East Hamptoners like to regale outsiders with how the village was once voted the most beautiful in the country, the consequence of its perfect storm of historic edifices, picturesque pond, and canopy of stately trees — most notably American elms.

    These elms, many of which have died out since the ’70s with the invasion of Dutch elm disease caused by a fungus spread by the elm bark beetle, are the pride and joy of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, whose job it is to oversee the village’s trees. Though measures have been taken to plant more elms and save the old ones, they, along with the village’s other trees, face a new threat: construction vehicles.

    On Saturday, Olivia Brooks, head of the L.V.I.S. tree committee, gave a tour of village trees in order to alert readers to the jeopardy the trees are encountering. “Our trees are being destroyed,” she said, pointing out sites on Lee Avenue, some with more than a dozen heavy-duty vehicles parked on both private property and the “tree lawn,” the strip of village-owned turf that borders property lines and streets, and houses so-called “street trees.”

“Nobody thinks this is doing damage, but . . . what it’s doing to the root ball . . . the weight of the trucks compact the soil so hard that there is little air space . . . and [the tree] has trouble breathing. . . . The heart of the tree is the roots.”

    As she drove along Lee Avenue, she pointed out maples on the left, lindens on the right. “I’m a total tree nerd now,” she said. “If someone opened my brain they would find branches, leaves, roots.” She gestured to a stand of London planes whose knobby trunks looked as if they belonged in a horror flick. “One of our members calls them ‘the arthritic ladies.’ They’re very hardy and old, true survivors.”

    But they will not survive long, according to Michael Gaines, a board-certified arborist with CW Arborists in East Hampton, who, having noticed the destruction of trees for several years, led an informative walk for L.V.I.S. members a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Gaines, whose company’s job is to inventory, inspect, and diagnose trees, is alarmed about “construction damage” that “has a huge impact on the health and longevity of our street trees . . . even if the construction is on private property . . . one trespass on the root zone can have a permanent effect.”

    The most effective solution, he said, is to engender a “respect for the trees. . . . It needs to start from the beginning of the construction process” and be embraced by “architects, builders, contractors, utilities, right down to workers.” He singled out “irrigation guys,” who, he said, “like to cut off roots with their pipe-pullers.”

    Meanwhile, Ms. Brooks slowed down at a construction site where a house was nearly finished on the corner of Lee and Cottage Avenues. There was a tall tree that was grand, but leafless. “It’s dead,” she bemoaned. “They’ll have to take that down.” She turned onto Cottage where, till a week ago, a plaque marked a young London plane, “a memorial tree.” It was overturned by “trucks and machinery and has to be replaced” by the society.

    This sort of incident hits the organization hard. “We’re a nonprofit, and we can’t always afford [to pay] when a homeowner is negligent.”

    Back on Lee Avenue, Ms. Brooks pointed out a “commendable example” of a homeowner showing concern for street trees. On the tree lawn in front of a construction site harboring several vehicles, a snow fence zigzagged protectively around a stand of trees. “When I find out who did this I’m going to thank them,” she said.

    There are more than 3,500 street trees in the village. This year the society’s project is to prune all 120 American elms. “Those are our babies,” she said, lamenting that there are many communities that have none left. Last year the village lost three elms, one in the front yard of the L.V.I.S. headquarters, another on Pantigo Road, and the last near Accabonac Road.

    The drive continued as Ms. Brooks pointed out “the most beautiful elms” in town, one a glorious vase-shaped specimen to the left of Guild Hall’s walkway and opposite The Star’s offices, four more in front of the former estate of Robert D.L. Gardiner. At the corner of Main Street and Woods Lane, where the white-shuttered house stands, she pointed out a pair of magnificent copper beeches that “we’re in the process of losing.” Farther down Woods Lane she remarked that during the High Holy Days “cars are all parked along” the stretch near the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.

    Besides pruning, the society purchases, plants, and maintains trees for the first three years. “We watch them like hawks” to ensure they’re thriving, putting water bags on them till they establish themselves. “The first year they sleep, the second they creep, by the third year they leap,” she said proudly.

    This year so far the society has planted 28 trees. “They’re pricey,” she said. Though, as a nonprofit, they get a break, with elms costing about $3,000 each.

    In her five years on the committee, Ms. Brooks has become so tree happy that she asked her husband to buy her a plaque for a tree on Main Street for her 60th birthday. For $750 she has essentially adopted the tree, which the society will now care for in perpetuity in her father’s name. The tree grows in front of Obligato, near where her father kept his watchmaking shop.

    There’s more damage to be found in the business district, including an ailing tree in front of the Elie Tahari store and another in front of J. Crew. The trees are surrounded by enclosures, the soil blanketed by mulch, but pedestrian traffic is endangering them.

