Lawrence Cooke took a piece of white quartz from his pants pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. The rock had been worked, flaked, and seemed to be about midway through the process of becoming an arrow point or a small cutting tool. It was yet another fragment left by people who lived in Montauk thousands of years ago. Mr. Cooke finds them all the time.        

    On Saturday, Mr. Cooke, who is doing everything he can to found a Native American museum in Montauk, said his crusade began 11 years ago shortly after he was bowed by a terrible event. A Montauk resident and New York City fireman, Mr. Cooke said a big part of his world had come down with the World Trade Center. It also helped him connect with the Montauketts.

    “I was on the Pile, looking down, picking through twisted steel looking for the remains of people. Four days later, Sept. 15, it was my son’s birthday. It was a struggle to get home to Montauk. My car died on the way. A Jitney driver let me on for free. I got off in East Hampton and was hitchhiking when a landscaper picked me up. I was dirty. He asked me if I had been near Ground Zero.”

    Mr. Cooke described how his post-Sept. 11, downward searching mind-set, and the serendipitous meeting with the landscaper, started a chain of events that have evolved into an almost mystical passion for Montauk’s original inhabitants.

    At the time, he was getting ready to build a house on Essex Street in Montauk. “We had been living with our parents. I was distraught, in shock. It was a difficult time.”  

    “The landscaper said he would take me to Montauk. . . . I had to get rid of trees in order to build. The landscaper said he had property in Manorville and agreed to dig up the evergreens. He came, balled up the trees, and left.”

    Not long afterward, Mr. Cooke was mowing tall grass near where the trees had been. Speaking of Ground Zero, he said, “I’d been looking for the remains of people. It had me so in tune with the ground. I looked down and there’s a spear point. It felt like a kind of homecoming. It said, You’re home.”

    The fireman, who retired about a year ago, said that as time went on he began to see the significance of his property. “I realized I was living where they [the Montauketts] lived. Peter’s Run [a stream] was 100 feet from my front door. I’m in a swale with several streams that run from the [state] golf course to Fort Pond. The whole area between the ponds — Fort Pond and Lake Montauk — has streams.”  

    “They were on higher ground with a view of the pond. You can see how they would go down and fish. I have a net sinker from Fort Pond, and I found another piece of pottery the other day. They are literally under our feet. It fascinates me. This thing’s got a hold on me. We learn so little about native history.”

     That will change if Mr. Cooke is able to attract the half-million dollars needed to build the museum. He has completed much of the groundwork and assembled an evocative display at the Amagansett Library.

     The East Hampton Town Planning Department has given preliminary approval for a 1,500-square-foot building on the grounds of Montauk’s Second House Museum. If all goes as he hopes, the museum will become one of the Montauk Historical Society’s major buildings. The society maintains Second House and, through a lighthouse committee, the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum.   

    In the fall, on Oct. 13, the society will host an event “to celebrate the lives of the original locals,” Mr. Cooke said. Flint-napping, or chipping, and fire- starting will be demonstrated and such foods as venison stew, corn, beans, and squash served. “There are so many educational benefits,” Mr. Cooke said.

    Mr. Cooke said the museum was gaining other momentum. Dick Cavett, a Montauk resident with a lifelong interest in Native American history, has agreed to serve as honorary chairman of the Montauk Indian Museum Committee. Dr. Maria Sideroff, a Montauk resident who is a member of the Society of Primitive Technology and a recognized expert on pottery, has signed on as a member of the board. Mr. Cook said private collectors had offered their own artifacts. In addition, the museum has the blessing of Robert Pharaoh, one of three descendants of the Montauks who claim the tribe’s leadership, he said.

     The project will have a float in Montauk’s St. Patrick’s Day parade this year with the help of the East Hampton Rotary, and a number of business owners have agreed to help raise money, which is to begin in earnest next summer, Mr. Cook said.

    A Native American museum in Montauk is a natural, Mr. Cooke said. Ed Johannemann, an archeologist, had mounted a small exhibit of Native American artifacts found in Montauk at Montauk County Park in the 1990s, but it never gained the attention needed to expand.

“There is nothing more historic. When Wyandanch met Lion Gardiner it was after the Pequot War,” he said, referring to a years-long series of battles that involved the Pequot and Narragansett tribes. Gardiner, an Englishman who helped build and later commanded a fort at Saybrook near the mouth of the Connecticut River, was eventually awarded the island here that bears his family name.

In 1637, after the Pequot war came to a violent conclusion during which English massacred over 300 Pequots, Wyandanch, the Montauk sachem, paddled a canoe to Connecticut to ask Gardiner if the English would consider trading with Long Island Indians. Montauk’s tribe had been nomadic, enjoying the area’s rich natural resources. By Wyandanch’s time, Native Americans had occupied Long Island, following the seasons, for 8,000 years or more.

Mr. Cooke is quick to say there is much more to learn and different areas of Montauk to explore. “I’m not a pot hunter,” he said, referring to anyone who engages unprofessional digging. 

“The whole theme is, we are walking on the ground they walked on,” Mr. Cooke said. 

    Taking the lead from Occupy Wall Street, local supporters of the Occupy movement have forged new connections with larger groups and are planning individual and group actions aimed at issues like foreclosures, hunger, veteran support, and unemployment that are problems both nationally and on the East End.

    Local Occupy supporters held their first summit with Occupy Long Island last month, and a second is planned for Saturday in Bohemia.

    What is now called Occupy the Hamptons started as Occupy Sag Harbor, with James Monaco, a local book publisher, calling on people to gather on Long Wharf to express their allegiance with the national movement. Ty Wenzel, a writer and graphic artist from Springs, had been frequenting the protests in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, where she learned about the Wall Street activists’ general assembly procedures and decided to bring them to the South Fork. With her involvement, the group morphed into Occupy the Hamptons, and with the help of Faceboook, Twitter, and Meetup.com, she gathered around 300 people on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor on Oct. 15.

