The hurricane expected to blow through Long Island this weekend might be good for one thing — blowing away the mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus, which could prompt closures of several county and state parks on Long Island from dusk to dawn through Labor Day.

    Some 50 samples in Suffolk County have tested positive for the virus, carried primarily by the common house mosquito, which breeds on the population it bites and needs a blood meal to produce eggs. One person so far has been infected by the virus. Though not considered serious, it can cause death in some extreme cases, according to Suffolk County Health Commissioner James Tomarken, who began sending out press releases on the virus last Thursday.

    “The confirmation of West Nile virus in a mosquito pool indicates the virus is actively circulating within the mosquito population,” Dr. Tomarken said in the release. He explained that a Huntington resident under 55 had come down with the telltale symptoms — fever, chills, body aches, and swollen lymph nodes — and was diagnosed with the virus. The illness lasted five days and hospitalization was not required. The person has since recovered.

    “While there is no cause for alarm, we urge residents to cooperate with us in our efforts to contain the spread of the virus, which can be debilitating to humans,” Dr. Tomarken said.

    The virus was identified in 1999 and has been found each year since. It is transmitted though the bite of an infected mosquito. It is estimated that 20 percent of those who get bitten will come down with noticeable symptoms of the virus.

    Mosquito traps are placed in many locations throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties, regardless of jurisdiction by county, state, or town, said Grace Kelly-McGovern, a Health Department spokeswoman. They are put out at night and collected the following morning, about once a week.

    The samples are collected by scientists with the Department of Health Services’ arthropod-borne division and sent to a New York State lab for testing. A ration of dead birds in one area indicates the mosquitoes in that area are carrying the virus, Ms. Kelly-McGovern said.

    Several years ago, police officers visited each of the 17 houses in the Camp Hero neighborhood in Montauk to warn people that positive samples had been found in the area. Camp Hero is the closest residential development to the Montauk Point State Park.

    The park at Camp Hero and the Montauk Lighthouse grounds were closed at dusk each night and reopened at 8 a.m. the following morning until the risk was considered past.

    There are no numbers available for how many traps are set between Southampton and Montauk. They are usually set out and moved according to the Health Department’s findings, said the spokeswoman.

    The mosquito season runs from June 1 to Nov. 1. The health commissioner recommends avoiding the outdoors from dusk to dawn or wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants during those hours and using bug repellent.

    After a heavy rainfall, he advises emptying all standing water from flower pots, tin cans, birdbaths, and other receptacles to reduce mosquito breeding around the home. Dead birds found on a property may have been infected, and the commissioner recommends calling the Department of Public Works at 787-2200 to report them.

    It is not every day that you turn 100 years old. On Monday, Elsie Garretson and Camilla Jewett shared this distinct honor and basked in their centinarian birthday glows at a celebratory tea hosted by the Ladies Village Improvement Society.

    Both women have been members of the L.V.I.S. for years — Ms. Garretson joined in 1969, while Ms. Jewett began her tenure in 1942. About 70 women attended, including Alice Ham, 103, to offer words of praise and admiration to their L.V.I.S. cohorts.

    Nancy Andrews, president of L.V.I.S., said that when she spoke with Ms. Garretson’s daughter Susan Winkler of Springs about the party, she was not sure if her mother would be up for it. Ms. Andrews suggested that they just send red roses instead, but Ms. Garretson was not having any of that. “Forget the roses, I would rather come to the party,” she said.

    At the party, as the birthday ladies sat in chairs by a flower-covered mantel, Ms. Andrews spoke about both women’s years of service to the L.V.I.S.

    “Elsie has a love of books, and she was attracted to the book department. She loved talking to people and could befriend anyone, from young children to the famous. She worked until she was 96, and we miss you,” Ms. Andrews said. “Cam started in books, then clothing, and made her way to dishes. She worked the hot dog booth at her first L.V.I.S. fair and called it, ‘the hottest day on earth.’ . . . She is still working today, and she greeted everyone this year at the fair with a big smile.”

    Jen Winkler, one of Ms. Garretson’s granddaughters, talked at the party about her grandmother’s longevity. “She told me her secret was to never hold a grudge, and I try to walk in her footsteps.” Ms. Winkler said her grandmother always kept sharp by doing crosswords, and she watches “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune.” And, she said, she drove and lived alone until she was 97. “She was always busy, always engaged. You never knew what was going to happen next.”

    Ms. Garretson’s spontaneity blends well with her amiable disposition. “She’s an absolute pleasure to work with, she makes it easy,” said Rosemarie Jaggai, her caretaker. “I’ve never heard her put anybody down.”

    Tall, elegant, and filled with spunk, Ms. Jewett held court and absorbed the attention at Monday’s party with dignity. “She’s one of the smartest and chicest people in East Hampton,” said Mardie Gorman, a close friend and member of L.V.I.S. Unassuming, Ms. Jewett fawned over how sharp another woman’s outfit was and seemed to want to share the moment with others. “You are our guiding light,” Beverly Deicher, an L.V.I.S. member, told her.

    Ms. Jewett still lives alone, and is active in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and in East Hampton Village, where she has lived across the street from Town Pond for more than 60 years. “You have been a Rock of Gibraltar for the community, and we give you the warmest of greetings, love, and admiration,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. told Ms. Jewett on Friday when he presented her with a proclamation and a photo of a mother swan with two cygnets in recognition of her role as a steward of the pond. Ready for her close-up, Ms. Jewett wore a lime-green sweater with white pants, her makeup and hair neatly done.

