Many South Forkers don’t take or have the time in the warmer months to visit Shelter Island and the North Fork, and many have not been there in years. Here are some ideas for a winter day-trip.

    Those who want to take the South and North Ferries across “the Rock,” as Shelter Island is called by locals, should bring a camera and cash for the fare, and they should decide how far they want to explore. If venturing only to the island, or throughout the North Fork without a loop through Riverhead, a round-trip ticket should be purchased to save money.

    A worthy excursion on Shelter Island is the Mashomack Preserve, managed by the Nature Conservancy. A short drive from the South Ferry, it encompasses a third of the island. There are 1, 3, and 11-mile trails to choose from, with some rarely seen trees, meadows, and shoreline vistas. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged.

    History buffs will find something to treasure at Sylvester Manor. Now called an educational farm, its 243 acres recently opened to the public. Monthly tours of the historic manor house began this winter. One of them, on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., is called “Life, Labor, and Liberties,” about slavery at the manor from 1653 through the Emancipation Proclamation.

    When it comes to grabbing a bite on the island, there are several year-round restaurants for all tastes and budgets. Most are conveniently located on the main road, Route 114, which goes from one ferry to the other.

    Serving breakfast and lunch at an old-fashioned counter is the Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy. Stars Cafe has healthy dishes for sit-down meals or takeout. The Islander serves all three meals seven days a week, and Sweet Tomato’s Italian restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday, with brunch and lunch on Saturdays. Fish dinners are available Thursday through Sunday at Clark’s Fish House, a recent addition, and upscale dining is offered at Vine Street Cafe, La Maison Blanche, and 18 Bay.

    A call ahead to restaurants to confirm hours is advisable, and has been requested by the waterside Dory bar and restaurant. The Eagle Deli is a takeout option for those who might want a scenic picnic at Wades or Crescent Beach.

    After February, the Shelter Island Historical Society’s Havens House will open for tours and exhibits, as will Commander Cody’s Seafood. The Cornucopia Gift Shop is open year round for browsers. Maps of the island are available almost everywhere and offer more ideas of the off-season possibilities.

    Those who plan to explore only Greenport can now take advantage of free parking at the North Ferry. You can board as a walk-on passenger for $2 each way and explore the village by foot. (Having a really good time? Be warned: The North Ferry’s last boat leaves the dock at midnight.)

    Upon arrival in Greenport, on the left is the Long Island Rail Road station. Trains still run to the village, but on a limited schedule. They started arriving in 1844, assisting in the development of farming on the North Fork. Greenport would come to be known for its whaling, oysters, shipbuilding, and fishing. During Prohibition, it was a thriving center for rum-running. Visible reminders of the past can be found all over.

    The newer Greenport Harbor Brewing Company, which will soon move to an expanded location farther west on the fork, welcomes visitors. Adult beverages are also served at a range of watering holes, from the saloon-style Whiskey Wind to the more upscale Noah’s or Cuvee Bar and Grill within the Greenporter Hotel, which is kicking off a happy hour called Winterfest Bites on weekends beginning tomorrow. It offers dinner and accommodation specials as well.

    A favorite among the little ones is an antique carousel in the revitalized Mitchell Park on the waterfront. It was built in 1920 and donated to the village by the Northrop-Grumman Corporation in 1995. Rides cost $2, and for extra fun kids on the outside horses can try to grab brass rings as they pass.

    The park also boasts an ice-skating rink, with $5 skate rentals and unlimited loops around the rink for $7 for those under 18 on weekends, $3 midweek. For adults, it’s $10 on weekends, $5 midweek. The carousel and skating rink will be open from at least 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. all week during winter break. The rink is open from 3 to 5 p.m. most school days.

    Next door to the rink, Aldo’s Coffee is a favorite warm-up spot, offering hand-roasted and brewed coffee, handmade hot chocolate, and melt-in-your-mouth homemade scones. There are numerous restaurants to choose from in the maritime village, including the North Fork Oyster Company and First and South, which are not highly visible but within walking distance.

    An agenda-free trip along Route 25 or Route 48, which runs parallel, will lead to farm stands, wineries, and boutiques. In Mattituck, Love Lane is surely worth a stop. The Village Cheese Shop is a sure thing for those with a taste for fondue, the Love Lane Sweet Shoppe is a must for gifts and sweets. Across the way is the newly opened BookHampton and Love Lane Kitchen, open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and its own roasted coffee. Mattituck Cinemas is in a nearby shopping center on Route 25, and Tony’s Asian Fusion offers happy hour specials on sushi as well as beer and cocktails.

    More event listings can be found online at northforkchamberofcommerce. org and greenportvillage.com.

    After months of speculation about his absence, Charles Soriano, the principal of East Hampton Middle School, finally returned to work on Monday morning.

    He had been out on extended medical leave since early November.

    “It feels great and I’m so excited to be back,” Dr. Soriano said, when reached by telephone Tuesday morning. “Tom and I have been in contact all along, and so far, it’s been an easy and smooth transition,” he said, referring to Thomas Lamorgese, who had been the interim principal since mid-November.

    Dr. Lamorgese retired from the district in 2011 after serving as principal of both the middle school and John M. Marshall Elementary School. Friday was his last day.

    Friday evening, Richard J. Burns, the district superintendent, sent out an e-mail to teachers and staff at the middle school, informing them that Dr. Soriano would return on Monday. But despite alerting teachers and staff, his return caught many parents and students by surprise.