    The goal, Ms. Wenzel said in an interview last week, is to bring about positive change in a peaceful, respectful way. At the Occupy the Hamptons meeting two Sundays ago, a friendly reminder of that was distributed, stating that “Occupy the Hamptons is a non-partisan organization, tolerant of all, regardless of racial, religious, ethnic, or sexual orientation, and tolerant of divergent viewpoints.” Through group decision-making practices, local supporters work hard to be sure that they do not represent opinions that are not shared by all.

    Since winter began, the group has gotten smaller, but there are “huge plans for spring and summer,” Ms. Wenzel said. The New York Times reported earlier this month that since being evicted from Zuccotti park, Occupy Wall Street activists are traveling the country, visiting the hundreds of community groups started since their occupation. Occupy the Hamptons will be one of them.

    Occupy the Hamptons is now holding its weekly general assemblies downstairs at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Water Mill. Ann Katcher, the treasurer of the church, is supportive of the cause, and welcomed the group inside. She said last Sunday that she believes “The only way to counteract the religious right is with the religious left.”

    At the meeting on Feb. 12, people offered ideas for future actions and initiatives and also talked about how they became involved in the movement. Scott Lewis of North Sea, who owns a green technology company, suggested the group produce a weekly public access television program, and members unanimously agreed. Mr. Lewis said it is important to him that people understand their rights. “I’m here to let you know how to do that,” he said, recommending that protesters carry constitutional guidebooks in their pockets.

    Irving Hirschberg of Amagansett told the group that the day before in Sag Harbor one of the organizers of Harborfrost, a winter festival, had tried to get police to break up an Occupy protest there, with no success. He had attended Occupy Wall Street protests early on, but said, “The minute I heard you were here, I came.” He believes the Wall Street occupiers have opened people’s eyes to how their interests are being affected by the government’s policies. “Now they need to vote sensibly,” he said, “without listening to the media.”

    “I feel that government belongs to corporate power. It’s only we the people that are going to be able to change it,” said Larry Darcy of Sag Harbor. A retired police lieutenant who worked on the streets through the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, he said the younger generation is needed in the movement. “I think there is no other hope for this country.”

    Laura Perrotti, a Montauk mother of two young daughters, said in a message last week that she attends general assemblies with her children “so that my daughters understand what is going on in the world, and that while we live in an area where many people drive fancy cars and live in big homes, this is not representative of the financial struggles facing many hard-working, local families like our own.” She also thinks it is a good way to demonstrate the concept of standing up for principles, and participation in civil protest and politics in general.

    Ms. Perrotti said that her children painted posters for the Sunday afternoon demonstrations in Sag Harbor, choosing wording found online that they liked and understood. They picked “Stop War, Feed the Poor” and “We are the 99 Percent and We Have a Voice.”

    Each general assembly has a facilitator who can add his or her ideas to the agenda, a soapbox segment, and a time for announcements. People use hand signals to indicate agreement or disagreement with an idea. On Feb. 12, the facilitator was Kyle Cranston, who said the Iraq War was a big motivating event for him, making it clear, he said, that the United States government is concerned about monetary interests above all else.

    Christian Stevens, another activist, agreed with Mr. Cranston, and talked about a documentary he had seen recently about the Iraq War. “What Haliburton did to us . . . screwed the military, the soldiers, and us . . . toilet seats costing $100, $100 for a bag of laundered clothing, $45 for a six-pack of Coke made in Iraq. I am more pissed off now than ever.” He added, “I don’t think there’s hope for my generation, but maybe my son or grandson’s generation has a chance if we stand up now.”

    “My big issue is Monsanto,” said Kelly Webb, who is particularly concerned about genetically modified organisms, or G.M.O.s, in the food supply. “All of this doesn’t matter if we’re giving ourselves cancer every day through what we’re putting in and on our bodies. There is not going to be any good food left.”

    Shannone Rhea of Southampton became involved in the movement when her daughter, Rheannone Ball, was arrested in New York, and appeared on the cover of The New York Post in September. “It enraged me to see her rights being stomped on,” she said last week. “I picked her up from jail and we went right back to the park.”

    The movement is not a class war, Ms. Wenzel said last week. “It’s not about money; it’s about corruption.” Although its core message seems to target the rich, it has attracted supporters in a wide range of income brackets, she said.

    Beyond critiques of the system as it exists, local Occupy activists are also getting involved in more tangible efforts to make a difference. Matt Laspia of East Hampton, who lived in Zuccotti Park for a time and more recently helped facilitate the first Occupy Long Island summit, is back at school now, but is at work on a seed program to grow safe food and donate the plants to hungry East End residents.

    Ms. Rhea is organizing an International Women’s Day Parade to be held in New York City on March 10, something she never thought she could or would do. “I hope the result will be hundreds of women and men supporting women in the street to celebrate how far we have come and bring visual focus to the struggles we still face,” she said.

    It was standing-room only Tuesday night in Sag Harbor as the village’s zoning board of appeals met once again to consider the case of “Legs,” the 16-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture created by Larry Rivers and owned by Janet Lehr and Vered, art collectors and partners in East Hampton’s Vered Gallery.

    The work has stood on the side of the couple’s Madison Street house, a former Baptist church, since 2008, when a building inspector first declared that it was in fact an “accessory structure,” and as such needed several variances. Not only is it 1.1 feet higher than allowed but it stands just a foot from the neighboring property, where 35 feet are required, and violates the village’s pyramid law.

    Whether because the artist’s body of work is well known both here and abroad, or because Sag Harbor is home to many members of the metropolitan media, the saga of “Legs” has been a cause celebre since last May, when the Z.B.A. denied its owners’ application to let it stay; allowing them, however, to reapply. Several videocameras were spotted at Tuesday’s emotional hearing.

     Richard (Andy) Hammer, the couple’s attorney, presented the board with written and online petitions with 430 signatures favoring the necessary variances and another 62 written or e-mailed letters in support. Mr. Hammer began his argument by stating that the business of an agency such as the Z.B.A. was to regulate the use of a property to insure the health, welfare, and safety of the community, none of which pertained to “Legs,” which he said represented a vehicle “for the exercise of freedom of speech and expression.” When the audience burst into loud applause upon hearing this, the board’s acting chairman, Brendan Skislock, asked them to tone it down. Gayle Pickering, the chairwoman, was not present, and another member, Michael Bromberg, recused himself because he has relatives who live near Vered and Ms. Lehr’s house, leaving only three Z.B.A. members to hear the case.

