Where can you see an epidemic grow right out in the open? In the Town of East Hampton, according to the voiceover on an episode of "Destination Whitetail" airing on Wednesday at 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. on the Sportsman Channel.

Former East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, former Councilman Dominick Stanzione, and former Police Chief Ed Ecker, as well as Ed Harrison, a Montauk resident and sportsman, are featured in "The Hampton's [sic] Hurdle to Hunting". While emphasizing the South Fork's status as a "playground of the rich and famous," as the host Brittney Glaze puts it, the episode, filmed last fall, examines town officials' deliberations as they sought a means to reduce the deer population.

Officials in the town and village of East Hampton endeavored to institute a deer cull using United States Department of Agriculture sharpshooters last winter, an effort that drew both strong support from some and angry protests from animal-rights activists and hunters, the latter group seeking participation and decrying the planned use of professionals.

     In January, the plan was scuttled when it was determined that a state-required environmental impact study could not be completed in time. Both the town and village have allocated money for deer management in their present budgets, the latter earmarking $30,000 toward a sterilization program that may occur in the fall.

Scenes of the town, particularly Montauk, abound in "The Hampton's Hurdle to Hunting." "Lymes disease, auto accidents, and over-browsing are all too common," Ms. Glaze says. "Little is being done to control the population."

"Probably 60 percent of Montauk residents have Lyme disease in some form," Mr. Wilkinson says in the program. "The deer overpopulation in East Hampton has reached emergency proportions," Mr. Stanzione says, asserting that public health, the economic impact on agriculture, and deer-vehicle collisions necessitate action. Mr. Ecker says that an average of 125 to 150 collisions occur annually.

However, Mr. Stanzione says, "I've got a split constituency. On one side, I've got people who don't want to have anything to do with shooting or killing deer, and on the other local hunters who want to be the exclusive partners with the town in helping us reduce the deer herd. . . . I've got to find a way to solve and reduce the deer herd as soon as possible for our community."

Mr. Stanzione also presents as an option the use of professional sharpshooters to accomplish a 50-percent reduction in a population he puts at between 6,000 and 10,000. He also suggests a longer hunting season and expansion of land available to hunters.

While it was no surprise that the Fourth of July weekend kept East Hampton Town police, code enforcement officers, and parks and recreation staff busy, Supervisor Larry Cantwell reported on exactly how busy they were at a town board work session on Tuesday. “The truth is our infrastructure, our personnel, our businesses, are all maxed out on a weekend like this,” he said. He commended the Police Department for its efforts.

Between 7 a.m. on Friday and Monday at the same time, police officers responded to 454 calls, he said, citing figures provided by East Hampton Town Police Chief Mike Sarlo. On Saturday night, in addition to managing the crowds flocking to fireworks shows in Montauk and Amagansett, police handled 96 calls between 3 and 11 p.m.

There were 18 arrests over the holiday weekend, seven of them by a driving-while-intoxicated task force on Saturday night. Two arrests for cocaine were made by officers on foot patrol in Montauk. The most serious police matter, Mr. Cantwell said, involved a taxi driver charged with felony assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, and harassment. A story on this appears elsewhere.

Police or traffic control officers issued 365 parking tickets over the weekend, and an additional 84 tickets to drivers allegedly breaking vehicle and traffic laws. Eleven summonses were issued for violations of the town code. Although there were 48 noise complaints over the weekend, only one involved a commercial establishment.

Mr. Cantwell said the Parks Department did a good job of picking up garbage from public cans at beaches and elsewhere, circulating to each spot continuously throughout the weekend, but many calls came in to Town Hall about garbage left on the beaches themselves, particularly around the Sloppy Tuna bar at Edison Beach in Montauk. There was, Mr. Cantwell said, “a collection of people behaving badly, in terms of litter.” He plans to discuss the issue with the Parks Department and beach patrols to determine “how we’re going to get a better handle on this going forward.”

Mr. Cantwell also reported on complaints made to the code enforcement office about alleged violations. In mid-June, he said, there were 491 complaints on the books — 58 about properties in Amagansett, 23 from Wainscott, 131 from East Hampton, 130 from Montauk, and 149 from Springs. He said 31 percent were  unfounded, that summonses were issued or the violations corrected for 23 percent, and that 46 percent were under investigation.

