Less than a month after air traffic controllers set up shop at East Hampton Airport and began guiding flights into and out of just under 10 miles of controlled airspace, the impact of the control tower and motivation for its construction are being debated.

    Members of the Quiet Skies Coalition and the Committee to Stop Airport Expansion have expressed disappointment in the potential for the air traffic controllers to alleviate the impact of noise on those under flight paths, which was to be an added benefit of having controlled airspace over East Hampton.  Both groups have lobbied for the town to decline Federal Aviation Administration money in order to gain more local control over the airport. Restricting access, they say, is the only way to control aircraft noise.

      In the controlled airspace extending a 4.8-mile radius around the airport, pilots must follow prescribed routes, which could presumably spread traffic around instead of across the same areas over and over; in uncontrolled airspace, pilots determine their own approach.

    Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the town board’s airport liaison, says it is too early to judge. Because of a 30-day waiting period following the federal designation of controlled airspace around East Hampton, compliance with minimum altitudes issued by the traffic controllers will not be mandatory until July 26.

    Nonetheless, Mr. Stanzione pointed to a press release issued last week by the airport manager, Jim Brundige, citing helicopters’ increased compliance with voluntary minimum altitude suggestions from January through June. “We expect continued improvement,” Mr. Brundige said in the release.

    “I think the new tower will produce better results,” Mr. Stanzione said early this week. “Is there more work to do? Absolutely. But the early results are encouraging.”

    But on Tuesday, Kathleen Cunningham, the head of the Quiet Skies Coalition, which picketed Town Hall on July 5 to call attention to what it called a false promise that controlling air traffic would ameliorate noise, pressed Mr. Stanzione on what kind of noise mitigation measures are being taken. “I would like to know what the noise abatement policy is.” The town’s air traffic controllers, she said, “say they’re not managing traffic into and out of the airport according to a noise policy.”

    “Where are the noise monitors? How are we measuring?” she asked. A noise abatement plan, Mr. Stanzione said, is a component of an overall airport management plan that the board is developing with the help of a consultant. 

    “This comprehensive plan is the most thoughtful and insightful look at the airport in 15 years,” Mr. Stanzione said. Ms. Cunningham agreed but expressed frustration that measures are not yet in place.

    At an orientation meeting at the airport on June 30, an F.A.A. representative and the chief air traffic controller made it clear that the foremost goal of controlling flights is safety, members of her group said at a July 5 town board meeting.

    “We should name our new control tower ‘Stanzione’s folly,’ ” Susan McGraw Keber told the town board. She carried a sign with that phrase. “Duped Into Airport Expansion,” another sign said.  Another read: “$1 Million; Still No Noise Policy.”

    “I charge Councilman Dominick Stanzione with three things,” she said. “First, he duped everyone. Second, he has wasted over $1 million of town money. And third, I believe he is pursuing an agenda aimed at expanding our airport into a regional hub.” The first step, she said, was getting the control tower up, “enabling increased traffic.”

    Erecting a control tower and employing air traffic controllers during the peak summer travel season has long been the town’s plan, and financial plans for it have been included in capital budgets. It was first suggested by members of a town Airport Noise Abatement Advisory Committee, headed by Ms. Cunningham under a previous administration and disbanded by the current town board. Mr. Stanzione had worked over the last year to bring the control tower to fruition.

    “The support for the tower was always generated by the promise of noise mitigation,” Ms. McGraw Keber said at the meeting on July 5.

    But at the orientation meeting, which was recorded by attendees, Charles Carpenter of Robinson Aviation, the company providing the traffic controllers, told the assembled aviators: “It’s not about noise. We’re about separating you guys, and making it safe for you.”

    The F.A.A.’s “principal obligation is safety. I think that is our principal obligation as well,” Mr. Stanzione said at that meeting. But, he said, while safety is the “most important function of air traffic control . . . having professionally controlled airspace can have a meaningful impact on noise in our community, and we’re hopeful that will occur.”

    And, he added this week, as to whether traffic is routed based on safety or shielding residents from noise, “maybe they’re not mutually exclusive.” Safety considerations, he said, include ground safety, which could mean directing aircraft over the least populated areas of town.

    Ms. McGraw Keber charged that the second part of Mr. Stanzione’s “not so hidden agenda,” was “to trick the town into taking a grant for a deer fence from the F.A.A. Accepting federal money would take away local control of the airport for 20 years,” she said. “Under F.A.A. control, the tower will surely support and encourage more air traffic, enabling the final part of Stanzione’s plan which is to turn a small airport into a regional hub.”

    “What could motivate such duplicitous and egregious behavior?” she asked. “May I suggest that we follow the money?” She asked the board to consider “who would have the most to gain. . . . Perhaps we might call on Mr. Ben Krupinski,” she said, pointing out that he owns a hangar at the airport as well as a private charter company and one that provides fuel and other aircraft services. “But I leave it to the board to put together those missing dots.”

    Dressed in red, white, and blue on July 5, Ms. Cunningham read the group’s “Declaration of Independence from the Federal Aviation Administration,” dated July 4: “The history of the F.A.A. is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation, all having in direct object the establishment of a tyranny over our town, our skies, and our good people.”

    “The F.A.A. and this town board have been deaf to the voice of justice and of conscience,” she read. “We hereby call for a moratorium on accepting funding from the Federal Aviation Administration that in any way restricts the ability of the Town of East Hampton to limit the number of excessively noisy aircraft, to limit the arrival and departure times of excessively noisy aircraft, set altitude limits for excessively noisy aircraft, and to ban excessively noisy aircraft from using the East Hampton Airport.”

    “This is our town; these are our skies,” the declaration concluded.

    Speaking at a town board board meeting on July 10, David Gruber, a member of the Committee to Stop Airport Expansion, said that “it will be clear by the end of the summer” that a solution to noise disturbance will only be possible “when the town is willing to control hours of operation, numbers of aircraft operations, and aircraft types.”