    “Trees are very resilient, but they can’t withstand what people put in these things . . . they’re like giant ashtrays . . . it’s disgusting.” Last week she watched in horror as a mother let her toddler pee in one.

    As for Mr. Gaines: “[Builders] are making a lot of money. I think they can do a better job of protecting our trees.”

    The Village of East Hampton will move quickly to control its population of white-tailed deer, which the mayor called “epidemic” on Monday afternoon, and a threat to human health and safety.

    This was the conclusion reached at a lively and sometimes tense meeting at which representatives of the Long Island Farm Bureau and the United States Department of Agriculture presented Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and members of the village board with a management plan that would include killing and sterilizing deer over a span of at least three years.

    Joseph Gergela, the executive director of the farm bureau, a trade organization, cited Lyme disease and vehicle collisions, as well as a survey his group conducted 10 years ago that he said assessed annual damage to crops at $3 billion to $5 billion, to argue for such a program. The farm bureau has applied for a state grant with which, he said, “We are proposing to cull the herd where the hottest spots are, where the most damage is, economic and otherwise.”

    Mr. Gergela said he had met with East Hampton Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione, who attended Monday’s meeting, and examined the town’s deer management plan. “We’re not here to say we want to replace the plan developed locally over the last couple years. We want to have you work with us where appropriate so we can address the problem,” Mr. Gergela said. As part of the plan, venison would be donated to food banks throughout Long Island. “This is a public resource of the people of this state,” Mr. Gergela said. “The deer are owned by the people of the state.”

    Ron Delsener, a concert promoter and activist for animal rights who lives in East Hampton, took exception to that conclusion. “It’s all rubbish,” he said. “Can these people here see results of the survey you talked about? What you say, you have to back it up.”

    Citing an article by Larry Penny in last week’s Star, Mr. Delsener disputed assertions that deer, as a carrier of ticks, are to blame for Lyme disease in humans. Mr. Penny, formerly the town’s director of natural resources, reported that he had found no ticks at all in a search of known tick-infested areas on the South Fork. Deer are “beautiful, there’s nothing wrong with them,” Mr. Delsener said.

    “You don’t represent the government,” Mr. Gergela replied testily. “You have a voice, like any other citizen. Elected officials are here to represent the public interest, and they have to balance everybody’s point of view. People are entitled to their own opinion, not their own facts.”

    Bill Crain of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife implored village officials to understand that “deer have emotions, social lives, and deserve our respect.” He pleaded that people not jump to conclusions about the transmission of Lyme disease. Research, he said, “indicates probably no correlation between deer and Lyme. The main culprit is the white-footed mouse. Ticks will find other hosts. . . . If we get into panic mode, it will divert us from doing realistic things.”

    Actions based on science, Mr. Crain said, would include an immediate cessation in the hunting of turkeys — a primary predator of ticks — and deployment of four-poster bait stations, a device that applies an approved tickicide to a deer’s head and neck as it feeds on corn.

    Mr. Crain invited farm bureau officials to meet with his group to discuss humane approaches to crop damage, “rather than killing, rather than sterilizing. . . . I urge everyone keep cool heads and respect our fellow beings. . . . We need a little humility.”

    The mayor asked Mr. Crain if he would be receptive to a plan that would include killing deer along with sterilization. Mr. Crain replied that he would not. “We wouldn’t cull humans!” he exclaimed, suggesting instead a slow-driving campaign and roadside reflectors — “realistic approaches that will not involve violence.”

    Residents, some representing groups including the Village Preservation Society and the East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance, spoke in favor of culling and sterilization, some citing their own history with Lyme disease and babesiosis, a malaria-like illness, as well as the cost of treatment. But others criticized the presumption of causality between the deer population and these illnesses. Frustration mounted as speakers decried what they called, on one hand, a lack of action by the town and village, and on the other, a needless and ineffective slaughter.

    “One of the options that we have explored and feel the village would be well advised to employ is a deer sterilization program, because as has been voiced here so many times, nothing is happening,” said Kathleen Cunningham, speaking for the Village Preservation Society. “I recognize and respect the perspective of people who are not hunters, but the fact of the matter is, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is the organization legally responsible for permitting any handling of wildlife.” The D.E.C.’s approach to deer management, she noted, “is to cull, or kill, the deer.” 

    In addition to public health, she said, “People are erecting fences to protect their property, which is their right, but it’s really changing the village. It’s changing the character of our neighborhood.”

    “The unfortunate reality is, we have a situation that needs immediate attention and are tying to draw some consensus,” Mr. Rickenbach said.

    Again, Mr. Delsener broke in. “You are uninformed, Mr. Mayor. If you kill every living thing, you’re [still] going to have ticks. That’s your problem: You want to kill deer! Hunting season is coming — is that why?”