During a recent effort by police and code enforcement to check taxi drivers’ compliance with a revised licensing law, 40 to 60 summonses were issued, Mr. Cantwell said, showing that “there is an active effort to get that situation under control.” A review of Justice Court records, he said, showed that on June 30, 10 taxi owners or operators appeared in court to answer 21 summonses for violations; a total of $4,750 in fines related to the taxi law was levied that day.

In an effort to give code enforcement officers a better basis to cite those flouting the law, proposed changes to the East Hampton Town code would address businesses illegally operating in residential zones by clarifying the type of trucks and equipment that may be parked at houses.

Discussion of just what to do and what the impact will be of cracking down on the proliferation of home-based businesses in contracting, landscaping, and other trades has spanned two town administrations. Councilman Fred Overton is the most recent town board member to lead the effort, and has attempted to draft a law that would provide the “teeth” to act against those who have turned their residential lots into full-fledged commercial sites, but would not unfairly impact a sole proprietor who, for instance, drives a work truck back to his or her residence at night.

Residents of Springs, in particular, have complained to town officials about the number of large trucks, box vans, equipment trailers, and the like parked at a number of properties, the impact of commercially-used vehicles coming and going in their neighborhoods, and, in some cases, work continually taking place in yards turned into places of business. In one case, a videotape was made of carpenters working outdoors with power tools at what a neighbor claims is a de facto workplace.

Patrick Gunn, a former town attorney and head of the town’s public safety division, had urged the board for several years to codify a definition of the term “light truck,” used in the code to differentiate between the type of personal or work vehicle that is allowed in neighborhoods and larger, commercially-used equipment that indicates a business operating from a house.

Concerns were expressed by business-oriented members of the previous Wilkinson administration about a lack of commercial property in the town for those who might be displaced should the town enforce a prohibition already on the books about commercial activity in residential zones.

Under the current proposal, to be the subject of a public hearing at Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. next Thursday, “light truck” and “pickup truck” would be defined, and limits placed on the storage of commercial machinery and heavy equipment on residential lots.

A light truck would be defined as a commercially registered vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 12,0000 pounds or less. A pickup truck would be defined as a “light duty truck” with an enclosed cab and a bed no more than 9 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 25 inches tall.

Up to two commercially registered cars or light trucks, used by an occupant of the residence, could be regularly parked on a residential site. 

“Commercial machinery” or heavy equipment for construction, excavation, or landscape work would be prohibited, as would the storage of materials “used in connection with a commercial operation” that takes place off of the site. No trailers more than 18 feet, or weighing more than 1,000 pounds, would be allowed.

In addition, storage of more than one unregistered vehicle for more than one year would be prohibited.

Also next Thursday night, hearings will be held on banning alcohol on Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett within 1,000 feet of the road end during lifeguarded hours on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays; on the acceptance of scenic and conservation and agricultural easements on various parcels of land; on the addition of land to the community preservation project plan, and on designating the town-owned Brooks-Park property in Springs a historic landmark, which is reported on separately in today’s Star.

The effects of airplane and helicopter noise on those living under flight paths was a subject at an East Hampton Town Board meeting last Thursday night, just as a busy summer holiday weekend got under way.

“We are enduring another season of aviation torment,” Patricia Currie of Sag Harbor told the board. She said it should put local residents’ interests “before those with aviation interests, and a few wealthy visitors.”

The ongoing noise issue “is kind of like being stuck in a ‘Wizard of Oz’ rerun,” said Tom MacNiven of East Hampton. But, he told board members, thanking them for convening several airport data-collection committees that have helped decision-making procedures move forward, “You guys are lifting the curtain.”

Mr. MacNiven, a real estate broker, said he gets calls several times a week from brokers inquiring about the impact of aircraft noise on particular properties. “Entire areas are being stigmatized.” Some homeowners, he said, are seeking to have their property taxes lowered, based on the negative effect of overhead flights. “That’s the economic effect of the airport right now,” said Mr. MacNiven, after noting that airport supporters often cite a positive economic impact from the facility.

The town is seeking bids on several projects at the airport: the reconstruction of a portion of runway 4-22, now being used in part as a taxiway, and repairs and installation of taxiway lighting. In addition, proposals are being sought for engineering services.