    Mr. Skislock also discouraged Mr. Hammer from discussing the differences between a structure and a sculpture, saying it was in the applicants’ best interest to focus on the requested special-exception variance.

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who lives in Sag Harbor and is the village attorney, also urged Mr. Hammer to focus on the variance. “It is a structure,” said Mr. Thiele, as he has said for the past three years. “The last thing anyone wants is for government to determine what is art, and what is not.”

    Mr. Hammer shot back that the Sag Harbor community supports artistic expression, and said its zoning regulations were not created to stifle speech or to regulate art. He called “Legs” “a vital community asset, the value of which transcends this board, applicants, and structure.”

    “If we are looking at this as a sculpture,” said Mr. Skislock, “I don’t think it has any place on the zoning board of appeals. What we have to do is concentrate on it as a structure. Focusing on that, we can draw decisions as far as setbacks.”

    As a structure, then, would “Legs” affect the health, welfare, and safety of the community? Mr. Hammer again asked.

     The house itself, he told the board, stands just two or three feet from the property line. After it was a church it was an art institute and a gallery, and there is no conforming location on the property for the Rivers piece.

    “The building is pre-existing and nonconforming?” asked Mr. Skislock. Yes, said Mr. Hammer, who called it a cornerstone of the community. Together with “Legs,” he said, it combined both history and the contemporary, exemplifying Sag Harbor’s eclectic character. “It is just not the same as a garage setback,” he insisted.

    Mr. Skislock noted the board’s concern that a precedent might be set were the variance to be approved, with the possibility of hundreds of sculptures popping up around the village — perhaps, he said, a giant ice cream cone.” You are asking us to rethink our idea of what Sag Harbor should look like,” said Anthony Hagen, a member of the board. “Notwithstanding the audience who stands in favor, I don’t think it represents the community of Sag Harbor.”

     Mr. Hammer disagreed. “I don’t think you are going to find 150 people who have similar character” in the village, he said, going on to call Vered and Ms. Lehr “visionary people compelled to express themselves.”

    Just two voices were raised in opposition to the variance. Jennifer Hauser’s was one. She described herself as an art lover who owns two houses that face “Legs.” Larry Rivers was “brilliant,” Ms. Hauser allowed, but “let’s not set a precedent that we will regret later. I think it is an advertisement and a merchandising model, and it is illuminated all night.”

    Charles McCarron, who lives on Noyac Road and owns the house next door to Vered’s and Ms. Lehr’s, also stood to oppose a variance. Mr. McCarron, who was one of the first and loudest to speak out against “Legs,” said, “I don’t like them, Jennifer doesn’t like them.”

    Mr. Skislock interrupted. “We’re viewing it as a structure,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who likes it and who doesn’t.”

    “By saying that this is a structure, you are inadvertently saying that it is not art,” said an emotional David Joel, the executive director of the Larry Rivers estate and a Sag Harbor resident. The work “was commissioned in 1994 and documented as art for 18 years,” he said.    “If it’s art, then you shouldn’t be before this board,” replied Mr. Hagen. “This board can only look at structures.”

     “It shouldn’t come before you, maybe you should recognize that, I say that with respect,” said Mr. Hammer. “You interpret code, you could simply decide [that] it’s art, it’s not a structure. It is fully within your ability.”

    The Z.B.A. will not hand down a decision until next month, which allows 10 days for new public comment and for Ms. Pickering’s input. The board’s next meeting is on March 20.

    It’s a little warm in the office of Eric Woellhof, the East Hampton School District’s director of facilities. No matter, Mr. Woellhof just turns to his computer, which features on its monitor something akin to the plans for the Death Star, pushes a few keys, and the temperature comes down from 74 to 70 degrees almost instantly.

    “The system monitors air quality,” he explained. “It turns up the heat — or the air-conditioning — before school begins, and shuts it off afterward. If the CO2 builds up in a room, like if there’s a lot of people in there, it automatically senses it, and the vents open to let in fresh air.” He grinned. “It’s monitoring us right now.”

    This is not your father’s maintenance man: a tough guy in a jumpsuit, somewhere between a custodian and a cop, a thousand keys jingling from his belt as he roams the halls of the building.

    Mr. Woellhof has the keys on his belt, but the similarities stop there. This job requires as much heavy reading as it does heavy lifting.

    Over the past five years, it’s been Mr. Woellhof’s task to work with the architect during renovations and to upgrade the school district’s systems — heating, vents, and air-conditioning, as well as the health and safety of the buildings and grounds — so that they are energy-efficient and meet the district’s “green” goals.

    A rebate check from the Long Island Power Authority for $212,000 is just the beginning of cost savings the district is realizing with the new initiatives that have been put into place.

    Having Anthony DeFino on board has helped. Mr. DeFino had worked for Carrier, the company that installed the new H.V.A.C. system in the high school, but retired to join Mr. Woellhof.

    “It’s a nice change of pace,” Mr. DeFino said.

    “My background was construction management,” Mr. Woellhof said. He worked for the Miller Place School District before coming to East Hampton, and was on the ground floor, so to speak, for discussions on the $80-million renovations to the John M. Marshall Elementary School, the East Hampton Middle School, and the East Hampton High School.

    “The first talks we had were about what would be green,” he said. “The old system was the way most school districts are,” Mr. Woellhof said. “Time clocks, manual controls.”

    The goal was to meet or exceed the recommendations of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, a non-profit organization that sets the standards for energy-efficient learning institutions. The idea, according to the C.H.P.S. Web site, is that “a well-designed facility can truly enhance performance and make education more enjoyable and rewarding” for students, faculty, and staff.

    The H.V.A.C. system at the East Hampton High School was key to obtaining a green designation. It is a leviathan, with “hundreds of zones,” Mr. Woellhof said.

    “In the high school alone, there are over 70 pieces of equipment — belts, pullies, filters, bearings,” he said.

