesn’t like being outside. “I don’t know how to read,” he said. “I want to learn about more animals like cheetahs and dinosaurs.”

His mother, Marci Vail, grew up in East Hampton. Her ancestors, Puritans from England, date back 13 generations. His father, Carlos Munoz, is originally from Ecuador. Having lived in the U.S. for most of his adult life, Mr. Munoz now works as a carpenter and handyman. Ms. Vail went through the East Hampton schools, has two master’s degrees, and formerly worked at the East Hampton Library. As born-again Christians, the family attends weekly church services.

One table over, Atilla Secim devoured a banana. Atilla, 5, was born in Turkey and most recently lived in Saudi Arabia. He speaks Turkish, Arabic, French, and English, though Turkish is spoken at home and is the language he prefers most. “Snack is my favorite part of the day,” he said, in between sips of chocolate milk. He also loves french fries. So far, he said, Jake is his closest friend.

Early in the summer, Atilla was nervous to start school, wondering whether his English-speaking classmates and teacher would be mean or nice. His mother, Ayse Secim, was born in Turkey but grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. She studied economics at Stony Brook University. Nearly 10 years ago she moved back to Turkey, where she met her husband, Murat Secim, who now works in textiles. The couple also has a younger son, 17-month-old Cengiz. The family recently relocated to East Hampton from Saudi Arabia, living in his sister’s summer house until they permanently establish themselves.

“We were so excited to come here,” said Ms. Secim, who had previously enrolled Atilla in private early childhood programs in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the only available options. “The opportunities for kids in this country are so much better than what we’ve seen so far.”

When Suffolk County forced the Lindley family out of their summer house in Montauk, called the blockhouse, in 2010, they were devastated. Built by the Army in 1944, the house had been a lookout station. When it was no longer needed, it was sold in 1950 to Hilda Lindley and her husband, Frances Vinton Lindley.

In the 1970s, the county bought the surrounding 1,000 acres from the federal government with plans to have a developer subdivide it and build up to 1,800 houses there. The county threatened to take the house by eminent domain if the Lindleys did not leave.

But Mrs. Lindley, an early environmentalist, rallied the community and at the same time helped found Concerned Citizens of Montauk. Eventually, the family was granted a conditional reprieve in the form of a 35-year lease, which expired in 2010.

The house was built to look like a summer cottage, which is what the Lindley children, Daniel, John, and Diana, used it for after Mrs. Lindley’s death in 1980 from breast cancer. Daniel Lindley became the steward of the remote house. When electricity was needed a generator was used, but mostly nights were lit with gas lanterns and candles. A massive brick fireplace housed a wood-burning stove. Shelves on both sides of the brick mantle held books on all subjects. In the living room area, white overstuffed couches filled a room that looked out over the Block Island Sound through a bay window the Lindleys had installed. Bedrooms had high, narrow lookout windows that served the Army’s purpose.

Daniel Lindley spent most of his time in the hamlet writing, editing, and teaching online computer classes with a wireless broadband. He also served as a fish counter of large pelagic fish. When the family was told it had to vacate the property, he offered to stay on and protect the house from vandalism until the county came up with a plan for it. But his request was denied, and Mr. Lindley said he was heckled by a county employee for going to the press with his story.

Mr. Lindley is still interested in moving back in and caring for the house at his own expense until the county comes up with a plan. His presence was useful when people got lost in the heavily wooded area, and his wife, a nurse, was able to offer medical care to anyone who needed it while hiking or riding the nearby trails.

Several Montauk residents have recently taken an interest in the house, which remains empty. Barbara Grimes, who rides her horse past it, said it looked as if raccoons had gained entry and shredded all the mattresses in the house. Mouse droppings covered the floors and a window was broken. There is talk of starting a committee called the Friends of Lindley House to help preserve it.

Patrick Keogh, who runs the county-owned Deep Hollow Ranch, said he often rides to the house to check on it and repair any damage that he finds. “It’s a great piece of property,” he said, adding that the ranch, Third House, and the Lindley property are the crown jewels of Suffolk County Parks.

It needs a lot of work, he said, and he’s not sure if the county is up for it. “But definitely something needs to happen so it doesn’t continue to deteriorate.”

Ed Johann of the Third House Nature Center said the county was foolish not to allow the Lindleys to stay on until a plan was in place for the property. The county “should have jumped on that,” he said

Back in June, the Suffolk County Legislature approved a bill introduced by Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk, that called for developing a plan for the site and identifying within 90 days what sort of restoration and other capital improvements were required there. The 90 days are up and the county is behind schedule, Mr. Schneiderman said Tuesday evening.