Board members voted to issue a $353,600 bond for the lighting project and a $270,000 bond for the taxiway repair. The board also voted to hire Young Environmental Sciences to conduct a study of airport noise.

Land purchases using the community preservation fund were also a topic at the meeting. After a hearing, the board voted to add 166 parcels in the Lake Montauk watershed area to the preservation fund project plan, for potential future purchase. A unanimous vote approved the purchase of three parcels in that area totaling just over two acres, for a total of $1.4 million.

An additional land purchase, of 18 acres on Mile Hill Road in East Hampton, was put on hold following a hearing at which questions were raised about ethics considerations, and if proper procedure was followed. A part-owner of the land is John Whelan, who chairs the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals; its former owner was his late father, Duane Whelan. The town board is seeking advice of the town attorney before moving ahead with the purchase.

David Buda, a Springs resident, said that “additional information should be given, and additional scrutiny . . . when the owners are the heirs of a former town official.” Duane Whelan was a former town attorney.

Mr. MacNiven said he “strongly supports this purchase,” noting that the property had been listed for sale in 2007, when he was the listing broker, at $8.5 million. It will provide another access to the adjacent 430-acre Grace Estate preserve, he said. Though existing structures on the land are proposed to be removed, Mr. MacNiven suggested that it might be nice to leave one there to be used as a museum or camp.

The property is also adjacent to 44 acres of protected town, county, and state lands, said Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management. It provides a link to the Northwest County Park and Northwest Creek, he said, and contains topography and plant species that are listed for protection.

Like Mr. Buda, Tom Knobel, chairman of the town Republican Committee, questioned the purchase. “If it’s five-acre zoning, why are we buying this for $4.8 million?” he asked. “Why are we purchasing the entire item when at most three houses could be built on this property?”

Also last week, the board approved the addition of approximately 463 acres of public land to the areas where bow or shotgun hunting may take place. One speaker had asked for the vote to be delayed so that property owners in adjacent areas would have another opportunity to weigh in. Allowing the use of firearms on 174 acres in the Culloden area of Montauk is of particular concern, he said.

The former property of James Brooks and Charlotte Park, two Abstract Expressionist painters who moved a cottage from the shore of Fort Pond in Montauk in the 1950s to an 11-acre property on Neck Path in Springs, could be designated as an East Hampton Town historic landmark.

A proposal to that effect will be the subject of a hearing before the town board next Thursday night.

Using money from the community preservation fund, East Hampton Town purchased the property for $1.1 million in March from the estate of Ms. Park, who died three years ago. Her husband died in 1992.

In March, the town envisioned only preserving the woodland and open space, perhaps creating trails at the site to link to others on nearby lands. It planned to demolish a house and two painting studios there.

However, neighbors discovered the site, a tableau of the artists’ lives, somewhat frozen in time. The studios contained canvas and jars and cans of brushes and paints. Files of magazine clippings, books, and nature artifacts were left on tables and shelves, as if the artists had just walked off for the day, providing a glimpse into their lives and creative work.

After asking the town to hold off on bulldozing the buildings, the group formed the Brooks Park Heritage Project and mounted a campaign to preserve the property “for public art purposes.”

A website was created, brooks-park.org. It details the history of the property and the lives of the artists and their work. Designating the property as historic will “celebrate the extraordinary artistic heritage of the Springs,” according to the website, and “raise awareness of two major American artists, both of whom played a foundational role in the development of Abstract Expressionism.” It would also allow the town to use money from the community preservation fund, which comes from a 2-percent tax on most real estate transfers, to restore the buildings.

The group has said it would raise money to open the restored buildings and property for public use.

Tax-deductible donations are being accepted by the Brooks Park Heritage Project through Peconic Historic Preservation, a nonprofit entity. The Van Doren Waxter gallery, which recently mounted a show of Mr. Brooks’s work, pledged to donate a portion of the sales from the exhibit to the project.

According to the proposal put forward by the town board, the property qualifies for historic landmark designation because of its “special character, historic and aesthetic interest and value as part of the cultural, economic, and social history of East Hampton.” Along with the main house, it has a small studio first used by Mr. Brooks and later by Ms. Park that was formerly the Wainscott Post Office, and Mr. Brooks’s custom-built midcentury modern art studio.

