After hearing pleas from a variety of speakers - including East End officials, environmentalists, and Long Island's largest business group, the Long Island Association - the Suffolk Legislature this week agreed to appropriate $5 million for what County Executive Robert J. Gaffney has described as a "Preservation Partnership" to save land from development.

The money will serve as a "key to future partnership activities between Suffolk County, New York State, and our East End towns," commented Legislator George O. Guldi of Westhampton Beach after the unanimous vote for the appropriation.

An Investment

Mr. Gaffney unveiled his partnership plan two years ago, stressing then that "Suffolk County has been a national leader in environmental preservation for a number of years. We should view our obligation to preserve our natural environment as an investment in 'green in fra struc ture.'"

He proposed the county allocate $5 million annually for the partnership and, outlining it, said, "Recognizing the fiscal constraints that all levels of government face today, while at the same time noting the pressure on development of open space, we must combine our economic resources . . . ."

"Working cooperatively with our towns we can share costs and attempt to leverage state and Federal funding for future land preservation initiatives," he said.

Legislature Balked

However, the Suffolk Legislature, dominated by representatives of western Suffolk, some of whom have been critical of open space and farmland preservation, balked at accepting the program.

A change in the proposed process for spending the money appropriated for the partnership coupled with continued advocacy of it by Mr. Gaffney, Mr. Guldi, Legislator Michael Caracciolo, and others, finally led to a change in the Legislature's position at the panel's meeting Tuesday in Hauppauge.

The change in process provides that the county planning director go back to the Legislature with any proposed acquisition under the program and for the Legislature to vote on the specific purchase.

The change "is a good compromise," commented Paul Sabatino 2d, counsel to the Legislature.

Among the East End officials speaking out for the partnership at the legislative session Tuesday were Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio and Town Councilman Patrick (Skip) Heaney.

Two years ago, the entire Southampton Town Board, in an extraordinary appearance - the first time in memory that the whole Southampton Board had appeared anywhere to lobby on behalf of the town - went before the Suffolk Legislature to urge support for the Gaffney partnership.

Other East End officials going before the Legislature this week seeking support for the partnership were Southold Town Supervisor Jean Cochran and Riverhead Town Supervisor Jim Stark.

An Important Resource

Environmentalists on hand included Kevin McDonald, vice president of the Group for the South Fork, and Joshua Klainberg, political coordinator of the New York League of Conservation Voters.

"The East End represents a resource as important to the banker in Huntington, teacher in Babylon, or government worker in Islip as to a fifth-generation farmer or marine operator in Southold or Southampton," testified Mr. Klainberg.

"In the 1996 election," he continued, "voters in five East End towns supported town, county, and state environmental referenda. . . . Clearly, the people of the East End know the value of farmland and open space preservation and are willing to put their money where their mouths are to preserve it."

Important To Economy

"Suffolk County should do its part by matching town land preservation funds in a collaborative partnership with these local governments. Every county resident will benefit if you do," Mr. Klainberg said.

The Long Island Association, in backing the partnership, issued a statement to the Legislature stating, "In our view, there is no better way to spend our limited resources than to preserve and protect the beautiful landscape which we all call home here in Suffolk County."

"The protection of our land in appropriate places is as important to the economic development of our county as anything else we can do."

AMAGANSETT

Clarke to Heinz and Rosemarie Binggeli, Old Stone Highway, $200,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Wood to Greg and Karin Yapalater, Pheasant Lane, $395,000.

Whiskey Hill Inc. to Donna and Jill Paitchel, Bridge Hill Lane, $155,000.

Schoenbach to Helmuth Jarchow, Butter Lane, $700,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Geller to Timothy Kelly, Georgica Close Road, $635,000.

Hedgerow Assoc. L.P. to Jonathan and Penny Bernstein, Sarah's Way, $1,175,000.

Murac to Mark Schryver, Sherrill Road, $300,000.