    Aug. 30, her birthday, will be Cam Jewett Day in the village, the mayor declared.

    During an interview at her house following the village board meeting, Ms. Jewett explained how she watches out for the swans on the pond. “I keep track of them, take notes on when they disappear to lay their eggs. Each year it’s quite different where they go,” she said. “If they get stuck in the ice I call. [They say] ‘Don’t worry Cam, they’ll get out,’ and they do.”

    Born in Vermont, Ms. Jewett went to high school and college in Massachusetts, and took an extended course in New York City. She returned to Manhattan after college, where she eventually became the head dietician for the City of New York’s neurological hospital and home for dependents on Roosevelt Island, a position she enjoyed. After meeting her husband, who was in the service, she lived in Florida, Texas, and Washington State. They returned to Manhattan after the war, in 1946, and decided to make their home in East Hampton in the house where she still lives today.

    “I’ve loved it here. It’s a beautiful place,” she said. “It’s noisy now. The changes are unbelievable, but I still like it.” She got involved with the L.V.I.S., Guild Hall, the library, the East Hampton Garden Club, and St. Luke’s Church to keep busy.

    “I never thought I’d live to be this age,” Ms. Jewett said. “My father lived to his 90s. I didn’t give much thought to living that long. I thought a lot of my friends would be gone, and most are. I have a lot of young friends.” Social activities, lots of friends, and eating healthy seem to be her secret. “People say ‘You always eat right,’ and I do.” Having been a dietician, she said, “I’ve always been interested in eating well. I like to cook.” As a younger woman, Ms. Jewett used to have a cocktail with her husband at the end of the day, and friends would come over to join them if the house lights were on.

    She is independent, and still cooks her own meals. “I don’t want to ever go in a nursing home,” she said. Her family has suggested it, but she resists. “I’ll go out a few times a week. I like to get out every day; everybody has to.” Her advice to other older people: “Get out with young people when you have time. Learn what’s going on in your community. You have to have friends. No one wants to live an isolated life. It’s a great idea to read to educate yourself. And nice associations, I’ve been lucky to have that all my life.”

    At her house on Friday, Ms. Garretson was impeccably dressed in a light blue shirt with white pants, and had her hair coiffed and makeup done. Born in Flatbush on July 22, 1911, she grew up in Brooklyn, and lived there as a young adult.

    She studied to be a schoolteacher for a year, then worked at the Brooklyn Edison Company. She played the violin in the company orchestra, the first woman to do so, and brought in friends to join her. When she was 20, she went with a friend to Sweden for a month to play the violin, while her friend accompanied her on the piano. They toured the country, performing in small towns.

    Ms. Garretson married at 25, and moved to Malvern, while renting a summer place near Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton. The Garretsons became year-round residents about 50 years ago.

    When asked how she feels about reaching the century mark, Ms. Garretson said, “I really don’t feel any different. You just go with the years, you keep breathing and living until God says, ‘Come on Elsie, you’ve spent enough time on earth.’ ” She claims she never changed, and attributes her age to good genes. “I eat, drink, everything in moderation. A long time ago I had three to four cigarettes a day, and one day I went to get a pack and thought, ah, no more cigarettes for 75 cents a pack. Now I hear they’re $7.” Ms. Garretson no longer drinks, but said she did like a Tom Collins in the day.

    In terms of advice, she offered this: “Age never bothered me. I didn’t spend that much time in the sun. I see young girls on the beach frying like they’re on a spit. You’re going to regret this.” She was not always so optimistic. “I’m a great worrier. Then I realized one day, why do you worry? Nothing comes from it. Try to take things in stride. Ride with the waves,” she said, joking that she came to this revelation just the week before.

    An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale and centered near Mineral, Va., 83 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., at 1:51 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, sent shock waves across the East End and much of the East Coast.

    East Hampton Town Police Capt. Mike Sarlo said Tuesday that police had received calls from residents curious about what had happened, but that there had been no reports of problems or incidents related to the earthquake.

    The quake was reportedly felt across the Eastern Seaboard, as far north as Concord, N.H., as far south as North Carolina, and as far west as Detroit. In downtown Washington, the Capitol buildings, White House, and many office buildings were evacuated. The Washington Monument has been closed following the discovery of a crack near its top and the National Cathedral’s central tower and three of its spires were also damaged. In East Hampton, where the quake was much less intense, people left public buildings and offices of their own accord, but many people posting on Facebook said that by the time they realized what they were experiencing, it was over.

    Though infrequent, minor tremors are not unheard of in New York. In November, Suffolk County felt the shaking of a 3.9 magnitude quake centered about 80 miles southeast of Southampton. Speaking in a television interview yesterday morning, Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey, said that the last time the East Coast had a quake of Tuesday’s strength was in 1897.

    The Richter scale measures earthquakes according to their magnitude, beginning with a designation of 2.0 — a quake whose effects are felt only nearby, if at all — and ranging to a 9.5 rating.

    An increase of one unit on the Richter scale corresponds to a tenfold increase in the amplitude of the seismic waves that shake the ground. According to the Richter scale, an earthquake under 6.0 can cause “at most slight damage to well-designed buildings,” but can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings. Quakes measuring 6.1 to 6.9 can cause destruction in areas up to 100 kilometers from their epicenter. A 1960 earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale was the largest ever recorded. The earthquake in Japan in March this year measured 9.0.