The hearing next week will begin at 6:30 p.m. Because the board resolution approving the land purchase stated the town’s original intent, to buy it for open space, the board will hold another, after-the-fact, hearing, to change the purpose of the acquisition to historic preservation. That hearing will be held on Aug. 7.

An agreement between the Suffolk County Parks Department and the Long Island Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society will allow the long hoped for restoration of the Cedar Island Lighthouse, which guards the passage between Gardiner’s Bay and Shelter Island Sound, to go forward and its eventual use as a bed and breakfast to become a reality. The agreement was sponsored by Legislator Jay Schneiderman and approved by the County Legislature on June 17.

“I’ve always been interested in historic preservation because of growing up in Montauk,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “The B and B component is the way to continue to upkeep it and to generate revenue,” he said. Michael Leahy, president of the Long Island chapter of the national organization, will oversee the project.

The lighthouse was built in 1868 as an aid for mariners going to and from the busy port of Sag Harbor. It is on a narrow sand peninsula that is part of Cedar Point County Park, but it was on an island until the 1938 Hurricane filled a gap and attached it to the mainland.     Decommissioned in 1934 and its beacon replaced by an automatic light on a steel tower, the lighthouse was purchased in 1937 by Phelan Beale, an uncle of Jacqueline Kennedy, who at the time owned 4,000 nearby acres as a game preserve. It later became a summer home, with murals on the dining room walls and oak paneling, for Isabel P. Bradley of Darien, Conn. It remained vacant after the county took it over in 1967, and was gutted by fire in 1974. Even with its windows and doors cemented, it has been subject to vandalism over the years.

“It’s so easy to get to by water, but not so much by land,” Mr. Leahy said, pointing out that driving on the sand spit, which would be difficult at any time, is prohibited between March and August because of nesting piper plovers. Mr. Leahy expects that staying at the lighthouse will be popular because of its remoteness. “My concept is that if you came out here and spent two days you’d have a feeling of what it was like to be here a hundred years ago,” he said.    

The lighthouse, constructed of granite, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Interior scaffolding was installed after the fire to keep it from caving in. In addition to two guest rooms on the second story, accommodations for a year-round lighthouse keeper will be constructed on the first. Mr. Leahy said other lighthouses have had considerable success as bed and breakfasts, including the Saugerties Lighthouse on the Hudson River. Green energy, either solar or wind, will be necessary, he said, for electricity.

Mr. Leahy and Mr. Schneiderman see the lighthouse as a tourist attraction. “It’s going to be a balance between the public having access and the people staying there having some privacy,” Mr. Leahy said. The chapter is considering the possibility that a private company would be engaged to ferry day visitors back and forth. Walking tours are now given by Bob Allen, a great-grandson of the last lighthouse keeper.

 The first step in the process is to reconstruct the structure at the top of the lighthouse, which held the lantern. It was removed in November and is now at the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard being prepared for refinishing. A ventilator, which sat on top of the lantern when oil was used to light it, has been sent to a foundry in Richmond, Va., where it will be a model for a new one. The top structure will be sandblasted and coated with a water-resistant paint similar to the paint used on bridges. The plan calls for it to be reinstalled in 2015.

Also necessary are a new roof, which will be metal, new windows and doors, and total interior reconstruction. A dock will also have to be built. Mr. Leahy estimates that $2 million will be needed, but, he said, time is on the chapter’s side because the contract with Suffolk County runs until 2029.

“This is really a wonderful part of the maritime history of Sag Harbor and Long Island. . . . I am finding that more and more people in Sag Harbor are getting enthusiastic about it,” Mr. Leahy said.

Nearly 600 mostly short-term rentals in Montauk are listed on Airbnb, one of many competing services on the Internet — and there do not be appear to be any vacancies for the Fourth of July weekend. Homeaway lists about 340 houses available in East Hampton. And on Vacation Rentals by Owner, another website, just over 200 properties recently had dates open for this summer in Sag Harbor.

Many landlords who post their houses and rooms on these sites — which have gained notoriety after stories like one about a rented apartment in Manhattan that was used for a for-profit orgy — seem to rent by the night. This is a violation in the Town of East Hampton (which includes Montauk and parts of Sag Harbor), where rentals for less than two-week periods are limited to two every six months.

Guest rooms are another story. They can be rented in houses that are owner-occupied in East Hampton Town, although no more than two rooms can be rented at the same time. Guest rooms also are regulated by the New York State building code based on square footage.