Hollow Oak Estates to David and Carol Schnittlich, Holly Place, $415,000.

Dick to Nicholas Kuzon and Kim Hovey, Jones Road, $1,850,000.

Clark to Esther Rubin, Wooded Oak Lane, $265,000.

Lane to Steven and Lisa Strober, Oyster Shores Road, $660,000.

MONTAUK

Booher to Diane Weiser and Laine Wilder, Seaside Avenue, $285,000.

Piazza to Marc Daniels Bldg Corp., Kettle Road, $180,000.

NORTHWEST

Cedar Woods Ltd. to Edward Godwin, Owls Nest Lane, $160,000.

Cedar Woods Ltd. to Egan East Dev. Co. Inc., Owls Nest Lane, $202,500. NORTH HAVEN

DC Partners to Joseph and Amy Failla, Barclay Drive, $160,000.

SAG HARBOR

Jones to Richard and Karen Venezky, Bridge Street, $236,000.

Thaler to Craig and Veronica Stewart, Hillside Drive West, $172,500.

Federal National Mtg. Assoc. to Louis and Kerri Dollinger, Cove Drive, $165,000.

Thompson (trustees) to Nancy Richardson, Main Street, $1,100,000.

Ford Trust to Ronald Castillo, Hamilton Street, $212,500.

SAGAPONACK

Spiegel to Frank Valentini, Northwest Path, $416,500.

Morrisey to Elizabeth Woessner, Forest Crossing, $275,000.

Jaffe estate to David and Jane Gerstein, Sagaponack Road, $630,000.

SPRINGS

Tilton to Atsuro Imanura, Homestead Lane, $216,000.

Burns to Asa Gosman, Dogwood Drive, $155,000.

WAINSCOTT

Frame to Joanne Bertolot and Paula Dagen, Sayre's Path, $530,000.

Szczepankowski to Ronald Lauder, Wainscott Hollow Road (40 acres with life estate), $5,500,000.

WATER MILL

Modzelewski to Serge and Alexandra Ourusoff and Anna Holder, Narrow Lane South, $225,000.

So far, so good - that's the short-range prognosis of Gregg Rivara of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service's marine program, speaking of oysters, at least those on the South Fork.

Oysters on the North Fork as well as those cultivated and harvested naturally on the North Shore of Long Island are suffering a severe blight caused by MSX and Dermo, two forms of microscopic parasites, single cell protozoans whose means of infecting the shellfish are not well understood.

Mr. Rivara said he didn't know for sure, but he thought the plague might have something to do with Long Island Sound. "After studying MSX (Haplosporidium nelsoni) for over 40 years, scientists still are not sure how it spreads from oyster to oyster."

Havoc UpIsland

"It could be there's a third animal, an alternate host, maybe a bird," Mr. Rivara said. It is known that the Dermo (short for Dermocystidium marinum) is passed from shellfish to shellfish.

Whatever the cause the tiny beasts have wreaked havoc UpIsland. The Frank M. Flower and Sons company of Oyster Bay, which grows oysters on its beds in Oyster Bay itself, lost a reported 60 percent of its crop last summer.

The parasites are not dangerous to humans, but consume oysters at an alarming rate. The hope is that disease resistant strains will eventually control the losses.

A Touch In The Peconic

So far, the East End of the South Fork has been spared. Mr. Rivara said he had not heard of any problems. In East Hampton, he said, many of the native oysters can be traced to Oyster Pond, Montauk, via a tradition of transplanting oysters from there into other town waters. The transplanting of oysters from farther away was not recommended, he said. In fact, it was illegal in some cases.

"Transplants have to be licensed through the state. If you wanted them from Delaware - probably not," he said of the state where the MSX plague first appeared in 1957.

"There was a little touch of Dermo in the Peconic," not surprising, Mr. Rivara said, because of its proximity to North Fork waters - "but not out east."