    He predicted the control tower would be “an expensive failure” and would have no meaningful impact on noise problems. “I’ll be here to say ‘I told you so’ in September,” he said.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley expressed doubts as well. “I’m not quite sure whether the control tower in and of itself is going to have much of an effect,” she said.

    “At no time was this control tower presented as a silver bullet,” Mr. Stanzione said, but rather it was “part of a package, an airport management plan to address noise.” The 42-point plan devised with the help of Peter Kirsch, an airport consultant, includes curfews and beginning a sound study that could provide data needed to make a case to the F.A.A. that local regulations are needed. To petition the F.A.A. for permission to enact its own rules, and to fight potential lawsuits against local rules effectively, Mr. Stanzione said, the town must demonstrate it has first tried other measures to mitigate noise, such as air traffic control.

    Ms. Quigley suggested that the board look to immediately implement other measures as well, saying that Mr. Kirsch had advised the board that it has the authority to enact restrictions on helicopters.

    For example, she said, if the airport runways were set up so that those arriving would have to exit through the airport terminal, the hours the terminal would be open would effectively limit when landings occur.

    In a press release and letters to the editor this week, the Quiet Skies Coalition asserted that the town should begin compiling noise measurement data in order to have a record on which to base future requests to the F.A.A. to institute restrictions, such as curfews and other airport access limits.

    If you order a dozen oysters anywhere between Montauk and New York City these days, there’s a good chance they will be Montauk Pearls, grown in Lake Montauk. The Montauk Shellfish Company’s mariculture farm, located on the east side of the lake, is thriving. Its “surface-grown and ocean-finished,” method is the first of its kind in New York State.

    Sharing the helm are a fisherman and a biologist, a perfect combination according to the “two Mikes,” as they call themselves, Mike Martinsen and Mike Doall. The oyster-growing pioneers have gone from seed idea to an inventory in the hundreds of thousands in just three years, though not without a lot of work, and, in Mr. Martinsen’s case, a few detours.

    “The surface growout is key,” said Mr. Doall. “The oysters are tumbled by wave action, which makes a harder shell, and a better shape. Sunlight helps control bio-fouling. We flip the bags once a week. And there’s more phytoplankton, their food, on the surface.”

    After the oysters grow to about two inches from hinge to bill they are taken offshore into Block Island Sound for “ocean finishing.” Mr. Doall called Block Island Sound the cleanest water in the state, “and saltier than the lake. It impacts the taste, giving it a clean, fresh, salty finish.”

    From seed to just under three inches, a cocktail-size oyster with a salty finish takes about a year and a half.

    Mr. Martinsen took a few detours on his way to mariculture. “I always clammed,” he said, standing in front of the company’s tumbler, a stainless steel cylinder that breaks oysters apart, removing stones and any vegetation as it turns. “Started at 11 years old. My first boat was a 16-foot sharpie.”

    Harvesting and selling shellfish was common practice for kids in the Northport neighborhood where he grew up, and when the old Long Island Oyster Farms went out of business in the late 1980s it created a submarine gold mine for them. “We were harvesting from the wild, then we went onto the oyster farm property. They left behind a small fortune in oysters. Probably 40 baymen worked it. I was making $1,200 a day.”

    The windfall ended in 1997, when the shellfish disease known as MSX wiped out the oysters. “It was the year I got married, and I was on my ass,” Mr. Martinsen said.

    Things changed for the better when someone offered to put him into business distributing lobsters. “I was buying from 16 boats, thriving with a tractor-trailer. Then, [the lobsters] died off.” The blight was blamed on sprayed insecticide meant to kill mosquitoes.    

    The second letdown led him to Stony Brook University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology that at first got him nowhere, he said. He did meet Mr. Doall, however, who had earned his master’s degree there and was researching ways to restore depressed shellfish populations.

    The two Mikes started talking about oyster farming in 2004 at Stony Brook, Mr. Doall said. “In 2005, we started scouting for locations, at Nissequogue on Long Island and in Connecticut. They were not right,” but the men kept in touch. “He was doing his thing; I was doing mine,” said Mr. Doall. “I was working on a project in Greenwich [Connecticut] and I asked Mike if he’d like to come there. A couple weeks later, Mike asked me, ‘Why not Montauk?’ ”

    “I was living [there],”  Mr. Martinsen said, in an apartment complex on East Lake Drive owned by Rick Gibbs. The shellfish company’s boats and shoreside equipment work out of Mr. Gibbs’s small marina, with the surface rafting system anchored to four and a half acres of bottomland. “The phytoplankton (oyster food) and water flow, and quality of the water — it was a total no-brainer,” Mr. Doall said.

    Mr. Martinsen cut down two old houseboats at the marina and adapted them for use as the farm’s work boats. Looking out into the lake from the dock, the lines that hold rectangular plastic envelopes filled with seed, and yearling oysters, bend in the tide. They resemble rows of grapevines in a vineyard, which is how Mr. Doall likes to think of  the farm — “an oyster vineyard.” 

    He said he got the idea of growing the bivalves on the surface, rather in cages along the bottom, during a conference of the National Shellfish Association, “and reading papers.”

    The two Mikes take turns trucking their pearls to market — “farm to table ourselves. We harvest to order.” In Montauk, the locally grown oysters can be found at the Inlet Seafood Restaurant, the West Lake Clam and Chowder House, the Coast restaurant, Gurney’s Inn, Ruschmeyer’s, and Rick’s Crabby Cowboy, as well as the Clam Bar on Napeague, the Meeting House in Amagansett, and restaurants on Shelter Island, in Brooklyn, and in Manhattan.

    “We’ve been told it’s the story of a marine biologist and a fisherman. It’s the culmination of our life experiences,” Mr. Martinsen said of the Montauk oyster vineyard.