A meeting was held at the site last week with county and public works officials, one of whom was Greg Dawson, the commissioner of Suffolk County Parks. The commissioner said that several user groups have shown an interest in the site as an environmental center. But even the Boy Scouts, he said, have claimed it was a bit too remote.

As of now, the path to the site is blocked with a large, locked gate. Mr. Dawson said that before anyone can use it, the house has to be brought up to code and tested for airborne asbestos and lead. The county would like to develop a plan for the use and maintenance of the site, but he could not say when that would happen.

Update, Oct. 9: A 2005 Toyota driven by a mother taking two Ross School students to school was hit by a truck Friday morning while turning from Route 114 onto Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton.

The truck, a flatbed 2004 Chevrolet with scaffolding in the back, rolled over after it “clipped” the Toyota, according to Ken Wessberg, the East Hampton Fire Department’s first assistant chief, who responded to the call. “He didn’t see her at first. He cranked it to the right to get away from her,” Mr. Wessberg said.

The accident was reported to East Hampton Town police at 8:01 a.m.

The fire department was initially told one person was pinned inside the Toyota. The heavy-rescue squad responded, but when fire personnel arrived on scene, everyone was out of the vehicles.

Jill Burdge, 60, of East Hampton, and the two students, her daughter Elizabeth Burdge, 15, and Emma Engel, 16, were taken to Southampton Hospital by the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association. One of the students apparently suffered a head injury in the crash and was unconscious when the first witnesses got to the car, but was conscious upon arrival at the hospital.

“They were more shaken up than anything else,” Mr. Wessberg said. “They are very lucky.”

The driver of the truck, Tom O’Donoghue, 47, of Sag Harbor, was not injured. Police said no tickets were issued. The road was closed until the vehicles were towed away.

Original, Oct. 3: A vehicle driven by a mother taking two Ross School students to school was hit by a truck while making a turn from Route 114 onto Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton on Friday morning.

A flat-bed truck with scaffolding in the back rolled over when the driver "clipped" the woman's small car, according to Ken Wessberg, East Hampton Fire Department's first assistant chief. "He didn't see her at first. He cranked it to the right to get away from her," Mr. Wessberg said. The accident was reported at 8:02 a.m.

The fire department was initially told one person was pinned inside of the woman's car. A heavy-rescue squad responded, When fire personnel arrived on scene, everyone was out of the vehicles.

The woman and the two students were taken to Southampton Hospital by the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association. They were conscious when they arrived. "They were more shaken up than anything else," Mr. Wessberg said. "They are very lucky." One of the students apparently suffered a head injury in the crash and was unconscious when the first witnesses got to the car.

The driver of the pick-up was not injured, Mr. Wessberg said.

The road was closed until the vehicles were towed away.

On Tuesday night, the East Hampton School Board announced that it would not interview applicants for its open board seat and unanimously appointed Deme Minskoff, a middle school parent, to fill it. The position had remained vacant since Patricia Hope, board president, resigned in early July.

Tuesday night’s meeting was a long one, with the legality of the board’s earlier intention to hold private interviews with the candidates for the board debated. A different legal issue surfaced later in the night with regard to the district’s standing committees.

After Ms. Hope’s resignation, the board had considered whether to hold a special election, keep the seat vacant, or appoint someone. The decision to appoint someone was in early September and the board expressed interest in candidates who possessed a “financial background, including accounting, municipal finance, and budgeting.”

On Friday afternoon, Kerri Stevens, the district clerk, had reported that Charla Bikman, Stephen Grossman, and Ms. Minskoff had submitted paperwork for the open seat by the Oct. 1 deadline. Ms. Stevens also said the board planned to meet on Monday at a closed, or executive, session to conduct interviews. By Monday morning, however, the interviews had been cancelled.

Jonathan Heidelberger, an attorney with Frazer and Feldman, a Garden City-based firm, the district’s new counsel, addressed the aborted board intention to interview the candidates privately. “In the 40 years that I have been practicing, we can’t think of any boards that conducted them in public. They’ve uniformly conducted them in executive session,” Mr. Heidelberger said. “However, there is a growing sense of a need for school boards and other municipal governments to be transparent in their actions. Our recommendation would be that any discussion, any interviewing, any deliberation with regard to appointment of a successor should be conducted in public.”

Jackie Lowey, a board member, explained that initially the firm had advised it to hold the interviews in executive session; Mr. Heidlelberger eschewed that advice on Tuesday. She also noted that Sag Harbor, when recently faced with a similar situation, had held interviews in public.