    The computer system sends out alarms when a filter needs to be changed, which is a crucial part of keeping the air quality top-notch and the machinery running at peak efficiency. The alarms, to keep everything effortless, are sent to Mr. Woellhof’s cellphone.

    How big a deal can it be to change a couple of filters? Mr. Woellhof explained. “A big piece of equipment can have 8 to 12 filters going in, maybe 8 to 12 inside, then another 8 to 12 going out,” he said. The school district spends between $15,000 and $20,000 just for filters, but it’s necessary, Mr. Woellhof said.

    “It maintains the air indoors,” he said. “There have been several scares about mold and so on. But when an outside test was conducted, there were more pollen and mold spores outside than in here.” He called it “a stark contrast.”

    It also saves on the amount of electricity needed. A clean filter runs cleanly. A dirty one requires more effort by the system to push through the air. “It cuts down on labor, too,” he said.

    The computer system itself cuts down on labor, as it modifies its own behaviors according to what it does and doesn’t do. “It’s called an ‘adaptive optimal start-stop,’ ” Mr. Woellhof explained, then smiled. “It means the computer is learning.”

    There has also been an overhaul of custodial practices. “The scrubbers use minimal water,” Mr. Woellhof pointed out. “We use green chemicals for cleaning inside all three schools, and the grounds use no pesticides,” he said.

    But the biggest payback, the gift that keeps on giving, are the changes in the lights and other LIPA programs, which Mr. Woellhof and his team have acted upon, including installing a white roof on the high school.

    “I don’t think people realize how much they would save with white roofs,” he said. The district got a rebate check for $18,000 just for that one alteration. For replacing the “chillers” on the roof — Mr. DeFino’s bailiwick — the district received $84,000 back from LIPA, “about three-quarters of the price of one of them,” Mr. Woellhof said.

    LIPA has been very helpful, he acknowledged. With its assistance, Mr. Woellhof has been able to break down the cost of changing one room — the high school auditorium — into an energy efficient Eden.

    “The floodlights in there now are 90 watts,” he said. He held up the new model, a similar-looking bulb, but with an output of only 17 watts, the compact fluorescent cousin of the incandescent. “When we install these, it’s a 75-percent savings. It will save between $2,000 and $2,500 a year for that room alone,” he said, not without excitement in his voice. “And the schools here are loaded with 90-watt bulbs.”

    He stood on his desk and removed a light fixture to show the bulbs inside. “Just this fixture is a rebate of $120,” he said. “The schools are full of them.”

    Mr. Woellhof makes it his job to continue to look for new incentives that will reduce energy use and save money, including solar panels, reclaiming water from the roof, and many other future possibilities.

    For now, he wants to finish getting the elementary and middle school up to high-energy snuff. “Those rebates were just for the high school,” he said. How much more of a rebate could be expected from the other buildings?

    “At least $38,000,” he said. “There are so many items that haven’t been included yet — exit signs, light fixtures.” Then, still pushing the limits, he said, “I don’t know — if it came back at another $50,000, that would be pretty cool.”

    Come next week, East Hampton’s work force may have to travel outside village limits to get an egg sandwich or a Bonac burger. Bucket’s Delicatessen, a mainstay of Newtown Lane, is closing its doors tomorrow.

    As of late Monday morning, though, Everett Griffiths could be seen doing what he’s been doing so well for so long: making salads and gearing up for the lunchtime crowd.

    Mr. Griffiths and his wife, Angela, have been the friendly faces behind the counter at the East Hampton Village institution for the past 33 years, serving up its signature chicken salad along with breakfast specialties — some say Mr. Griffiths makes the best egg sandwiches around — to midday offerings, including the coveted deviled eggs, available only on Wednesdays and only to a few lucky early birds.

    The building, known for decades as the Cavagnaro building and the previous site of Cavagnaro’s restaurant and bar, features high tin ceilings and other architectural details that recall a time when the railroad was the main thoroughfare in and out of East Hampton.

    The building has been for sale for several years, but that’s not the reason for closing, said its owner.

    “I’ve just had enough,” Mr. Griffiths shrugged and smiled. “I’ve been doing it for 33 years. We were open seven days a week from Day One, even though we eventually closed on Sundays, then Saturdays and Sundays. I’m just tired.”

    Tired or not, some regular customers are disheartened to see the couple close up shop.

    “I’m definitely going to miss this place,” said John Glennon, an Amagansett resident who’s been coming to Bucket’s for 15 years. “I don’t know where people are going to find a decently priced lunch when it’s gone.” He wished the owners the best for their retirement.

    Steve Mitchell, who lives in Sag Harbor, echoed Mr. Glennon. “There’s no place else around,” he said. “It’s sad that all the small mom-and-pops are closing down. There’s nothing left for the little guys, the locals.”

    “We love our customers,” Mrs. Griffiths said with her customary large smile. “We know them. They come in and we banter awhile. It’s been fun.”

    Mr. Griffiths bought the deli from its previous owner, Norton W. Daniels, whose nickname was Bucket. “We decided to keep the name,” he said.

    Before Bucket’s, Mr. Griffiths spent over seven years in the deli department at the I.G.A. on North Main Street.

    Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths’s daughter, Pauline, lives in Sweden with her two daughters. Retirement will give them a chance “to travel a little bit,” Mr. Griffiths said. “To take life one step at a time.”

    “I have a lot of good memories of this place,” he added wistfully. But, he said, he and his wife are excited to have some time to play a little.

    “Now I get my husband all to myself,” Mrs. Griffiths said with a smile.

    “We’ll get to do some gardening,” Mr. Griffiths offered. The couple has a house in Amagansett. “We have lovely gardens.”

    “I’d like to do some outside work,” he added, looking up from his salad-making with a twinkle in his eye. “I’ve spent a lot of time indoors.”

    The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals once again discussed a divisive application on Tuesday that includes a request for a stone revetment on Gardiner’s Bay near Lazy Point, but tabled a decision until at least Feb. 28.

    Joshua Young and Christine Lemieux want to tear down their 1,200-square-foot, one-story house on Mulford Lane and in its place build a new 1,719-square-foot, two-story house on pilings with a deck. The new house would be farther from the bay and protected by a 115-linear-foot stone revetment with a 32-foot vinyl seawall return, all on the couple’s property.