    Thought to be extinct in the state, a thriving colony of nine-spotted ladybugs, Coccinella novemnotata, was found last summer at the Peconic Land Trust’s Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett.

    Peter Prioto, who worked at the time for Cornell Cooperative Extension, found the first of the rare insects on top of a sunflower during a ladybug search he had organized at Quail Hill. The species has been sought throughout the country, but the only other recent spotting has been in Georgia in 2007.

    On Tuesday, Cornell Cooperative Extension scientists and interested members of the community returned to the farm to see if the insects had continued to occupy their established habitat, and were pleased to find that the answer is yes.

    Mr. Prioto, who is now part of a community supported agriculture project he started in Center Moriches, said he expected them to be there, knowing the quality of the grounds and practices of the farm. Pointing out the variety of vegetables found in a four-foot area, he said, “Diversity in crops creates diversity in bugs.” All of the scientists in attendance agreed that more ladybugs are found on organic farms than traditional farms that use pesticides. Ladybugs, Mr. Prioto said, help farms greatly when they are present, since they prey on insects like aphids that are known to suck the fluid from plants.

    John Losey, the director of the ladybug project and associate professor of entomology at Cornell University, and Leslie Allee, director of outreach and education for the extension, found two of the special creatures “just standing here,” he said with a smile on Tuesday. The two scientists took the 115 collected ladybugs — eight different species — back to Cornell University’s Ithaca laboratory to further their research into the decline of the beneficial insects.

    “We’ve confirmed that the rare nine-spotted ladybug does indeed have an established population on the farm,” Ms. Allee announced in an e-mail on Tuesday evening, adding that “so far no one has found the nine-spotted ladybug at any other farm in the area.”

    The scientists hope that “everybody will collect ladybugs, wherever they are, and submit pictures to the project online.” The project’s Web site upload page, lostladybug.org, already contains over 17,000 individual pictures, received and identified in databases. In addition to a photograph, contributors are asked to include data such as the length of time searched and the habitat  in which the insect was found.

    The research will help in the understanding of trends, populations, and preferred plant environments.

    The Lost Ladybug Project will return to Quail Hill on July 31 from 10 a.m. to noon.

    Mitt Romney’s South Fork whirlwind fund-raising trip to the South Fork brought protesters to properties in East Hampton and Southampton on Sunday. They came by bus, foot, bicycle, boat, air, and car, including a “Romneymobile” with corporate logos and a dog strapped to the roof.

    A  G.O.P. stalwart said the weekend visit was well worth the campaign’s time. “It could not have been better,” said Andy Sabin, a sponsor of the $25,000-a-plate lunch given for Mr. Romney at the Creeks on Georgica Pond.

    “He was phenomenal,” Mr. Sabin said. Mr. Romney, he said, was “at his best,” speaking to issues such as the importance of education in improving the economy.

    Mr. Sabin said it was a pleasure to listen to the former Massachusetts governor, as well as see a “casual Romney” in a short-sleeved sport shirt. The Springs resident, who was treated to a lavish spread in a park-like setting with benches and umbrellas, estimated that between $3 million and $4 million was raised from the weekend’s three “extremely successful” events.

    As the lunch was going on, East Hampton Village police, assisted by the town marine patrol, said they arrested David Fink and Simon Kinsella after the men’s sailboat collided with a marine patrol boat stationed along the shoreline of the Creeks, Ron Perelman’s 56-acre estate. In a release, police said the pair had ignored directions to turn away.

    Mr. Fink e-mailed The Star on Monday that “David Fink and Simon Kinsella were attempting to exercise their rights under the First Amendment to freedom of speech while scrupulously avoiding the shoreline. . . .”

    Mr. Fink disagreed with police in his e-mail, saying that “Mr. Kinsella was in open waters of Georgica Pond, aboard his 12.5-foot sailboat flying the Rainbow Flag, outside the territorial limits of the Village and the EHVPD, when Sgt. Erickson, in contravention of centuries-old rules of navigation, rammed his motorboat into the sailboat, boarded without permission or authorization, and assaulted and arrested him.” East Hampton Village and its police department had acted without legal authority, he charged.

     The police line that was crossed consisted of one boat, according to Chief Jerry Larsen, positioned to secure the small area as part of an overall plan drawn up by the Secret Service, which handled security on the premises. Local police were to secure the estate’s perimeter, including its waterway access.

    Chief Larsen said no roads were closed to traffic, and a protest area was set up for those wishing to exercise that right. He saw fewer than a dozen protesters, said the chief.

    He said that Mr. Fink, when confronted by law enforcement, attempted to flee by swimming toward shore, and then refused to exit the water, where he allegedly waded while screaming obscenities. He was then arrested and taken to police headquarters. Mr. Kinsella was removed from his boat on the shoreline. Village police charged both men with obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.

    In his e-mail, Mr. Fink, writing in the third person, stated that he “has for many years suffered from ventricular arrhythmia and was far from shore when [village police] assaulted him, handcuffed him, forced his head underwater and dragged him ashore. When he was taken to village police headquarters, E.M.S. personnel found Mr. Fink was suffering from blood pressure so high that the E.M.S questioned the accuracy of its diagnostic equipment, brought in other diagnostic equipment and confirmed that Mr. Fink’s blood pressure exceeded 200.” Mr. Fink added that “Officer Ball refused Mr. Fink’s request to go with Mr. Kinsella to Southampton Hospital for emergency treatment.”

    Chief Larsen said Mr. Fink’s allegations, including heads held underwater and refusal of medical attention, were “absolutely untrue,” and said they “will be handled in a court of law.”