    He and Mr. Crain both noted that the D.E.C. has approved a plan submitted by the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, set to commence this winter, under which does will be captured, tranquilized, injected with a contraceptive, tagged, and released. The plan does not include culling.

    Allen Gosser, assistant state director of the U.S.D.A.’s Wildlife Services Department, then addressed the room. Stating that his department has a program to reduce the deer population on the East End, he said that “Joe [Gergela] and I are here today to let the village know about the proposal, and if the village would like to be part of this larger plan, that would be great.” The plan, he said, includes the use of sharpshooters with “tools not available to the average hunter,” as well as baiting and thermal-imaging cameras.

    “We’d like the village to consider being part of our deer project,” he said.

    Surgical sterilization and four-poster bait stations could be included in the program, Mr. Gosser said.

    Mr. Gergela estimated the program would cost the village $15,000; $25,000 for the town. “We’re proposing to do this next winter, starting in February if we can get it done by then, only to hit the real problem spots identified by each municipality.” About 10 municipalities have signed on, he said.

    Joan Osborne, a village resident, suggested that residents could be asked in a referendum whether to fund such a program for 5 to 10 years. “I have every hope and trust that they would,” she said. “I’d appreciate the village do something about this situation.”

    Mr. Stanzione said the town’s next budget will include funding for a deer-management coordinator, who would work with a permanent deer-management advisory committee. Both culling and nonlethal alternatives, such as “speed management” of motorists, he said, are included in the town’s plan.

    “We tried to make it comprehensive. We tried to make everyone happy. I do not have the support of Mr. Crain, but I tried very hard,” Mr. Stanzione said.

    “That is not how I perceive it,” said Mr. Crain.

    Mayor Rickenbach ended the meeting with a promise that the board would begin deliberations as soon as today. “We have to take the bull by the horns, so to speak,” he said.

    The four candidates for East Hampton Town Board and the unopposed supervisor candidate, Larry Cantwell, squared off at a debate sponsored by the Group for Good Government on Saturday at East Hampton’s Emergency Services Building.

    Dominick Stanzione, an incumbent town board member, and Fred Overton, the outgoing town clerk, who have both been endorsed by the Republican, Independence, and Conservative parties, faced former councilman Job Potter and a newcomer, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who have been endorsed by the Democratic and Working Families parties. Mr. Cantwell has the backing of the Democratic, Independence, and Working Families parties.

    With the exception of Mr. Overton, who said he was not convinced of the need for a town manager, the candidates tended to agree that the time has come for the town to embrace the idea.

    “The town will be better served with a town manager, so the town board members can spend more time on policy and less time counting pencils,” said Mr. Cantwell, who filled a similar role as East Hampton Village administrator. Someone taking care of day-to-day business might attract a broader spectrum of people to run for town government, he added.

    Mr. Stanzione said he was a supporter of the position as well. “I’m convinced that much of our politics and our administration have failed” because town board members are unable to focus on more important issues like developing a capital budget or wastewater management plan.

    Responding to submitted questions that were often complex and detailed, the candidates all agreed, for instance, that tackling the problem of wastewater created by private septic systems was a pressing issue and that a hypothetical situation in which a third of the town’s septic systems needed to be replaced would be, as Mr. Cantwell said, “close to a crisis,” requiring extraordinary resources that would likely have to come from the federal and state level to remedy the problem.

    Mr. Potter said that a starting point for protecting the groundwater would be to use some of the $42 million in the town’s Community Preservation Fund to buy undeveloped land. He added that if the town needs to replace septic systems, it should prioritize those near its harbors and bays.

    All candidates agreed that better code enforcement is needed. At a series of community meetings held by the Democrats, the lack of code enforcement was a major concern, according to Ms. Burke-Gonzalez. As a Springs resident, she said she understood firsthand those concerns. When quality of life is allowed to deteriorate, property values decline, she said. “We are going to need the equity in our homes to send our kids to college and retire.” She called for more staff and a top-down insistence on better enforcement.

    Mr. Cantwell envisions the town attorney’s office, Building Department, Code Enforcement, fire marshal’s office, and the Police Department “working together in a cohesive coordinated effort to enforce quality of life issues.”

    There was general consensus on how the town should deal with nonconforming businesses in residential areas as well.

    “The principal of nonconforming zoning is that type of business will probably go away. In some cases, that is a good idea,” said Mr. Potter. He said, though, the time has come for the town to assist “those businesses that really do fit in to make their lives a little easier.”

    Mr. Stanzione said the whole notion of noncomforming properties had “outlived its usefulness. We have to give our businesses some assurance that they have a place in our community,” he said.

    Mr. Cantwell called for a comprehensive review that would provide “established businesses the flexibility to reinvest.” He added, though, that truly bothersome businesses, such as nightclubs in quiet neighborhoods, need to be eliminated.

