Blanche and Ziggy, Diane Mayo's German shepherd and African hunting dog, curled up, mirror images, at opposite ends of a couch in her Montauk house.

"They're like clones," Ms. Mayo remarked. It seemed right that she should have two small, friendly dogs living with her, since her pottery contains so many images of animals, particularly dogs.

Photo: Morgan McGivern

Ms. Mayo and her husband, Rex Lau, a painter, live in a low, long, red wooden house that she suspects may once have been a kennel, on former Carl Fisher property behind the Montauk Manor. The house doubles as studio space.

Bean & Beluga

Next door, a huge, beat-up white barn serves as residence and work space for a series of visual artists and writers who have been awarded monthlong summer residencies at the William Flanagan Memorial Foundation for Creative Persons, as Edward Albee's foundation is formally known.

Ms. Mayo and Mr. Lau have been living next door and keeping an eye on things for Mr. Albee for over 15 years.

Diane Mayo's name began to be known to the public in 1983, when she published a scathingly funny illustrated story called "Murder at Bean & Beluga," an Edward Goreyesque tale based on her experiences as a counterwoman at Dean & DeLuca, then in East Hampton.

Smoked Weasels

Her drawings of Bean & Beluga, showing counters piled high with croissants, arugula, and some more unorthodox items such as a "chocolate Hindenburg" and a barrel full of "smoked weasels," ring as true today as they did when the book was published.

Ms. Mayo bears a strong resemblance to the somewhat younger woman portrayed in that book - closely cropped hair, round face - and in her manner and soft speech she retains the mien of a graduate student.

She began as a painter, but gave it up in the mid-1980s, deciding that clay was more satisfying to work with. It "made me feel freer," she said.

The Raku Method

After an initial bisque-firing, which sets the form of the vessel, she glazes her pieces, then quickly fires them, using the ancient Japanese raku method.

The vessel is removed from the charcoal-fired kiln and placed in a garbage can lined with newspapers. As the paper burns, it sucks oxygen from the air, and the glazing on the pots crackles, lending the surface a delicate, time-worn texture.

Ms. Mayo's craftsmanship is immediately apparent in the form and facade of her pots. But what makes them distinctive is their multi layered, subtle coloring, and their use of animal imagery.

The animals often seem mysterious - like their real-life counterparts, said the potter.

"I like using animals in my work because of their mystery. They have a consciousness, and they look at you, and you look back at them, but you never really know what they're thinking."

Dogs peek from small, window-like holes. Black lemurs with long, fat tails sit, paws on knees, on the rim of a bowl, as if surveying the surrounding landscape. A dog's head rises from the top of a jar, looking formal, a bow tied around its neck.

The works have an air of quiet whimsy. A series of "generic monkeys," as Ms. Mayo calls them, scramble across a pot.

Element of Chance

The animals seem somewhat stylized as well. "They're real, but not totally real," Ms. Mayo said.

Her pieces are "decorative rather than functional," she said, adding that they are inspired by ancient Cypriot pottery.

"The potters on Cyprus made everyday pots and vessels, but they also made decorative pots," Ms. Mayo explained. "It was as if, when they'd finished their practical work, they'd make something just for the joy of it, something to be admired rather than used."

Where color is concerned, said the potter, a certain element of chance comes into play. "It's a part of the process that I enjoy," she said. "No matter how you plan - and you do know, fairly closely, how the colors will come out - you're always a little bit surprised."

Getting The Glazes Right

Ms. Mayo's work has attracted enough attention over the years to allow her to "make a modest living" from her work.

Recently, she began making stoneware bowls and mugs, vessels that have all the decorative felicities of her ceramic works, and are functional to boot.

"I didn't do stoneware for a long time," Ms. Mayo said. "I didn't think you could get good, strong colors into the pieces. But after experimenting, I finally got the glazes right."

Several At Once

She works at her craft every day. "I have a routine," she said. "I take the dogs for a walk on the beach in the morning, and then I get to work. There's always something in progress."

When she painted, she found herself concentrating on a single painting until she felt it was finished. With ceramics, she can have several projects going at once.

Ms. Mayo is friendly with many other artists who live on the East End, but she especially values the quiet of Montauk in the off-season, and is content to work methodically at her craft.

"I want them to be objects that have their own special presence," she said.

Opponents of the controversial Golf at the Bridge development, citing the threat of contaminated drinking water, urged the Southampton Town Planning Board to deny the application at a hearing last Thursday.

"This is a no-brainer," said John Anderson. "Golf courses poison the water. They can't help it."

Mr. Anderson, who lives next to the Noyac Golf Club, said he spoke from experience. Pesticides used at that course have contaminated his 180-foot-deep well, forcing him to install a costly filter system, he said.

Atop The Aquifer

"This is a lousy place to put a golf course," agreed Larry Penny, East Hampton Town's natural resources director and a Noyac resident, of Robert Rubin's proposal to build an 18-hole golf course on the site of the Bridgehampton Race Circuit off Millstone Road.

"This is the prime aquifer for the South Fork."

Mr. Penny said the course would require the annual application of over 56,000 pounds of fertilizers alone, which he said was eight times the amount 200 homeowners would use.

"Essentially, there is no way that this stuff is not going to get into our private wells," he said.

He told the board to disregard the arguments made by Mr. Rubin's attorney, William Esseks, and his engineer, John Raynor, that a change of zone granted by the Southampton Town Board effectively limited the scope of the Planning Board's review.

"You're not obligated to say this is a good plan," said Mr. Penny.

In January 1996, after a series of hotly contested public hearings, the Town Board changed the zoning of the 516-acre tract from mostly five-acre residential to "quasi-public service-use district," making the golf course a legal use of the property.

The Planning Board, however, retains the authority to review site plans and subdivision applications.

Layout, Clearing

"We're not here to discuss whether or not this is an appropriate use on this property," said Mr. Raynor. "That discussion was already decided."