    “I heard from another parent that he was back on Monday,” said Ashley Blackburn, who teaches kindergarten at the Amagansett School. Her son attends seventh grade at the middle school. When she drove her son to school the next day, she saw him “standing out front and waving to the kids, which I hadn’t seen before.”

    East Hampton Middle School has cycled through three principals in as many years, and through Dr. Soriano’s prolonged absence parents had grown increasingly reliant on e-mails that often function as their primary — and only — conduit of information during a school year some described as chaotic and unstable. Many are hoping that along with Dr. Soriano’s return, the school might regain its footing.

    “Everything seems to be fine. Everything seems to be running well,” said Jody Kalafut, a former vice president of the school’s PTA.

    On Nov. 11, Dr. Soriano sent a note to the school’s Google group, which includes middle school parents, teachers, and staff, updating them on the status of his health. In it, he said that “my doctors have determined that my debilitating cardiac and neurological symptoms are caused by Lyme disease, which is now being treated aggressively with I.V. drip antibiotics.”

    Dr. Soriano was originally expected to return following the Martin Luther King holiday earlier this month. Nearly two weeks ago, he sent out an e-mail to staff and parents alerting them of his need to extend his medical leave until Jan. 25, saying that he looked forward to returning “as soon as my doctor gives me the green light.”

    This week, Dr. Soriano further clarified the reason behind his extended absence. “I was treated for nine weeks for Lyme with strong antibiotics,” he said. Then, “two independent infectious disease specialists that work on Lyme determined that I never had Lyme. Those antibiotics made me very ill and why I was feeling sick wasn’t being addressed. I was frustrated because I wasn’t getting better.”

    “More follow-up with doctors is still required,” he said, “but they strongly believe I have an orthostatic intolerance. It can cause an increase in heart rate and it affects my blood pressure and I can get symptoms.”

    Following his new diagnosis, Dr. Soriano said that he is now taking a beta blocker, a prescription medication that helps to regulate and control an individual’s heart rate.

    “It’s more common than people think,” he said. “I feel good.”

    At the Jan. 22 East Hampton School Board meeting, several parents were befuddled that the issue of the middle school’s leadership failed to appear on the agenda. A late-added resolution to the superintendent’s report, which had not appeared on the original agenda, later received the board’s unanimous approval.

    The approved resolution authorized Mr. Burns to “undertake a review of the matter of the status of the middle school principalship in relation to establishing and assuring that the necessary continuity of leadership can be established for the remaining 2012-2013 school year.” Mr. Burns is to report back to the board at the next meeting, on Tuesday, with his recommendations.

    The Southampton Kiwanis Club’s annual celebration honoring the East End’s top cops was held on Friday with a dinner and ceremony in Apaquogue. The evening culminated with the naming of East Hampton Town Det. Tina Giles as the East End’s Officer of the Year.

    Ms. Giles is the first woman ever to receive the Howard Stock Memorial Award in its 43 years of being given. She was cited for her pivotal role in the arrest of Fidel Castro-Brito last April, on charges of sexually abusing girls as young as 9 or 10. After the arrest, Detective Giles continued the investigation, which ended with 70 additional charges being pressed.

    Fifteen police departments on the North and South Forks are considered for the Stock Award. This was the second time in the past three years that it was given to an East Hampton Town officer. Det. Earl Hopson was cited in 2010 for his work fighting narcotics crime.

    Locally, along with Ms. Giles, Officer Mario Galeano of the East Hampton Village Police and David Driscoll of the Sag Harbor force were cited by their departments for excellence in service.

    “It was cutting-edge, when [Ms. Giles] got hired, I think in 1986,” East Hampton Town Chief Edward Ecker said on Monday. “In eastern Suffolk there weren’t many women, probably a handful of women in police work at the time. She was the first woman detective. She has always been very productive, community-oriented.”

    Reminded that Detective Giles is contemplating retirement, the chief groaned. “I don’t want to think about it,” he said. “She is a seasoned veteran who has done a fantastic job for you. She’ll be sorely missed whenever she decides to go.”

    “I don’t think I deserve so much attention. The community itself deserves the attention,” Officer Galeano said. He was cited for an investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of Kleber Sigcha of East Hampton on the charge of raping a minor.

    Both Mr. Galeano and Ms. Giles speak Spanish, something that Officer Galeano feels is essential in East Hampton, with its changing demographics. “Sometimes we have cases where it’s hard to solve them,” Mr. Galeano said, “but someone talking in Spanish helps them, takes it to a different level . . . instead of having a third person, a third party translate for you, and translate back to the police officer. Having us around makes it easier. One, we already know what we’re talking about. Two, we build a communication with this person, we build a trust. We are able to see them face to face. Plus, it helps the community.”

    Sag Harbor Chief Tom Fabiano lauded Officer Driscoll, citing his initiative during Operation Nite-Cap, a countywide program that sent officers to different jurisdictions to patrol for drunken drivers.

    Officer Driscoll is the kind of officer who “sees something and takes action,” said Chief Fabiano.

    Mark Crandall, who has for the past 18 years used sport — basketball, soccer, and chess — as a means through which to reach at-risk youngsters in southern Africa, has recently imported Hoops 4 Hope and Soccer 4 Hope’s model to the Inuits in Canada’s arctic region.

