Even in the Hamptons, a price tag of $75 million for a property still raises eyebrows, and, of course, hopes. Granted, the land, which belongs to Courtney Sale Ross, the widow of Steven Jay Ross, the Time Warner honcho, and founder with him of the Ross School in East Hampton, spreads out over 5.5 acres in that elite enclave off West End Road in East Hampton Village that might as well be called Billionaire’s Row. Yet it is not even on the ocean.

     “It’s important to make a distinction between a trophy property and the rest of the market,” said John Gicking, senior vice president at Sotheby’s International Realty in East Hampton, the agency with the listing. Trophy properties, by which he means those affordable only to the global elite, “operate on their own supply and demand continuum.” In other words, there may be more ultra-high-net individuals than there are “important” estates.

Mr. Gicking went on to identify the addresses — from Eaton Square and Lake Geneva to Park and Fifth Avenues — required in the portfolios of what Chrystia Freeman, author of “Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else” called the “international class.”

     Add to that list the Hamptons — beachfront only, please. Or, in the case of Ross’s property, pond-front. Not just any pond, however. We are talking about Georgica Pond, which is shared by such boldface names as Ron Perelman, Kelly Klein, and Ms. Ross’s next-door neighbor Steven Spielberg. The Ross compound boasts 460 feet of pond frontage with a dock and a 7,500-square-foot main house with a heated pool and terrace, according to the listing. Ed Petrie is the listing agent. There is also a separate three-bedroom guesthouse with barn and two vacant building lots. The main house has seven bedrooms and six baths.

     But what about that pond front? Gary DePersia of Corcoran said that the current market is “on fire with a lot of deals happening.” Yet, he points out that a 3.5-acre property across the pond “has the best view on the pond and hasn’t gone yet” despite its price having been lowered to under $20 million.

     Speaking of views, Mr. DePersia cited the sale of the 10.4-acre Southampton estate Old Trees to John Paulson, a hedge-funder, in 2008 for $41.3 million. Not only does he believe that that house is grander than the Ross house, but the property also sold with two pools, a tennis court, and views of both Lake Agawam and the ocean (though it doesn’t front on the beach either.)

    “It’s the infrequent turnover of such coveted properties, many of which stay in families for generations” that gives the sellers an edge, according to Mr. Gicking. “When you’re reading about huge numbers you’re dealing with a very small subset of the market”: buyers to whom greenbacks are tantamount to Monopoly money.

    Since the Ross property was listed at the end of March, it has been shown to overseas buyers, members of the financial world, and builders interested in taking advantage of the property’s two vacant lots, according to Mr. Gicking.

    “A compound in and of itself is an interesting opportunity for a buyer,” said Mr. Gicking. Not to mention that it inhabits one of the more prestigious addresses in East Hampton. At $75 million for just over five acres, the sale would set a record.

    But is the price right? “Everybody is testing to see how high to raise the bar,” said Ed Bulgin, a builder who constructed Ron Baron’s Further Lane house. Mr. Baron, you may recall, purchased Adelaide de Menil’s 40-acre property in 2007 for $103 million, the first nine-digit sale on the South Fork, and to date the largest real estate transaction to have taken place in these parts.

    The last major closing to have occurred in the area was a 10,000-square-foot house on 6.5 ocean-view acres at 52 Further Lane in East Hampton sold by Sotheby’s for $62.5 million in March (most likely the house that The New York Times reported was purchased by SAC Capital Advisor’s Steven Cohen). It went in a matter of days.

    How long the Ross property will take to sell, only time will tell. “Is there a precedent for this?” Mr. DePersia asked. “No. Will it happen? Anything is possible.”

    On Tuesday night, at a particularly lively and celebratory meeting of the East Hampton School Board, its seven members unanimously voted to appoint Elizabeth A. Doyle as the new principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School and Elizabeth Reveiz-Magnowski as the new director of the district’s English as a second language program.

    The hiring of both women follows an extensive search process. It also follows the recent frustration after Gina Kraus, the current John Marshall principal, was denied tenure this spring. Come September, Ms. Kraus will return to the classroom.

    Earlier this year, following the denial of Ms. Kraus’ tenure, many urged the board to promote someone from within the district to principal, rather than selecting an outsider. But despite that, the district ultimately decided on two appointees from outside the district for the 2013-14 school year.

    Ms. Doyle will be paid an annual salary of $136,000, while Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski will make an annual salary of $130,000. Both will be appointed to three-year probationary terms that will begin on July 1 and are set to expire on June 30, 2016.

    Ms. Doyle is currently in her third year as principal of the Explore Empower Charter School in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, a kindergarten through fifth-grade school where 90 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. Formerly, Ms. Doyle was the kindergarten through 12th-grade coordinator of English in the White Plains School District in Westchester. Dating back to 2003, she has also worked as an instructional supervisor, director of operations, and as a fourth-grade teacher.

    She graduated from Bethpage High School and received a bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University. After college, she worked for Citigroup, eventually becoming a vice president. She later left the corporate world and began a career in education after becoming a New York City Teaching Fellow, an alternative certification program that attracts mid-career professionals to teach in under-resourced city schools.

    “I know well the critical role that schools and communities play in young people’s lives,” Ms. Doyle said in a statement. “It is the duty of the school community to provide love and hope, coupled with dogged determination to empower children with strong character, knowledge, and skills.”

    During Tuesday night’s meeting, the board also approved the tenure of eight employees, while bidding farewell to four longtime staffers.

    After three years at East Hampton High School, both Adam Fine and Maria Mondini, the principal and assistant principal, received tenure.

    During public comments later in the evening, Claude Beudert, a teacher at East Hampton Middle School, was glowing in his assessment of their accomplishments.

     “They came here under such a spotlight,” said Mr. Beudert. “The atmosphere they’ve brought to this school is appreciated by me and the community.”