    Addressing the airport, Mr. Stanzione said the current administration had re-established a working relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration, completed a master plan, and brought in a seasonal control tower.

    In the past year, noise complaints are down 66 percent regionally and 20 percent in town, he said. “We have made progress, everybody would have to agree with that. Have we made enough? I think everyone would agree we have not made enough.”

    He said the steps the town has taken prove it is possible to accept F.A.A. funding and still maintain local control over the airport.

    “I think this is where Dominick and I disagree,” responded Ms. Burke-Gonzalez. She said the town should let the current F.A.A. grants expire and complete the necessary studies to allow it to establish a curfew and even limit the types of aircraft using the airport. She said she realized the town would eventually face a $7 million to $10 million repaving project, but said she would be willing to revisit seeking F.A.A. funding in the future, once local control was secured.

    Mr. Potter agreed that the town should stop accepting F.A.A. money until it completes noise studies, and he chided Mr. Stanzione, who has been accused by other board members of withholding information about airport management, when he said it was important that the entire board know what is being spent at the airport. “It doesn’t seem like the town board is aware of what kind of bills have been rung up,” he said.

    Mr. Cantwell said the federal laws that come with operating an airport do not go away if the town stops accepting F.A.A. funding. If the town adopts restrictions, “they must meet a legal standard,” he said. He said the airport is an asset to the town but acknowledged “a growing footprint of noise impacting more and more people” and questioned whether the reduction in complaints Mr. Stanzione cited was not just because people had given up.

    Mr. Overton called for common sense solutions and said he was solidly in favor of federal funding if the F.A.A. was “going to pay 90 percent to make the airport safe.”

    Federal funding for an Army Corps of Engineers erosion-control project in downtown Montauk was also discussed, with the Democrats generally agreeing they would prefer a “soft solution” that would focus on beach renourishment. Only Mr. Overton came out in favor of constructing bulkheads and other hard structures to protect property. “I would personally favor the hard structures with the engineered beach,” he said. “I think it would give us the best protection for the money.”

    “This project will be decided by this town board, not the next town board. That’s the time crunch we are under,” Mr. Stanzione said. “We put at risk our getting any funding if we choose a project that is too expensive.” He said the Army Corps factors in lifetime costs and “the hard rock alternative is the least expensive and most likely to achieve approval.”

    When asked about whether the town should pierce the 2-percent spending cap or consider issuing bonds while interest rates are low, Mr. Overton responded, “We have been under a fiscal emergency for the past four years. I would not at all consider breaking the . . . cap.” He did say he would be willing to borrow money for major town projects.

    Mr. Stanzione agreed that the cap should not be pierced. “We, as a community, are just now getting our feet on the ground as far as fiscal management,” he said. He also stressed the need to limit long-term borrowing as well.

    Pointing out that the town has a $69 million budget and $96 million in debt, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said, “I don’t think the town is in a position to borrow any more money or exceed the cap.”

    Mr. Cantwell, who will be the town’s chief financial officer, praised current Supervisor Bill Wilkinson on this front. “He got the town back on sound financial footing,” he said, noting that Mr. Wilkinson brought in a competent staff and created and executed his emergency financial plan well. “The truth is we paid a price for that,” he said of the fiscal crisis, “and that’s not Bill’s fault.”

    Asked if the town should undertake a townwide reassessment, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said the time was not right. “At this juncture, we have so many other critical issues that we have to deal with, it’s not something that I could see the town board addressing in the next couple of years,” she said.

    Mr. Cantwell called the system archaic, but said he did not think it was realistic for the town to undertake what he estimated would be a $4 million to $5 million project in the near term.

    “When you say reassessment, everyone cringes, especially the councilpeople because they know that’s the end of their jobs,” said Mr. Overton, a former assessor. “Working in the assessor’s office opened my eyes. We need a town reassessment program. We can’t have residents of Springs paying more in real estate taxes than someone on Lily Pond Lane.

    When it comes to providing affordable housing, Mr. Cantwell said the town needs to explore partnerships with nonprofits to undertake more projects like the affordable apartments for seniors at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett. Mr. Potter said the town should consider buying modest houses as they come on the market to resell them to young families.”

    “We’ve done everything we could to make it hard and expensive to live in East Hampton,” said Mr. Stanzione. “We’ve spent half a billion dollars to buy land so people don’t come here. Now we are dealing with the fact that we can’t afford to live here, so we’ve priced ourselves out of the market.”

   One of the more bizarre things that happened this summer was that a table asked me if I knew who Rebecca DeWinter was and did I know where she worked and did I read her column?

   The couple recognized me immediately. “Oh good, you’re our favorite waitress.” I smiled and said thank you. I had absolutely no idea who these people were, but I was happy we were starting off on the right foot. “You remind me of my daughter’s friend,” said the woman.