Mr. Raynor said an environmental impact statement submitted to the Town Board, which included guidelines for turf management and pesticide use, answered concerns of potential groundwater contamination.

He urged the Planning Board to limit the hearing to the layout and clearing plans for the course.

Plans for a clubhouse and 20-lot subdivision will be considered separately by the board.

Farmers Do It

The golf course site plan "must be a good one," said Mr. Esseks late in the hearing. "No one said a word about it."

He argued that the course would pose less harm to the groundwater than farming and its unregulated use of chemicals.

"The public policy of the Town of Southampton, for better or worse, is to protect farming," he said. When farmers work their land, "they put fertilizers and pesticides on it, and we applaud that. But people come to a meeting like this and say, how can we do this? I don't understand the hypocrisy."

"Pandora's Box"

But Jean Lane of Sag Harbor said the Town Board had "opened a Pandora's box" by granting the zone change.

"What we're dealing with is an attack on the aquifer protection overlay district," she said. "The taxpayers may end up getting invited to a party for which they will get the bill."

Mr. Rubin said he was "deeply committed" to the golf course project and that he was tired of subsidizing a race track which the public does not want, through annual property tax payments of $150,000.

"From bitter experience over what is now 15 years, I have concluded there is no basis for continuing racing," he said.

Not For Sale

Mr. Rubin has long complained that the town noise ordinance, which bans unmuffled racing, makes it impossible for the track to turn a profit.

Mr. Rubin also chided racing enthusiasts who have sought to buy the track from him. "I find myself asking what part of the phrase 'the property is not for sale' don't you understand?" he said.

Nevertheless, some racers continued to hold out hope. Guy Frost of East Hampton, a member of the Bridgehampton Heritage Racing Group, called the golf course plan an environmental hazard that would poison the water and destroy the landscape.

"We Will Stop It"

Mr. Rubin's premise that "racing is no longer acceptable" has been accepted "unconditionally" with no discussions of whether the noise ordinance could be relaxed, Mr. Frost said.

As for public acquisition of the land, Mr. Rubin ruled that out. "I'm not interested in pursuing it," he said. "If an effort is made to acquire it through condemnation, I would oppose the process as vigorously as I could."

Ralph Siano of Bridgehampton said opposition to the golf plan would be just as strong.

"There are thousands of us, and we will lie down in front of the bulldozers," he said. "As time goes on, you will see more of a groundswell. We will stop it from happening."

The Future

Mary Beth Green of Southampton urged the Planning Board to think of the future. "I don't believe you want to look back in 15 years and say, dear God, what did we do?"

Allison Rudansky, 12, of Noyac also asked the Planning Board to consider the possible consequences. "Pesticides and other stuff that make the greens look like astroturf will get in the water and we won't be able to swim anymore" in Trout Pond, she told the board.

Allison's father, Daniel Rudansky, an attorney, took issue with Mr. Esseks's statement that a lawsuit he filed with Stacy Kaufman Riveras and other Noyac residents to overturn the zone change had been dismissed.

The suit was dismissed only because the group had not filed it properly with the Suffolk County Clerk's office, an oversight that would be corrected, he said.

AMAGANSETT

Feleppa to Sandro Chia, Indian Wells Highway, $805,000.

Chase to Richard and Marsha Bower, Hampton Lane, $470,000.

Magill to Saskia Keeley, Bendigo Road, $995,000.

Osterweil to Edwin Baker and Christine Peck, Hedges Lane, $333,000.

Virga to Cynthia Osterweil, Cross Highway, $440,000.

Weisberg to Gary Goldsmith, Indian Wells Highway, $960,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Graboski to Helaine Finnegan, Mitchell Lane, $225,000.

Whiskey Hill Inc. to Craftsmen Homes Inc., Bridge Hill Lane, $175,000.

Whiskey Hill Inc. to Craftsmen Homes Inc., Bridge Hill Lane, $165,000.

Whiskey Hill Inc. to Richard Lapine and Martha Chase, Mill Path, $435,000.

Revida Corp. to A.R.G.K. Dev. Corp., Middle Line Highway, $205,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Barns to Sharon Friedland, Newtown Lane, $375,000.

A to Z Landscaping to Spielberg Prop. L.L.C., Montauk Highway, $600,000.

Bermuda Sports and Party Rentals Inc. to DSTMCD L.L.C., Goodfriend Drive, $258,500.

Grossman to Norman and Dale Leff, Cove Hollow Road, $1,200,000.

Wildermuth to George and Judith Beraka, Ocean Parkway, $340,000.

Romita to Michael Romita, Buell Lane, $790,000.

Reed to Frederick Lodes, Cross Highway, $370,000.

MONTAUK

Hoyt Jr. to Gregory and Diane Weinberger, Washington Drive, $339,000.

NORTHWEST

Fine to Vincent and Luise Spoto, Hedges Banks Drive, $155,000.

Harmon to Alan Kopp and Ilona Wiener, Three Mile Harbor Drive, $335,000.

Bromberg to David Stinchi, Wheelock Walk, $185,000.

Lagomasino to Thomas and Dawn McDonald, Northwest Landing Road, $200,000.

SAG HARBOR

Iriminage Ltd. to Van J. Brody, Cliff Drive, $288,000.

Yardley to Eleanor and W. Deering Yardley Jr., Sagg Road, $255,000.

Simpson to Max Partners L.P., Elizabeth Street, $427,500.

Wagner to Hilary Offenberg, Franklin Avenue, $193,500.

Bernier to Jeffrey and Kathleen Brown, Joel's Lane, $233,000.

SAGAPONACK

Larson (part interest) to Stanley Shopkorn, Surfside Drive, $1,900,000.

SPRINGS

O'Brian to Edward Howley, Spruce Street, $165,000.

Miller to David and Heidi Pettee, Accabonac Road, $220,000.