Fishermen are beginning to realize that the cost of commercial licenses will increase between 300 and 500 percent in 1998. The rise is hard to swallow for many who feel their sportfishing counterparts have gotten a free ride from the state for too long. But it could have been worse.

"Maybe I missed the meetings," a shocked Louis Veprek said on Monday. He fishes the bays during the summer months and recently got a bill from the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Like many baymen, Mr. Veprek buys a number of licenses that allow him to switch fisheries in order to make a living.

Authorized Last Summer

"It used to be $100 for a commercial food fish license, and $30 for a shellfish license. Now it's $250 for a food fish license, and $50 for a shellfish license. It went from $7 to $50 for a shellfish shipper's, class F license. I can see incremental changes, but this. . . ." Mr. Veprek said.

The bayman was right. He did miss the meeting - meetings, actually. The increases were authorized as part of the Omnibus Marine Resources bill passed last summer. According to Gordon Colvin, director of the D.E.C.'s division of marine resources, the reasons for the increase were several.

"There are the costs of statistics and reporting, and there are the enhancements in marine programs, and the cost of the provisions of the moratorium," he said, referring to the current one-year moratorium on the issuance of new commercial food-fish and lobstering licenses.

Extensive Dialogue

Mr. Colvin added that the increases would help pay for the administration of more detailed shellfish inspections required under new Federal regulations.

Basically, he said, "the marine resources account was in need of funding support. There was an extensive public dialogue," Mr. Colvin added. He allowed that complaints were coming in, nevertheless.

He said the issue was first debated three years ago within the Marine Resources Advisory Council, a state-authorized organization of scientists and representatives of commercial and recreational fisheries. Mr. Colvin said that in the end, the increases were not justified as a means for keeping part-time fishermen off the water. People didn't think it would work, Mr. Colvin said.

"Flabbergasted"

In fact, he added, commercial fishermen thought that an expensive license would prompt wealthy sportfishermen to go into business after the current moratorium ended.

Arnold Leo, secretary of the East Hampton Town Baymen's Association, who chaired a licensing committee for the council, said his group was "flabbergasted" when its recommended 20 percent fee increases were rejected in the omnibus bill in favor of the mega-leap in costs to commercial fishermen. His committee complained, and the entire Advisory Council followed suit.

Mr. Leo said his committee understood that the cost of administering the newly adopted regimen of "limited entry" management - that is, limiting the number of commercial fishermen in any given fishery - was greater.

"Unconscionable"

For instance, he said, the jump from $35 to $50 for a shellfishing license was understandable in that shellfish fisheries were not, as yet, subject to limited entry.

At the same time, he said that for "baymen trying to piece together a living by lobstering, finfishing, and shellfishing, a 300 percent increase is unconscionable in light of the fact that the [D.E.C.] doesn't have the political balls to require a $5 recreational license."

"Once again they are making the commercial fisherman pay for the total mismanagement of the fishery."

Could Have Been Worse

Mr. Leo said the Baymen's Association was still smarting from what appeared to be the complete rejection of its proposal for a modified haulseine fishery.

"Our recent experience proves again their complete unresponsiveness to the needs of the inshore commercial fisherman and that their policy is directed by political considerations," he said. The idea was presented, unsuccessfully, to D.E.C. Commissioner John Cahill last month.

Bill Wise, president of the Marine Resources Advisory Council, said the fees could have been higher. When the budget division was looking over the original omnibus bill, it found "an existing shortfall in the marine resources budget" and recommended an even steeper rise in commercial fishing fees.

Federal Funds

"When we got wind of it, we said we would have none of it, and that the deficit should be handled separately. Eventually, it was scaled back to the D.E.C.'s original request," Mr. Wise said.

He said a $5 recreational fishing license would more than compensate for the agency's budget problems as long as the money raised went to the agency. "The council would support it if the money went back into the programs, if it were not used to offset the base budget [from the capital budget], and if the state demonstrated how it would be spent."