   “I get that a lot,” I said. It’s true; I have a generic kind of face. I look just like everyone’s friend of a friend or cousin or that person they stood next to at this Dave Matthews concert that one time.

   I told them I’d read the column and that I, too, wondered who the mysterious Rebecca was and if she had ever waited on me. The man was particularly passionate. “I loved her columns. I clipped them out of the paper. I thought they were spot-on, the summer people can be so demanding. We’ve been coming out here for 30 years, so we know what they’re like.”

   Why, thank you, I thought. That’s very k. . . .

   “But with these last few columns, the ‘How to Behave’ ones, she’s shown herself to be just as condescending and contemptuous as the people she’s writing about. I mean, tipping. The waiter is the most important person to me in a restaurant; they’re my liaison. I rely on them to let me know what’s going on.”

Oh.

   The woman tried to shush him. “Really, this isn’t the most appropriate thing. You’re berating the poor girl.” The man dismissively waved his hands. “Bah. Everyone works for a bonus, that’s just how it is. If the waiter does a good job, they get rewarded. That’s how it works. You know there was a letter to the editor this week? It basically said the same thing.”

   I did not know there was a letter to the editor. I made a mental note to read it when my shift was over.

   It would not have been polite for me to tell him that his logic about tipping and bonuses was woefully misguided. It would not have been polite to point out that everyone does not work for a bonus. There are many, many people, particularly in the service industry, who do not receive bonuses. And it most definitely would not have been polite to tell him that most people who do receive bonuses do not have thousands of customers deciding how much they should get.

   I went with something neutral: “Well maybe she’ll redeem herself? At least it’s not bland writing if you have such strong feelings about it.” Nothing like complimenting yourself when no one else will.

   He agreed, which almost made up for his calling me “condescending.” Contemptuous I don’t take as an insult. Of course I hold bad behavior in contempt. Doesn’t everyone?

   They thoroughly enjoyed their meal. He was a vegetarian and was thrilled with his entree. “It’s more than just a grilled vegetable and risotto; that’s what everyone else does.” I made a lame joke when I brought out the dessert menus: “There are plenty of vegetarian options for you!” They laughed and the woman said, “That’s how we know you’re not her. You have a sense of humor.”

   Gee.

   On a $78 bill they left me $12. Of that $12, 7 percent goes to the bartender and 20 percent to the busers. Because my restaurant pools tips, the remaining $8.76 is divided between four servers and the runner. I walked away with a $1.70, which left me wondering where my bonus had gone. 

    East Hampton Town Police Chief Eddie Ecker Jr. confirmed on Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the year. Chief Ecker, who joined the department in 1982, was appointed to its top post in 2010.

     “It’s been a good run,” he said. “I love the job, but it’s time for other people to take over.”

     The East Hampton Town Board has yet to announce a replacement, but was reportedly interviewing candidates last week.

     Chief Ecker, a Montauk native, said he and his wife, Roxanne, will remain in town after his retirement, although he said one of the first orders of business will be to visit family and friends on the West Coast.

     Chief Ecker joined the department as a patrolman and was promoted to detective in 1986. He was promoted to detective sergeant in 1989 and detective lieutenant in 1996 before being named the commander of the Montauk precinct in 1999. He was promoted to captain in 2003 and became executive officer, in charge of the uniformed division of the department in 2005, under then Chief Todd Sarris, who he replaced in 2010.

     “I hope people realize what a really good police department we have,” he said. “Our men and women are really dedicated. They are really serious about doing their jobs.”

    Fall is here with all its glory. The air is lucid clear, the humidity is low, the breezes blow. Traffic is tolerable, kids are in school, birds are lingering while stuffing themselves with seeds, fruits, and insects, and asters and goldenrods are peaking white, blue, and yellow. One of the nicer fall phenomena is missing, however. There are almost no monarch butterflies on the move. Apparently they suffered a poor breeding season out here and in New England.

    Speaking of arthropods, on the other hand, one of the less favorable of them is also in very short supply. Ticks have gone missing! I was first alerted to this peculiar situation three weeks ago by James Monaco, who resides in the hills of south Sag Harbor and likes to take walks in the woods. He suggested that turkeys, which are not in short supply, might have something to do with the dearth of ticks in his area.

    Vicki Bustamante, who is frequently afield in Montauk, also reported a scarcity of ticks there near Big Reed Pond, Oyster Pond, Shadmoor Park, Culloden, Amsterdam Beach Park, the Point Woods, and Third House, all of which are well known for their abundant populations of lone star ticks and black-legged, or deer, ticks. In fact, Montauk ranks right up there with Shelter Island and Fire Island as one of the 10 tickiest places on Long Island, but for some unknown reason, not this year.