WATER MILL

Forman to Peter and Eileen Sudler, Oliver's Cove Lane, $3,300,000.

"No one has planned outdoor concerts here," declared Stephen B. Latham, the newly elected chairman of East Hampton's newly formed Recreation Commission, at a meeting last week on the RECenter, the youth center slated for construction at Gingerbread Lane Extension and Lumber Lane in the village.

"That was never part of the plan, and the Zoning Board can impose that restriction as a condition" of the special permit needed to build in the residential zone, said Mr. Latham.

Rumors had been circulating that outdoor concerts would be staged at the center, with listeners congregating on an outdoor bank of steps extending to the second story. The "amphitheater," as its architects call it, was added to the plans about a year ago.

Petitioners

The concept reminds some neighbors, apparently, of the days when East Hampton's teens gathered on the steps of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Building on Main Street (now London Jewelers).

Dayton Lane, Church Street, and Maidstone Avenue neighbors, among others, have collected nearly 150 names townwide on a petition protesting the proposed construction. They will present the petition to the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday, Feb. 13, when a public hearing continues on the matter.

Classic Conflict

More than a dozen worried homeowners told East Hampton Town and Village officials Jan. 28 of their fears that the RECenter would become a late-night gathering spot and the source of even more neighborhood noise, traffic, and lights than now exist.

Both the Zoning Board and the Village Design Review Board are still reviewing the proposal, although Youth Alliance officials, who have been developing the RECenter for five years, plan to break ground next month.

While Mr. Latham said last week's informational session succeeded in dispelling some misunderstanding, what emerged was a classic conflict between the old (neighborhood, way of life) and the new (development, change).

Fund Raising Queried

Richard T. Lawler, a Maidstone Avenue resident and an outspoken opponent of the center, questioned the fund raising by the Youth Alliance, which has raised $3.2 million in cash and pledges.

"Basically, people contributed their money to a different plan," without the outdoor steps, Mr. Lawler contended.

"That is not the case," countered Mr. Latham, a partner in the Riverhead/East Hampton law firm of Twomey Latham Shea & Kelley. The attorney noted that "no one has withdrawn their pledge."

Every donor has seen the revised plan, he said, and those who pledged $10,000 or more "have been reconfirmed by telephone."

Those who "already have donated $1 million are not going to let this project lapse," he said.

Concerned Neighbors

The youth center is "something we really don't need," said a Maidstone Avenue resident, Peter Rickenbach. He is the brother of the Village Mayor, Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., who also lives on Maidstone Avenue.

"What the children [do] need is parents to take care of them," said George Draper of Dayton Lane, who said he raised six of his own here, where already "more is done for kids than anywhere."

Seeking to allay cost concerns, Mr. Latham reiterated an estimate he has voiced before, that RECenter operations would cost the average East Hampton Town homeowner only $18 a year in additional taxes.

Traffic, Vandalism

Mr. Latham drew a "distinction" between anticipated RECenter traffic and the present periodic gridlock - what Philip Maisch of Church Street called an "abomination" - from the John M. Marshall Elementary School, the train station, and heavy vehicles bypassing the central village area.

Noting that the RECenter will be built where young people "already are," Mr. Latham said many would walk over from school, while others would arrive by bus.

Mr. Lawler saw a threat of "vandalism" by the "bad kids expelled from inside the building who will spill out into the neighborhood."

Mayor Rickenbach sought to dispel that fear.

"We're neighbors," said the Mayor.

"I spent 25 years in law enforcement, and I'm optimistic." Village police would respond with "swift action," he added, should there be trouble.

Supporters

Denise Simmons, the John Marshall School Parent Teacher Association president, voiced other sentiments.

"On behalf of every student," she told the Village Board, "I want to say thank you for this project."

"It's needed where it is," said John Ryan, a lifeguard instructor who hopes to "drown-proof " East Hampton's schoolchildren in the RECenter pool.

Some of the neighbors agreed on the need for a pool, but said that particular amenity should have been included when East Hampton High School was built 30 years ago.

"I think we're over the hump," Mr. Latham said optimistically this week.

East Hampton beaches took a devastating hit from last week's offshore storm. Yesterday, town and village authorities were still struggling to make a complete accounting of the losses even as they braced for the next blow.

At press time, the Coast Guard was expecting sustained winds of 40 to 50 knots gusting to 60. Seas were predicted to reach 18 to 24 feet offshore.

The anticipated northeaster was cut from the same cloth as last week's, a low-pressure system that generated huge ocean swells leaving one fisherman drowned, flotsam washed up from the distant past, and East End beaches swept away along with the structures designed to protect the houses behind them.

High Tide Threat

The storm waves certainly contributed to the sinking of the Miss Penelope, a dragger from Newport, R.I., and the death of a crew member.

William Rudin's elaborate "sub-surface dune restoration system" in Bridgehampton virtually disappeared in last week's storm. Stories on the sinking and the destruction in Bridgehampton appear separately in this issue.

By early yesterday, while the sea had given back some of what it took away, over 75 percent of the ocean beaches remained so severely scoured that the sea continues to lick the dunes and bluffs at each high tide even before the newest storm begins its assault.

Shadmoor Takes A Hit

Montaukers described the worst assault on the ocean bluffs in recent memory. The spectacular bluffs at Shadmoor took an especially hard hit. Ditch Plain, which has eroded dramatically in recent years, lost up to five feet of dunes in places.

The ocean's assault in combination with rain-flooded underground streams caused Montauk's bluffs to slough at an unusually rapid rate.

Larry Penny, the town's natural resources director, said the dunes in front of the Beach Hampton community of Amagansett were cut back at least eight feet in places. Most of Napeague's ocean beaches were so cut back that vehicles were no longer able to drive on them, said Mr. Penny.

New Storm

East Hampton Town officials were concerned that the new northeaster would threaten beachfront properties unchallenged, because the normal sand buffer is gone.