Mr. Wise said that a modest recreational fee would also leave the state open to Federal funds - collected via the sale of boating and sportfishing products - that would amount to as much, or more than the license income itself.

Losing Money

"We're losing substantial money. My belief is a recreational license is long overdue, and that the safeguards are not a problem." Like Mr. Colvin, he blamed the impasse on sport licenses on "a lack of leadership."

Mr. Colvin said that the higher commercial license fees were not universally opposed. He said that some of the "larger" lobstermen saw this as a means of keeping part-timers off the water. "The cost won't discourage fishermen given the nature of the license moratorium," Mr. Colvin said. "They are going to want to hang on, for fear that if they let [their licenses] go, they'll never get them back."

It starts innocently enough. An animal lover sends out a single contribution to an animal-related charity.

But no good deed goes unpunished, and soon the good-hearted donor finds the mailbox filling up with mailings from hundreds of animal-related charities. All of them tell stories that are heartbreaking and contain pictures that are horrifying.

How can a prospective donor tell which organization is the most worthy of consideration?

Research Tools

A first step in investigating a charity is to check with either the National Charity Information Bureau, based in New York City, or the Council of Better Business Philanthropic Advisory Service, based in Arlington, Va. These two groups research and list charities that meet standards of fiscal and organizational responsibility.

However, the Charity Information Bureau and the Philanthropic Advisory Service do not research small local charities, nor do they evaluate the validity of the information that charities distribute in order to raise money.

Merritt Clifton, the founder of Animal People, an animal rights charity that is dedicated to, among other things, informing animal protection donors what their donations go toward supporting, states with customary forthrightness, "The information contained in a charity's mailing is protected by the Freedom of Information Act. Basically, this gives organizations permission to lie."

Donor Beware

Fund-raising mailings are designed to motivate people to donate funds. The information they contain is one-sided at best. "Donor beware," says Mr. Clifton helpfully.

Mr. Clifton and his wife, Kim Bartlett, started Animal People five years ago. Both had spent many years as investigative journalists and activists in the area of animal and environmental protection and had become incensed at the corrupt practices of many national organizations.

At that time, one of the groups that most concerned Mr. Clifton was the National Anti-Vivisection Society, which he alleges was riddled with problems, particularly nepotism and excessively high salaries to board members.

Who's Protecting Whom?

"Animal protection groups have a constituency that is essentially voiceless. The animals can't stand up and protest when they are being misrepresented or funds gathered on their behalf are misused," states Mr. Clifton.

His organization publishes a newspaper, also called Animal People, that covers in quite exhaustive detail the complexities of animal protection issues.

It is not only the issues that are complex within the area of animal protection, but also the philosophies of the various organizations. Prospective donors might be hard-pressed to determine the orientation of a group simply by reading its fund-raising mailings, and they would be well advised to do further research before reaching for their checkbooks -- the money they send to aid animals could well be paying the legal fees of terrorists or paying for nuisance lawsuits against the United States Equestrian Team.

Well-Paid Executives

Each year, in its December issue, Animal People prints out financial data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service pertaining to major animal protection groups.

It would appear that many national animal-related charities pay their employees extremely well. The top executives of the National Wildlife Federation, the North Shore Animal League, and the Humane Society of the United States all earn far more - in the case of the president of the National Wildlife Fund, well over $100,000 more - than what has been identified as the norm in other not-for-profits.

One can only hope that the animals these charities are professing to help are benefiting to the same extent.

Spread It Thick

Mr. Clifton offers the following advice to prospective philanthropists:

"First of all, support charities you can keep an eye on. Your local shelter needs the money far more than the large national organizations. And money you give to them goes directly to benefit animals. If you're going to donate to national groups pick out one or two that seem close to your own philosophy, research them carefully, and keep track of their activities."

"Send large donations to one or two, rather than small donations to several. If you send out $10 contributions in a scattershot manner the money you send will only cover fund-raising mailing costs and won't fund actual programs."