    Vicki offers no explanation for the tick downturn. Her dog, Lola, usually accompanies her on these nature walks, after which she is regularly deticked, but this year, unlike every other year, she has had very few ticks on her. On Sunday during a long hike in northeast Montauk’s fields and woods, she did not pick up one tick.

    Ever since hearing Jim’s and Vicki’s observations, I have been taking my tick flag — nothing more than a large white towel — with me to check for ticks when I visit this or that open space on the South Fork. In the last three weeks I flagged about 15 different tick-prone areas: the Montauk Moorlands where Dick Cavett and Paul Simon live, Shadmoor Park, the cranberry bog in the Walking Dunes, Sagg Swamp Nature Preserve in Bridgehampton and Sagaponack, road edges along Route 114, and a host of other brushy and grassy spots. I walk along dragging the towel, flat-faced, over the grasses and brush along trails and through trail-less fields for a couple hundred feet each run. Over that period I have flagged a couple of miles or more here and there, and as incredible as it may seem, I have not come up with a single tick.

    The Monday before last while studying the vegetation behind the Pollock-Krasner House between Springs-Fireplace Road and Accabonac Harbor, I spent more than an hour dragging my towel here and there over grasses, low bushes, and even the salt hay of the high marsh zone. Not a single tick.

    Later that same day I learned that the director of that museum, Helen Harrison, had come down with a serious case of chiggers a few days earlier. [Please see editor's note below.] That made sense as I picked up a couple of chigger bites during my flagging time there. Unlike tick bites, chigger bites don’t start to itch until several hours after the chiggers have burrowed into your hair follicles. By the time you experience the itch, the chigger itself, a microscopic larva, somewhat translucent and smaller than a tick larva, is long gone.

    I was still not convinced of the scarcity of ticks in other places I had not visited, so on Monday I took my towel to five different sites in Bridgehampton and Water Mill. I flagged a grassy fallow field on Noyac Path, another on the north side of Head-of-Ponds Road, a lush field of grasses, goldenrods, and asters — prime tick habitat — on Deerfield Road, and a power-line trail off Deerfield Road. Finally, I flagged a green grass-covered swale receiving runoff from Middle Line and Deerfield Roads as well as the blueberry and huckleberry bushes in the woods surrounding it. Again, not a single tick in more than 2,500 feet of flagging.

    The field north of Head-of-Ponds Road was jumping with grasshoppers. I have never seen so many in one small acre of land. I wondered if maybe grasshoppers and other insect predators, or perhaps even Jim’s turkeys, were gobbling up the ticks. Two more likely scenarios for the wonderful scarcity of ticks at the end of summer and beginning of fall have to do with this year’s varied meteorology or the possibility of some disease killing them off. This year, as in the past 20 Septembers, tick flagging should produce adults, tiny new larvae, as well as nymphs in generous numbers, but not one of these turned up on my towel this time around!

    As I write this column, I would expect today’s chigger bites to be itching big time. Hmm. Not a one. I wonder, could the chiggers be next in line to leave the premises?

—

Editor's note: The presence of chiggers on Long Island has been consistently disputed by entomologists; no evidence for a population here has been found. 

    A group of the region’s environmental organizations have sent a survey to candidates for East Hampton Town Board and town supervisor and plan to release the responses early in October.

    The effort is a joint project of the East Hampton Environmental Coalition and the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. The 28-question survey asks the candidates to list their environmental qualifications and rank a range of issues in terms of importance. These include waste treatment, prioritizing land purchases to protect drinking water, erosion control, airport noise, and responding to sea-level rise.

    Speaking outside East Hampton Town Hall on Friday, Robert DeLuca, the president of the Group for the East End, said, “Environmental issues have slipped off the front burner, and we are here to see that they are put back on it.” He singled out groundwater and the protection of bays and harbors as a top priority.

    “Our water quality is declining, and it’s declining consistently,” Mr. DeLuca said. “For many years this town was a leader on a host of environmental issues, and with a wastewater management study it’s on the cusp of that leadership again.”

    He was joined by representatives of the Northwest Alliance, Accabonac Protection Committee, Dark Skies Society, Amagansett-Springs Aquifer Protection, Concerned Citizens of Montauk, and Garden Club of East Hampton.

    Marcia Bystryn of the New York League of Conservation Voters also spoke at Friday’s press conference. She said that her group and the East Hampton Environmental Coalition, of which the other groups were a part, hoped to hold elected officials accountable.

    Jeremy Samuelson, the director of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, said that one of his group’s top issues was assuring that shoreline policy was adequately addressed in the wake of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. “We have all of the same problems and no more solutions than we did a year ago,” he said.

    He said that the right course was for “community resiliency.” Officials and residents must accept a new reality, he said. “We have to acknowledge that we have to adapt to, rather than overcome, the forces of nature.”