    The East Coast quake followed two earthquakes in Colorado, one Tuesday measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale, and another Monday that measured 4.6.

    Over the drone of an outboard motor and the sound of water slapping the bottom of the Lesters’ green skiff, Kelly Lester of Amagansett half shouted, “I’d like to prove that Paul and I did nothing wrong.”

    Less than an hour had passed since she and her brother stood before Justice Lisa R. Rana in East Hampton Town Justice Court on July 8 on charges that they had broken state law and sold fish illegally.

    Mr. Lester steered the boat standing as it headed for one of two traps to be lifted east of Napeague Harbor. Ms. Lester sat amidships in orange oilers. Louis Arceri, known as L.J., sat hunched in the bow behind stacks of plastic bushel baskets and the three dip nets they would use to bail fish from the box portion of the traps.

    Arguably the oldest fishing method in these parts, the traps are net fences hung from white oak stakes. The leader section of net runs offshore and leads the fish through an inner pound to the box where they collect. The box is like the cod end of a dragnet. It is net all round including the bottom, which can be raised. The system works by taking advantage of a school’s natural instinct to head offshore when it meets an obstacle, in this case the net fence.

    A serious legal obstacle was what the Lesters faced earlier that day, one that brought a number of supporters to the courthouse including Dan Rodgers from Riverhead, their lawyer, fellow baymen, and the Rev. Steven E. Howarth of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, who led the group in prayer. The prayer included a petition for the fair enforcement of fishing laws.

    Mr. Rodgers said that what happened on July 8 was not only unfair, but a violation of civil rights, and he intended to prove it. Mr. Rodgers had defended the Lesters last year when Paul Lester and his brother, Dan Lester, accepted a plea arrangement with the state prosecutor stemming from two felony and five misdemeanor charges for taking fish out of season and without commercial licenses back in 2008 and 2009.

    “This time they’ve gone too far, with Kelly in particular,” Mr. Rodgers told supporters. “She is trying to make a living, a mother, and she’s charged with a crime for having a self-serve clam stand.”

    “People around the country are trying to make ends meet, an honest living. We have every intention of going to trial. We will not be interested in a plea bargain. Either this is dismissed or we’ll take it to the Supreme Court of the United States,” the lawyer said before entering the court to ask that the case be set for trial as soon as possible.

    On July 8, an enforcement officer from the State Department of Environmental Conservation wrote three summonses. One was to Ms. Lester, alleging that she was selling shellfish without the proper permit. She keeps a roadside clam and egg stand in front of her house on Abraham’s Path in East Hampton.

    Two other tickets were written to her brother Paul Lester for allegedly having an untagged carton of fish and being in ossession of fish beyond the daily quota. Neither Lester was home at the time the summonses were written. Ms. Lester said she was out picking up her young son.

    According to Mr. Rodgers, the conservation officer seized the untagged box of fish from the Lesters’ backyard and took it to Stuart’s Seafood Shop nearby, where it was sold — the check made out to the state.

    Mr. Rodgers said on Monday that the D.E.C. officer had searched the Lester properly illegally. “If he’d waited they could have explained. Two boxes had the proper tags. The third box belonged to another fisherman who has a legal fishing license. The tag was on the ground next to the box. He took the third box, assumed they were Paul’s, and cited him for being over the limit.”

    The lawyer said that state conservation police had extraordinary powers to seize fish thought to be illegally harvested or for sale contrary to the law. However, they did not have the right to search private property without probable cause. “It’s a due process question,” Mr. Rodgers said.

    He said that while at Stuart’s, the conservation officer was shown that the tag had someone else’s name on it, but he was reported as saying, “it’s too late.”

    According to the Lesters’ lawyer, the officer added to the box that had been found nearby in a separate container. Ms. Lester said they were fish that a friend was filleting for her dinner. “These were not fish for commercial consumption. They were not going to the market.”

    The fish caught in the traps after the arraignment last Thursday were going to market, however.

    The trappers ducked as the skiff entered the spider web of lines that hold the trap stakes in place. The skiff was brought broadside to the box section. The clove hitches that held up the working side of the net box were untied from opposing stakes. That section of net was brought into the boat. The three trappers hauled it toward the surface along with its catch. 

    The first trap held a number of mackerel and a few dozen sea robins, orange wings spread wide. There was a fluke that Mr. Arceri put in a basket where he kept a few fish to take to people at the senior center.

    Mr. Lester said the trap had caught a few butterfish in recent days, a sign that “things were moving,” the season was progressing through its normal rotation of species. He said it was a mystery why bluefish were dying in the trap. Unusual. A few skates flapped around the box. “We could wing ’em,” Ms. Lester said, meaning harvest them for their wings, worth about $1.50 per pound. They were tossed over the side.

    About a bushel of porgies was taken before the floor of the box was lowered, its side lifted, clove hitches retied. On to the next.

    What a difference a trap makes. The second trap was west of the first by several hundred yards. Once the boat was broadside to the box, Mr. Arceri let out a cry. The box was filled with porgies. Let the bailing begin. Once the daily limit was reached by a conservative read of the bushel baskets, the remaining porgies were left in the trap and the skiff headed back to the Napeague launching ramp and the trucks that would take the fish to market.