    Though it’s far more isolated and colder (January’s average is minus 40) in the small Hudson Bay fishing village of Arviat, where the Amagansetter spent a week last month, than in Africa, “the first nation’s” children are no less subject to the temptations and painful consequences that attend modern society than their peers in Harare, Cape Town, or, for that matter, East Hampton.

    Crandall and Hoops 4 Hope’s Canadian volunteer director, Rick Gill, a former professional basketball player from Vancouver, are engaged in a six-month pilot project in the territory of Nunavut, having been invited there following a televised report aired during the time of the World Cup that praised Soccer 4 Hope’s work with youngsters in Cape Town’s townships. That work led to a large grant from the German government, which Crandall used to great advantage, but he has yet, after all these years, to receive the day-in, day-out support that Hoops and Soccer 4 Hope need. The “accolades” have been many. Luol Deng, the Chicago Bulls Senegalese star, has given Hoops 4 Hope clinics in Cape Town, Gill’s Canadian wing has sent to southern Africa three huge shipping containers filled with thousands of sneakers, uniforms, and basketballs, at a cost of $10,000 each, a Hoops 4 Hope alum is playing professional basketball in Germany, three young peer educator-coaches recently participated in United Nations-run camps in Switzerland and Germany, and Crandall has been interviewed concerning his work by The Huffington Post. . . . Yet the sport-mentoring organization is always playing catch-up. “I’m known as the recycled sneaker guy,” the youth mentor said wryly, adding, “we’re still operating on a shoestring.”

    The key, Crandall said, is to train a sufficient number of peer educator-coaches in Canada’s far reaches so that Hoops 4 Hope’s life skills curriculums aimed at developing young leaders may become “sustainable.” He has strong community backing in the some 140 Zimbabwean and South African schools and communities where Hoops 4 Hope and Soccer 4 Hope have taken hold and have touched the lives of 10,000 children, thanks largely to volunteer help, “but we don’t have enough basketballs, and we have to ration the sneakers we get. I’ve had a shipment of sneakers sitting here for three years because we don’t have the $10,000 to get them to Africa.” In contrast, the Canadian government has seen to it that there are plenty of basketballs in the sparsely populated arctic region’s schools, though the children, who are falling prey to modern society’s blandishments, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, and gambling among them, are sorely in need of social mentoring. The teen suicide rate there is very high. “There are life and death issues in Arviat, just as there are here and in southern Africa, that must be addressed.”

    Crandall’s upbringing here set him on his vocational path. “I had Little League, Biddy basketball, and Dick Baker and Mr. [Jim] Stewart as mentors. Sports happen here because we have the physical-education teachers, the super dads, the fire departments, and all the equipment we need. I’ve taken this love of sports to where sports don’t just happen. It doesn’t just happen, because the first person you need is a coach, and a coach needs space, basketballs, soccer balls, equipment, uniforms, and a team needs a team to play against. Hoops 4 Hope and Soccer 4 Hope have been doing all of that, using sport as a way to educate children concerning life and death issues, about sex and H.I.V.-AIDS, drugs, and alcohol, but as soon as it’s turned off, it won’t happen. It needs to be sustainable, programs like ours need to grow from the bottom up, not from the top down.”

    “First and foremost, I’m an athlete,” Crandall continued. “But I studied sociology, and developed a way to solve social problems through sports. ‘Development through sport’ is our motto. Going to the arctic has helped me press ‘reset,’ in a way, and to realize how powerful this model is and how needed it is, not only in the developing world, but in East Hampton too.”

    Arviat, he said, in answer to a question, was a village of about 3,000 on the western side of Hudson Bay, about 1,000 miles north of Winnipeg. “Until not long ago, the Inuits were a nomadic people with a beautiful culture, but the Western lifestyle has intruded. You can’t fault fourth graders for becoming addicted to tobacco — chewing tobacco comes in vanilla and cherry flavors — when tobacco use is harder to quit than heroin. Theirs is a pure genetic line, and they are just as allergic to alcohol as to tobacco. There’s no H.I.V.-AIDS there . . . yet; the world’s become a very small place. One hundred and 12 babies were born there last year, a high number. Babies are having babies, kids drop out of school, and there are not many jobs. . . . It’s a very complex social situation, they’re isolated, and the communities are very far apart.”

    “You’ve got to start with the kids and give them ways to understand why things are happening the way they are so they can make informed decisions. Why is a 12-year-old driven to try to commit suicide with a shoestring? Why does he get to that point? We want to create a place so that he knows he’s not alone in the world. You need to talk about these traumatic situations and why they happen — in East Hampton and Cape Town and Harare as well as in Arviat.”

    “There are highly educated, incentivized ‘southerners,’ teachers from the Canadian provinces who are trying to solve these social problems, but there’s a linguistic wall, and sometimes these teachers leave. That’s why we were invited to come up. Our primary job during this six-month pilot project is to train young peer educators, the role models who will carry on the work, who will not only teach kids athletic skills, but who will also facilitate discussions that others are not having with them, create trust, and give positive feedback so that when these middle schoolers get into the game — when they’ve got to make decisions concerning alcohol, sex, and other issues — they’ll make prudent ones. . . . When you jump out of a plane, you want to be sure you’ve buckled up.”

    The failure to find a hefty bill in one’s mail would not be a cause for dismay, one might think, but in the case of East Hampton Town property tax bills, a number of which appear to have gone missing in the mail, the missing bills have caused consternation among residents in danger of incurring penalties for paying late, or losing the opportunity to claim property taxes as a deduction on their 2012 tax returns.