    Additionally, six educators also received tenure: David Cataletto, an elementary teacher, Andrea Hernandez, a Spanish teacher, Janine Lalia, a family and consumer science teacher, Lisa Lawler, a special education teacher, Christopher Reich, a technology teacher, and Michelle Kennedy, the high school librarian.

    Among those retiring are Eugene (Buddy) Kelley, the English as a second language director, who is leaving after 19 years, Carol Story, a teacher’s aide at John Marshall, who is leaving after 16 years, Dolores McGintee, a longtime middle school math teacher, and Diane Boos, who works in the high school’s foreign language department. 

    Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski was hired to replacing Mr. Kelley.

    A seasoned bilingual administrator and native Spanish speaker, Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski now works as the director of languages other than English, E.S.L., and bilingual services for the Amityville School District.

    While at Amityville, she implemented Common Core standards within each department, created thematic-based projects to highlight different cultures, instituted a Spanish spelling bee, and oversaw an iPad integration.

    With a résumé stretching back 15 years, all of it in the field of bilingual administration, Ms. Reveiz-Magnowski has also worked with the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the Central Islip Public Schools, and the Long Island Regional School Support Center. Besides Spanish, she also has a basic knowledge of Italian and Ukranian.

    More than 100 assembled for Tuesday night’s meeting, which took place in the high school’s auditorium. Midway through the meeting, the Bonnettes, the middle school girls choir, and high school students in the Vocal Camerata each performed two numbers. Afterward, audience members enjoyed cake and refreshments.

    In other business, board members voted to approve an upcoming trip to Senegal for 15 high school students that will help build a school in conjunction with buildOn, an international nonprofit. The board also voted to approve that obsolete technology equipment be donated to Computers for Kids, a Utah-based nonprofit. The board’s annual reorganizational meeting is scheduled for July 2 at 6 p.m.

    Planning and design for rebuilding downtown Montauk’s beaches, which were severely eroded after last fall’s Hurricane Sandy, will continue at 100-percent federal expense by the Army Corps of Engineers. In a press release on Tuesday from Representative Tim Bishop, it was announced that $700 million to rebuild Long Island’s south shore beaches from Fire Island to Montauk had been approved by the federal Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Bishop has been working with the Army Corps, he said in the release, with the target date next year for construction on the Montauk beach.

    The allocation also includes $18 million for the design and construction of an 840-foot stone revetment surrounding the Montauk Lighthouse, although the Army Corps has not released a timetable for the next phases of that project, a subject of hearings and discussion over several years.

    “I will continue to advocate in the strongest terms for a plan that will protect vulnerable beachfront properties and the beaches that make Montauk a world-class vacation destination,” he said in the release.

    “Superstorm Sandy was a once-in-a-generation storm that dealt a heavy blow to downtown Montauk and other areas along the south shore, but it has provided a unique opportunity to secure a stronger and more resilient coastline for the long term at 100-percent federal expense,” Mr. Bishop said in the release, adding that “rebuilding beaches to protect vulnerable coastal property and tourism resources devastated by Superstorm Sandy is a top priority.”

    Just how much of the $700 million approved for Long Island’s south shore will go to construction in Montauk is yet to be determined, as is the scope of other projects to be undertaken within the 83-mile shorefront in the Army Corps “Fire Island to Montauk Reformulation Study.” A draft environmental impact statement for the entire area would have to be issued before any projects get under way. 

     East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson read the press release aloud at a meeting of the town board on Tuesday. “I think this is the first time that Montauk has gotten the attention from the federal government that it deserves,” he said. “It may be a little late, but it’s progress.” Mr. Wilkinson was also quoted in the press release, as were other officials.

    “This is great news for the hamlet of Montauk and the Town of East Hampton,” the supervisor commented in the release. “The global attraction of these beaches are an economic asset to all of New York and I, the people of Montauk, and the residents of East Hampton want to personally thank Congressman Bishop for his extraordinary efforts in securing the expertise and funding to complete this renourishment.”

    While the question of funding for downtown Montauk was pending, Mr. Wilkinson had tried, unsuccessfully, to secure approval from the entire town board for any plan the Army Corps might propose there, including, potentially, the installation of rocks or hard structures. Without blanket, pre-emptive approval, he had said he feared the Army Corps might leave Montauk out of the project. A board majority, however, excluding Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, agreed that review of a beach-rebuilding plan, perhaps by an independent coastal engineer, was warranted before expressing support for an Army Corps plan. According to Mr. Bishop’s office, the Army Corps will develop its plans in conjunction with local and regional authorities.

     “Areas such as Montauk are important to our economy and our beaches are not only a tourist attraction but they provide important protective barriers to residential and commercial areas during storms,” said Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, a former East Hampton Town supervisor, in the press release. He also applauded the congressman’s efforts.

    “These projects will help protect and maintain our beaches and our economy,” said Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc in the release. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby said, “Sand replenishment will help protect our shoreline and mitigate storm erosion. Tim Bishop is to be thanked for his tireless efforts on behalf of individuals and businesses that depend on a healthy and sustained coastline.”

     New York State Senator Kenneth J. LaValle and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. also expressed thanks for Representative Bishop’s work in the press release, and underscored the importance to the economy of maintaining beaches.

    Ditch Plain beach in Montauk, now a rocky expanse closed to swimming because of erosion-related hazards on the shore and in the surf, rose to the top of the East Hampton Town Board’s to-do list this week following pressure from Montauk residents seeking to salvage the summer season for beachgoers and, they say, the local economy.

    Bid specifications for the addition of trucked-in sand to the beach, and an expedited application to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit, are being prepared.