    The zoning board first discussed the project last summer, rushing it to a hearing before fall storms based on a Feb. 11, 2011, memo from Tom Talmage, the East Hampton Town engineer, who said the house was in “immediate peril,” much of it due to damage sustained from a Dec. 27, 2010, storm.

    The couple revised the application following an Aug. 30 hearing. They had wanted to work with neighbors on a joint application, and were given more time from the board to do so, but by the second hearing of the application on Jan. 17, Kevin Klenke, a neighbor to the east of their property, had declined to be part of their application. (New York State owns the property to the west of the applicants.) The record was held open until Jan. 31 for comments from the D.E.C., and the applicants. An additional week was also added for the town trustees to submit their input.

    Mr. Young and Ms. Lemieux need nine variances, including relief from regulations protecting tidal and freshwater wetlands, barrier dunes, surface waters, and beach vegetation. The project also requires a natural resources permit and permission to install a new coastal erosion structure where town code prohibits it. Additionally, a variance is sought from coastal erosion district overlay regulations, and from the town’s pyramid law.

    Before the zoning board began discussing the application on Tuesday, Lynn Mendelman, a town trustee, attempted to address the board and questioned which  board was the lead agency for the application.

    Robert Connelly, an assistant town attorney, informed her that the hearing had been closed on Feb. 7. “The record is closed. I understand the trustees want to make a comment. But if the applicant needs to get a permit from the trustees, they can get a comment from the trustees at that time,” he said.

    Ms. Mendelman was uncertain if the project would require a permit from the trustees, but said she had attended Tuesday’s meeting at the request of the trustees, and submitted a letter from them opposing the application.

    “As far as we know, we’ve been on this since July, and we haven’t heard from the trustees since then,” said Alex Walters, the zoning board’s chairman, saying that his board has jurisdiction in this application. Mr. Walters said the trustees wrote to the zoning board in January asking for the opportunity to weigh in on the project. The zoning board gave them the opportunity, but “we hadn’t heard from them as of last week,” he said.

    Don Cirillo, the board’s vice chairman, added that the East Hampton Town Planning Department reviewed the application and determined that the zoning board should take the lead on reviewing it. “There is no jurisdiction for trustees because it abuts private property,” he said.

    “It’s a difficult circumstance in that water has invaded pretty close to this applicant’s property now,” he said. Mr. Cirillo talked to a neighbor who has lived in the area for 50 years. “She said Mulford had extended well over 120 feet into the water, and there was also a parking lot that is in the water,” he said. Mr. Cirillo said he was unaware of any objection from neighbors.

    “It’s only fair to allow someone to try to do something, as long as it doesn’t invade onto someone’s property and make other changes,” he said. “High tide, it’s coming onto this guy’s property and going right underneath his porch. A strong wind or storm would be very detrimental to the property now. It could well result in losing his house.”

    “This property definitely needs some type of relief,” said Bryan Gosman, a board member. “The lot doesn’t leave it with many options, except for moving the house back. Which isn’t really the best option because of the speed of the erosion. Some type of revetment is needed. I don’t think anyone knows the total environmental impact.”

    Sharon McCobb, another board member, agreed the house needs to be moved back; however, she expressed concern over the coastal erosion structure. “I have a problem with this revetment,” she said. “The way it sits on the survey, the Klenke house will be gone. I don’t see how this house is going to survive.” Ms. McCobb had spoken with Mr. Klenke while observing the property and said his house will be affected. “I’ve seen the revetments work, and I’ve seen the houses next door get killed,” she said. Ms. McCobb suggested other properties join forces to help prevent the erosion. “This is a project that needs to be bigger than what it is,” she said.   

    “In situations like this, there’s going to be knee-high water in two months,” said Lee White, a board member. “You’re going to impact both properties with this one structure. We’ve seen this on Gerard Drive and Sound Avenue. You put in one, everyone has to do it. It’s a precarious situation.” If the applicants receive permission to build the revetment, the neighbor’s house will be gone, Mr. White said. “They’re both going to be gone,” Mr.Gosman added.

    Ms. McCobb raised the issue that the applicant had purchased the house recently. “This has been a problem for a very long time. He purchased this house with this kind of situation,” she said, “For this to benefit him and hurt the neighbor, no.”

    Mr. Walters reminded the board that the house was purchased in 2010; however, the December storm had damaged the property. “It got a whole lot worse after that,” he said. Mr. Walters said the application will need a D.E.C. permit, and requested that the board wait to make a decision until the D.E.C. had made one first. “Any approval will be contingent on it,” he said.

    “Most of us agree; it’s reasonable for him to move the house back. As for the revetment, no one can tell you what it’s really going to do. We can surmise,” Mr. Walters said. The question to board members is whether or not they will allow applicants to do all they can to protect their property in an emergency situation. “This area is also in the town board’s hands. They are talking about dredging, and don’t know which channel they’re going to do,” he said. “We can’t wait for them, but we have to make a decision.”

    Mr. Cirillo asked board members who were opposed to the revetment for alternatives. He said that moving the house away from the water will buy the applicant some time. “It won’t fall in the water now,” he said. “But two years from now it could. Before we take away his property, what do you suggest in lieu of a revetment?”

    “Until the neighbor is on board, there are soft solutions,” Ms. McCobb replied.

    “Eventually it will get to his property. It will sneak around,” Mr. White said.

    The board will give the the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation more time to submit its commentary on the application, and will attempt to sort out any controversy with the trustees over jurisdiction before making a decision.

    “I think the applicant deserves an answer, sooner than later,” said Mr. Walters. “I’m not a meteorologist, but we’re lucky.”

    The most surprising thing about Saturday morning’s Springs School community forum was the attendance. “We had 29 people participate last year,” said Kathee Burke Gonzalez, the president of the school board. “We expected about 70 here today.”

    Over 120 people packed the commons room in the school: parents, faculty, staff, and district taxpayers. And they were gathered to face a disturbing but unavoidable truth — with an anticipated $1.09 million shortfall in the upcoming school budget, something will have to go.