    A sizable group gathered in Southampton that afternoon as well, at the corner of Meadow Lane and Halsey Neck Lane, protesting against both Mr. Romney and David Koch, at whose home an evening fund-raiser took place. As seen from the beach, a Coast Guard boat idled in the water outside a building being used for the event, Secret Service agents roamed the beaches in ATVs, and a MoveOn.org banner flew overhead from a plane with a banner stating “Romney Has a Koch Problem.”

    Just outside Cooper’s Beach, ready to march to the Koch estate, were hundreds of placard-waving protesters, one reading “Koch Kills.” There was also a group of 10 or Romney supporters, whose signs read, “Mitt Is It” and other slogans, and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.

    According to the Long Island Progressive Coalition, which distributed a statement on Meadow Lane Sunday afternoon, over a dozen local activist groups were on hand that day to protest “the ever-growing and pervasive influence of Koch Industries money on the electoral system.” The groups were said to include Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn, Long Island Jobs with Justice, United N.Y., Occupy the Hamptons, Occupy the East End, and Greenpeace.

With reporting by Jennifer Landes

    “It’s going to be fun,” said Bob Batton of Nassau County, as he and his wife, Anne-Marie, waited for the Peconic Bay Water Jitney on Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf Monday morning. “When I read about the ferry, I couldn’t have been more excited,” he said, “driving around is a pain in the neck, especially in the summer.” The couple planned to board the 10 a.m. boat to go to Greenport for lunch and shopping.

    When the boat arrived on the warm, sunny morning, a few dozen passengers disembarked smiling, mostly from the top deck, some with bicycles. A couple from Mystic, Conn., who had their own boat docked in Greenport, found out about the ferry service on Sunday night, and decided to spend the day in Sag Harbor, something they said they hadn’t done in 12 or 13 years.

    Also on the wharf that morning was Bruce Tait, chairman of the Sag Harbor Village Harbor Committee, and Neil Slevin, chairman of the village planning board. The two are developing a questionnaire to get community feedback on the trial ferry service.

    “I think it’s going well,” said Jim Ryan of Response Marine in Mattituck, who teamed up with Geoffrey Lynch, president of Hampton Jitney, to establish the new passenger ferry linking the North and South Fork. With an unadvertised “soft opening” last Thursday, Mr. Ryan saw an increase in passengers each day. By Sunday, over 400 passengers had ridden aboard the Peconic Bay Water Jitney, Mr. Lynch said. “The mornings have been slower,” Mr. Ryan said, “but we are trying to build up commuter traffic.” The company is discussing a commuter pass like the ones offered on the North and South Ferries to Shelter Island.

    As Mr. Ryan chatted with Mr. Tait and Mr. Slevin, he explained that he tried out both the east and west routes around Shelter Island, and did not see much of a difference in time. Running at 17 knots to save fuel, he can easily keep a schedule with trips that take 45 minutes dock to dock. He will decide which route to take on each trip depending on tides and weather.

    On Monday morning, two bicyclists, Kevin Murphy and his son, Michael, who had ridden all the way from Springs, arrived at Long Wharf a little late for the 10 a.m. ferry, but decided to spend time in Sag Harbor while waiting for the noon departure, then “knock around” Greenport for the afternoon.

    Andrew Lynch, vice president of Hampton Jitney, said on Tuesday that everyone was “very surprised with the first few days.” Two days after launching the service, riders increased from a dozen to two or three dozen passengers per trip, an average of about 30 passengers per ride. There were also a couple of sold-out trips on the 53-passenger vessel over the weekend, he said, adding that the riders went in both directions, including Nassau County residents coming from Greenport and a commuter going from Sag Harbor to Boston via public transportation.

    On the ferry’s Web site, peconicjitney.com, passengers are encouraged to use “public transportation such as the S92 bus route.” For customers who drive to Sag Harbor, the Jitney provides free parking in the Pierson High School lot on Jermain Avenue. An unobtrusive passenger van makes six loops Sunday through Thursday and seven on Friday and Saturday starting at 9:15 a.m. between the Lumber Lane parking lot in East Hampton and Long Wharf, with stops at the East Hampton train station and the Pierson Lot. It is free for Peconic Jitney passengers. On Monday, the driver of the van alerted those who were parked on Long Wharf that there was a three-hour parking limit and showed them the way to the satellite lot.

    The current ferry schedule, for which reservations are encouraged via telephone or online, offers seven round trips daily from Sunday through Thursday, and eight on Fridays and Saturdays, leaving every two hours starting at 8 a.m. In Sag Harbor, the ferry picks up passengers at the far end of Long Wharf. In Greenport, it docks at Mitchell Park, near the carousel.

    Tickets cost $11 one way and $20 round trip. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, children under 13 can travel for $6 one way or $11 round trip.

    Details have not yet been worked out for a Bridgehampton loop.

    Attention fishermen, recluses seeking a hideaway, writers of novels, the recently divorced, or any combination thereof. The General Services Administration is auctioning off two lighthouses in our neck of the woods. Bids, starting at $10,000, are now being accepted for the lighthouse on Little Gull Island and for the Orient Point Light.

    Your solitude will be interrupted  only by an occasional visit by a member of the Coast Guard. The Department of Homeland Security will maintain the right to service the aids to navigation, but what the heck.

    Notwithstanding the attraction the lights might hold for the average misanthrope, the fact that both look down upon some of the richest sportfishing grounds in world make either one a perfect redoubt for the serious angler. They even come with protected boat landings. And, there’s history.

    The Orient Point light was built in 1899. It’s located in Plum Gut between Long Island Sound and Gardiner’s Bay about half a nautical mile offshore of Orient Point in the Town of Southold. The structure consists of a brick-lined cast iron-plated tower section able to repel most attempts to scale it.

    The south-facing portion, a boat landing, consists of a steel frame with timber and rubber fenders constructed on a portion of manmade riprap built upon Oyster Pond Reef. The light stands 45 feet tall with six levels including two watch decks and three stories of living quarters. The G.S.A. notes that the Orient Point Light is located near a number of public marinas “with dining, retail, and recreationl options in nearby Greenport.”