    Describing current Army Corps of Engineers proposals for the Montauk oceanfront, Mr. Samuelson said that there was nearly $100 million set aside based on antiquated thinking and outdated plans. “Are we going to do the right thing or the wrong thing?” he said. Several questions on the candidates’ survey deal with coastal policy.

    Jory Latham of the Accabonac Protection Committee said that there had been an inadequate, piecemeal approach to habitat protection in East Hampton Town. She said that the town’s comprehensive plan, despite being law, had not been utilized and that the survey would ask each of the candidates whether they were willing to act on its recommendations.

    Ms. Latham said that balanced communities of plants, animals, and their habitats are not luxury items and help attract second-home owners and tourists crucial to the local economy, as well as fish and shellfish for baymen and recreational anglers.

    “These things are all part of one big picture. They need to be assessed and addressed by the people who are running our government. This has not been the case,” she said.

    According to the coalition, the candidates have been asked to return the questionnaires by Oct. 11.

    On Friday a horde of bargain hunters descended upon an 11,000-square-foot mansion on Hedges Lane in Sagaponack. This wasn’t your average estate sale, but rather a “demolition sale,” an upscale free-for-all in which every toilet (and there were 12), every Sub-Zero fridge (and there were three, not counting the Sub-Zero wine cooler), all light fixtures including dozens of chandeliers, pretty much everything that wasn’t nailed down had to go. Actually, a lot of nailed down stuff went too, from cabinets to closet inserts. It was a bit difficult, however, to remove the mosaic tiles in the bathrooms, so they stayed.

    The sale was run by Susan Zappola and Christina deMaggio, partners in Tag Team Estate Sale. It was the duo’s third such sale in a year. The previous one was also in Sagaponack, in April, where Ms. Zappola recalled “a woman in stilettos fighting with a construction guy over a toilet.” They also sold that house’s wood floors, windows, you name it. “The house looked like Swiss cheese when we were done,” she said. Luckily her husband is a contractor, and thus charged with removing items such as cabinets for easy takeaway.

    The owners of the Hedges Lane house are going to hold onto their floors . . . for now, but not their stair rails and banister. If they hadn’t organized this sale, said Ms. Zappola, “this stuff was going into a Dumpster.” But in a very un-Hamptons waste-not mentality, Ms. Zappola believes in recycling would-be trash and making money for the homeowner, who also saves on hauling charges. And, as everything must go — from the vast marble island countertop (asking $2,000) to the wine cellar — they save on demolition fees too.

    These companies, basically luxury liquidators, do so well that their numbers are increasing by leaps and bounds. Just check the classifieds and you will see ads by Nouvelleview, who bill themselves as “luxury moving planners,” Ferran and Zimmerman, a “tag sale service,” and White Goose, an “estate sale service.”

    Last Thursday, Ms. Zappola and Ms. deMaggio held a preview sale for designers and dealers from such emporiums as Ruby Beets, Antiques at Hayground, and Sage Street Antiques, who made off with a cache of glassware, vintage pharmacy canisters, and other booty.

    Annette Azan-Baker, a Sag Harbor “stylist,” brought two clients to the preview including Deb Galloway, a Sag Harbor lawyer who suffered a boiler puffback and must replace everything in her house. With Ms. Azan-Baker overseeing, she walked away with a mattress, sofas, sheets, towels, and even an iron. 

    Among the other items to go last Thursday were a Miele dishwasher ($250), a Viking stove hood ($500, but not the cover, which Ms. Zappalo thought a builder would pick up), an elliptical machine in the basement gym ($2,000), where there were another seven machines and a pair of ceiling-hung TVs awaiting new owners, and several antique horse whips from the homeowner’s collection.

    The most expensive item in the sale was an antique French armoire going for $8,500. A custom handmade wool rug wasn’t far behind at $5,500. Ditto for an 11-foot-long antique walnut dining table, with an asking price of $5,500 (originally $14,000). The Viking stove was priced at $5,000 (down from an original $12,000). One piece they didn’t have high hopes for selling was a gargantuan 73-inch flat-screen TV installed 10 years ago when the house was built. “No one wants such an old TV,” said Ms. Zappola. Or, apparently, such an old house.

    Just how did they determine prices? After ascertaining the original prices paid from the invoices left by the house’s interior designer (not counting the designer’s 25 to 30-percent fee), the demolition duo cut those prices in half “and shaved off a bit more, depending on condition.” She estimated the final tally would come in at circa $30,000. That’s a lot of bric-a-brac. The liquidating ladies do well too, pocketing 30 percent.

    But why the sale in the first place? Were the owners going to tear down the house? Not exactly. They plan to gut it entirely, leaving only the exterior, while enlarging the footprint. Enlarge an 11,000-square-foot house? “This house is so big I have to text my partner when I need her,” said Ms. Zappola.