    En route, brother and sister discussed what appeared to be confusion at the arraignment. Justice Rana had told their attorney and the prosecutors that the original ticket was defective, and an attempt had been made to cross out and correct the charges as originally written. She told them a corrected “long-form” version had been supplied to the court.

    Mr. Rodgers later explained that the original tickets had charged the two with misdemeanor crimes, but that the long-form version of the summons listed the infractions as merely violations of state law. Mr. Rodgers said he thought it odd that no one from the D.E.C.’s enforcement arm had attended the arraignment — “They always appear.”

    On Tuesday, a spokesman for the D.E.C. confirmed that the ticketing officer had entered the Lesters’ property and “walked around back to observe a building designed to process seafood,” where boxes of fish were found. A man was there filleting fish and identified the boxes of fish as belonging to Paul Lester. The number of fish was over the limit, he said. The spokesman confirmed the reduction in Ms. Lester’s charges because she later obtained the proper permit. That Paul Lester’s alleged infractions were downgraded could not be confirmed, however.  

    Mr. Rodgers said he intended to defend the fishermen against the original criminal charge. “There’s no doubt they’re out to harass the Lester family. It’s horse hooey,” Mr. Rodgers said.

     As of Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center had revised its prediction of Hurricane Irene's path, placing it directly over Long Island Sunday. This course is strikingly similar to that said to have been taken by the 1938 Hurricane, which killed an estimated 600 people.

     That earlier storm that arrived without warning on Sept. 21, 1938, was considerable stronger than Irene is predicted to be. However, the damage from the 1938 storm may give an indication of the kinds of effects that will begin to be seen on Long Island Sunday.

    Unlike today, in 1938 there were very few methods to predict a storm's path or intensity. On the two days before that storm, the Weather Bureau had only two reports from ships at sea on which to base its forecast. Though that hurricane has been said to have moved with an unheard-of 60 miles-per-hour forward speed, the paucity of actual scientific observations has lead some experts on the 1938 Hurricane to conclude that its movement may have been in fact somewhat less rapid.

Slideshow: Images from after the 1938 Hurricane

     In any event, what is known is that the 1938 Hurricane slammed ashore on Long Island at about 4 p.m., with its eye centered about Patchogue. This trajectory placed the strongest winds on eastern Long Island, eastern Connecticut, and the Rhode Island shore.

     In the Northern Hemisphere, hurricane winds blow counter-clockwise. Because of this, a storm centered at mid–island will probably most powerfully effect the area to the east of the eye. Its winds will come first from the east and northeast, but as it moves inland, they will shift and blow from the northwest.

     The circling pattern of wind combined with a surge of high water can lead to flooding in surprising places. In 1938, as the wind began to shift to the northwest, Fort Pond Bay rushed into the Montauk fishing village, wiping out many of the lightly built houses and destroying dozens of boats. Residents sought shelter on high ground at the Montauk Manor.

     The East Hampton Star reported this in its issue of Sept. 22, 1938: "The 100-mile-an-hour hurricane which lashed the Atlantic seaboard from Cape Hatteras through New England, struck eastern Long Island with full force on September 21, taking a heavy toll of lives and causing damage far into the millions.

     "From Westhampton to Montauk Point the lashing fury ripped and tore at everything in its path, inflicting heavy damage upon substantial dune estates and reducing beach cabanas and frame buildings to kindlingwood."

     Because, unlike today, there was no warning of the impending storm, the human toll of the 1938 Hurricane was fearsome.

     Six men aboard the menhaden steamer Ocean View out of Promised Land died when it foundered off the Connecticut shore.

     Twenty-nine people in Westhampton Beach were reported drowned as the surge rose over the dunes and swept away nearly all of the houses there.

     Train and mail service was interrupted for two weeks due to washouts on the Long Island Rail Road tracks. Swathes of Napeague and what is now Beach Hampton disappeared under the surge waters.

     On Main Street in East Hampton Village, alone, from Woods Lane to the Hook Mill, 164 large trees -- many of the town's emblematic elms -- came down.

     Across New England and Long Island, 1,754 people were injured, and more than 93,000 households suffered reportable losses, according to insurers; 7,000 vacation houses and "cottages" were destroyed, as were 2,000 permanent, year-round houses. Flooding ravaged inland New England for days.

     Precautions are being taken today that were impossible in those days. And while it remains to be seen just how similar or dissimilar Irene will be to its wrathful predecessor, authorities are advising residents and visitors to err on the side of caution and prepare for the worst. The Long Island Rail Road has canceled eastbound trains; highway departments on the East End are preparing tree-removal equipment, and citizens are being warned to put aside thoughts of wave-watching and keep away from beaches and other low-lying areas for the duration.

    Supporters of the riding academy at Stony Hill Stables, who want to see the 50-year-old school continue to operate in Amagansett, have gathered 145 signatures on a petition urging East Hampton Town to help purchase the development rights to the Town Lane property, along with the Peconic Land Trust.

    In 2009, Elizabeth Hotchkiss proposed a subdivision that would transform her nearly 10.3-acre lot, which is in a residential zone, into three separate lots of about half an acre each with a 7.8-acre agricultural reserve.