Early yesterday, however, Bruce Bates, an emergency-response coordinator for the town, held out hope the storm passing offshore today would not be as severe as predicted. No extraordinary preparations were being made.

A professor of oceanography at the State University at Stony Brook, which for years has conducted beach surveys in East Hampton Village, said his inspection of last week's damage revealed an inexplicable lack of uniformity.

"Some places were hit much harder than others," said Henry Bokuniewicz. "It's hard to generalize."

Blame El Nino

The National Weather Service announced this week that a warmer and wetter January had increased the potential for early-spring flooding.

"This pattern is consistent with an El Nino climatology, and we expect the pattern to continue for the next several weeks," said Solomon Summer, a Weather Service hydrologist.

Saturated soil plays an important role in the East End erosion process.

Pieces Of The Past

As usually happens after a strong swell, pieces of the past washed up.

A clay pipe from the 1871 wreck of the Pacific was found at East Hampton's Main Beach, the second pipe to come ashore in as many weeks. In Montauk, what looked like the copper-sheathed rudder post of an 18th-century ship appeared on the beach.

"The low-pressure was right in our window, in the exact place it needs to be to generate a large swell," said Bob Chartuk of the Weather Service.

Gary Conti, a maritime specialist with the same agency, explained that low-pressure systems are cyclones; that is, their winds swirl in a counter-clockwise direction.

"Waves generated by such a system move perpendicular to the wind direction," Mr. Conti said. "A strong north wind means the swells are moving east to west," as they did last week.

The wind caused a direct assault on the south-facing beaches, an assault that was amplified because of the new moon that fell on the night the storm passed offshore.

New moons and full moons create high, "spring" tides. The next full moon is due to occur Wednesday.

Northeasters

Northeast storms do not actually come from the northeast. They are generated in the Gulf of Mexico, or in the South, and typically move offshore and north along the coast.

When off Long Island, their counter-clockwise fury takes the form of northeast winds, hence "northeaster."

On Tuesday, Mr. Conti predicted that this week's storm would be powerful. The Weather Service's Long Island staff was huddled in preparation, closely tracking the progress of the storm, which caused severe damage in Florida Monday before heading offshore and to the north.

He held out hope, though, that the assault might be less direct, as indicated by the direction of the swells, and noted that the current phase of the moon meant lower tides.

Beach Lane Request

Erosion control was the subject of a special East Hampton Town Trustee meeting Tuesday afternoon, called by Scott Dobriner of InterScience Research Associates of Southampton.

Mr. Dobriner requested that his client, Harvey Silverman of Beach Lane in Wainscott, be allowed to spread 3,000 cubic yards of sand at the toe of a dune, the last barrier between the ocean and his house.

Mr. Dobriner reported that last week's swells had taken 40 feet of dune reconstruction - approximately 4,000 cubic yards of sand and beach grass - installed last year with the Trustees' blessing.

"This is sacrificial sand. We know it will not stay," the environmental consultant told Trustees.

"Maximum loss was at Wainscott," said Mr. Penny. The beach accesses there are closed to vehicular traffic because of the precipitous dropoff.

Okay Fill-Dumping

Mr. Dobriner said he had obtained a Town Department of Natural Resources emergency permit, and one from the State Department of Environmental Conservation, in order to dump the sand in time for this week's storm, but there was not time.

"We'll do it after this storm. We just want to get through this winter and do another dune restoration like the last one, with the Trustees' permission, of course."

Trustees praised the Silverman dune restoration, but worried that an open-ended permit to allow the continued "emergency" dumping of fill could create a dangerous precedent. They voted to allow the homeowner to spread sand as often as he likes until March 15, provided they are kept informed and no more than 3,000 cubic yards is dumped at any one time.

More land in East Hampton was given subdivision approval in 1997 than in any other year since 1991, and the amount of new commercial square footage approved was up more than two and a half times from last year.

The figures, revealed last week in the East Hampton Town Planning Department's annual report to the town, are "bearing out" what planners predicted several years ago, said the department's director, Lisa Liquori.

The town's new Open Space Plan, released in 1994, foresaw all the town's remaining vacant land being committed to one use or another within the next 10 years.

New Building Lots

This past year, the East Hampton Town Planning Board approved the subdivision of a total of 458 acres of land and the creation of 92 new building lots.

Since 1991, the board has approved almost 600 new lots on more than 1,800 acres - that translates into an average of roughly 85 new building lots per year.

"These figures are bearing it out. We don't have much left," said Ms. Liquori. "We're looking down the barrel at every acre in town being committed."

Two In Northwest

Two large subdivisions in Northwest Woods were responsible for more than half the acreage divided last year.

Northwest Estates created 34 lots on 186 acres, and Grassy Hollow carved 16 lots out of 91 adjacent acres.

Another 42 acres was split in two subdivisions (Huckleberry Woods and Chelsea Woods) involving woodlands off Route 114 in East Hampton.

Preserved Acreage

While subdivision acreage was up over previous years, the amount of land protected as open space in the lot splits remained high.

A total of 198 acres was preserved through the subdivision process, or roughly 43 percent of the land subdivided.

As for commercial development, the Planning Board saw a drop from last year in site-plan and special-permit applications.

The amount of new square-footage in those applications was significant, however.

Altogether, the Planning Board approved 14 site plans involving 85,158 square feet of new commercial structures or uses. That was roughly twice as much as in 1994, 10,000 square feet more than in 1995, and two and a half times more than in 1996.

The commercial projects approved included a new 21,155-square foot building for East Hampton Self Storage, 11,725 square feet of barns and structures on Olney Gardiner's farmland on Route 114, and new warehouse structures in the Goodfriend Park and Turnpike Commercial subdivisions.

Z.B.A.'s Year

The Planning Department's report also highlighted the year for the Town Zoning Board of Appeals.