    Payments of the first half of 2102-13 property taxes were due on January 10, and property owners are responsible for paying up on time regardless of whether a notice is received. Tax bills are, however, drawn up and mailed out in mid-December, a process that was followed this year, before something apparently went wrong.

    Just what might have happened — and how to avoid its occurrence in the future — was discussed at an East Hampton Town Board meeting on Tuesday.

    Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson apologized to affected property owners on behalf of the town, “even though the tax receiver’s office made accommodations,” he said. “Even though I’m told that it’s every resident and taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure they get their payments in, regardless of whether they get a bill or not.”

    In order to help those who did not receive tax bills, the town tax receiver’s office, led by Monica Rottach, the appointed tax receiver, e-mailed, faxed, and provided taxes due information to property owners by phone. For those who came in to the office, they printed out new bills on the spot.

    “That being said, we have 20,000, 22,000 bills we send out, and we’re here to uncover what took place so history doesn’t repeat itself,” Mr. Wilkinson said Tuesday. The number of people who paid their taxes late — 1,400, according to Len Bernard, the town budget officer — is 50 percent higher than last year, Mr. Wilkinson said. “Something changed.”

    In the “worst-case scenario,” Mr. Bernard told the board, 800 to 900 property owners could have been affected. However, that number, derived by analyzing the number of late payments and other factors, could actually be far fewer, once other variables, such as other reasons for late payments, are factored in.

    Town board members said they had heard from several bill-less constituents, and several have written letters to The East Hampton Star complaining that they did not receive a bill. Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said he was among those who didn’t get that particular piece of mail.

    Every year, said Mr. Bernard, a number of bills are returned as undeliverable, because, for instance, the property owner’s address on file with the town is outdated and they lack a forwarding address. This time around 650 bills were returned.

    But, he said, “What we do know is there are bills that were not received by people whose addresses didn’t change, whose mortgages didn’t change.”

    Mr. Bernard provided an overview of the billing process to the board, which, he said, is dictated by legal deadlines and benchmarks.

    “We cannot do anything until the county adopts the tax warrant for all the towns in the county,” he said. That takes place at the first meeting of the County Legislature in December, he said.

    Once the warrant is adopted, the town can begin a weeklong process of checking to make sure that the property tax bills will equal the warrant “to the penny,” Mr. Bernard said. Then a two or three-day task of printing out the bills begins.

    It is not until mid-December that the town can hand over the bills to Design Distributors, a Deer Park company that folds them, places them in envelopes, and mails them out.

    Ms. Rottach said that about 21,000 tax bills were printed. The town has some 24,000 individual parcels of land, she said, though not all pay taxes. Some bills are mailed directly by the town.

    On Dec. 19, she said, Design Distributors was given 17,857 bills. The others were mailed that day at the East Hampton Post Office. There were few problems, if any, with the bills mailed here in town.

    According to Adam Avrick, the president of Design Distributors, who attended Tuesday’s meeting to help town officials with their forensic review, the company picked up printed bills from the town on Dec. 14 and spent two days folding and inserting them into envelopes. They were then picked up by a postal worker, and a count performed to verify all the bills were there. A postal supervisor personally observed as the mail was put into the system at the Postal Service’s Mid-Island Processing and Distribution facility in Hicksville.

    “This is actually handled with kid gloves,” Mr. Avrick said. “It’s handled differently” from other mail, he said. But, he added, “there are specific instances where mail gets waylaid, or gets put on a skid and sent to a different place. It’s rare, but it does take place.”

    “I think it’s pretty clear that something happened to those bills in the mail,” Mr. Bernard said. “The bills got to the post office, and the bills got in the postal system, and from there something happened.”

    Southampton Town had a similar problem, he said. Although it uses a different mail distributor, Southampton’s bills were also taken to the same postal distribution center. “I think that’s more than a coincidence,” Mr. Bernard said.

    Mike Robinson, the East Hampton postmaster, was also on hand at the meeting. He said he started looking into the situation toward the end of December, when he started getting complaints from residents about missing tax bills, and said that faulty addresses seemed to be the problem. However, he could tell that some of the mailed bills, which did eventually show up, had gone through the system more than once, because marks indicated several readings by machines of the barcodes on the envelopes.

    “I’m sure there’s a percentage where the machine may have ‘burped,’ ” he said, “but the larger percentage is human error on the part of the taxpayer; that’s what I saw.”

    “I think the tax receiver handled it very well,” Mr. Bernard said of the response to the problem. “And the [tax] collection at this point is equivalent to last year.”

    With plenty of data already collected on noise from aircraft using East Hampton Airport, a consultant said Tuesday that East Hampton Town is well positioned to begin a process that could lead within 18 months to two years to enacting restrictions on airport use by helicopters or noisy jets — for a $1.5 million to $2 million price tag.

    Ted Baldwin, a senior vice president with the environmental consulting firm Harris, Miller, Miller, and Hanson, told the East Hampton Town Board that pursuing approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for rules designed to decrease noise through a process called a Part 161 study could bring a positive outcome, even if it falls short of achieving a full go-ahead from the F.A.A. Noise has been a long-lived subject of discussion and complaint, particularly as more weekends are bookended by a stream of helicopters landing and taking off.

    The procedure itself, which entails specifically defining the noise problem before proposing a tailored fix, could lead to a negotiated agreement with user groups, such as the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, through which the town could achieve its goals, Mr. Baldwin said.