    Little Gull Island is about an acre in size. It lies less than a mile northeast of Great Gull Island. Both islands are midway between Plum and Fishers Island near the channel (full of striped bass and bluefish during the summer) known as the Race.

    The first lighthouse was built on Little Gull in 1806. The light was extinguished by a group of Royal Marines led by Commodore Thomas Hardy during the War of 1812. Fifty-six years after the Brits attacked, the light was upgraded to 81 feet, and outfitted with a second order Fresnel lens. The light tower is constructed of granite and contains about 450 square feet of space.

    On May 12, 1881, the Galatea bound from Providence, R.I., to New York ran aground on Little Gull in the fog.

    Oh, that’s the only other minor problem. The foghorns on both islands are loud enough to raise the dead. Okay, so wear earplugs. The combination of fog and earplugs can’t help but focus one’s meditations. 

    It must be mentioned that when the Galatea ran aground, her captain swore he did not hear the horn. However, interviews conducted after the mishap revealed that the horn was heard as far away as Mystic, Conn. A man named French Ensor Chadwick (no kidding) was the naval officer who led the investigation and determined that the signal was working at the time of the grounding.

    Chadwick’s report noted that the aberrations and eccentricities around Little Gull were significant.

    The bidding began on June 1. So far, two people have bid on the Little Gull Light. The top bid stands at $60,000. Four are after the Orient Point Light, top bid, $25,000. The bidding remains open. Auction rules, as well as applications for registration can be found on the G.S.A.’s Web site, gsaauctions.gov.

    The East Hampton Town Board once again discussed deer management at a work session Tuesday, agreeing, it seemed, that an initial assessment of the numbers of deer would be needed before the town could set goals and judge the effectiveness of any reduction program it might adopt.

     The effort to create a management plan has been led by Councilman Dominick Stanzione, who worked with a citizens committee to outline strategies. In the meantime, the East Hampton Group for Wildlife has sent the board its own management proposals, in a report titled “Deer: A Humane Plan.” The group opposes culling by any lethal means and believes that “with some ingenuity, the town can address perceived problems through non-lethal means.”

    “If herd reduction is the highest priority,” Councilman Stanzione said Tuesday, “then using professional cullers is the best route.” Local hunters could be involved, he said, but additional help would be needed to achieve a 50-percent reduction in the herd over three years, as has been suggested. Taking exception to that route, the wildlife group cites “the moral value of adopting non-lethal strategies.”

    In considering how to get a handle on the size of the town’s deer population, the board discussed an aerial survey that would provide the data required by the United States Department of Agriculture should the town decide to hire its sharpshooters to cull the herd. It also would provide details about concentrations and movements of deer. It would cost more, however, than a data sampling method.

    Other aspects of a management plan under consideration are actions that might help reduce the number of deer, such as opening for hunting additional public lands that the town co-owns for this year’s season, opening the January shotgun-hunting season to nonresidents, and amendments to state and local laws that could facilitate a larger deer take. In addition, Mr. Stanzione said, the board might consider revisions to local laws about deer fences, with an eye toward preserving wildlife corridors and vistas.

    The board will continue its review of the draft plan at an upcoming work session. Once any desired revisions are made, a final draft will be the subject of a hearing.

    The purpose of a new deer census would be not only to determine the size of the herd but to provide information about where deer most frequently cross highways so the town can focus efforts to reduce collisions.

    In its report to the board, which was delivered last week, the wildlife group said a 2006 study had estimated 3,239 deer in town, or about 51 deer per square mile, noting that the figures were “somewhat higher than wildlife managers generally prefer in the eastern United States, but not alarmingly high.”

    In addition, the group said, the deer were deemed at that time to be in good health. However, Marguerite Wolffsohn, the town planning director, told the town board on Tuesday that those numbers should instead be 20 to 40 deer per square mile.

    The Group for Wildlife plan urges the town to “maintain a creative, research-oriented attitude” toward a pilot immunocontraceptive program.

    “At first glance it would seem to be simple to reduce a deer population: Just expand hunting. But researchers have documented a rebound effect: Deer give birth to more fawns after hunts,” according to the report, which includes citations of scientific studies.

    Other initiatives that the town should pursue, according to the Group for Wildlife, are a slow-driving campaign and the evaluation of the efficacy of roadside reflectors designed to discourage deer from crossing a road when there is an oncoming vehicle. After a trial conducted by the group in 2008 along Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton showed “very promising” results, more reflectors were installed last year. They are now on 1.2 miles of roadway, and an analysis of the results is anticipated by the end of this year. “If the reflectors prove effective, the town board should encourage private residents and groups to fund expanded installations,” the report states.

    The alternative plan also suggests discouraging deer fencing on residential properties and promoting deer-resistant plantings. “Attention to plants,” the plan says, is important because “deer populations strongly vary with food resources, and large new homes often have lavish gardens that increase the deer population beyond what it otherwise would be.”

    Noting that hunting is allowed in many of the town’s designated nature preserves, the report says wildlife sanctuaries should be established. According to the report, sanctuaries would reduce the pressure on deer “to seek safety in the no-hunting residential areas,” as well as stress that might trigger increased births. The report also recommends an objective study of the extent of damage to the woodland understory and the extent to which deer are responsible, as well as developing recommendations for how to alleviate the problem.

    As for Lyme disease, the Group for Wildlife suggests that the town do more to educate the public about how to avoid tick bites and to prohibit the hunting of turkeys, which eat immature ticks. Because Lyme disease is also spread by ticks that feed on the white-footed mouse, the report says, “it’s unlikely that any reduction of deer populations can alleviate the disease.” While some species of female ticks feed on a second mammalian host, such as deer, the report says, if deer were eliminated, the ticks would feed on other animals such as raccoons and opossums.