    “Our community has choices to make,” Ms. Gonzalez said. “And we need to make them together.”

    “This is a very difficult decision,” Liz Mendelman, a school board member, said, with a catch in her throat. She apologized for her show of emotion, then said, “This school is so important to all of us.”

    The crowd watched a video put together by Sue Ellen O’Connor, a teacher, focusing on the best of Springs School and concluding with a serious Eric Casale, the school principal, looking at the camera from his desk.

    “We’re proud of this school, but the landscape has changed,” he said. “But the values and core beliefs must always stay the same. This is what will define us as a school and as a community.”

    Part of the budget gap could be explained by last year’s high school tuition refund from the East Hampton School District to the tune of $800,000, which was counted as non-tax revenue in the 2011-12 budget and reduced the amount that had to be raised by taxes. That revenue source is vastly reduced in next year’s school budget, but with a new state-imposed 2-percent cap on tax levy increases, the district is feeling the pain of last year’s windfall as it works through next year’s proposed budget.

    This year’s school district budget is $24.84 million, with an estimated tax revenue of about $22.36 million. Administrators’ preliminary calculations indicate that the tax levy for the 2012-13 budget cannot exceed $22.83 million, or just over 2 percent above this year’s levy. District administrators have not offered a total number for their proposed 2012-13 budget as of yet.

    On Saturday, all participants were given a list of 25 possible programs that could be cut to bring the budget in line with the tax levy cap. The list included the cost of each program and sometimes of several options for that program, such as running it at 50 percent or dispensing with it completely.

    Eight facilitators led groups of approximately 14 people in smaller discussions for an hour, then the groups reconvened in the main area. The groups, each comprised of teachers, parents, and other district residents, were asked to pick their top 10 favorites from the list.

    “What we’re asking, rather than what you want to save, is what do you value most,” said Michael Hartner, the superintendent.

    When the facilitators reported back, there were several clear favorites. All the groups said that maintaining smaller class sizes, rather than increasing class size up to 30 students, was worthwhile. They also placed high value on keeping a full-day kindergarten program, along with the current teaching assistants in that grade.

    High marks were also given to the academic enrichment program, chorus and band instruction, the fourth-grade opera, the science Olympiad, and maintaining the current structure of physical education.

    Some favored doing away with free prekindergarten, which adds $130,000 to the budget, and some suggested reducing both educational field trips and extracurricular activities by 50 percent to the tune of a combined $50,000. Some also favored dispensing with the Springs School in Action film program, at $60,000, and with summer school, at $65,000.

    Of the six groups that reported back by the end of the meeting, three were in favor of continuing to fund the Project MOST after-school programs, at $40,000; three were opposed.

    Although the event progressed smoothly, considering that almost twice as many people showed up as expected, frustrations bubbled to the surface at the Springs School Board meeting on Monday night.

    “I commend the idea that you’re getting input,” said Carol Saxe Buda, a resident of the district. “But there was frustration from some of the people that administrative costs were not on the list of possible cuts.”

    “I was a teacher, my husband was a teacher, I like teachers,” she said, but added that the pension plans for staff and faculty need to “get back down to earth.”

    “We’re looking for concessions from the high end,” Ms. Buda said. “You’re asking the public to fund something for the highest paid teachers and administrators that they themselves don’t have.”

    “Taxpayers have taken all they can take right now,” she said.

    The Star obtained a statement from the Springs Teachers Association over the weekend, which reads: “In these challenging economic times, the teachers are particularly sensitive of the need to preserve the valuable programs for students at Springs School.”

    “We want to assure the community that we have brought this awareness to the ongoing negotiations of our contract. We are pleased to say that, although there is still much to be worked out, the S.T.A. and the district have a tentative agreement that calls for salary freezes and benefit concessions totaling over half a million dollars in savings to the district. We sincerely hope that this alleviates some of the pressure that the recent tax-cap legislation has placed on our school.” The statement could not be confirmed at press time.

    Tim Bryden, executive director of Project MOST, also spoke about Saturday’s community forum at the board meeting on Monday.

    “Project MOST has brought in $1.2 million to the school over the last five years,” he said. “Just this year, the $40,000 that Springs invests in this program has brought in $325,000.” Mr. Bryden added, “That’s not in-kind services, that’s in real cash.”

    Members of the public weighed in this week about the future of East Hampton Town’s scavenger waste treatment plant, all but one urging the town board at a meeting on Tuesday not to accept a proposal from a company that wants to buy the Springs-Fireplace Road, East Hampton, facility, and saying that the issues involved, including long-term environmental impacts, warrant more time and consideration.

    The town board, split on what direction to go in, could come to no definitive consensus. But, given the go-ahead to talk with East End Processing Corp., which submitted the proposal to operate and purchase the plant, by two out of the other four members of the board, Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said he would “begin negotiating” that afternoon.

    Both Mr. Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley want to privatize the plant and to work with East End Processing to draft an acceptable contract. Ms. Quigley suggested that the town first invest the money to make the plant “state of the art,” meeting the most stringent environmental standards, or require the private company to do so.

    Neither of the Democratic board members, Peter Van Scoyoc or Sylvia Overby, is sold on the idea. Both said more investigation is necessary before deciding what to do, and suggested decisions should stem from a comprehensive wastewater management policy that the board should develop.

    Mr. Van Scoyoc said that for now the town should continue operating the plant as a transfer facility — accepting waste brought in by cesspool pumping companies but having it trucked elsewhere for processing — and adjust the budget to allocate money to do so. The 2012 budget adopted by the previous board did not contain money to operate the plant beyond the first few months of the year.

    He said it is “important to first develop policy,” and make decisions based on that before entering into a 30-year contract that could cut off options, and that the town should establish an “environmental baseline” to ensure that the it would not be held responsible in the future for environmental problems it did not cause.

    Both he and Ms. Overby said the board had not fully vetted the possibility of maintaining town control of the plant by hiring a suitable operator, and Councilman Dominick Stanzione, though calling privatization of the plant “the right instinct,” insisted that closing it altogether, or continuing its operation as a transfer facility “are options we need time to explore.” He agreed with the need for a comprehensive septic management plan.