The Z.B.A. ruled on 71 applications, granting 110 variances from zoning restrictions and 41 natural resource special permits for construction near wetlands.

The board denied 13 applications for variances and four requests for natural resources permits.

The year was a busy one for planners outside of the normal Planning Board and Z.B.A. routines. The year-end report outlined some of the work of the Planning Department, including:

-- Coordination on the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan and transportation update to the Town Comprehensive Plan.

-- Assisting the Town Board on the upzoning of 852 acres of land in accordance with the Open Space Plan, as well as preparing a grant that earned the town $165,000 toward farmland preservation.

-- Outlining and beginning work on the "Buckskill Study," involving the possible rezoning of 680 acres of commercial-industrial property between East Hampton and Wainscott.

Subdivision Activity

1991 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97

Acres subdivided 123 87 310 248 326 259 458

New lots created 76 74 108 93 70 80 92

Acres preserved 68 96 89 69 183 64 98

Subdivision approvals* 26 15 22 21 7 15 16

Site-plan approvals 33 n/a 22 22 26 19 14

*Does not include preliminary approvals

New commercial square footage approved (approximate, includes conversion of existing spaces):

1991: n/a 1993: 105,930 1995: 72,468 1997: 85,158

1992: n/a 1994: 36,570 1996: 36,830

On Monday, at a joint meeting with the Trustees, the Town Board ordered William Rudin of Dune Road to remove from the beach the remnants of the woven plastic tubing used in his massive "subsurface dune restoration system," some of which had drifted as far west as the Shinnecock Inlet.

The board also authorized Lisa Kombrink, the town attorney, to go to court to fight Mr. Rudin's neighbors Ronald and Isobel Konecky, who had workers installing a temporary steel bulkhead last weekend.

Emergency Action

As of last night, Southampton Town had issued emergency permits allowing eight property owners on Dune and Potato Roads and Daniel's Lane in the Bridgehampton-Sagaponack area to protect their houses with sandbags.

In addition, one permit had been issued to relocate a Daniel's Lane residence, and two more were pending for the relocation of two on Potato Road.

The town also announced it would seek emergency state funding to rebuild the dune at Cameron Beach.

The Trustees, meanwhile, voted to hold a public hearing on March 5 to consider revoking Mr. Rudin's permit in light of the project's failure.

Girding for a potential court battle, the Trustees also asked the Town Board to hire outside counsel and experts in erosion control for them, and ordered the town's bay constables to patrol the beaches, report on violations, and issue summonses to property owners breaking Trustee regulations.

Sabotage?

Mr. Rudin believes his system was sabotaged. He said workers inspecting the structure on Jan. 28 as the northeaster was beginning found a one-foot-square slash in one of the plastic tubes that were filled with sand and stacked in a pyramid-like pattern.

"It's very sad that someone took the law into their own hands," he said. "It's very disappointing that this system was not allowed to prove it could work."

"That thing has been through two or three storms that were worse," said Aram Terchunian of First Coastal Corporation, who designed Mr. Rudin's system. "To have it so completely fail is highly unlikely."

Beaches Closed

Mr. Terchunian said workers had taken photographs of the hole, which he said was "obviously made with a knife," and turned them over to Southampton Town police, who are investigating. He said storm conditions and darkness on Jan. 28 had made it impossible for workers to see if there were other tears in the fabric.

Mr. Terchunian said his suspicion that the system was sabotaged was strengthened when workers came to the Rudin property early last Thursday and found a crudely lettered, handmade sign wired to a construction fence. "Ha, ha, asshole," it read.

The town declared a state of emergency last Thursday, closing all ocean beaches and Dune Road. Although the decree ended on Tuesday, town officials said they were prepared to take similar action this week as another northeaster, expected to be even stronger, moved up the Atlantic Coast.

Moving crews were at the Rudin house and several neighboring residences last Thursday hauling out furnishings. Mr. Rudin said he had not decided if he would try to rebuild the erosion control structure.

Published reports have put the cost of the system, which required over 2,000 yards of sand and extended over 100 feet, at up to $1.3 million. Mr. Rudin called the figure "wildly inaccurate," but declined to say how much it cost.

The storm erosion toppled Mr. Rudin's deck and threatened the home of his next-door neighbors, the Koneckys, who on Jan. 23 had won a court decision giving them permission to install a temporary steel bulkhead.

Beach In Jeopardy

Southampton Town immediately filed a notice of appeal, which it considered a stay of that order, said Lisa Kombrink, the town attorney.

On Tuesday, the Appellate Division in Brooklyn turned down the town's request for a temporary restraining order against the Koneckys, but agreed to hold a hearing on the matter next week, Ms. Kombrink said.

The Jan. 28 storm also washed away sand the town had placed to protect the Cameron Beach parking lot, which had been exposed during earlier storms. Large slabs of the blacktop were strewn about the beach, and a septic system for a beach pavilion that was destroyed by fire a year ago lay exposed on the beach.

Mecox Vulnerable

The narrow stretch of beach separating Mecox Bay from the ocean was flattened, leaving the bay vulnerable to a storm tide.

While Mr. Rudin was blaming vandals, persons who attended the Town Board and Trustee meeting on Monday said he himself was at fault for stubbornly fighting a losing battle against nature.

"We're at a crossroads. We can still have a beautiful coast if private landowners move back," said Carolyn Zenk, the attorney for the Group for the South Fork.

Ms. Zenk called on the town to revoke Mr. Rudin's permit and impose a moratorium on shore-hardening structures until it could pass legislation that would ban them outright.

Urge Moratorium

Otherwise, she said, the shoreline would soon look like New Jersey's: "a coastline strewn with boulders, metal, and wood, and the ocean lapping at it."

Councilman Patrick (Skip) Heaney was widely applauded when he said he had asked the town attorney's office to look into the ramifications of a moratorium. "But it's my sense that there is more symbolism associated with it than reality," he added.