    East Hampton, with its geography, demographics, and proximity to the metropolitan area — far enough that visitors seek a way to bypass driving, but too close, perhaps, for travel by planes other than helicopters — is unique among municipal airports across the country, Jim Brundige, the airport manager, told the board. “There are only a handful of airports that have a helicopter problem,” he said. “We’re probably the poster child for that.”

    Mr. Baldwin and Peter Kirsch, an aviation attorney who has been working with a team of consultants for the town, asked town board members to decide how to proceed on the Part 161 study and other matters.

    “We have the data sources we need; we’ve been collecting the data long enough that it’s useful,” Mr. Baldwin said. The next step would be to integrate the data from various sources, he said. He estimated that would cost the town $500,000.

    “What’s the degree of success on a $2 million investment?” Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson asked.

    The more narrowly the town defines its noise problem and targets it with proposed regulations, the better the chance of earning the F.A.A.’s okay, Mr. Kirsch said.

    The potential for costly litigation challenging the town’s actions would also decrease, he said. Defending a lawsuit “will be expensive,” the attorney said.

    Using an extreme example, he said if town officials decide to pursue something like closing the airport altogether on weekends, the process of making a case for that decision would be costly, and success unlikely.

    With airport noise long an issue, Mr. Baldwin described how the consultants have been involved with the town since 2003 or ’04. Noise data collection systems have been installed, and aircraft operators have been asked to adhere to a series of voluntary regulations. “We’re really far along,” he said.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said, initially, that she would support having Mr. Baldwin work on the next step. “Unless we find that $500,000 the last nine years have been for naught,” she said. “Because if we want to get some control over the airport, this is the way we can get it, unless we stop accepting F.A.A. money.”

    Whether the town should seek to free itself from some agreements with the F.A.A. on how the airport is run by eschewing further federal airport grants has long been debated. Some agreements, or “grant assurances,” are soon to expire, but the town board voted to proceed with a new grant request for an airport perimeter fence, which would extend the agreement. The F.A.A. has requested the board pass a resolution stating its resolve to proceed with that project before processing the application.

    Either way, Mr. Kirsch has told the board, some federal airport rules would be maintained, requiring the town to justify its actions should use restrictions be proposed. How much easier that might be than following the Part 161 procedure has been debated.

    Ms. Quigley said she does not think spurning F.A.A. money is a viable option. “That is based on my assumption that this process will give us relief on the noise,” she said. “If that isn’t the case, then I would reassess my statement on F.A.A. funds.”

    Later in the meeting, however, Ms. Quigley reversed herself. “I don’t want to spend any money,” she said, upon learning that the town does not have control over routes used by aircraft flying into and out of the airport.

    The board was discussing community complaints generated when the suggested route was changed last summer following a meeting among Mr. Brundige, Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the airport’s seasonal control tower operators, and pilots. Ms. Quigley and Mr. Wilkinson have continually criticized Mr. Stanzione for not involving the entire board in the decision making.

    The town has liability for accidents, said Ms. Quigley, a lawyer, and so elected officials should make the route decisions.

    At the meeting Tuesday, Mr. Brundige described the meeting and resultant agreement as routine, and among his duties as airport manager.

    “Jim, Jim, Jim, it’s admirable of you to fall on your sword,” Mr. Wilkinson told him. Nonetheless, he said, the whole town board should be making decisions about aircraft routing. Mr. Stanzione said that “in retrospect, I should have involved the board.”

    But both Mr. Kirsch and Jeff Smith, the Eastern Region Helicopter Council chairman, explained how the town, as airport proprietor, is responsible for operations on the ground, but has no jurisdiction over airspace, nor liability for what happens there.

    “You have to understand, the airspace is owned by the F.A.A.,” Mr. Smith said. Pilots answer to that agency, but may follow suggestions from the airport operator if possible while complying with F.A.A. requirements. “It’s a voluntary agreement,” he said.

    “You can take ownership, or not take ownership,” he told the board. But, he added, echoing the opinion of Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who warned of the danger of politicizing decisions over flight routes, “it’s very difficult for an elected body to jump in and decide whose house we’re going to fly over, and whose house we’re not going to fly over.”

    In that case, Ms. Quigley said, repeating a suggestion both she and the supervisor have already made, the town should “get rid of the asset. If indeed this has nothing to do with us, then quite frankly I have nothing to do with it.”

    Expectations are high this weekend not only for snowfall, but for crowds flocking to bask in the joy of indoor and outdoor fun at the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce’s annual HarborFrost celebration. Building on last year’s success and good turnout, Kelly Connaughton, the chamber’s newly elected president, added new events this year.

    Muse in the Harbor, which opened in the village during last year’s HarborFrost, will celebrate its first anniversary and HarborFrost with a fund-raiser for the chamber tomorrow from 6 to 10 p.m. An open bar, all-you-can-eat hors d’oeuvres, and entertainment by D.J. Twilo will be offered for $75, and $65 for Sag Harbor Chamber members. Tickets are available online at sagharborchamber.com.

    Frosty activities, including an ice carving demonstration, will begin at noon on Saturday on Long Wharf. Docked at the wharf will be a Coast Guard 47-foot lifeboat on which tours and a cold-water rescue demonstration will take place through 1:30 p.m.