These sometimes de facto hotels have come under scrutiny by the state and City of New York, and The New York Times recently took notice of them as a new cottage industry here, assessing the impact on traditional, broker-represented listings. Even some public officials have gotten in on the trend, notably Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, a former East Hampton Town supervisor, who offers his ocean view house in Montauk to vacationers on several websites.

“People renting their homes — that’s a big piece of the local economy. That’s allowing the schoolteachers to stay, and a lot of the local work force,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “I’m one of those people. I wouldn’t be able to stay out here if I didn’t have that rental income.”

Mr. Schneiderman’s newly renovated, 2,500-square-foot, five-bedroom house, which sleeps 10, can be seen advertised on Homeaway and V.R.B.O. for $1,000 a night. However, he said the way the website is set up creates the wrong appearance. He does not rent by the night, he said, and looks to rent to families. “A lot of people get confused — think they can have it by the weekend. I’m constantly turning people away. I believe I’m fully complying with the code as I read it.”

Mr. Schneiderman’s house has a pool, and is “steps away to one of the world’s most beautiful private sandy ocean beaches,” its online listing says. Pets and smokers aren’t allowed, but children are welcome. The fine print on the advertisement calls for a three-week minimum stay. Mr. Schneiderman said he likes to rent the house for the summer and has done so for the last six years after it became an “economic necessity” following a divorce. He is also in the hotel business as an owner of Montauk’s Breakers motel, where he lives in the summer while he rents his house.

He is far from alone. Tim Bock, an East Hampton Town Trustee, and his wife, Susan, more or less continually rent out two rooms in their house on Highland Boulevard for between $69 to $99 per night. Guests have to share a bathroom if more than one room is rented. The cost for a week is about $700; it is $1,800 per month. If more than one person is to occupy a room, they charge an extra $30 per night. The Bocks have a page of their own on Airbnb, and it showed no rooms available this weekend.

“You have to do it, just to survive out here,” Mr. Bock said. “It’s mostly weekends, it’s mostly Europeans,” said his wife, who handles the bookings, adding that “we are the cheapest game in town.”

Though the Bocks have three listings on Airbnb, Ms. Bock said she only rents two rooms, complying with the East Hampton Town code. She had considered opening a third room for the summer, she said, but is taking the listing down because she likes to keep one room available if their children come to visit.

Testimonials on such sites as Airbnb indicate that many hosts are paying little attention to the town’s rule on no more than two short-term rentals in a six-month period. Last year, a single room that goes for about $330 a night in a Northwest Woods contemporary garnered nine glowing testimonials between June and the end of September. A $660-per-night cottage overlooking Fort Pond in Montauk with a two-night minimum stay, and word that it is available for parties and special events, had at least 19 reviews from separate guests last year.

The Bocks have received 211 mostly positive reviews on Airbnb since joining in 2010. In 2013, they received 70 reviews; in June this year there already were three. The rule about excessive turnover does not apply to guest rooms in owner-occupied houses, so the Bocks, and others who limit rentals to two rooms, are in the clear. Even Airbnb reminds its users to mind local laws. “I did get a notice from them about the town code, but I don’t know that the town cares,” Ms. Bock said.

Sometimes arrangements are outright questionable. Last summer, a year-round rental tenant of a house on the outskirts of East Hampton Village was evicted after she was caught operating an illegal apartment over a garage as a bed and breakfast.

“What’s on our radar is trying to make code enforcement more effective, more responsive, and dealing with things in a timely manner,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said. “Short-term rentals that by themselves are not illegal, but that are illegal once they are rented out more than twice than they are allowed to, is something that we are dealing with,” he said. “Absolutely no matter who it is.”

Michael Sendlenski, an assistant town attorney who prosecutes code violations, said parsing out homeowners who violate the code isn’t a simple task. “It is not as easy as going to Airbnb and saying they’re doing something illegal,” he said. He said that while homeowners can offer short-term rentals twice in a six-month period, “it is the third time it becomes illegal pursuant to the town code, and it becomes a motel at that point.”

Information about potential violations can be gleaned from short-term rental services, and elsewhere, but the vast majority of charges are “complaint based,” he said. “We use all the information we get to build the metrics of whether the use is legal or not,” he said, though he acknowledged there is little time to spend combing through such websites. “We don’t have the luxury of sitting around contemplating whether each of these things is illegal.”