    “When we first started to talk about the subdivision with the town, The Star printed an article, and the outpouring from the community was huge,” said Ms. Hotchkiss, who is known as Wick, said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Everyone was upset about the loss of the riding school. It’s been that business for 50 years, first my mom, then me. We have grandchildren who have learned to ride with my mom, years and years ago, generations.”

    At a hearing on the subdivision before the town planning board on Aug. 10, many people offered their support for Ms. Hotchkiss, and also said that they want the riding academy to continue. They asked the planning board to deliver their petition to the town board. The group is working with the Peconic Land Trust, which would purchase the development rights with a combination of private and public funding, according to Denise Schoen of Amagansett, an attorney for Ms. Hotchkiss.

    “The speakers at that meeting, that was their idea, supported by me. The clients, they feel very strongly about it,” Ms. Hotchkiss said. She said two years ago that she had been trying unsuccessfully to interest the town in buying the development rights.

    The property contains a two-story house, an office, a 12,000-square-foot dressage arena, a 9,000-square-foot indoor riding arena, two stables, numerous corrals, and a jumping area. Ms. Hotchkiss uses the open land now as pasture for the horses, but she would be allotted flexibility for its future use. The riding school cannot exist once the property has been subdivided, as town code requires a minimum of 10 acres for a riding academy.

    As proposed, the town’s contribution would come from the community preservation fund, raised by a 2-percent real estate transfer tax. If the purchase went through, the Hotchkiss family would retain ownership of the property, but the land could not be developed for future residential or commercial use.

    Ms. Hotchkiss said she was amenable to the plan. “I have to be financially responsible to my family, and the future of my family. I’m examining all the options, and keeping it open.” Her first choice is to maintain the riding academy as is, she said, and if the money comes through, she will not do the subdivision.

    If Ms. Hotchkiss receives approval for the subdivision, 70 percent of the property will be covered by an agricultural easement. “If subdivided, what could be left would be a traditional horse farm,” said Ms. Schoen. She hopes the town will be willing to work with the land trust to purchase the development rights so that the riding academy will continue to operate.

    “Ms. Hotchkiss is going to keep moving along trying to get the subdivision fully approved. It’s her back-up financial plan,” Ms. Schoen said. “At some point in the future she will have to decide what to do. Hopefully, she will be able to keep the business that’s been there for 50 years.”

    In terms of the role of the Peconic Land Trust, “We would be facilitators for purchase of the land. We’d work with the town, we’d work with the groups [some of the people who were there at the planning board meeting], to raise the rest of the money,” said Rebecca Chapman, vice president of the land trust.

    “We wanted to show the board there was community interest in working so that these stables and the school would be able to stay,” she said. The land trust is waiting for an updated appraisal on the property.

    Several at the Aug. 10 meeting spoke passionately about Stony Hill Stables. After a move to East Hampton five years ago, Maureen Bluedorn, a trustee of the East Hampton Historical Society, said she bought her horse, and then a house. “Stony Hill . . . has created an equestrian community . . . and has an important role in the economic viability of East Hampton,” she said, adding that “250 students pass through, there are lessons during the winter, and the stables employ 25 to 30 local residents.”

    “We’re here to support this group, if the subdivision moves forward and is granted, the opportunity for the academy will be lost. We’re willing to work with the community and use preservation funds to continue the riding academy and this wonderful community resource,” said Ms. Chapman.

    There was some opposition to the subdivision, albeit friendly. “The Stony Hill Stables have been good neighbors,” said Elaine Miller, who lives next door. But she raised concerns over the proposed lot size, which she said would contribute to the suburbanization of a rural area and reduce the value of surrounding properties.

    Also, “noise and disturbance will increase with traffic of horse transport and deliveries during the day and night,” Ms. Miller added. She said the situation with idling trucks in the neighborhood has improved recently, but that in general truck traffic in a residential neighborhood is loud and disruptive. If the board approves the plans, she suggested that it “increase the driveway size and turnaround, so they can unload and pick up on stable property, not public property. These trucks should be permanently taken off the street.”

    “We’re concerned about the water,” said Kent Miller, Ms. Miller’s husband. “We all use wells in that area, we want to be assured that the wells will not be polluted. Yes, you can have all these horses, but I need some kind of assurance that the water will not be contaminated. We’re in a water recharge district.”

    In defense of the horse farm, Billy Hajek of Land Marks in Amagansett, who represents Ms. Hotchkiss, said, “The horse density is pre-existing and nonconforming. The subdivision will reduce horse [numbers], one horse per acre. I don’t know where that’s written as a requirement or regulation. You can have five horses per acre when exercising them.”

    “We would like to see it continue as a riding academy. It’s the only real riding school that is left in the area, it’s the only place where the local people can learn to ride at an affordable rate, and not have to have the expense and the burden of having their own horses. It’s also a big educational facility,” said Ms. Hotchkiss.

     An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale centered near Mineral, Va., 83 miles southwest of Washington D.C., at 1:51 p.m. sent shock waves across the East End this afternoon.

     East Hampton Town Police Capt. Mike Sarlo said police received calls from residents asking what had occurred, but there had been no reports of problems or incidents related to the earthquake. The department would soon receive an advisory from the state police and National Weather Service, he said.

     The Richter scale measures earthquakes according to their magnitude, beginning with a designation of 2.0 -- a quake whose effects are felt only nearby, if at all -- and ranging to a 9.5 rating.