    Those who dare to take the annual frosty plunge can register beginning at 12:30 p.m., with the dip in the bay scheduled for 1:30 p.m. A $20 donation for those taking part will benefit the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

    An additional outdoor recreational activity added this year is an Icebreaker Laser Sailboat Regatta, leaving the Breakwater Yacht Club at 1 p.m., when multiple races can be viewed at no charge from Long Wharf or Windmill Beach.

    Those hungry for lunch, music, and charity might consider a culinary stroll, organized annually by Charlie Canavan’s Hysterical Society, with small bites and a cash bar at four different restaurants, accompanied by live music by the New Dawn Trio. The $40 tour will begin at 1:30 at Il Cappuccino on Madison Street. Proceeds from the event will benefit a local resident in need.

    Outdoor theater in the form of a “Zima: Treasure Hunt” will offer riddle-solving for all ages. The mystery will begin at the Civil War Monument at the intersection of Main and Madison Streets, and continue from 2 to 4 p.m.

    Also new this year is a free, guided village art walk beginning 3 p.m. with hot cider and a brief talk at the Grenning Gallery on Washington Street and continuing to the Monika Olka Gallery, Christie’s Building Art Center, Hooke Sculpture Gallery, Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery, Tulla Booth Gallery, Romany Kramoris Gallery, and, finally, the Sag Harbor Fine Arts Center, where there will be a marshmallow roast and live music.

    There will be free live music in the afternoon at various local businesses. Leroy Klavis will play acoustic guitar at the Corner Bar at noon. At 1 p.m., Ada Rovatti will play jazz saxophone and piano at the American Hotel. Sarah Hartman will perform original songs at 2 p.m. at the Grenning Gallery. Suzy on the Rocks will play at the same time at Christ Episcopal Church in a free concert that is not connected with HarborFrost.

    Cassandra House will perform with percussion at 3 p.m. at GeekHampton on Bay Street, and at 3:30, Bryan Duffy will play at the Sag Harbor Fine Arts Center, followed by Mariann Megna on acoustic guitar at 4:30 p.m.

    Throughout the day, those looking for warmth, shelter, and a beverage may pop into the Bay Street Theatre, where cartoons will play on the big screen, music in the lobby, and a cash bar will be open from noon to 4 p.m.

    Fiery Sensations spin and twirl fiery props beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Long Wharf in advance of a Grucci fireworks display at 6:15, also viewable from the pier.

    A Mardi Gras Ball, also not an official part of HarborFrost, will be held at the Bay Street Theatre at 8 p.m. featuring live music from both Joe Lauro’s New Orleans-style band, Hoodoo Loungers, and Gene Casey and the Lone Sharks. Tickets are $15 in advance at baystreet.org or $25 at the door.

    On Sunday morning, comfort food can be taken at a pancake breakfast to support the Sag Harbor Junior Fire Department from 8 a.m. to noon at the firehouse on Brick Kiln Road. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for kids.

    An easy-paced, two-mile hike on Sunday from 10 to 11 a.m. will follow the old railroad spur trail used long ago to transport ice from the ponds to the New York City rail line. The meeting place is Mashashimuet Park.

    There may be nine months to go before Election Day, but already in East Hampton Town, Republicans are close to firming up their slate and Democrats are gearing up for serious deliberations over who will get the top spots on their ticket.

    Incumbents will step down from some key positions at Town Hall at the end of the year, opening the field to new faces or familiar ones in different roles.

    County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, who was twice elected town supervisor under the Republican banner, is considering a Town Hall comeback, again with Republican support. As of this week, he was the only one the East Hampton Town Republican Committee had interviewed for that position, according to the committee’s chairman, Kurt Kappel. Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who has not yet said whether he is considering another run, “knew there was a screening and he didn’t show up,” Mr. Kappel said Tuesday. “Screening is a very important part of the process.”

    “Jay wants to be supervisor of East Hampton, and he said, ‘I will set the standard of how to campaign,’ ” Mr. Kappel said. “He was there before. He knows the job.”

    As a legislator, “it’s been a good run,” said Mr. Schneiderman, who is in his fifth term with the county and can run for one final term. He has accomplished a lot of what he set out to do at the county level, including widening County Road 39, getting the county buses to run on Sundays, and getting his district its fair share of county sales tax, he said, but “there are a lot of things on the local level I feel I could play a helpful role in solving.” The town needs “somebody who can pull the community together, be bipartisan, and look out for the community’s broader interest.”

    “I’m still waiting to hear what Supervisor Wilkinson is doing,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “I’m assuming he’s not going to run for re-election because he hasn’t indicated that he is. I want to see what his intentions are.” In the meantime, Mr. Schneiderman said he is keeping his options open as he weighs whether to run to keep his seat or to take back his old job, and even, perhaps, to look at Albany or Washington.

    Although he would love to run at some point for higher office, he said he likes working on the local level because “you can really have an impact on people’s lives. . . . With each step up is also a step further away from home, from the people you know, from friends and community. As a supervisor you really get to interact with people in a very close way, a very direct way.”

    Democrats screen hopeful candidates and announce their slate later than East Hampton’s G.O.P. However, Larry Cantwell, the soon-to-retire East Hampton Village administrator and a former town councilman, is the name that comes up most often as the Democrats’ likely choice for supervisor. Zachary Cohen, who lost to Mr. Wilkinson by just 15 votes in 2011, and Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc are also in the mix for the supervisor slot.