    At a meeting on Tuesday, Diane Hausman, chairwoman of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee, told the board that almost 50 people had attended the group’s monthly meeting the night before, in addition to committee members, and that virtually all agreed that immediate restoration of the beach at Ditch is crucial. Committee members unanimously decided to ask the town board to do so.

    “All the people that are coming out, expecting to use that beach,” Ms. Hausman told board members. “Our kids that are going out surfing. And there aren’t going to be lifeguards there.”

    Speakers at Monday’s meeting were angry that East Hampton has not yet taken steps to replenish the sand at the beach. Other towns on Long Island and in New Jersey whose beaches were just as hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy are now proclaiming them open and ready for the summer, they said.

    Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said he had visited Ditch Plain with Drew Bennett, an engineer, and with Patrick Bistrian, a heavy equipment operator, to discuss plans for trucking in sand. Keith Grimes, a Montauk contractor who installed the rock revetment in front of Montauk Shores Condominiums to the east, also visited the site, with Tony Littman, head of the town’s buildings and maintenance crew, Mr. Wilkinson said.

    In a May 22 letter to the town board following his inspection of the beach, Mr. Bennett wrote that “there is a very high risk that imported sand would be lost to the ocean very rapidly.” Exposed cobbles and hardpan are in the wave wash, he said, and “covering areas experiencing active wave and tide action with relatively small amounts of sand will not be successful.”    

    Mr. Bennett said that “importing a limited quantity of sand for the high beach at the road-end may be useful to better establish a beach for the lifeguard stand.” However, he reported, “a number of water hazards were observed during my inspection.” The engineer said he did not recommend either beach-scraping or importing sand onto the shoreward part of the beach. “Neither will succeed,” he wrote.

    He also noted that East Hampton Village had elected not to open Georgica Beach to swimming early last season, because of water hazards following Tropical Storm Irene. By July, he said, the prevailing southwesterly winds led to a natural accumulation of sand, allowing the village to reopen the beach that month. “This type of approach is probably the best course of action the town can take at this time for Ditch Plains west,” he wrote.

    There is not enough sand on site for beach-scraping (moving sand deposits onto eroded areas), the engineer said.

    The town has already borrowed $750,000, by issuing a bond, to repair Sandy’s damage to beaches, buildings, and other facilities, and another $1.5 million for post-storm road repairs. About $150,000 of the $750,000 has been spent, Len Bernard, the town budget officer, said yesterday.

     He estimated that trucking sand onto Ditch Plain could cost about $300,000. The town will seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its storm-related expenses.

    Recent allegations that the Montauk Shores Condominiums rock revetment caused the severe erosion at the bathing beach complicates matters, Mr. Wilkinson said Tuesday, as the $750,000 was borrowed specifically for repairing problems caused by the hurricane.

    “If it isn’t — if that wasn’t caused by that — then we have a problem,” he said.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley echoed his concerns. “C.C.O.M. stood here in this room and vehemently declared it was caused by Montauk Shores,” she said of recent comments by Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk. “If indeed it was caused by Montauk Shores, we have a legal issue. So all of a sudden we’ve got a question out there that’s interfering with the immediacy of being able to do something.”

    At the advisory committee meeting, Kathy Weiss, a business owner, said that if it is indeed found that the Montauk Shores seawall has interrupted the natural flow of sand, as many believe, then the town should sue the trailer park owners. That project, completed in April, is currently under D.E.C. investigation for exceeding what was allowed by permit. “The town has a responsibility to sue them for our beach,” Ms. Weiss told committee members.

    Mr. Wilkinson said Tuesday that he visits Ditch Plain twice a day. “I just want to set the record straight,” he told the Montauk residents pushing for beach restoration. “I would love to get it done today.”

    “At what point are you going to determine if it was caused by Hurricane Sandy?” asked Laraine Creegan, the executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce.

    “I made that determination a long time ago,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    “Then you have to go with your determination, Bill,” Ms. Creegan told him. “We have to do it, and we have to do it now. Ditch Plains is a world-famous beach.”

    Bill Mavro, an owner of the Montauk Clothing Store, emphasized the importance of the Ditch Plain beach to Montauk’s economy at the citizens advisory committee meeting. He said his store and others, including surf shops, sell at least $500,000 annually in clothing marked with the Ditch Plain logo, mostly on T-shirts.

    “I don’t think that anyone in the town would sue us for replacing sand,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said Tuesday. “To me the question is, how much sand do we need, where are we going to put it, and how long is it going to last?”

    “The suit is misuse of funds,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    The board did not discuss other funding sources for the beach restoration project. But at Monday’s meeting, residents told Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the liaison to the Montauk advisory group, that the town should have a special fund for emergency situations or be able to tap into another fund.

    The cost of a sand delivery should not matter, considering the dangerous situation at Ditch, some said. “There are rocks there, people can get pummeled by them, or someone could dive into a rock,” said Chris Poli.

     Mr. Stanzione said he was in favor of trucking sand in to the beach, regardless of how long it might last, to get it open for the summer season.

     “Sandy did that; there’s no doubt about it,” said Alice Houseknecht, the owner of the East Deck Motel, on Tuesday. When the hurricane hit in October, “that whole area was just flattened,” she said. “And then we had a lot of northeasters and a blizzard that took whatever flat sand there was, away. . . . Please, for the sake of the summer season, and for the reputation of all of the beaches, let’s get some sand there.”

    “I don’t see any problem with this board voting on Thursday night [tonight] to go out to bid,” Mr. Wilkinson said. He asked Jeanne Carrozza, the town’s purchasing agent, to begin the process of seeking bids, and to “put a full court press on it today.”

    With reporting by Janis Hewitt

    Two East Hampton Town Board meetings this week went from contentious to hostile, with heated exchanges not only between board members, a regular occurrence, but with combative retorts from Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley to criticism directed at them from the audience.