Jeff Bragman, an East Hampton attorney who handles many zoning cases, said the reason the code offered guest room exemptions despite the concern about excessive turnover was because an owner at home would be “less likely to turn into a circus.” Mr. Schneiderman also sees a problem with excessive turnover in what are supposed to be single-family residences.

“I think there’s like 400 or so Montauk people who rent by the weekend. I do think that’s a little bit much.” The first problem with the rental code, Mr. Schneiderman said, is that it is rarely enforced. “You actually could rent by the weekend, but you could only do that twice. It is really very confusing the way the law is written.” However, he said the biggest problem is “not the guy who rents two weeks to a family.” Instead, he said, “It is the hundreds of houses that are rented as group houses.”

Independence Day will go off with a bang — but one day later in Montauk and Southampton.

The Stars Over Montauk fireworks display has been postponed until Saturday due to forecasted storms, the Montauk Chamber of Commerce announced on Thursday afternoon. The show will take place Saturday at 9 p.m. on Umbrella Beach, which is 1/8 mile west of the center of downtown Montauk.

Southampton’s fireworks, part of the fund-raiser for the Southampton Fresh Air Home, have also been moved to its rain date of Sunday. The benefit will now take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, and the Grucci fireworks will begin at dusk, according to the event's coordinator at the Fresh Air Home.

Another fireworks show, scheduled for Thursday at the North Sea Fire Department's carnival at its Memorial Athletic Field, is so far still on for 10 p.m.

This weekend's shows in Sag Harbor and Amagansett will go on as scheduled on Saturday as of this writing. 

Revved up for even more fireworks? Click here for a complete guide to this summer’s spectacles. 

Safety first, and more than ever, during this hurricane and tropical storm season, which began in the Atlantic on June 1 and will last until Nov. 30.

As of this morning, Hurricane Arthur was moving north along the coast, and, while there are no land impacts anticipated, "plans at the beach would be the biggest concern," said David Stark, a meteorologist intern for the National Weather Service in Upton. Mr. Stark advises caution with regard to water activities as there are "dangerous currents directly along the coast, rip currents from the churning-up waters, and high surf predicted." 

Saturday's marine weather forecast was for seas up to eight feet with strong northwest winds, conditions that could very well lead to dangerous rip currents. 

Bruce A. Bates, East Hampton's emergency preparedness coordinator, said on Wednesday night that rip currents already exist and surf conditions would only worsen over the weekend. He offered a reminder to swimmers to swim only at lifeguard protected beaches. 

The National Weather Service Hurricane Center, as of 11 a.m. on Thursday, posted that the hurricane's maximum sustained winds were 90 miles per hour and that the storm was 260 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and 110 miles south-southwest of Cape Fear, North Carolina.

Additionally, forecasters are "seeing potential for thunderstorms and showers starting Thursday, not related the storm itself, but the cold front," explained Mr. Stark.

During hurricane and tropical storm warnings and watches, people can look on the East Hampton and Southampton Town websites as well as that of Suffolk County for detailed guidance. Mr. Bates advises that during a storm, people "monitor local news sources and governmental announcements and follow what is suggested." The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Ready Campaign, Citizen's Corps, the American Red Cross, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center can offer further information about any hurricane or tropical storm.

After assessing your risk level and finding its corresponding procedure, possible safety measures could include making a family disaster plan, assembling a disaster supply kit to last a minimum of three days, and gathering important documents. Pet owners can visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency website and should know the location of a shelter that accepts animals.

Southampton Town police arrested a Manhattan real estate developer Wednesday at the eastbound Hampton Jitney stop in Bridgehampton after he picked up a package sent from New York.

Barton Mark Perlbinder, 71, who also lives in Sagaponack, was charged with felony possession of prescriptive drugs, illegal on the open market. The package contained quantities of Xanax, Oxycodone pills, and cocaine, according to the police report.

Agents of the Suffolk District Attorney's East End Drug Task Force alerted the Southampton force to the presence of the package, police said. A Southampton Town officer boarded the bus when it reached its Southampton stop at the Jitney's Omni headquarters; other officers were deployed at the Bridgehampton stop, where the pickup was scheduled.

Mr. Perlbinder, 71, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and two related misdemeanors.