    Mr. Cantwell said yesterday that he hasn’t made a final decision on whether to run, but added, “I think it would be good for East Hampton to have a serious debate about the issues. East Hampton is facing some serious issues. Coastal erosion, nitrogen loading into the groundwater, the airport — these are serious issues that are going to affect the future of East Hampton for a long time.”

    The G.O.P. screened potential candidates for supervisor, highway superintendent, and town trustee on Jan. 29 and will screen for town board, justice, town clerk, assessor, and additional trustees on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the American Legion in Amagansett. Democrats have put out the call for interested candidates but will not begin the interview process until later this month, said Betty Mazur, chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democrats’ screening committee.

    Republican Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said several weeks ago that she would not seek re-election to a second term. And Fred Overton, the town clerk, will not run to keep that job, but is instead lining up for a town councilman candidacy alongside the incumbent Republican Councilman Dominick Stanzione. Although Mr. Stanzione had come under heavy fire last year from some members of the Republican Committee, he seems to be in favor now with the committee as a whole. Mr. Overton has told the G.O.P. he’s interested in running for councilman, Mr. Kappel said, and Carol Brennan, the deputy town clerk for many years, has approached the Republicans about running to take Mr. Overton’s spot.

    “I think there’s support for Dominick . . . and Fred, and we’re going to see who’s going to screen,” Mr. Kappel said.

    Highway Superintendent Steve Lynch has paved a smooth road back to the Republican ticket this fall and has strong support for a second term. Most of the Republicans’ incumbent town trustees want to keep their seats and have been interviewed already, the chairman said. Lynn Mendelman will not run again. Deborah Klughers, elected as a Democrat, asked to be interviewed by the Republicans, according to the chairman.

    Likewise, Mr. Schneiderman, who is a member of the Independence Party, expressed interest in being interviewed by the Democrats as well, Ms. Mazur said. Mr. Kappel said Mr. Cohen had approached Republicans to be interviewed, but had not followed through.

    The full Republican Committee interviews potential candidates and then votes as a body on the final selection. East Hampton Democrats follow a different process, with a smaller screening committee first meeting with interested candidates, and that group’s recommendations going to the full Democratic Committee for a vote.

    “We set up appointments and screen each person individually,” Ms. Mazur explained. “It’s a deliberate process. It’s not speedy, but it’s thorough.”

    The Beach House, Montauk’s season-old seasonal resort, appeared to have weathered a storm at an East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on Tuesday night. Under a court precedent cited by its attorney, Andy Hammer, it may turn out to be the first of a new wave of motels and hotels throughout the town allowed to have expanded accessory uses, including bars open to people who are not guests. The Beach House itself, however, may still face another obstacle.

    Tuesday’s hearing was on an appeal by the resort’s owners, Chris Jones and Lawrence Siedlick, challenging a determination last July by the town’s head building inspector, Tom Preiato. Mr. Preiato ruled that its poolside bar, which serves the general public, required site plan approval from the town planning board as well as a building permit, neither of which had been obtained. In Mr. Preiato’s opinion, the bar was a pre-existing, nonconforming use that was limited to the hotel’s guests. He also found that the conversion of a shed on the property to a gift shop, also without permits, was an illegal expansion.

    The Beach House is allowed to provide transient accommodations, even though they do not conform to the area’s zoning, because the former motel there, the Ronjo, pre-existed the code. The code requires overall site plan review of any expansion. In addition to the question of whether the bar being open to the public for drinks last summer constituted an expansion; live music and D.J.s were on hand.

    In a presentation, Mr. Hammer threw the town code into question by citing two New York State Appellate Court decisions. In Gauthier v. the Village of Larchmont, a decision dated July 8, 1968, upheld a lower court decision that a hotel in Larchmont, similar in status to the Beach House as a pre-existing, nonconforming business, could not be prevented from opening a bar to serve the public. The court held that was not an expansion of use, stating, “Clearly, the service of liquor refreshment is inseparable from a modern hotel and as a matter of law a bar therein is an accessory use.”

    The second case cited by Mr. Hammer, dated March 28, 1950, appears to cover the shed now being run as a Beach House gift shop. The decision, in 140 Riverside Drive v. Murdock,  states, Mr. Hammer said, that a hotel is entitled to run a “candy, tobacco, and newspaper counter” as an accessory to its operation.

    Mr. Hammer also said that Section 1184 of the town code recognizes a bar or gift shop as an accessory hotel use. “That has always been in the code,” he said.

    Toward the end of the hour-and-a-half hearing, Mr. Jones addressed the board. The shed, which was partly reconstructed last year, is barely big enough to step into, he said, and sells amenities and gift items.

    “If you saw the revenue that came out of the store last year, I don’t think it would qualify as a hobby,” he said, meaning that it was not a separate entity.

    Mr. Hammer, when asked after the hearing if the case law cited meant that any hotel in town could open a bar, said  each case would be different and other elements would have to be considered.

    Mr. Preiato was also at the hearing. Quizzed about whether the bar and gift shop should have triggered overall site plan review, Mr. Preiato stood by his July determination that they should have. Mr. Hammer responded that the case law he had cited contradicted Mr. Preiato’s opinion.

    One point that all the participants in the hearing seemed to agree on was that the bar and gift shop had required building permits.

    “While the bar may be sound, that has to be demonstrated to me,” Mr. Preiato said.

    “Were these afterthoughts?” Sharon McCobb, one of the panel’s members, asked Mr. Jones. “Tom Preiato made a point that these [structures] weren’t on the original plans,” she said.