    Frustrated residents booed the officials, upbraided them for rudeness, and insinuated that they served only special interests, while Mr. Wilkinson threatened to cut off public comment and Ms. Quigley suggested calling the police.

    From the East Hampton Airport and helicopters that plague Southampton Town residents, to overcrowded houses in Springs and what to do about erosion in downtown Montauk, constituents pushed and the board members lashed out, with meetings on Tuesday and last Thursday devolving into loud voices, red-faced yelling, insults, and catcalls.

    “I come across with some anger because I am angry,” said John Kirrane of Sag Harbor, one of numerous Southampton Town residents who have been beseeching the board to reroute helicopters which they say are affecting their quality of life. “I have had your trash thrown in my backyard for the past 10 months,” Mr. Kirrane said last Thursday night, calling himself one of “the people who you’re victimizing.”

    “To the best of my knowledge I have never seen a town behave like this to its neighbors,” he said. “I’ve never seen the arrogance that started this ignorance. You, Mr. Stanzione,” he continued, speaking to the town councilman assigned as airport liaison, “have refused to return my phone calls.”

    He then read aloud the names of New York politicians recently arrested for corruption. “There are many of us on the west side hoping that some of the similar things happen out here,” he said.

    “Are you charging corruption on this board?” Supervisor Wilkinson asked him.

    “The appearance . . . is that there are special interests out here, that are creating a situation where the good of the people has succumbed to the good of the few,” Mr. Kirrane replied. “Dislike is a mild term,” he said. “Being suspicious of your motives is a gentle way of saying it.”

    “Mr. Stanzione,” he went on, “if I understand who directed the traffic over our homes, it was you. And I would just ike you to understand that we know it and we resent it and we will not go away quietly.” The audience applauded. “So I would encourage you, implore you, that whatever special interests are behind the scenes trying to encourage expansion, that you have the courage and the conviction to stand up and say no, we represent the entirety of East Hampton, and if not a fiscal and a legislative obligation to the broader East End, you certainly have a moral obligation to be good neighbors.”

    Also last Thursday, Springs residents angry over a perceived lack of action on overcrowded housing — they have been pleading with the board for help for several years now —- found little satisfaction.

    “This board is in danger of leaving a legacy of name-calling and inaction on the illegal housing issue,” said Carol Buda. While addressing a number of other issues, she said, the board has not found solutions to the overcrowded housing issue in Springs. “We have quality-of-life issues, school issues, property value issues — we have year-round problems. It’s literally forcing some people out of their homes.”

    “We have done exhaustive studies,” Ms. Quigley said.

    “There is nobody that focused more on Springs than Theresa Quigley,” Mr. Wilkinson told Jerry Kane, who’d questioned whether she had done enough to research solutions. “In our first term she knew more about Springs. . . . The diagnostics that were done on Springs had never been done before, so do not fault her on her work ethic,” said the supervisor.

    “Let me tell you something,” Ms. Quigley yelled. “I was born and raised here. My children were born and raised here. This is my community; I have no idea if it is your community or not, but I know it’s mine. And do not accuse me of not caring.”

    David Buda of Springs said progress had been “glacial at best.” When he brought up a house whose owner has been charged with code violations, Councilwoman Quigley walked out, saying she refused to listen to comments about an issue that is before Town Justice Court — although John Jilnicki, the town attorney, said it was appropriate for the board to listen to any comments from the public, though not necessarily to weigh in.

     “Leave,” people called out as Ms. Quigley headed down the aisle. She stopped at the end of the row in which the hecklers were sitting and motioned at them with a half-bow before stalking out of the room.

    “I live in Springs and I’m still not a Nazi,” Fred Weinberg told the board. His comments, and others from Springs residents concerned about housing issues, had prompted Ms. Quigley at an earlier meeting to liken the residents seeking increased enforcement to Nazis.

    “We will cut it,” Mr. Wilkinson said later of the time allotted to hear constituents. “We have been listening for two hours.”

    “You’re paid to listen to us,” someone told him.

    From the back of the room, Neil Zelentz called out “Boo.”

    “Boo to you,” retorted Ms. Quigley, who had returned. “Boo yourself for being so disrespectful.”

    “You’re disrespectful,” yelled Mr. Zelentz.

    “I’ve never seen such rudeness,” a woman in the audience scolded. “You are a representative of the people. You are extremely rude. You do not listen, and all you want to do is defend your decisions. You are so rude. It is unbelievable. I have never seen this.”

    “Trust me, I’m not getting paid enough for this,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

     “So quit,” Mr. Zelentz yelled out. 

    “Basically I have. I’m not running again,” the supervisor said. “Yeah, I should have quit, I shouldn’t have entered the race when you were $27 million in the hole, you were contemplating bankruptcy and you had not one idea what to do. Did you clap when I reduced your property taxes by 17 percent?”

    “Pathetic,” Mr. Zelentz, a 35-year Springs resident, called.  “And another pathetic thing,” he said, “I voted for you. How stupid I was.”

    “Well, you can leave, sir, if you think you’re in the presence of such a moron,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “Why don’t you just leave?”

    “Why don’t you just leave?” Mr. Zelentz shot back.

    “I am,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “I have eight months left.”

    On Tuesday, when Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, challenged Mr. Wilkinson’s motives regarding decisions about erosion control on the downtown Montauk beaches, Ms. Quigley suggested calling the police.

    Mr. Wilkinson has advocated doing whatever necessary to protect hotels along the shore, even beyond what the town code allows. He has repeatedly cited figures, the source of which he has declined to identify, regarding how much the motels contribute to the local economy.

    “How much money does Ditch bring in?” Mr. Samuelson asked Tuesday about the Montauk beach that is now closed due to severe erosion. 