    In the meantime, he said, keeping the transfer facility going “seems to be our best environmental and financial choice — but I’m open to listening to [East End Processing’s] presentation.”

    In response to a call for proposals, the company, which was the sole respondent, suggested buying the plant for $300,000, or leasing it beginning March 30 for a 30-year term for $1,000 a month, with an option to buy.

     Councilwoman Overby called the company’s proposal “horrible.” “We abdicate almost everything, as a community, to a private entity,” she said. “At this point, with this contract, this is not the time to privatize,” she said.

    The community should decide, she said, whether it is worth investing the money needed to create a “state-of-the-art” treatment plant, for which grant money would likely be available. She suggested, but could not get the board majority to approve, immediately convening a committee to help the board vet some of the issues.

    Kevin McAllister, the Peconic Baykeeper, told the board at the meeting that across Long Island there is increasing “wear and tear to our bays via groundwater” containing nitrogen from wastewater emissions.    

    “I’m not so sure a private entity is going to care so deeply about our local waters as this town board would,” he said. If the plant were privatized, authority over its operations would be the responsibility of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. But, Mr. McAllister said, “there’s a wanting need for greater oversight, and, quite frankly, the D.E.C. is not doing the job.”

    In addition, he said it is important for the town “to define the current conditions in our groundwater” surrounding the plant, and that it would be a “mistake” to allow a private entity to take over the plant without “doing a thorough evaluation . . . of legacy conditions.”

    In a report last year outlining the town’s options as far as the scavenger plant, East Hampton’s budget and finance advisory committee also called for a full environmental review as a first step. Ms. Overby, Mr. Van Scoyoc, and several other speakers called for it to be done.

    However, both Councilman Stanzione and Councilwoman Quigley have expressed concern about the town’s liability should it discover and acknowledge environmental problems stemming from the plant. Ms. Quigley said she had looked at reports from monitoring wells installed to track a solvent plume stemming from the now-capped landfill near the waste plant, and that “there’s no problem.”

    “I say, whatever’s in the ground, I don’t want to be the one to uncover it and say, it’ll cost $100,000, $1 million, $5 million,” Ms. Quigley said.

    The D.E.C. has issued numerous violations citing emissions at the plant that exceeded allowable levels of chemicals, including nitrogen and mercury.

    “The environmental issues associated with the plant quite frankly are unknown,” Mr. Stanzione said. “They’re probably not good. We have to take that into consideration.”

    Both Mr. McAllister and Ms. Quigley suggested that maintaining an ability to process septic waste at the plant could be key to future decisions, such as the potential creation of a town sewer system, in order to protect groundwater. Mention of sewers has often sparked fears of an underlying agenda to increase development, but Mr. McAllister, in a presentation to the board, and board members themselves, including Supervisor Wilkinson, have said that steps for groundwater protection should be considered apart from the development question.

    “You need a sewage treatment plant, a scavenger waste treatment plan — you need private sewers,” Ms. Quigley said. “I know to some people that means more development. I don’t see it that way. I want to solve the problem of nitrates.”

    Unlike most Long Island scavenger waste plants, East Hampton’s sends treated effluent into the ground rather than into a body of water.

    Hy Brodsky questioned whether there is enough information about the effect of “contaminated waters — I don’t care how it’s treated — being shot into our groundwater,” such as the absorption rate through the ground into the aquifer.

    “Any decision you make has to have the ammunition, that you can make a knowledgeable decision,” Mr. Brodsky said. “Right now, it’s a guessing game.”

    “This concerns all of East Hampton,” said Elaine Jones. “Bringing sewage from UpIsland is unacceptable,” she said, referring to an element of the East End Processing proposal. The people of the town, she said, have always been willing to pay for what’s needed to protect the environment and quality of life here. “Have a referendum and let the voters decide,” she said.

    Carole Campolo told the board it should “continue to follow its path of reform,” and that privatizing the plant was th right decision because of the specialized expertise needed to run it.

    A primary responsibility for town government, said Jackie Lowey, an East Hampton resident, is to “protect our air, water, and land.” Entering into the proposed contract with East End Processing, she said, “flies in the face of that.”

    Pat Schutte, whose company, Hamptons Septic Services, is trucking waste away from the plant under a short-term contract with the town to run it as a transfer station, questioned whether there is a need at all for a treatment plant here.

    “Not many carters are using the facility,” he said. According to Councilman Stanzione, 120,000 gallons of waste were deposited at the plant in January. Half came from the Three Mile Harbor Trailer Park, which has problematic septic systems that are regularly pumped, and the other half from a single carter.

    “I agree with quick decisions in government,” Mr. Schutte said, “but just take the next month, and really decide if we want this in our backyard.”

    Bob DeLuca, the president of the Group for the East End, said that wastewater management is a universal problem, but that the data show that municipal facilities “tend to do better. There’s sort of a government accountability factor there.”

    Mr. DeLuca echoed a concern voiced last week by Ms. Overby and Mr. Van Scoyoc that town residents have an outlet, such as the town, versus a private concern or a state regulatory agency, that would be receptive should they have concerns or problems with the plant.

    Whatever decision the board makes about the plant, he said, should stem from the overarching policy.

    Councilwoman Quigley told the board that there is no time to delay making a permanent decision, based on the D.E.C. action plan to which the town is bound.

    The plan, however, allows the town 102 weeks to correct conditions at the plant, should it choose to maintain ownership. It says that, after treatment at the plant has ceased, with waste being transferred, the town may investigate privatization by soliciting proposals, and may execute a contact, if deemed feasible, after completing a “technical design report” that, according to the document, “would establish the baseline condition of the facility as part of the contract with the private entity.”

    “If a public-private option is determined to be the best alternative for the town,” the agreement says that the 102-week rehab schedule “may be revised accordingly.”

    East Hampton Town Trustees are concerned that the beach is eroding in two directions: from the seaward side due to the ocean’s rise and intermittent storm surges, as well as from the landward side via creeping sand fences put up by beachfront homeowners.