As for the three East Hampton candidates, she said, “I know all of the candidates who ended up applying. We could do it over coffee. I already know them. The implication was that the board didn’t want to do it in public.”

“We know all three of them,” J.P. Foster, the board president, concurred. However, he wondered if the board was legally obligated to do interviews. “Absolutely not,” Mr. Heidelberger said.

“It’s taken a lot of our time and derails you from what’s the business at hand,” Mr. Foster said. “I’d like to move forward and don’t feel the need to have an interview. I’d like to move to appoint someone today. I don’t have trouble doing it in public, either.”

“I’d like to get it over with,” Liz Pucci, a board member, agreed.

At that point, Mr. Foster said he wanted to nominate Deme Minskoff. “All in favor?” he asked. A response did not occur until later in the meeting, when Ms. Stevens read a prepared resolution stating that Ms. Minskoff’s term would begin immediately and last until the annual district election on May 15. The motion, submitted by Richard Wilson, was quickly seconded by Wendy Geehreng. It received unanimous support. Ms. Stevens noted that Ms. Minskoff would be sworn in via telephone yesterday morning.

“Deme is far and away the best candidate,” said Ms. Lowey. “We would be lucky to have her on the board.” Mr. Foster thanked the other members of the public for stepping forward. However, he said, “You want to move along and get business done. That’s where you want to be.”

Ms. Minskoff is a member of the East Hampton Middle School PTA. A request for Ms. Minskoff’s résumé, in addition to the applications submitted by Mr. Grossman and Ms. Bikman, was not fulfilled by deadline.

“The process was terrible. There was no process. They said they were going to interview you. They never interviewed anyone,” Mr. Grossman said early yesterday. “I don’t know if the outcome would have been different, but the process is important. It’s a sad day, not because I didn’t get appointed, but because the process was a sham.”

Following an outside inquiry, Mr. Heidelberger updated the board on its committee policies. Though the district’s committees don’t take formal actions, and merely make recommendations, Mr. Heidelberger said “that’s public business, and it has to be an open meeting.” As such, he noted that minutes must be kept. This reverses the current policy of not making minutes available from committee meetings. 

The district has athletics, audit, facilities, personnel, and policy committees, with three board members serving on each. The board calendar lists each committee meeting, with most occurring during the school day. The public is able to attend.

Other topics were raised earlier in the meeting. Robert Tymann, the assistant superintendent, made a presentation concerning the district’s recent performance on state tests.

“We’re two to three years behind other districts in implementing the Common Core. We’re working very hard to catch up with other districts,” said Mr. Tymann, noting that East Hampton generally compares itself to Hampton Bays, Montauk, Riverhead, Southampton, and Springs, which he described as districts facing “similar demographics and similar hurdles.”

Bengt Hokanson, a father of two children in the district, described homework assignments as “ditto sheet learning.” He also questioned the district’s reluctance to begin foreign language instruction in younger grades. “Why not start a volunteer Spanish as a foreign language program, taught by the people who live here, the Latino community,” he asked. “What an opportunity, right? Half the community speaks Spanish.”

Richard Burns, the superintendent, briefly updated the board concerning its ongoing lawsuit with Sandpebble Builders. The multimillion dollar contract for school construction projects dates back to April of 2002. “It’s at the discretion of the judge,” Mr. Burns said, noting that deliberations could begin as early as December. “There’s been a strong request for this to be done as soon as possible.”

In other news, the board accepted the retirement of Kenneth Kobarg, a computer technician, effective Nov. 4. Ashley Pite was appointed to replace an elementary teacher on leave from now until Dec. 19 at a per diem rate of $262. In addition, Kylie Tekulsky was appointed to a .8 part-time English as a second language teaching position from now until June 30 at an annual salary of $48,332.

The board also approved a girls high school volleyball team trip to the Horseheads Classic Tournament later this month. The district will pay the $325 entry fee. 

Finally, the board approved a 19-student trip to Nepal during the February break. William Barbour, who teaches social studies at East Hampton High School, will serve as a chaperone, as students work with the group BuildOn, a nonprofit organization that builds schools around the world.

The cost of the trip is estimated at $102,000, which will largely be offset by fund-raising and private donations. Already, the group has raised $76,000. It will hold a tag sale at the East Hampton Middle School on Saturday, with doors opening at 9 a.m. Donated items can be dropped off at the school on Friday afternoon. 

The board will meet next on Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Looking ahead to Nov. 5, an education forum is planned at 6:30 p.m.