    “We genuinely apologize for that,” Mr. Jones said. “When we purchased the property, we had such a behemoth project,” he said, with applications to the architectural review board as well as the planning board necessary before the Beach  House could open last year in time for the summer season.

    While a favorable ruling from the board would mean the Beach House did not have to undergo overall site plan review with regard to the bar and gift shop, such review could nevertheless be required by what has been called the “private club” aspect of the business.

    The Beach House advertises a private beach and pool club on its Web site.            Among the benefits promised members are discounted room reservations, 120 canopy beds, and discounted daytime food and beverages.

    Under the town code, a private club is a defined as owned and operated by a not-for-profit organization, however.

    Whether the Beach House’s private club is a separate, expanded use, is “an issue that needs to be looked at by the Building Department,” Robert Connelly, the Z.B.A.’s attorney, said. If so, overall site plan review would be necessary.

    The Z.B.A. is expected to render its decision within the next 62 days.

    With about 320 miles of road in the town highway system, maintenance is a constant item on East Hampton Town Highway Superintendent Steve Lynch’s to-do list.

    This week, midway through a potentially pothole-producing winter, Mr. Lynch said that, despite budget and staffing cuts, and a fall repaving program that had to be suspended because of sub-par work by a paving contractor, he feels like he is getting a leg up on the task. Preventive maintenance, such as quickly sealing cracks that would allow water to seep in and undermine roads, has been key, Mr. Lynch said.

    The goal for the roads, he said, is to “keep the good ones good, and keep pecking away at the bad ones.” A fairly gentle winter, so far, might have helped this year; Mr. Lynch said he has not received many complaints about the state of the roads.

    In the years before he took office at the beginning of 2012, the Highway Department was repaving only about three to four miles of town road a year, Mr. Lynch said. His goal has been 12 miles.

    Last year’s repaving efforts fell short, with “probably six or seven miles done,” Mr. Lynch said, because the poor quality of pavement being laid down led him to pull the plug on an outside company’s work, and begin efforts to have them redo the roads so as to meet engineering standards. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, focusing the Highway Department’s attention on clearing roads of debris, and the weather turned too cold for paving.

    With the $925,000 for repaving in this year’s Highway Department budget by the town board, nine miles of road can be repaved in 2013, Mr. Lynch said.

    Before a vote on the budget last fall, the town’s budget and finance advisory committee had recommended increasing the allocation for paving by 40 percent, to $1.4 million, so that more repaving could be done, but the budget was passed with the repaving amounts remaining as originally drafted by Supervisor Bill Wilkinson.

    The advisers also recommended the purchase of a pavement management program that, after the input of data about the town’s roads, could help Mr. Lynch develop a long-range plan for scheduled maintenance and repair.

    In a memo and presentation to the town board, the committee had said the additional funding was needed for a “catch-up plan” to address years of inadequate roadwork, as well as to maintain the level of funding needed to repair town roads at a rate equal to that of their deterioration. They said approximately 14 miles of road must be addressed per year, based on an expected span of 20 years between the need for a fix.

    Bonnie Krupinski, a member of the committee, told the board that the cost of bringing neglected roads up to snuff could reach $25 to $30 million over the next few years.

    The town board is expected to begin drafting this year’s capital budget in the coming weeks. Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, the town board’s liaison to the Highway Department, said Tuesday that he supports including both the purchase of the pavement management system and more money for road paving. Money for capital projects is raised by issuing bonds, adding to the town’s long-term debt.

    But, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, instituting an organized repaving system with the assistance of a computer program will allow the Highway Superintendent to “calculate which roads, given their condition,” need attention, and when, and to determine “what’s the best allocation of resources. I think it’s going to aid us in making the right choices,” he said.

    Mr. Lynch said he expects both capital budget items to pass muster with the full town board. The inclusion of $250,000 for repaving in the upcoming capital budget, added to $250,000 for paving already listed in the capital spending plan, and the annual repaving allocation in the Highway Department’s budget, would mean almost $1.5 million for repaving, he said. With that, Mr. Lynch said, “If done right, I could get almost 15 miles of paving.”

    And, he said, the long-range planning tool will set the course for future maintenance and repair. “This way you can keep it in the black,” he said. In the meantime, besides crack sealing, Mr. Lynch has also assigned workers to maintaining drainage structures and road shoulders, preventive maintenance that will preserve roads.

    “By doing things differently, we can make everything last longer,” Mr. Lynch said. “We try to be as efficient as we can with what we have.”

    The Highway Department is responsible only for roads in the town highway system; numerous roads in subdivisions, called “urban renewal roads” have not yet been improved to town highway standards and are not publicly maintained. However, a system of private payments by property owners in each subdivision, put to use to improve the urban renewal roads a bit at a time with an eye to having them eventually adopted as public roads, has been unsuccessful, prompting some residents in those areas to ask town officials for a solution.

    The town’s first road improvement district, a tax district through which affected property owners will pay to have their roads improved so that they may be taken into the town system, has been formed and is now being reviewed by the state comptroller.

    Mr. Van Scoyoc said that once the town starts accepting new roads into the system, ongoing maintenance demands will increase and “we will be further behind,” he said.

    Mr. Lynch was operating this week out of temporary quarters in the hallway at the Highway Department barn while his office was being repaired. It had been “condemned,” he said, after a roof leak and problems with the ceiling. Mr. Lynch said he had experienced repeated bouts of illness, and an assistant had also become sick, and the air quality was found to be bad.