Donate Time

If you're short on cash but long on time, local shelters can always use volunteers. Craig Kitt, director of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, states, "Volunteers are always welcome." Bide-A-Wee in Westhampton has recently started an outreach and education program and is looking for volunteers as well.

Dog walkers are needed by both groups. "Many of the dogs that come to ARF are very rambunctious and in need of basic training," says Mr. Kitt, "so we have a dog socialization program."

The volunteers are trained to teach basic obedience to their wayward charges and must commit to coming to work with the dog at least three times a week.

Helps Humans, Too

Cats need to learn social skills as well. "We can always use people to socialize the small feral kittens," says Mr. Kitt. And people to help keep the number of feral kittens down by helping out with Operation Cat, ARF's program to spay and neuter feral cats, which has successfully neutered 500 cats in its first year in operation.

A volunteer activity that helps humans as well as animals is the pet therapy program. Bide-A-Wee, ARF, and the Kent Animal Shelter all have pet therapy programs that are open to volunteers.

Animals are brought to nursing homes to visit with the residents. ARF and the Kent Animal Shelter use cats and dogs from their shelters; Bide-A-Wee will allow participants to bring their own pets if they are sufficiently trained and well behaved.

Benefits Of Fostering

Fostering an animal is another volunteer opportunity offered by ARF.

Helena Curtis, who herself has fostered well over 50 ARF animals, says, "It can be enormously helpful to ARF when people foster dogs. People can find out things about the dog that we just can't tell in the kennel environment - like whether the dog gets along with cats, how it behaves around children and if it is housebroken."

Stormy, an extremely pretty Lab cross currently being fostered by Maureen Jones of Sag Harbor, is a case in point. "At the ARF kennel she's very nervous and shy," says Ms. Jones. "But when she's in my home she's completely relaxed. She just comes in and lies right down calmly."

Fostering is a great option for people who can't take an animal on a permanent basis but have the time and space to care for one temporarily.

Further information about volunteer programs is available from the shelters. People who wish to learn more about national animal-related charities should contact Animal People at Post Office Box 960, Clinton, Wash. 98236-0960.

The owner of an $85,000 B.M.W. was informed this week that his car had been stolen from his driveway on Hedges Banks Road, East Hampton, and driven into Three Mile Harbor.

A nearby homeowner watched incredulously as the incident happened and reported it to East Hampton Town police.

Just an hour later, a Range Rover belonging to another Hedges Banks family was found crashed and abandoned on Alewife Brook Road.

Police believe the two incidents are related, and could be tied to other mischief over the week on Hedges Banks Road.

Witness's Account

The eyewitness account may help the investigation. A Three Mile Harbor Road resident just happened to be looking out over the harbor through binoculars around 7:35 a.m. Friday, when he saw the B.M.W. being driven into the harbor from the end of Soak Hides Road.

The witness told police he saw three young men in a dark-colored Chevy Blazer or similar sport-utility vehicle sink the luxury car and leave in the Chevrolet.

Police arrived to find the 1995 B.M.W. 740, owned by Martin Roman, almost completely submerged - only the rooftop was visible. A wrecker was called in to haul the car back onto land.

Just over an hour later, a Suffolk County Water Authority backhoe operator called police to complain there was an abandoned Range Rover lodged up against an S.C.W.A. hydrant on Alewife Brook Road.

As it turned out, both cars had been taken the night before from driveways on Hedges Banks Road in Northwest. The Range Rover is registered to Wendy Levine, police said.

There was still more trouble on that road during the week. On Saturday, Robert Mockler called to report his house had been rummaged through, though only three bottles of liquor appeared to be missing.

A few days earlier and a few doors down, Robert MacBarb found a screen window removed and fingerprints left on the window. He told police it happened Dec. 9, because his dog had been barking between 11:30 p.m. and midnight that night.

Burglaries

Police received several other burglary reports last week, in other parts of town.