    The report also states that two recent studies show that “four-poster” stations, where deer are exposed to tick-killing chemicals, reduced ticks by 69 to 100 percent. The wildlife group suggests the town look into the use of bait-boxes for mice that would distribute similar chemicals.

    The Group for Wildlife report concludes that a  nonlethal method of reducing the deer population is “an approach that reflects compassion and respect for other living beings.”

    Mitt Romney and his entourage, including police escort and Secret Service detail, will be in East Hampton and Southampton on Sunday for a whirlwind fund-raising trip, and protesters have taken notice.

    As of yesterday, several groups were planning demonstrations near the Meadow Lane, Southampton, residence of Julia and David Koch, where a $50,000-a-plate ($75,000 per couple) dinner is set to begin at 5 p.m. Members of some of the groups, including Greenpeace, Strong for All, United New York, and Move On, will take buses from New York City to the South Fork; those from the Long Island Progressive Coalition and Occupy the Hamptons plan to join them here.

    As far as is known, the protestors will confine their demonstrations to Southampton. Earlier on Sunday, in East Hampton, Mr. Romney and Eric Cantor, majority leader of the House of Representatives, are scheduled to attend a “V.I.P. photo reception” and lunch at the Creeks, Ron Perelman’s 56-acre estate on Georgica Pond. The 12:30 p.m. reception will give guests the chance to have their pictures taken with the Republican candidate for president, in return for a donation of $25,000 a head, which, says the invitation to the event, they can either “contribute or raise.” Lunch itself, at 1 p.m., is another $5,000 a person or $7,500 for two.

    Andy Sabin of Springs, whose name is on the list of sponsors and who called himself a “Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon-type of environmental Republican” this week, said supporters expect to raise $1 million from the afternoon at The Creeks. Other sponsors of the event who have houses here include Debbie and Harry Druker of East Hampton, Ann and Russell Byers of Amagansett, Gerry Cardinale of Sagaponack, Barry and Terri Volpert of Sagaponack, and Pam and Ed Pantzer of East Hampton.

    Governor Romney will also spend some time on Sunday at the Meadow Lane residence of Cliff Sobel, who chaired New Jersey’s fund-raising effort for President George W. Bush’s first campaign. Mr. Sobel later became ambassador to the Netherlands and Brazil.

    Members of Occupy Wall Street and Greenpeace plan to throw their own party, offshore from Cooper’s Beach in Southampton, near the oceanfront Koch house, in small boats bearing protest banners. Ty Wenzel, an activist from Springs, wrote in a message that Occupy the Hamptons would join the protest with any group having the same end goal: “Get out of our politicians’ pockets.”

    “It is not about being anti-republican or anti-democrat,” she wrote. “Its sole purpose is to illustrate to the American people how our democracy and vote has been stolen with these ‘fundraisers.’ ”

    Andy Stepanian, co-founder of sparrowmedia.net, a publicist for the grassroots organizations, who will be among the protestors, agreed. “Americans from many different political affiliations are beginning to realize that money is perverting our democracy,” he said. Occupy Wall Street, said Mr. Stepanian, has targeted Mr. Koch, the man they call “Mr. One Percent Himself,” in particular.

    Mr. Koch, who has been named New York City’s richest resident by Forbes magazine, “is the embodiment of money’s problematic influence on politics,” said Mr. Stepanian. “On Sunday,” he said, “we will make it clear that Mitt Romney has a Koch problem.”

    Occupy the East End will meet in East Hampton at 11 a.m. Sunday to “start phase one of protesting the broken and corrupt system that funds are being raised to support,” said a spokeswoman, Shannone Rhea. The local activists, recently splintered from Occupy the Hamptons, will gather at the corner of Halsey Neck Lane and Montauk Highway in Southampton, she said, to “make the public aware of what’s going on in our backyard.”

    On Tuesday, East Hampton Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen said he was expecting a call from the Secret Service.

    Kurt Kappel, chairman of the East Hampton Republican Committee, said he was “very excited” about Mr. Romney’s visit. “I think it’s great that he’s coming to East Hampton,” he said on Tuesday, although the committee does not have plans to attend any of the events.

    Rob Zimmerman of the Democratic National Committee, who owns a house in Shinnecock Hills, had something to say as well. “Every time Republicans want to come to the East End and buy overpriced lobster salad, it is good for the economy,” he said. “I hope they buy some art as well, for their many homes.”

    Operation Nitecap, the Suffolk County Police Department’s stop-drunken-driving task force, swept through East Hampton Town and Village, Sag Harbor, and Shelter Island on Saturday, resulting in 20 arrests in an eight-hour span that ended at 4 a.m. on Sunday.

    “I wish we could do it every weekend,” said village chief Jerry Larsen on Tuesday. “It was great.”

    “We had about 20 cops, state police, Suffolk County Police, Southampton, and Sag Harbor,” town chief Edward Ecker said on Monday. “This is a law enforcement tool for the future.”

    Chief Larsen said the three local chiefs met before the operation and decided, rather than divide the county manpower among their jurisdictions, to pool their resources, with Lt. Anthony Long of the village police taking command of roadblocks and Lt. Austin McGuire of the town force in charge of “saturation” patrols, on the lookout specifically for drunken drivers.

    “There were two checkpoints, one on the borderline between Sag and East Hampton on Route 114, and another on the highway at the borderline of East Hampton Town and Village, near Stephen Hand’s Path. And then the rest was saturation enforcement,” Chief Ecker said.

    There are a couple of key elements, according to both men, that make this program particularly effective.

    First, all officers participating in the program were deputized by the Suffolk County district attorney, meaning they could make drunken-driving arrests throughout the county.

    Second, importantly, special processors were brought in to handle the paperwork that must occur after a drunken-driving arrest. Chief Ecker explained that these data entry people freed the arresting officers to “just do a quick pedigree and they would be back on the road.”