Edward Padula, another of Mr. Rudin's neighbors, asked the board to consider the consequences of allowing such erosion-control structures as Mr. Rudin's "from the point of view of a victim."

He said he had moved his house three times in the past few months because of the erosion caused by the Rudin project, at a cost of up to $200,000. It now sits on pilings in his driveway.

Homeowner To Sue

"I find that I have been rendered homeless by what has happened," Mr. Padula said. Although he said he felt no "animosity" toward Mr. Rudin or the town, he said he would seek restitution for damages.

Stuart Vorpahl, an East Hampton bayman, told the board property owners who tried to fight the sea would lose, because waves hit the shoreline in an easterly set, gouging away at bulkheads and other structures.

"Mother Nature is going to win that battle every time," he said. "I don't think you're going to have too much trouble with Mr. Rudin's house come Friday or Saturday."

Mr. Rudin received a town permit to build the dune-restoration system to settle his share of a $75 million lawsuit. He and seven neighbors had sued the town when it asked them to prepare an environmental impact statement as part of their application to build a connected series of steel bulkheads.

The project caused a public uproar. The town allowed Mr. Rudin to build a massive steel "cofferdam" to protect the construction work. It jutted out into the ocean, blocking beach access.

The situation did not improve when the cofferdam was removed, revealing sloped stacks of sand-filled tubes that some said resembled the bulbous Michelin Man. The tubes continued to block the beach.

Angry Residents

Some residents charged the Town Board with favoritism in its enforcement of the state of emergency.

Bob DeLuca and Jim Williams said they were turned back at a Dune Road police checkpoint, while contractors installing the bulkhead at the Konecky residence were allowed to pass.

"How is that those guys were allowed through to work on a project that is in direct violation of a court stay?" asked Mr. DeLuca.

Hal Ross of Water Mill, the leader of the opposition Southampton Party, said the town had allowed its emergency proclamation to "protect the lawbreakers."

"We feel your rage," responded Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio. He explained that the town had allowed moving crews and construction workers to enter the restricted area to avoid becoming entangled in issues of liability, but stressed that officials in no way condoned the illegal work.

No Comparison

East Hampton

January 31, 1998

Dear Helen:

Queen Catherine is a site-specific work of art, a personification which rises above an individual person from a particular country. My intent was for her to represent every woman. I struggled for six years to develop a face that would have multiracial features, a face that could speak to everyone. Black, white, Latino, Native American, etc. And for those who have seen her at the foundry (including black newscasters and reporters) she does.

Catherine was one of those people who had the strength to resist political trends. She went against slavery, even left money in her will to free slaves, "the little boys and girls first," she said, "then the women, they have more need." She was tolerant and kind, an early abolitionist. She was a hero! . . . a survivor!

Protests against Catherine were started by a group called CEMOTAP (the Committee to Eliminate Media Offense to African People). Al Sharpton spearheaded it when he ran for Mayor but then got pulled away by the Tawana Brawley case. Louis Farrakhan's people were then brought in. The vast majority of the protesters are angry separatists who have refused to see the statue, hear any historic information about her, or engage in any dialogue. They make it clear that their intent is to destroy.

Catherine has been referred to by this group as a slave mistress, a black swastika, Eva Braun, and Adolf Eichmann. As the artist, I find myself in the middle of this horrible mess and watch with dismay as my sculpture is being distorted and misrepresented.

A clear glass sphere she holds in her extended hand, representing a clean slate, a new vision for the new millennium, has been called "the bloody head of a slave."

As far as "plunking a six-story-tall sculpture" of anyone on the East Hampton village green, the whole idea is absurd. I wonder why it was even mentioned. Catherine is 35 feet tall and will rise to a height of five stories on her base.

She is to be positioned on swamp land on the Queens side of the East River in an industrial area. There will eventually be a 60-story hotel and office buildings surrounding her. How can you possibly compare that to the East Hampton green?

The borough of Queens was named after her and Queens is about ethnicity, it has the largest number of ethnic groups of any borough. This statue could eventually accomplish what it was meant to do. That is, be a symbol of harmony and function as a global object . . . an honest gift from the people of one country to another.

The Portuguese are shocked and upset. Should they be pitted against the blacks? Catherine's mother was Spanish, will there be trouble with the Hispanics? She was Catholic, should this be a problem for other denominations? There are enough forces of negativity and hatred. Are we to pick apart everyone, even the good people, if they are born in the "wrong" time or to the "wrong nationality?"

To me, art has always been something that can heal, something that knows no boundaries. It exists apart from profane time, and goes far beyond politics. One of the great things about it is its ability to stimulate thought and provoke ideas, but it mustn't be destroyed in the process. Both art and artists must be protected. To quote John Lennon in his great song . . . "All we are saying, is give peace a chance."

AUDREY FLACK

What Motive?

New York City

January 31, 1998

Dear Helen,

Reading your editorial "Poor Catherine" (Jan. 1), I was wondering what your motive was in coming to the support of Claire Shulmann's rejection of placing Audrey Flack's sculpture of Queen Catherine of Portugal in the borough of Queens.

I see this editorial as an attack on one of our great East Hampton artists, Audrey Flack. Ms. Flack has spent many years creating her sculpture of Queen Catherine, a multiracial symbol of feminine generosity and beauty.

It is a magnificent work of art. Its presence in Queens would be a statement about the multiethnic origins of New York City, while bringing both beauty and culture to the borough of Queens.

Why would you then be against it? There is no evidence of Queen Catherine having been involved in the slave trade. Just the opposite: To quote your editorial, "She left money in her will to buy slaves' freedom." Why then do you not support our own Audrey Flack? You know that placing this sculpture on private ground would mean its burial.

YEHUDA NIR, M.D.

Get With It!