    “What are you saying?” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    “I’m saying that the illegal revetment at the trailer park just screwed Ditch,” Mr. Samuelson said. Though Mr. Wilkinson asserted that the addition of more rocks to a revetment in front of the Ditch Plain trailer park had no effect on the scouring at the public beach (reported separately in this issue), town officials are investigating the situation. Mr. Samuelson claims that the revetment has been illegally doubled in size, and must be connected to the extreme erosion nearby.

    Mr. Samuelson also protested at the time allotted to Steve Kalimnios, an owner of the Royal Atlantic motel on the Montauk beach, at the meeting on Tuesday.

    “Just how many fund-raisers did you have at Steve’s?” Mr. Samuelson asked Mr. Wilkinson.

    “Don’t give me your little snotty remarks,” retorted the supervisor, calling Mr. Samuelson a “lobbyist” for C.C.O.M.

    East Hampton Town Board meetings can be viewed online at ltveh.org

     A three-car crash on the Napeague stretch of Montauk Highway around 3 a.m.  Sunday morning resulted in two of the drivers being sent to the hospital while under arrest on the charge of driving while intoxicated, according to East Hampton Town police.

     The crash occurred when a 2010 Honda Accord in the westbound lane, driven by Nicole Zizelis, 51, of Amagansett, collided with a 2008 Jeep Wrangler in the eastbound lane. Hari Kalyan, 33, of Brooklyn was the driver of the Jeep.

     Muhammad Fahim, 27, of Islandia, who was driving a 2006 Ford taxi cab east, tried but failed to avoid the accident, crashing into Ms. Kalyan's vehicle.

     Both Ms. Zizelis and Mr. Kalyan were charged with drunken driving. They had "serious, but not life-threatening" injuries, an officer said. Ms. Zizelis was released to Southampton Hospital. Mr. Kalyan was flown to Stony Brook University Medical Center.

     Mr. Fahim was reportedly unhurt and was not cited for any violations.

     The East Hampton Town police impounded all three vehicles to run safety checks on them.

            Police have asked that anybody with any information about the crash call 537-7575.

   You’re in the Hamptons for the summer! Awesome, right? Except you need to get a job and your options are retail or restaurants.               

    You choose food service because you have a masochistic streak as well as a stunning lack of common sense. Welcome to the family.

    I learned all this the hard way so you don’t have to. Here are my tips to help you survive your summer in the service industry.

    1. Go to the beach as much as possible. It will make you feel better about the choices you’ve made in your life when you hear two people from Manhattan screaming at each other over who was on a piece of sand first.

    2. Wear sunblock. Trust me when I say that it is excruciating to work an eight-hour shift with sunburnt legs.

    3. Budget extra time for travel. Once the season hits, tack on an extra 20 to 40 minutes to get from wherever you are to wherever you work. If you arrive early, wonderful. Now start rolling silverware.

    4. Road rage is a good thing. Remember that table during brunch that was over-the-top demanding? As in, “I need you to personally add more horseradish to this Bloody Mary until it is at the level of spiciness I require.” “Oh, you added too much. It’s too spicy now. I’m going to need a new one.” “No, this one isn’t right either. It needs more Worcestershire. And I want two olives, not four.”    

    Unleash all the pent-up frustration that’s been building inside you on the next person who doesn’t pull over far enough when they’re making a left-hand turn.

    Equally as satisfying is yelling out of your car window at people who don’t use the crosswalks.

    5. Cultivate a dry sense of humor. You know what’s funny? Getting screamed at by an irate customer because the water is too cold, the soup is too hot, and the bread is too crispy. Hahaha. It’s like Goldilocks and the Three Bears up in here. 

    6. Practice your server face. Similar to a poker face in that the facial muscles remain fixed, the server face is used to convey agreeable calmness in the face of insane and unreasonable behavior. Your mouth should be slightly upturned at the corners. You are like a statue of Buddha, calm, serene, and still.

    7. Be nice. This is good life advice in general, but particularly in the restaurant business. Everyone says they know the owners. Most people who say this are lying liars, but one out of every 20 actually does and you do not want them telling the boss about their rude server. Also, you’ll probably see these people again during the course of the summer, and let me assure you that it is unpleasantly awkward standing in line with them at King Kullen.

    8. Silently judge everyone. Making fun of other people is an important tool for surviving those doubles you will inevitably have to pull when someone is too hung­over to come in to work. Pretend your shift is an episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” The diners are the B-movie and your thoughts are an unending stream of delighted vitriol.

    9. Drinking games. After the shift is over, drink for any one of the following you encountered:

    • A man wearing white pants and a pink shirt. Bonus shot if the collar is popped.

    • If the entire table is looking at their cellphones simultaneously (tables of three or more). Bonus shot if all the phones are iPhones.

    • Someone who cannot walk in the too-high heels she’s wearing. (Look for the wobble.)

    • Teacup or toy dogs. Bonus shot if the dog is being transported in a designer purse.

    • If more than one person in a group is wearing a fedora. Bonus shot if it’s just two people.

    • Any man who has the top three buttons (or more) of his shirt undone.

    • Anyone wearing a sweater draped over their shoulders. Why do people do this? Are their arms and stomachs hot? Bonus shot if the sweater has a Ralph Lauren Polo logo.

    • On nights when you’re prepared to get black-out drunk, drink for every guest who asks for gluten-free.

    Finally, reward for yourself at the end of the season. A vacation, a nice relaxing day at the spa, drinking yourself into oblivion. Whatever you fancy. If you can’t afford anything, just cry into your pillow every night.

    After several choppy years marked by the aftermath of financial mismanagement under a former administration, East Hampton Town’s financial outlook is clear, Len Bernard, the town budget officer, said in a May 21 report to the town board.

    With the exception of one of the main town operating funds and the scavenger waste fund, expenses last year remained within what had been anticipated in the 2012 budget.