     An increase of one unit on the Richter scale corresponds to a 10-fold increase in the amplitude of the seismic waves that shake the ground. According to the Richter scale, an earthquake under 6.0 can cause "at most slight damage to well-designed buildings," but can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings. Quakes measuring 6.1 to 6.9 can cause destruction in areas up to 100 kilometers from their epicenter.

     A 1960 earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale was the largest recorded earthquake. The earthquake in Japan in March this year measured 9.0.

     Today's earthquake was felt across the Eastern Seaboard, and, according to The New York Times, as far north as Concord, N.H. It was reportedly felt as far south as North Carolina, and as far west as Detroit. In downtown Washington, D.C., the Capitol buildings and White House were evacuated.

     According to a United States Geological Survey official quoted in The Washington Post, aftershocks are expected. The Post reported that the director of the U.S.G.S., Marcia McNutt, cautioned that what was felt earlier today might be just a "foreshock. If it's a foreshock, then the worst is yet to come," she said.

     The East Coast quake follows two earthquakes in Colorado, one today measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale, and another yesterday that measured 4.6.

    The East Hampton Town Board is trying to close what its members describe as a loophole in town law that fails to limit the number of people that can be on patios, lawns, or beaches at restaurants and nightspots. The aim is to alleviate the stress on Montauk residents from several popular clubs that have been attracting hordes.

    Town Councilwoman Julia Prince, who had pleaded with her colleagues on the board last week to take legal action, reported at a board meeting on Tuesday that neither of the two most problematic establishments — the Surf Lodge and Ruschmeyer’s — had amassed enough town code violations to support a request to a Supreme Court judge for an injunction to shut them down.

    While maximum indoor occupancy is set by fire code regulations, the traffic, parking, noise, and other problems that neighbors have been complaining about is engendered by crowds that exceed those limits and congregate outdoors.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley announced Tuesday that the town attorneys had begun to research “a formula for, in some way, restricting the use of the outdoors . . . to get some level of control over what’s happening.”

    The Town of Southold, she said, where wineries often hold outdoor events, requires specific mass-gathering permits from the town whenever the number of people expected, either indoors or out, will exceed the maximum indoor occupancy set by the fire marshal.

     In East Hampton, the town board signs off on mass-gathering permits, but they are not required for everyday occasions at commercial businesses, even though troublesome gatherings have become routine at a number of places.

     Ms. Quigley, a lawyer, said that, although the state fire code only regulates congregations of people indoors, it nevertheless might be called into play. The state code sets standards for exits from interior spaces, which, she said, could perhaps be used to apply to gates or other entries and exits that funnel people in and out of outside areas. She said she also found a Suffolk County Department of Health law that regulates the number of people who can swim in a particular area based on to the square footage of surface water.

    Councilwoman Prince’s plea last week for the board to take a tougher stance as Montauk residents in particular feel the effects of a summertime party atmosphere, prompted comments at Tuesday’s meeting from Sylvia Overby, a Democratic candidate for town board.

    “This is becoming the difference between being a family-friendly atmosphere and being Coney Island,” Ms. Overby said. Some residents, she said, who rent their houses out in summer to try to make ends meet, will feel the effects if it becomes difficult to find tenants due to the disruptions in residential neighborhoods.

    Ms. Prince reiterated comments she made last week, about how a town law passed in recent years making all restaurants and bars eligible for permits allowing live music had changed the scene at many of them, exacerbating their negative impacts. She suggested that the board discuss issuing music permits only to establishments in commercial districts, eliminating live music at places in residential zones.

    “The biggest problem is the overcrowding of these places,” said Councilman Pete Hammerle, who was a board member when the music permit legislation was passed. “These places used to be small, low-key places to go have dinner. Now they’re being exploited to their fullest.”

    When the matter of enforcement of existing laws came up, Ms. Quigley noted that some of the problematic establishments had received summonses and are in court.

    Ms. Prince, who had asked the board last week to seek injunctions, confirmed that the number of summonses issued for the Surf Lodge and Ruschmeyer’s would not support such requests. And, she said, because many of the summonses issued had been for zoning code, not noise, violations, the town cannot invoke a provision in the law allowing revocation of a music permit after three noise violations occur.

    “It is egregious to have violations written every single day, but they are not the kind of violations that warrant shutting a place down,” Ms. Quigley said.

    “One thing that I respect is jurisdiction,” Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said. “So if the court has a jurisdiction over something, I am not getting into it. I think process is more important here than outcome.”    

    Residents in the areas around the cited businesses, many of which predate zoning that would now outlaw them but are grandfathered as pre-existing, should bear with the situation, he suggested. “These locations have been in existence as nightclubs for easily the 60 years I’ve been around,” he said.

    “We’re in the tourism industry,” he continued, referring to the difficult economic climate nationwide. “I think we should have a real big business summit about tourism to discuss what benefits the entire community gets from these things. We have to look at the ripple effect of all these things, because we are a four-month community.”

    The supervisor said in the last week he had received “outraged phone calls” from people who work at the Surf Lodge “or sell pizza to the Surf Lodge,” worried about attempts to shut such places down.

    “I agree with you, but it depends on the kind of tourism you want to attract,” Ms. Overby said. She noted that State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. had said “over and over again, our environment is our economy. You cannot destroy that environment.”

    “We all know we’re a tourist economy,” Ms. Prince said.  “That’s not the issue. Of course we want the businesses to thrive.” 