Amagansett

January 31, 1998

To The Editor:

Now that the public has demonstrated that they are thrilled that their President is so sexually virile, it leads to a serious question. It seems that all the sexual scandals all involve Democrats - Gary Hart, Dick Morris, Cisneros, Clinton, etc.

Why can't the Republicans have a sex scandal? No one has accused the Republicans of raging sexual desire - Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Gingrich. Are they all sexual wimps?

Let's have some Republican sex scandals to even things up. Come on, Republicans, get with it!

HOWARD PURCELL

Must Disagree

Springs

January 29, 1998

To The Editor,

While I hate to disagree with my old friend Silvia Tennenbaum, I must do so in connection with her letter to you in which she attacks Congressman Michael P. Forbes. Representative Forbes, as someone involved in congressional oversight of the Smithsonian Institution, was instrumental in the cancellation of a program spotlighting the 50th anniversary of the modern State of Israel.

The reason for the cancellation was quite clear. The program was devised by an organization with a one-sided political agenda, the so-called New Israel Fund. This organization is distinctly antagonistic to the elected Government of Israel, and helps to support legal defense for suspected terrorists.

Even if one agrees with this organization, one might give pause to the idea that a government-supported institution such as the Smithsonian should co-sponsor a program with a highly politicized agenda. This is clearly not an issue of a constitutional right to free speech. The New Israel Fund is free to present its views to the public without governmental interference, but it should not expect Federal co-sponsorship.

Indeed, Forbes should be commended for efforts to prevent the use of a public cultural institution for political purposes.

Ms. Tennenbaum wants to give us the impression that the New Israel Fund's program was going to be objective and balanced. She cites the participation of The New York Tines columnist Thomas Friedman. While she calls his credentials "impeccable," anyone who reads his work regularly knows how one-sided he is.

She also notes that invitations to the forum were sent to an Orthodox rabbi and two members of Prime Minister Netanyahu's political party, Likud. She fails to note that these invitations were extended after criticism had already erupted about the sponsorship (indeed some of the late invitees withdrew when they learned about the political bent of the sponsor).

Finally, I want to say that objecting to a one-sided politicization of a public institution is not, as Ms. Tennenbaum suggests, McCarthyism. In fact it was really rather nasty for her to suggest that Congressman Forbes heeled under to a few wealthy Jews in this matter. That smacks of another kind of "ism."

Sincerely,

CHARLES EVANS

Misrepresentation

New York City

February 2, 1998

Dear Editor:

Silvia Tennenbaum (Letters, Jan. 22) misrepresents the circumstances surrounding the recent controversy over the Smithsonian Institution co-sponsoring a program stacked with speakers who are harsh critics of Israel.

The issue was not free speech - as Ms. Tennenbaum erroneously claims - but whether it is appropriate for a Federally-funded American Government institution to sponsor a program attacking America's closest ally, Israel, under the guise of celebrating Israel's 50th anniversary.

The program that the Smithsonian was going to co-sponsor with the New Israel Fund was supposed to be a celebration of Israel's 50th birthday. It's an occasion for Americans to join with Israelis in celebrating the modern miracle of the rebirth of the Jewish State.

Israel has ingathered millions of persecuted Jews from the four corners of the earth and established a free and democratic society - in a part of the world best known for its barbarism and tyranny. America and Israel have always been close friends and allies, united by shared moral values and strategic interests.

When you celebrate someone's birthday, whether it is the birthday of a person or of a country, you invite the person's friends to acknowledge his achievements and accomplishments. You do not bring in his critics to attack the honoree at his own party.

It is shocking that at a celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary, the Smithsonian would co-sponsor a program with the New Israel Fund, a left-wing organization that finances groups within Israel that are hostile to the Israeli Government and sponsors harsh critics of Israel on speaking tours of the United States.

The very title of the program, "Israel at 50: Yesterday's Dreams, Today's Realities," implied that there is a clash between what Israel dreamed and how the reality turned out. The program notes stated that Israel must still meet "difficult challenges" in order "to fulfill its founders' vision of a nation based on the concepts of freedom, justice, and peace," wrongly suggesting that Israel is not fully committed to freedom, justice, and peace, when clearly it is. (In contrast to many of its Arab neighbors, who do not respect the principles of freedom, justice, and peace.)

The list of speakers chosen by the New Israel Fund was dominated by those who frequently attack Israel. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who was slated to deliver the keynote address, has been harshly criticizing Israel and its leaders - Labor as well as Likud - since the 1970s.

Friedman referred to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as "bloody-minded"; Friedman blasted then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres for striking back at Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon last year; Friedman once denounced Golda Meir for supposedly paying too much attention to the Holocaust (he charged that "instead of fighting against the 'Holocausting' of the Israeli psyche, [she] actually encouraged it, turning the Palestinians into the new Nazis."); and Friedman compared current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the leader of Russia's Communist Party.

In his book, "From Beirut to Jerusalem," Friedman even mocked Israel as "Yad Vashem with an air force."

The other speakers chosen by the New Israel Fund for the program at the Smithsonian included:

Israeli professor Ehud Zprinzak, who recently authored an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he blamed Israel for supposedly provoking the Hamas terrorist massacres of Israelis.

Azmi Bishara, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset. In an interview last year, Bishara was asked his opinion of Arab terrorists murdering Israeli soldiers. He replied that "in international law, and even in the morality since the European enlightenment, cases similar to the killing of Israeli soldiers by Palestinians were always justified. . . . I'm not going to condemn them." (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 28, 1997.)

To add insult to injury, Bishara recently laid a wreath of flowers on the grave of Islamic Jihad terrorist leader Fathi Shikaki, whose group was responsible for the 1995 murder of Brandeis University student Alisa Flatow. How many taxpayers - whether in East Hampton or elsewhere - want an American Government institution to host someone who glorifies the murderer of an American citizen?