    This was not the last time this summer that the operation will focus on the East Hampton area. “It will be coming back,” Chief Ecker promised. “Soon.”

    The operation, which started at 8 p.m. on Saturday, kicked into high gear after midnight. Statistically, those next few hours, out of the entire week, produce the highest number of drunken driving arrests.

    Almost all those arrested in Operation Nigtcap were released the next morning without bail, unless otherwise noted.

    The first arrest came in Sag Harbor, just minutes after the operation began. Bryan Y. Courchesne, 32, of Boca Raton, Fla., was pulled over on Main Street for having defective brake lights, police said. Mr. Courchesne failed all the standard roadside sobriety tests, according to the report, and allegedly refused to take a second breath test back at headquarters.

    At 9:45 p.m. Saturday, Jonathon Cohen, 60, of New York City, was driving south on Route 114 when he was stopped at a checkpoint at Swamp Road. He refused to take a breath test at the station house.

    At about the same time, in Montauk, Michael D. Higgins, also of New York, was seen driving erratically on Essex Street, police said. His blood alcohol content was.13, according to the police.

    At 10:15 p.m., Christina D. Mazzawi, 55, also from Manhattan, was questioned by village police after making a U-turn near the Route 114 checkpoint and pulling into a driveway, apparently in order to avoid the roadblock. She reportedly refused to take a breath test.

    Amelina Sekluska, 40, of Amagansett, was stopped at 11:01 p.m. on Division Street in Sag Harbor after reportedly running a stop sign at Bay Street and making an illegal left turn across Bay to park. Police said she failed sobriety tests, including a breath test, and again declined to take a breath test at headquarters.

    At about midnight, Evan D. Kleinman, 27, of Roslyn allegedly ran two stop signs on Madison Street in Sag Harbor, leading to a police stop. He was interviewed, found to be intoxicated, and arrested.

      At about the same time, John A. Faracco, 39, a Manhattan resident, was pulled over on 114 in North Haven, after being spotted speeding over the bridge. Police reportedly smelled marijuana smoke when Mr. Faracco rolled down his window, and he was given field sobriety tests, which he failed. Mr. Faracco reportedly said he was on Oxycontin, and showed police a daily pill dispenser containing the opiate-based painkiller, as well as Adderall, Xanax, and other pills. Also in the car trunk was some marijuana, police said. Back at headquarters, Mr. Faracco was charged with three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, as well as D.W.A.I. (driving while ability impaired) and possession of marijuana.

    There were four more alcohol-related arrests in the next 45 minutes: David R. Plotkin, 39, of Tenafly, N.J., was arrested at 12:10 p.m. after being stopped at the Route 27-Stephen Hand’s Path checkpoint; Matthew P. Santini, 31, of Greenwich, Conn., who was stopped at the Route 114 checkpoint; Justin M. Haar, 23, of Alpine, N.J., charged with D.W.A.I., and Brendan A. Amaruso, 24, of Oyster Bay, who was pulled over on Main Street in East Hampton. Police said he was driving erratically without headlights and found to be intoxicated.

    Abel R. Lapenna, 20, of East Hampton was pulled over for allegedly speeding on Route 114 before being arrested. Bridget A. Reilly, 50, of Manhattan was stopped at 1:45 a.m. on Main Street in East Hampton, after swerving, according to police. The report notes that a Quogue officer made that arrest.

    A half-hour later, Daniel S. Hobbs, 26, also of Manhattan, was stopped for the same reason. Mr. Hobbs was driving on Napeague, near the old highway in Montauk, at the time.

    Fifteen minutes later Mathew L. Manza, 32, another Manhattan resident, was stopped in Sag Harbor; police said he was driving on the wrong side of Union Street.

    Christine M. Brown, 23, of Montauk was arrested on Fleming Road in Montauk at 2:41 a.m. About 20 minutes later, Julian Cavin-Zeidenstein, 22, of Brooklyn was pulled over for speeding on Montauk Highway near Baiting Hollow Road.

    The sweep’s final arrest in East Hampton Town was in Montauk at 3:23 a.m., when Juan J. Rijfkogal, 21, of the Bronx was pulled over for allegedly driving without benefit of headlights.

    On Shelter Island, Operation Nightcap led to five arrests, including that of Matthew Stedman, 45, of Montauk, on a D.W.I. charge, and to several marijuana charges, as well as a couple for unlicensed driving.

    Apart from the special operation, local police forces have ratcheted up drunken-driving enforcement, leading to 21 additional D.W.I. arrests during the first nine days of July, beginning at 5:30 a.m. on July 1, when Thomas B. McGarrity, 35, of Manhattan ran a stop sign at the Plaza in Montauk, according to the police report, which states his blood-alcohol content, as tested at the stationhouse, was .13.

    There was a drought of 15 hours until a flurry of arrests on July 2. Dwayne L. Gill II, 23, of Shirley was pulled over on Montauk Highway near Beech Street, Montauk, for erratic driving. Mr. Gill reportedly told the officer that he’d just graduated from college and was headed home, but he did not get there that night. His blood-alcohol content was reported to be .12 from a test taken at headquarters.

    Less than an hour later an eastbound officer on Montauk Highway near Cemetery Road in Montauk spotted Jessica C. Klima, 24, of Mineola reportedly driving half on the shoulder. She consented to a breath test at headquarters, which police said recorded .13.

    At 6:35 a.m., Alexander J. Kollmer, 23, of Tallahassee, Fla., was pulled over for speeding, as well as erratic driving, on State Highway 27 near Upland Road in Montauk. He failed sobriety tests as well as a field breath test and refused to give a breath test at the stationhouse, according to police.