    The remaining “fund balances are all pretty healthy,” Mr. Bernard said.

    Expenses in the part-town fund, which include town police staffing costs, were higher than expected, because of required benefits payouts when four officers chose to retire. However, Mr. Bernard said, revenues into that fund were also higher than what had been expected, by about $250,000 and the fund ended the year with a $1.4 million surplus. Mr. Bernard said in an e-mail on Tuesday that the town collected about $170,000 more than was expected in building permit fees last year, and that the collection of fees for false fire or security alarms accounted for $160,000 more than had been anticipated.

    The scavenger waste fund went into a deficit, he said, totaling $570,000, because there was only enough money placed in last year’s annual budget to cover expenses at the town’s wastewater treatment plant for three months — in an apparent gamble, on Supervisor Bill Wilkinson’s part, that the town board would go along with a proposal from the one company that responded to a request for proposals to privatize the plant. A majority did not.

    Mr. Bernard drew a distinction this week between the combined fund balances at the end of 2009, when the current administration, with Mr. Wilkinson as supervisor, came into office, and the present state of affairs. After several years of financial mismanagement, the combined balances in town funds in 2009 was in the negative by 30 percent, he said. Now, the overall fund balance is positive, by 22 percent — a more than 50-percent turnaround, Mr. Bernard pointed out, even when factoring in the state of the scavenger waste fund.

    Mortgage tax, traditionally a big revenue source for the town until the real estate market downturn, totaled almost $3.8 million last year, well above the $2.5 million that had been projected.

    During the first three months of this year, mortgage tax revenues have been “really, really good,” Mr. Bernard said, totaling about $940,000. If the pace continues, the 2013 total could reach $3.7 million — above the $3.1 million listed as expected revenue in this year’s budget. “By conservatively budgeting mortgage tax, it gives us a little bit of cushion,” and ability to deal with unexpected expenses, Mr. Bernard told the board.

    Despite new borrowing for various projects, Mr. Bernard said that the town’s overall debt decreased last year from $132 million to $124 million. Earlier this year, the board approved a three-year capital spending plan calling for $10.8 million in projects, for which money would be borrowed. Even if all of the some 150 capital projects get under way, Mr. Bernard said, the town would still continue to extinguish debt, with its overall indebtedness expected to decrease over the next three years.

    The town’s community preservation fund, a dedicated land-purchase and historic preservation fund that receives income from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax, took in almost $22.2 million last year, Mr. Bernard said, and the town spent close to $13.5 million on land purchases. During the first quarter of 2013, $5.8 million flowed into the preservation fund.

    As required by state law, a yearly audit of the fund has been completed for 2012. “It was a clean audit,” Mr. Bernard said. Money due to the fund, which was improperly transferred to other town funds under the previous administration, has been repaid; other adjustments among town funds based on a forensic investigation of the previous administration’s accounting have also been completed, Mr. Bernard said.

    A new internal audit division of the town’s budget office, which will undertake regular reviews of various financial areas, examined Town Police Department record keeping regarding staff time and attendance in the early part of this year, Mr. Bernard said, and found “internal controls were good.” Several recommendations for improvement were made, however. The Police Department was chosen, the budget officer said, because of articles written about problems uncovered in other towns.

    With contract negotiations ongoing between the town and the police union, the 2013 budget, Mr. Bernard said, contains money for potential salary increases included in a new contract. If the contract is not settled by the end of the year, he said, that money will go into a reserve fund to cover retroactive salary increases that may go into effect when the contract is finalized.

    The town’s financial picture has been positively affected by staff reorganization efforts, Mr. Bernard said. Full-time positions, which numbered 397 in 2009, before the Wilkinson administration, were reduced to 312 last year and to 304 by the beginning of May.

    “The movement to a seasonal work force is very, very important,” Mr. Wilkinson said at the May 21 meeting. The town must provide services for a summer population that is four to five times the year-round population, he said. Mr. Bernard said that the town’s part-time staff has not been reduced, and in some cases has been increased.

    Mr. Bernard also reported that East Hampton will receive $472,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the costs of post-Hurricane Sandy cleanup, and that an additional $260,000 is expected to pay for repairs to Gerard Drive in Springs, which was washed out by flood water. The town has also requested a $1.2 million federal grant to redesign the road to prevent or mitigate damage from future storms.

    While the East Hampton Town building inspector weighs whether a private club at the Montauk Beach House constitutes a second business at the downtown resort, allegations made by two men who worked with the Beach House in its inaugural season last year cast the private club as a mere accessory to an even larger second business, that of a music venue.

    The resort is allowed in downtown Montauk, despite the fact that the area is not zoned for motel usage, because it predates zoning, however the addition of a second business on the property could trigger a full site plan review before the town planning board, according to the town’s chief building inspector, Tom Preiato.

    Mr. Preiato insisted on Tuesday that the private club being advertised on the motel’s Web site was a “proposal,” not an actual business, despite the fact that the motel is selling memberships for $1,100, with a discounted $750 membership for locals, who wouldn’t need to stay in the motel.

    According to Terry Casey of New York, who said he ran the booking business for the 32-room motel last year, the whole question of the private club is misdirected.

    According to Mr. Casey, the Beach House’s goal, in terms of music, is to bring in leading D.J.s to draw at least 1,000 people over the course of the day. An event that drew 500 was considered a “failure.”

    Chris Jones, who owns the resort with Larry Seidlick, said earlier this month that it was ridiculous to allege that the Beach House was trying to draw such crowds. He said that crowds at the poolside bar, where the D.J.s and live music acts play, had never been larger than 300 in the 2012 season.

    Mr. Casey said he signed an 18-month contract with Mr. Jones and Mr. Seidlick at the beginning of the 2012 summer season, only to be told by Mr. Jones earlier this month that his services were no longer wanted. “They wanted to cut out the middle man,” Mr. Casey said in mid-May.