    The current owners bought the house in June for about $15 million, and, as with many South Fork buyers, chose to live with the former owner’s furniture over the summer. So, to make matters even more complicated for the Tag Team ladies, the furniture belonging to owners A was being sold along with the fixtures belonging to owners B.

    “Believe it or not, out here a house that’s 10 years old is totally outdated,” said Judi Desiderio, C.E.O. of Town and Country Real Estate. “And five years is on the cusp.” According to Ms. Desiderio, today’s buyer wants an interior that is “clean, modern, but expensive modern — a look you didn’t see 10 years ago. . . . People are even leaving the traditional exteriors . . . a 100-year-old shell, and modernizing the inside.”

    Only in the Hamptons, kids, only in the Hamptons.

    Seven of 11 backyard volleyball courts in Springs that have been generating complaints by neighbors were taken down last weekend following visits by East Hampton Town ordinance enforcement officers.

    Neighbors had complained that crowds came every weekend to watch the games, creating traffic and noise and disturbing their neighborhoods.

    The officers found that some of the “playing courts,” as volleyball nets and their playing areas are defined in the town code, were too close to property lines, according to the zoning code’s setback rules, and that some could be defined as a “structure” under the town code and did not have the required building permit or certificate of occupancy.

    Pat Gunn, the town’s public safety chief, said in an e-mail on Tuesday that after a taxpayer provided him with addresses and information about when the games take place, he put together a small team of ordinance inspectors, who visited the sites on Saturday.

    Volleyball is a popular activity for members of the Latino community. The issue of backyard courts first came to the fore a decade ago.

    “I had one of our new Spanish-speaking inspectors accompany a senior inspector to facilitate open communication,” wrote Mr. Gunn. “The strategy was to discuss the complaints and explain the applicable laws in a friendly, nonconfrontational, and inclusive manner in an effort to seek voluntary compliance before initiating more expensive and protracted court charges.”

    Seven courts were taken down while the inspectors were present, Mr. Gunn said, and none of them had been put back up when the properties were visited again the following day.

    At a meeting Monday night of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee, residents who have complained about continuing volleyball games on courts near their homes acknowledged the work of the Ordinance Enforcement Department and Mr. Gunn, as well as recent town board discussions of the issue.

    Mr. Gunn said that ordinance officers have been “working on playing-court issues all summer,” but that residents’ calls about noise and numerous parked cars had been answered primarily by the East Hampton Town Police Department.

    In response to complaints brought to the town board, Councilwoman Theresa Quigley had proposed a law limiting the number of large gatherings a single individual could host each month. That raised questions about the number that should be set, unintended consequences curtailing noninvasive activities, and how such a law would be enforced. A decade ago, the town board had considered legislation along similar lines, but encountered the same problems and backed away from it.

    In his e-mail, Mr. Gunn wrote that he was “grateful for the community members who provided us with the intel,” but cautioned that the steps taken do not guarantee that problems with home volleyball courts will not arise again.

    Ordinance officers will make more visits this coming weekend, he said.

    With tick-borne illnesses on the rise and of grave concern, County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk has proposed a bill that would require Suffolk County Vector Control to develop a yearly procedure to reduce the incidence of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

    The agency was created to focus on both mosquito and tick-borne illnesses, Mr. Schneiderman noted in a recent press release, but, while it sprays mosquito breeding areas to control the spread of insect-borne diseases such as the West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis, it has not centered efforts on illnesses caused by ticks.

    “The county has done a good job preventing West Nile, but needs to step up efforts to reduce Lyme disease,” Mr. Schneiderman said.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the number of Lyme cases diagnosed nationwide annually has reached 300,000. There are 1,000 cases of West Nile per year, Mr. Schneiderman said in the press release, “making it 300 times more likely that a Suffolk County resident will contract Lyme disease than West Nile virus.”

    Under the proposed legislation, which is cosponsored by Legislator Al Krupski, who represents the North Fork, Vector Control, a division of the Public Works Department, is to create a program for prevention, methods to be employed, and the methodologies that would be used to determine the effectiveness of the program. Vector Control has a budget of $2.5 million.

    “Towns and villages are struggling to develop plans to respond to the growing Lyme disease cases,” Mr. Schneiderman said in the release. “The county should be playing a leadership role in prevention.”

    Besides Lyme disease, residents of Suffolk County are often diagnosed with other tick-borne illnesses, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis. Of the vector-borne illnesses found in the United States, Lyme disease is by far the most prevalent, accounting for more than 95 percent, according to Mr. Schneiderman’s press release.

    “A primary function of government is to protect the health and welfare of residents of Suffolk County. It is time for Suffolk County to take a lead role in preventing the incidence of tick-borne illnesses,” the release said.

    A hearing on the proposed legislation is scheduled for the County Legislature’s next general meeting, on Oct. 8 at the County Center in Riverhead. The time has not yet been arranged.