    “My major complaint is this: You have our resources, the town, writing the same violations for three years to the same owners. As a board, are we willing to take the next step in dealing with businesses that blatantly thumb their noses at the town code?” Councilwoman Prince asked.  Though she said town police and code enforcement officers were doing a good job, the town is “constantly saying, ‘You can’t do this,’ and they keep doing it. That’s what upsets me.”

    “I would hope that code enforcement will continue doing its job and get enough evidence” for an injunction, Ms. Prince said.

    John Jilnicki, the East Hampton Town attorney, said obtaining the kind of injunction Ms. Prince sought would be difficult. “They’re very hard because you’re basically putting someone out of business. You have to show real damage to the town.” He said he could only recall the town’s succeeding at such an effort once, and the injunction was overturned by the court within one day.

    Earlier in the meeting, David Buda, a Springs resident, suggested a ban on another nighttime nuisance — backyard roosters. “I happen to enjoy the roosters,” Ms. Quigley said. “So, Mr. Buda, I am not in favor of a rooster ban. I’m not willing to say to people, you cannot live life the way you want to.”

    “That does not mean I’m in favor of having roosters bother people,” she added.

    In the next-to-last meeting before school starts up again, the East Hampton School Board on Tuesday was focused on forming committees, cafeteria food, changes to the Web site, and various possible savings.

    The timers, scorers, and chaperones at athletic games, who are paid $59 for a single game or $83 for a double, were the first issue.

    “I’m 100 percent in support of the athletic program,” said Jackie Lowey, a board member, “but the actual amount spent is in the tens of thousands. With so many parents that go to games anyway, is this necessary? Is this something volunteers could do?”

    “We need decent chaperones,” said Richard Burns, the interim superintendent. “The sanctioned Section 11 games have certain requirements.”

    Joe Vas, the district’s athletic director, was in agreement with Mr. Burns. “We do need people trained to deal with crowds,” he said. “Some of the games have in excess of 500 people. We’ve tried to cut back where we could.” He added that chaperones on the approved list, thanks to their training, once “saved a man’s life.”

    Mr. Vas was referring to the quick action of staffers at a junior varsity basketball game in 2008. With the help of an automated external defibrillator, they came to the aid of a referee who had gone into cardiac arrest.

    But Ms. Lowey was not swayed. Volunteers, either parents or other community members, could take up the mantle and save the district about $40,000 a year, she maintained.

    “Is there no way we could train a cadre of volunteers?” she asked. “The cumulative effect on the district’s budget is much bigger than the amount that goes into someone’s pocket — it’s death by a thousand cuts.”

    Lauren Dempsey, another board member, pointed out that anyone who volunteers for the school is required to go through a background check and fingerprinting, at a cost of around $100, which the volunteers themselves would be obliged to pay.

    “So we wouldn’t just be asking them to volunteer, but also asking them to pay for the privilege,” she said.

    Ms. Lowey suggested a pilot project, “to see if we can’t move to try and train a bunch of volunteers and halve this budget.”

    Mr. Vas was unconvinced, saying that the trained staffers “provide a safe environment. I don’t know if we can put a volunteer in that position.”

    Alison Anderson, a board member, suggested that the athletic committee look into it.

    On the subject of committees, six were formed with the new board members.  Pat Hope, Laura Anker Grossman, and Ms. Lowey will be on the academic committee; Ms. Hope, Ms. Lowey, and Ms. Dempsey on the finance committee; Ms. Anderson, Liz Pucci, and Ms. Dempsey on facilities; Ms. Pucci, Ms. Anderson, and Dr. Anker Grossman on the athletic committee; George Aman, Ms. Anderson, and Ms. Dempsey on personnel, and Ms. Lowey, Ms. Hope, and Dr. Aman on the policy committee.

    Ms. Lowey also outlined a meeting with Whitsons Culinary Group, which provides school meals. The idea, she explained, was to get more healthy food into the elementary and middle school cafeterias.

    “They were receptive,” she said. Nachos will no longer be offered, and cut fruit, which is easier for younger children to eat than an unpeeled orange, may be on the menu come September.

    Ms. Lowey also discussed the district’s Web site, saying it was not as user-friendly as it could be and was due for an upgrade. The board agreed that the site, ehufsd.org, could be used to post homework assignments for students, make announcements in a more timely manner, and in general be a useful place for parents and taxpayers to learn what’s happening at the schools.

    “We have enough talent among our students to make this sparkle and shine,” said Ms. Hope.

    Ms. Lowey acknowledged the expense of a Web update, but suggested that the cost could be offset in part by sending more materials by e-mail and fewer by paper.

    Speaking during the public commentary, Paul Fiondella voiced concerns over both the 2-percent tax cap and assessed values in the town.

    “Assessed value is probably 30 percent higher than market value right now,” he said. “If people start bringing their grievances to the assessors’ office, you’re likely to see the total tax base decrease.”

    Isabel Madison, the district’s business administrator, did not have a final number yet for the tax levy, when asked by Mr. Fiondella, who also brought up the Sandpebble lawsuit, urging the board to “not let it go.”

    Dr. Anker Grossman agreed, and said that the district’s new attorney, Kevin Seaman, would give a public report on Sandpebble at an upcoming hearing.

    Finally, the board and school staff acknowledged the death of Herman Stephens, a custodian and cafeteria worker for the middle school, who died earlier this month.