Tom Segev, formerly editor of the radical-left wing Israeli magazine Koteret Raishit. Typical of Segev's extremist stands was his declaration that he supported dividing Hebron into physically separate Jewish and Arab sectors because "it can be used as a precedent for the arrangement of Jerusalem." (Ha'aretz, Oct. 9, 1996)

Yaron Ezrahi, whose recent book, "Rubber Bullets," portrays Israel as a society corrupted by militarization.

According to The New York Post, another speaker chosen by the New Israel Fund for the program was going to lecture on "Jerusalem: To Unify a Divided City" - when, in fact, Israel unified Jerusalem more than 30 years ago. Indeed, the United States Congress recently reaffirmed its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital.

When Congressman Michael P. Forbes and leading Jewish organizations protested the imbalance of the scheduled roster of speakers, the New Israel Fund hastily announced it would invite a few token representatives of other viewpoints. But the far-left speakers would still have dominated the program.

Israel - and all people of good will - have plenty to celebrate. The miraculous rebirth of the Jewish State just three years after Auschwitz . . . the return of Jews from lands of oppression to the land of Israel . . . the reunification of Jerusalem . . . Israel's scientific, cultural, and economic achievements . . . the enduring bonds of friendship between Israel and America.

That's what a celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary should be acknowledging. Fortunately, the Smithsonian, once alerted (by Congressman Forbes and others) to the New Israel Fund's bias, withdrew its sponsorship from the extremist program that the fund had organized. For that, the Smithsonian deserves our congratulations.

Sincerely,

MORTON A. KLEIN

National President

Zionist Organization of America

Steve Miller, who has AIDS, fielded close to 30 tough questions in less than an hour on Jan. 27, among them: "Did you feel like committing suicide when you found out?" "How long do you have to live?" "Did you consider yourself sexually promiscuous?"

Answering each with the kind of forthrightness that comes from staring death in the face, Mr. Miller encouraged his audience - an East Hampton High School health class, evenly divided between boys and girls - to ask more.

They did. They, and about 100 others last week, in five of James Stewart's health classes where Mr. Miller was invited to speak.

Making It Personal

"I want to put a person - a name and a voice - to this disease," Mr. Miller said, explaining why he subjected himself to the inquisition. "I graduated from this school in 1974," said the 42-year-old, who was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS six years ago. "I want to give something back."

His main message: "When you meet someone you think is handsome, or pretty, and you want to 'do the nasty,' make sure you use a condom." Kids, he reminded a reporter earlier, tend to "separate the sex act from its ramifications."

"I got AIDS from unsafe, unprotected sex," acknowledged Mr. Miller, who for six years owned Pinstripes, an East Hampton clothing shop.

Medications

"I had a T-cell count of 97 when I was diagnosed," two weeks after being tested, suffering from pneumonia, and near death. In healthy people, T-cells, which provide immunity from infection, range from 800 to 1,200, he said. "I went from [having] a wall of immunity to a little picket fence."

Holding up a plastic bag packed with bottles of medicine, Mr. Miller, who receives $598 a month from Social Security Disablity, said he must swallow 16 different pills and capsules daily at varying intervals - some with food, some without.

At $1,500 to $2,000 a month, they include the new and expensive protease inhibitors. It is an expense New York State - but not all states - picks up under a special AIDS drug assistance program.

Mr. Miller has all but stopped working, caught in what he called a "catch-22." If he works, he loses his benefits, including Medicare, the Federal health insurance disabled Americans receive, and is unlikely to get private insurance, which could cost $10,000 to $15,000 a year.

Unemployed, he is confined to the minimal monthly disability stipend. Fortunately, he said, he lives in the house his late parents owned on Sherrill Road, East Hampton.

Ironically, Mr. Miller said, he also worries about losing his disability support if his "T-cell count goes up too high," in seeming, though probably temporary, good health.

Sly And Sneaky

Open about his homosexuality, Mr. Miller stressed that the highest rate of H.I.V. infection now is among women aged 16 to 25, and what he called "senior citizens over 55 who are now single and don't think about it."

use a condom, and practice safe sex," he repeated, and repeated. The $24,000 a year spent on his medicine," he told the students, who listened intently, "that's a nice car."

"Do they [the medicines] make you nauseous?" asked one. "Sometimes in the morning, but I do get diarrhea," was the answer. The protease inhibitors are "very toxic," designed to "eat" protease, the portion of healthy cells the H.I.V. virus depends on to replicate. That virus, he added, "hides in the lymph nodes and the brain before bursting out in the T-cells."

"It's sly, and sneaky, and it keeps mutating."

Not Suicide

More answers. "There's no way to tell" how long he has to live. "Some go fast, though I could live to 85."

How did he feel when he found out?

"I thought, 'I'm going to be dead in two years.'" But suicide?

"No," he declared, because he had the solid support of his family.

"Do you still engage in normal acts?

"Sexually?" asked Mr. Miller, just checking.

"Yeah."

"No. When you tell someone you're 'positive,' they often hit the road."

"Were you promiscuous?"

"Yes."

Mr. Miller, who by all appearances these days passes for healthy, reminded the class, "You wouldn't know I was sick by looking at me."

AIDS Advisory Committee

The Star attended the class with the understanding that students' comments would be reported anonymously. Afterwards, several said their parents had discussed "the disease in general," though not necessarily their children's behavior.

They were "aware" of the things Mr. Miller talked about, but added that it was good to hear about it directly.

"Each class has different questions," said Mr. Stewart, who, with Mr. Miller, has been named to a newly formed AIDS Advisory Committee scheduled to hold its second meeting on Feb. 26 in the high school library.

The public has been invited to attend, as the committee reviews a revised kindergarten through 12th-grade health curriculum.

The Parsons Mill, which burned down on July 11, 1924, was moved from Miller Place to Amagansett in 1829. Later, it stood on the west side of Windmill Lane.