    Francois Belizaire, an event planner who was a partner in a now-defunct company called the Event Society, said earlier this month that his company planned the season’s calendar for the Beach House last year. “Design-wise it is beautiful,” he said of the resort.

    It was his job to guide the ownership group, which he and Mr. Casey said were inexperienced in music event planning, in “how to structure the format, the whole music festival they wanted to bring in, the right clientele, people who were going to buy bottles by the pool.”

    To much initial protest, Mr. Jones attempted in 2011 to launch an August music festival first in Amagansett, then at East Hampton Airport, to be called MTK, short for Music to Know. The event was eventually canceled due to disappointing advance ticket sales.

    The goal for the Beach House, Mr. Belizaire said, was “to get the right people to come out of the Hamptons and come to Montauk. Let your hair down and kick back.” He said his company did just that, drawing over 1,500 people to the Beach House on several Saturdays.

    “I came up with different concepts, different bands and D.J.s,” he said, and he brought on Mr. Casey, whom he had known for years. “He knows how the bands worked. He had a really good sense of the pulse of the music.”

    Mr. Belizaire described the opening event. “We did the launch with Paul Oakenfold [the D.J.], easily 2,000 people, wall-to-wall bodies. There were lines out the door.”

    One touch Mr. Belizaire was particularly proud of: “I tapped into some of my network of exotic car owners. We took all the parking spaces in front of the Beach House,” filling the spaces with mint-condition vintage cars. “I pinched myself, that day.”

    “We also did Mark Ronson. He’s a shrewd talent and an amazing soul.” At noon, Mr. Belizaire said, it was raining and the bar was deserted. “It was hot, 90 degrees.” It stopped raining, and the sun and the crowd showed up. “Easily 1,600 people,” he said. “Our joke was, he brought the sunshine.”

    Mr. Casey said that top D.J.s on the level of Mr. Ronson and Mr. Oakenfold, who have massive online followings, receive $25,000 per day for a venue like the Beach House.

    According to both Mr. Casey and Mr. Belizaire, Mr. Jones and Mr. Siedlick were ecstatic when they saw the initial results, with an estimated $100,000 or more coming in on successful Saturday nights.

    Both Mr. Siedlick and Mr. Jones disputed the idea that the bar could bring in that kind of money.

    Mr. Belizaire explained how the music events played out in 2012. A sponsor, such as a vodka company, would book an evening through Mr. Casey, who would, coordinating with Mr. Belizaire, book a D.J. with a known following. The house, Mr. Jones and Mr. Siedlick, would make their money on a split of the bar and poolside sales revenues, with Mr. Belizaire getting a share of the sales that his personnel were responsible for.

    Mr. Jones said earlier this month that Mr. Casey had not been in charge of booking acts for the resort last year and was instead a bitter ex-employee of Matt Thomas, who is handling events this season for the Beach House.

    In a recent interview, Mr. Thomas said he was the one who got Mr. Casey involved to begin with, but that there was simply no place for him in this year’s operation. Mr. Thomas estimated that crowds of about 500 people attended the most successful events of the 2012 season at the Beach House.

    Before turning the Ronjo into the Beach House, Mr. Jones turned the moribund Shepherds Neck Inn and Shepherds Beach Motel, also in Montauk, into the boutique resorts Solé and Solé Beach.

    At the Beach House, the bar, along with a gift shop on the site, is the very reason that the whole question of a private club as a second usage came up. The East Hampton Town Planning Board is weighing a narrower site plan for those amenities and will continue that discussion on Wednesday evening.

    The building inspector, meanwhile, seems to be saying that if a membership club is to continue at the site, a full site plan review would be necessary. Regardless of the outcomes of either discussion, fans of the resort are not likely to stay away.

    A cold rain and a Memorial Day weekend weather forecast that looked more early March than late May was not enough to dampen the spirits of the 2,000 or so riders on the first Friday Long Island Rail Road Cannonball to ever leave from Penn Station, going nonstop to the Hamptons.

    For decades, the Cannonball, pulled by a diesel-powered locomotive, would make the trip to Montauk beginning at the Hunter’s Point station in Long Island City. The bulk of the Cannonball’s riders would board an electrically powered train in Penn Station, changing trains at Jamaica. Now the Cannonball will be pulled by an electric engine out of Penn Station, and later switched to diesel power.

    Mostly 20-somethings, with some older folk thrown in, filled the aisles and stairs of the double-decker cars on Friday, sitting on bags, suitcases, and, occasionally, each other.

    Spirits flowed freely, laughter was infectious, and the police officers stationed on the train had little to do in the way of policing.

    Deric Bradford was seated on the steps to the lower level of car three, next to his girlfriend, as he opened a bottle of wine. “It’s a nice rosé from Provence,” he said. He was headed to Bridgehampton. His Saturday night plans?  Southampton Social Club.

    “The Surf Lodge,” Jenn Nelson said of her Saturday night destination. She was headed to Montauk, as were many of the younger riders. While she loves the nightlife, she is also on a mission. “I’m launching a pop-up church.”

    Ms. Nelson is a member of the Liberty Church in Manhattan. “We decided to launch services in Montauk Sunday mornings, for people who spend summer in the Hamptons.”

    Absolut and ginger ale was the drink of choice for Tom Sadowski, who was headed to Westhampton Beach. “I’m going home after a long week in the city,” he said. He had friends coming over to ring in the season Saturday night.

    “Excuse me,” Mr. Sadowski called out, trying to get a passing conductor’s attention. The outlet he had plugged his cellphone into had suddenly gone dead. The conductor said he would check and see if anything could be done.

    “If not, just return the money for the ticket,” Mr. Sadowski said.