    “He was known for sneakers,” said Claude Beudert, a special education teacher at the middle school. The board discussed with Mr. Beudert and Eric Woellhof, the district’s facilities administrator, the possibility of building a box to house a pair of Mr. Stephens’s maroon-and-white  sneakers, with a plaque of remembrance underneath.

    On Tuesday morning, a public health sanitarian from the County Health Department went to the south end of Lake Montauk to test the water at the popular beach there, as well as the water in two streams that enter the lake nearby.

    The testing is related to swimming safety and not to the possible contamination of shellfish. East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson asked for the test last week and said he would use the results to decide whether the beach should be closed to bathers. Testing done by the County Health Department six years ago found contaminants in tributaries.

    Mr. Wilkinson said he understood that tests of the water where people swam were made at the time. “I’m interested in the whole south end,” he said.

    The State Department of Environmental Conservation closed the entire lake to shellfishing as a result of the heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday. Normally, the south end (where the water was tested for swimming safety on Tuesday) is closed to shellfishing in the summer months, as are areas around the Montauk Lake Club, the east side of Star Island, and in Coonsfoot Cove in the lake’s harbor area.

    Tuesday’s test was one result of a well-attended Aug. 10 meeting of the town’s Lake Montauk Watershed Advisory Committee. During the meeting, Kim Shaw, a senior public health sanitarian with the Health Department and a county liaison to the Peconic Estuary Program, surprised some committee members by revealing that the Health Department had a record of swimming-related water testing until 2005.

    The data will be added to a recent study done by the Cornell Cooperative Extension that identified, through DNA, the sources — animal as opposed to human — of fecal coliform bacteria found in water around the lake.

    In a phone interview on Monday, she said the county had not tested the waters at “South Beach” since 2005 because that year the town stripped the beach of its lifeguard. Once a beach is no longer considered a certified bathing beach — with a guard and public toilets — the county stops testing.

    Ironically, the beach had been equipped with an advanced compostable toilet in the late ’90s compliments of a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency via the Peconic Estuary Program, according to Larry Penny, the town’s director of natural resources. But, without a guard, a swimming-prohibited sign went up.

    The sign was not meant to suggest the waters were unclean, he said, only that the beach was unguarded. Mr. Penny stressed that tests of water quality as they pertained to the risk of eating shellfish harvested from an area were different from tests to determine swimming safety.

    The State Department of Environmental Conservation uses the level of coliform bacteria associated with fecal matter to determine the relative safety of shellfish. The County Health Department looks for enterococcus bacteria, intestinal flora that can cause illness.

    Bill Hastback, a shellfish biologist with the D.E.C., said the difference in testing protocols was rooted in standards for bathing beaches that were changed by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1986. In the past, the County Health Department tested for the presence of both organisms. 

    “Shellfish water quality standards are super strict. If areas are open to shellfishing, they’re probably suitable for bathing beaches,” Mr. Hastback said. But, if an area is closed to shellfishing, it does not follow that it should be closed to swimmers. When the presence of fecal coliform was used as a standard, the allowable limit for swimming was 200 parts per 100 milliliters of water, rather than 14 parts per 100 milliliters for shellfish safety.

    According to Mr. Penny, existing Health Department test results have shown the presence of enterococcus bacteria coming from a stream that enters the lake on its southeast end. There are three tributaries to the south end, the stream on the east, another stream on the west that flows from the Ditch Plain community, and a culvert that passes under Montauk Highway, also adding to the flow from the east.

    The Cornell Cooperative Extension’s study of 14 sites around the lake found that those located near the southernmost tributaries were the only ones to contain human fecal coliform bacteria.

    Mr. Penny stressed that while there were concerns about the lake’s south end, “all along people have been saying the lake water has improved. There have been no increased [shellfish] closures since the ’80s. There have been in other places — Three Mile Harbor and Hog Creek.”

    Kevin McAllister, the Peconic Baykeeper, is a member of the lake committee. He said on Tuesday that there remained “looming questions” about water quality. “Let’s be honest about these waters. With respect to bathing beaches, even unguarded swimming holes, they are recreational bodies of water. There’s kayaking, paddleboarding. Let’s see if they’re safe.”

    He said he had spent over a year trying to convince the Village of Sag Harbor to monitor Havens Beach more closely. “The county kept saying it was safe, and I kept insisting that the water was not being tested after heavy rainfalls that bring in the pollutants.” His independent testing of “the pulses of rain,” in cooperation with Southampton College, finally convinced the village to take action.

    He said he wanted Lake Montauk to be subjected to the same kind of comprehensive testing. “If we’re not responsive to the rain event pulses, routine testing schedules will miss what’s really going on,” he said, adding that testing for pesticide and nitrogen from fertilizer should be put on the front burner.

    Tuesday’s testing was an example of how the lake committee had found its rhythm, Supervisor Wilkinson said that day. “The committee’s taken great leaps in the last couple of months. It’s started to click as a group of concerned citizens not individuals. The lake is the beneficiary.”

    He announced that a subcommittee had been formed, the Lake Montauk sustainability committee “to raise funds privately.” Mr. Wilkinson said the umbrella committee would decide on how the money raised is disbursed. “I think it’s great.”

    Bill Grimm, a commercial fisherman who helped organize the subcommittee, has suggested holding a fund-raising event at the Inlet Seafood restaurant before the end of the summer season.