    Assuming that Stuart Vorpahl, a local history scholar, is correct, the word “beach” meant something very different in East Hampton’s early days. As a geographical reference, beach began where arable land stopped, that is, at the landward side of the dunes, he says. In more modern times, the beach is defined either as the stretch of sand between the sea and the seaward edge (or toe) of the dunes or between the sea and mean high water.

    The sandy domain reserved for the public is dependent on these definitions.

    During the last year, the trustees have been fighting three State Supreme Court battles with oceanfront owners over beach access. The trustees also have embarked on an effort, in cooperation with the town’s Natural Resources Department, to control the location of sand fences.

    At a meeting on Tuesday night, Joe Bloecker, one of the trustees, reported he had filed a complaint with the town’s Code Enforcement Department over four sections of fencing (with video cameras peering down from their two-by-four supports) that have been placed perpendicular to the shoreline in front of the White Sands Motel on Napeague.

    The nine-member board has also gone after Napeague property owners on nearby Marine Boulevard. Several years ago, the trustees, in cooperation with East Hampton Village, set about removing fences they called illegal. But such fences have kept on coming — sometimes even as one, two, and more fences erected in front of each other — encroaching on public beach.

    Sand fences and snow fences are the same thing, and, in most places, the flexible wire-and-lathe structures work. Originally designed to trap blowing snow, they attract sand in the same way. Wind-driven sand tends to pile up on both the leeward and windward sides, making them effective at rebuilding eroded dunes.

    However, because erosion along many of the South Fork’s beaches has become chronic, the private-public line in the sand has become blurred. This became a matter of public debate in the fall when Molly Zweig erected a  fence made of steel poles to mark the boundary of her upland property at Georgica Beach in the village.

    Before a series of storms stole much of the sand there, access to the beach was no problem. The oceanfront boundary of Ms. Zweig’s property was neither acknowledged nor marked. But when the beach grew narrow and she put up a fence that threatened to block public access, officials cried foul.

    State and local regulations on beach fences reflect each other. East Hampton Village’s law mirrors those of the town and recognizes the trustees’ authority. The village has charged Ms. Zweig with putting up fencing without a permit, but has decided against raising the issue of her property’s seaward boundary.

    The conflict between what Ms. Zweig’s deed indicates and the public’s right of access to the beach at Georgica has focused attention on a general dilemma: When dunes are washed away, leaving only a narrow strip of sand, does the sand become public or remain private? For now, the trustees are thinking about the issue the opposite way: Does dune that has grown seaward with the help of sand fencing become private property? In the trustees’ opinion the answer is “no way.”

    Diane McNally, the trustees clerk, believes the rules about shoreline fencing in the town code need to be better enforced, and perhaps amended.

    “The ins and outs of the law are not being followed, and I’m told by contractors that the permit process is onerous. People don’t want to have to provide updated surveys every time. Meanwhile, fences are going up left and right. A lot of it is dune restoration, but others are not.” 

    The installation and maintenance of fences on town beaches is detailed in section 255-4-70.2 of the code. A $60 fee to apply for sand fencing is paid to either the trustees or, in the case of Montauk beaches, to the Highway Department because the trustees do not have jurisdiction there.

    According to the town’s rules, permits for sand fences used for dune restoration expire after one year. Seasonal erosion control fencing must be removed no later than March 15 in any given year. Seasonal fencing also must be lifted and re-exposed whenever it becomes half covered with sand.

     Other requirements are that sections of fence be no longer than 10 feet, be placed at a 45-degree angle to the shoreline, be no farther than 10 feet seaward of a dune, and be supported by untreated wood stakes. In addition, fencing is not to interfere with nesting areas.

    Because untended fences often wind up in snarls after storms, the trustees would like to see lathes branded in some way to identify them. Ms. McNally said she would like to see the lathe strung together with a biodegradable material, hemp perhaps, instead of steel wire. She said fences constrain the public in another way.

    “Whatever is behind the fence looks like it’s private even if it’s not. It’s a mind-set, subtle and instinctual. ‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,’ Robert Frost, I think.”

    William Bauer, 78, died on Friday night when the one-room cabin he shared with an adult stepson at the Cozy Cabins complex on Montauk Highway in Wainscott, exploded in a ball of fire. The small building was gutted and everything inside destroyed.

    Mr. Bauer was reported to have been bedridden following surgery and to be a smoker. His stepson, who was known to neighbors as Vinnie but did not want to be identified further, was out at the time the fire began. He arrived at the cabin to see smoke coming from it and, according to a neighbor, he knocked on all the windows, calling Mr. Bauer’s name, then opened the door. The fire exploded.

    The Bridgehampton Fire Department received the call at 6:15 p.m. The volunteers responded quickly and were able to put out the fire in about 15 minutes, but they were unable to get inside. The heat was reported to be so intense that it melted the siding on an adjacent cabin. The East Hampton Fire Department was also at the scene.

    Ivory King, who is among the residents who live in the cabins on a long-term basis, described stepping outside when she smelled smoke and seeing the inferno, as did Karen Antonez, another neighbor. “There was an explosion, like fireworks,” Ms. Antonez said.

    Thomas Baker, an East Hampton Town fire marshal, explained what apparently caused the explosion. “If a fire has been starved and you introduce oxygen to the room by opening a door or window, it causes an immediate flashover,” he said.

    Ms. King reported that Mr. Bauer’s stepson returned on Wednesday and that she assisted him in sifting through the ashes for any possessions. “The only thing we found was a crucifix,” she said.

    The fire is under investigation by Suffolk County Arson and Homicide Squads, which automatically take over when a fatality is involved.

    “It was probably some kind of accident,” Lt. Gerard Pelkofsky of the homicide squad said. It will be several weeks before the coroner’s office or the arson squad release their findings.

    “We don’t know for sure, but there are no indications of any foul play,” the lieutenant said. He added that the cause of the fire may never be known because of the total destruction of the contents of the cabin.

    Hamptons Escape Management of Bethpage, which operates Cozy Cabins, released a statement expressing deep sadness about the fire and expressing gratitude to the Bridgehampton Fire Department for its “prompt response and courageous acts in containing the fire to one cabin.” They also thanked the East Hampton Town Police Department.