    Later that day, at about 6:45 p.m., a car driven by Dylan Kalbacher of Amagansett allegedly struck one driven by Temidra Willock of East Hampton on Springs-Fireplace Road. Mr. Kalbacher reportedly told an officer he couldn’t remember what direction he’d been going in or how he’d hit the other car. A field breath test showed his blood-alcohol content to be dangerously high at .32. Back at headquarters he was retested and the reported figure was .29.

    July 2 ended with a 10:30 p.m. arrest of Rafael M. Quizque, 29, of East Hampton, who was swerving, police said, while driving down Morris Park Lane in East Hampton. He was charged with aggravated D.W.I., indicating his level was .18 or higher. His bail was set at $2,000 the next morning.

    At 4:30 a.m. on July 3 Norbertas Krujalkis, 23, of Riverhead was pulled over on the shoulder of Pantigo Road in East Hampton. At the station house, he refused to consent to a breath test. Bail was set later that morning at $300.

    July 3 had one of the most serious incidents of the first eight days of the month. William E. Sammon, 49, of East Hampton allegedly crashed into a telephone pole on Accabonac Road, East Hampton, and then ran away, police said. A detective caught up with him on Floyd Street and found him to be intoxicated, and when police ran his identification card they reportedly found he had been convicted of two alcohol-related vehicular crimes within the past three years and no longer had a valid license. After being treated for his injuries at Southampton Hospital, Mr. Sammon was held without bail pending a felony indictment.

    The D.W.I. parade resumed a couple of hours after midnight when Rachel A. Bosworth, 24, of Laurel was pulled over on Montauk Highway near Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton. Police said they clocked her at about 60 miles per hour in a 30 m.p.h. zone, and reported that she had almost sideswiped a patrol car in the oncoming lane.

    A bit later that morning, July 4, Christopher G. Leonard of Lindenhurst, whose 42nd birthday it was, ran the stop sign at the Plaza in Montauk, almost striking the curb as he turned, according to police. His blood-alcohol level was recorded at .20, leading to an aggravated D.W.I. charge. He was released without bail in the morning.

    Manuel Munoz, 25, of East Hampton was arrested on the evening of July 4 after allegedly being seen speeding on Bluff Road in Amagansett. His blood-alcohol content was reported at .13. Bail was set the next morning at $300.

    At 2 a.m. on July 5, Giorgi Grubeladze, 31, of East Hampton allegedly turned onto Sandra Road from Woodbine Drive in Springs without signaling. His blood-alcohol level was said to be .14. Police said his license plates had been switched. Bail was set the next morning at $350, but he was later turned over to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Village police responding to a call that afternoon reporting an extremely intoxicated man on Park Place came upon Paul Goldstein, 56, of East Hampton and New York City. Mr. Goldstein was standing by his 2011 BMW, the police said, trying to write a note for the driver of another parked car, which Mr. Goldstein told police he had just hit. An officer tried to give Mr. Goldstein a sobriety test, but stopped for fear the man would hurt himself, police said. He did take a blood test at headquarters; the result was not available.

    July 6 brought two more drunken-driving arrests. A police car parked on the Route 27 shoulder near Wainscott Stone Road in Wainscott was sideswiped by a car driven by Muriel E. Robinson, 76, of Manhattan, according to the report. The report states that Ms. Robinson was unaware she had collided with the patrol car, which had its emergency lights on at the time. Her blood-alcohol content was reported to be .08., and she was held overnight.

    Avery W. Cowden, also of Manhattan, was driving west of Montauk on the highway, swerving and doing about 20 or 25 m.p.h. in a 55 m.p.h. zone, police said, causing following cars to pass him across the yellow line. Mr. Cowden told an officer he had had a single glass of wine, police said, but failed a roadside test. Back at the station, he refused a second breath test, and was held overnight. Bail was set in the morning at $250.

    July 7 was a new day with the same old story, two more D.W.I. arrests, even before that evening’s massive sweep. The first came at 4:30 in the morning, when Mauricio E. Solares, 23, of East Hampton was reportedly seen by a marine patrol officer on Napeague pulling out and passing cars ahead of him. The officer turned around and pulled him over. Mr. Solares reportedly registered .14 when tested at headquarters.

    At 6:40 that evening, Kevin T. Hummel, 30, of East Hampton reportedly rear-ended a car at Abraham’s Path and Town Lane in Amagansett. Mr. Hummel told police he’d been looking down and hadn’t seen the car stop. He failed a field test, police said, and later registered .10 on a blood-alcohol test.

    At the end of July 8, although the D.W.I. sweep had ended many hours earlier, there was another arrest in Sag Harbor, at the same spot where the very first arrest of the operation had taken place. Mariane E. Gianelli, 28, of East Hampton was stopped for reportedly driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and was charged with drunken driving, the final such arrest of many in the first eight days of July.

   The Fourth of July may be officially over, but the fireworks celebrations continue. Montauk's fireworks, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, were postponed until tonight because of last night's threat of thunderstorms. The show will be launched at 9 p.m. from Umbrella Beach. It can be seen from any of Montauk's ocean beaches.

     Grucci fireworks will be visible over Shinnecock Bay tomorrow in Southampton as part of the Fresh Air Fund's yearly American Picnic, which begins at 7 p.m. on Meadow Lane.

     On Saturday at the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett, a private show will take place at 9:15 p.m. Nonmembers can catch it from Fresh Pond Beach, Big or Little Albert's Beaches or from the water.

     Shelter Island's fireworks will go off on July 14, a Saturday, from a barge at Crescent Beach. The Shelter Island Chamber of Commerce has asked for donations.

     Rounding out the July pyrotechnics, the Clamshell Foundation's annual Great Bonac Fireworks Show will explode over Three Mile Harbor on the 21st at 9:15 p.m. The foundation, which is based in East Hampton, has requested donations toward its programs on the East End.

     As for Main Beach in East Hampton Village, the East Hampton Fire Department sponsors a display there on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend each year.