    A few minutes later, the conducor returned with bad news: the outlet would be dead for the rest of the trip. No refund coming.

    Alexandra Rosano and Conner Golden were bound for Montauk, seated in the fourth car’s upper deck. With luggage space at a premium, she had her weekender bag on her lap, along with her smartphone.

    Matt Doherty and Kristin Phelps were headed to their share house in what Mr. Doherty called “Hampton Springs,” near Maidstone Park.

    They’d spent the last two summers sharing a house in Westhampton. “We’re trying to get further out there towards Montauk,” Mr. Doherty said. Why? Because it is Montauk, he said. On Saturday, they’d be at “Sloppy Tuna, if it rains. Good for all ages,” he said.

    “Cyril’s for B.B.C.,” said Ms. Phelps, “banana Bailey’s colada.”

    Karoline Deutschmann was seated on the stairs by the bar in car five, holding her son, Anton, as he played a game on her smartphone. “This is my first time on the Cannonball,” she said. “If I was 23, 24, I would love it. Now?” she shrugged and smiled, “not so much.” But the rum and coke she was drinking certainly took the edge off the ride. Her husband, Andreas, was seated on the floor in the crowded vestibule on the other side of car five, a gray pug in a dog carrier next to him. “It could be worse,” he said.

    Two young Frenchmen drinking Heineken were standing in the crowded aisle, next to their girlfriends, who had managed to get seats together.

    “We came from France to see what East Hampton has to offer,” one of them said, before admitting that they were all living in New York and had been to the Hamptons before.

    Their weekend plans? “Chill and drink and go out,” the second man said. “And be merry,” the first one added.

    Chloe Bethel, headed for East Hampton, was one of the first on the train, and had found a seat next to her friends on car three. She spent some of the trip reading from her tablet.

    Normally, she stays with family, but this weekend she would stay with friends, but still visit her grandmother. She planned on “drinking, regardless, ringing in the summer.”

    Dawn Hunter spent the trip standing in the aisle, leaning against a seat, reading a paperback copy of Max Brooks’s “World War Z.” Her weekend plans? “Chilling, chilling, minding my business.”

    A few of the riders were headed to work.

    South Pointe is going to be the Southampton hotspot this year, according to Natasha Roberts, who will be working there and sharing a house in Sag Harbor with a few friends.

    Some of the more mature riders looked back on the Cannonball years past with fond memories.

    “I loved Hunter’s Point,” Lynn Friedman said.

    For some riders, boarding the Cannonball at Hunter’s Point was the commuting equivalent of a New York Nirvana, like insider trading or buying something at wholesale.

    “It was great. Not everybody knew about it,” Ms. Friedman said.

    Avoiding the crush of bodies at Jamaica by boarding at Hunter’s Point was almost an art form to Holly Peterson, a novelist, and one that she is determined to continue, albeit in a different fashion. 

    Ms. Peterson had once again made an inside score on Friday, getting her six children and herself seated together on the Cannonball for their ride to Water Mill. Her daughter Eliza was sleeping curled up on the seat next to her, head on her lap.

    “It’s like the fall of Saigon, with worse manners,” Ms. Peterson said of the mob scene boarding the Cannonball. “I felt very smug at Hunter’s Point. Now, it’s ruined.” When she arrived with her brood at Penn Station Friday, she was greeted with the same “Jamaica Station Bedlam” that she had avoided in the past.

    But, as with many a New Yorker, the skill at making the deal was the thing.

    “My strategy now is to flirt with the Long Island Rail Road guys,” she said. She succeeded, getting the inside scoop, the platform number in advance, and her family safely down onto the train before the hordes descended.

    Rich Winter took one look at the mob at Penn Station before the 4:07 p.m. departure and skipped waiting on line, instead going straight to the train, happy to pay the $6 penalty to buy his ticket on board for the trip to Westhampton.

    Tickets don’t just cost more for those who buy on board.

    In past years, the connecting train left Penn Station at 3:58 p.m., which made it off-peak. The new time makes it a peak train. Multiply the $7.25 difference in price by the approximately 2,000 passengers on board, and you come up with an additional $14,500 per Friday trip for the L.I.R.R., and the Cannonball will run on the same schedule on Thursdays.

    Friday’s train ended up 10 minutes late at its first stop in Westhampton.

    “This is distinctly un-Cannonball-ish,” said Rich Donaldson, who sat opposite Ms. Friedman on the train. Strangers when they boarded, they seemed to be friends by the end of the trip.

    The train began emptying at Westhampton and by the time it left East Hampton, its penultimate stop, the median age on board couldn’t have been more than 25.

    The bar crew for the two reserved-seating-only parlor cars at the front of the train began cleaning up. Tips had been okay, said Jerry Voltaire, one of the crew.

    Amazingly, the toilets in at least the first five cars of the train had survived, although, by their looks, just barely.

    A conductor explained that the main reason the toilets on the double-deckers tend to fail is that the flush button shorts out when pressed rapidly three times in succession, but because there is a pause between push and flush, riders often press it again, leading to frequent failures.

    The Cannonball pulled into Montauk a little before 7, greeted by a throng of taxi drivers calling out, “Taxi? Want a taxi?”

    The season had, unofficially, officially begun.

The first cannonball rolls into Penn Station on May 24.  Tom McMorrow, photos.

Like "the fall of Saigon" is how one passenger described the scene to board the train at Penn Station.

Christina Bruno and Natasha Robertson enjoy their beverages of choice on the ride out east. 

Connor Golden and Alexandra Rosano survived the cramped luggage conditions.

The stairs were as good a spot as any for Deric Bradford to enjoy a fine Provincal rose.

The crew attempted to keep everyone happy on the ride out to Montauk.

Not everyone was happy, however.

By the last stop, all of the cares of the ride and the city were forgotten.