Mark Casey of Queens reported Sunday that a 27-inch color TV, a VCR, and a stereo system were missing from a house on Jacqueline Drive in Amagansett. Mr. Casey's brother, Gregory Casey, who lived in the house, was killed in a car crash last month.

Karmen Miller of Whooping Hollow Road, East Hampton, reported on Friday the theft of $1,400 in cash from a back room. She gave police the name of a possible suspect.

Finally, a $1,200 computer was stolen during the night last Thursday from a Newborn Construction trailer parked off Montauk Highway in East Hampton near where the state is doing road work, Dennis Kellerman reported. Someone broke the padlock to get inside, police said.

Had the Ross School known then what it knows now about its future, it may not have chosen to establish itself in cramped quarters in the middle of an industrial park.

But the private school, which is in the midst of a substantial expansion, has no plans to leave its home at East Hampton's Goodfriend Park.

In fact, the school has site plans pending before the East Hampton Town Planning Board that will transform as many as seven of Goodfriend Park's 20 commercial-industrial lots into a spacious new campus, complete with a high school, middle school, and grade school, two parking lots, and pos sibly a gymnasium and playing field.

Adding Grades . . .

The Ross School now takes children from the fifth through ninth grades. When plans are completed, the school will offer a full high school, serving nearly 200 more students, in addition to adding lower grades.

To that end, the school has proposed to merge a lot at the entrance to Goodfriend Park with property right next to it and to build a new 5,000-square-foot building. The new building will mirror the current one, which now houses the school's ninth grade, and will house high school classrooms and a campus center.

The existing parking area in front of the ninth-grade building will be torn up and replaced with a lawn between the buildings, complete with walkways and a reflecting pool boasting a "Winged Victory" statue.

A New Parking Lot . . .

To serve the high school, the school plans a new parking lot on another property across Goodfriend Drive. The Ross School owns or leases seven lots altogether in Goodfriend Park, but not all are contiguous.

For example, an existing office building lies in between the high-school-to-be and the existing middle school, breaking up what would be a contiguous campus; the school owns another two one-acre lots south of the building.

"Unfortunately, we kind of backed into this and we acquired lots as we could," said George Biondo, a Montauk lawyer who is a Ross School board member, and who is representing the school before the Planning Board.

Nonetheless, he said, the school hopes to also add a gymnasium, a playing field, and another parking lot on the remaining property. Plans for these have not yet reached the Planning Board's desk, however.

For the board, the lot-by-lot plans have made for a confusing review. Goodfriend Park is made up of 20 individual lots, meaning construction on each lot requires a separate site plan.

Putting a school in an industrial park also entails logistical problems, such as providing safe crossings and drop-off areas on a road that is busy with commercial traffic.

No Permit

Planning Board members raised a number of safety concerns at their meeting on Dec. 3. They may ask that a bus drop-off loop for the high school be pushed farther off Goodfriend Drive and that buses use a cul-de-sac all the way at the end of the road to turn around.

Before getting into much more detail, the board took Mr. Biondo up on his offer to tour the property and the school itself.

A school is permitted on commercial-industrial property only by special permit. The Ross School has been open since 1993, but never had a special permit allowing it to convert what were medical offices into a school. One of the site plans before the board is seeking to rectify that.

The main spotlight in Harry Macklowe's domain this week shined on Madison Avenue, part of which was closed for the second time during the Christmas rush because of bricks tumbling off a $35 million, 39-story building the Manhattan real estate magnate owns between 54th and 55th Streets.

Meanwhile, his ongoing battles with Martha Stewart, an East Hampton neighbor on Georgica Close Road, took a dramatic turn on Friday, when Mr. Macklowe filed a suit in Suffolk County Court alleging that various village officials, including Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., have conspired in an "all-out 'vendetta' " against him.

The village's special prosecutor, Daniel G. Rodgers of Riverhead, called the allegations "simply not true. There's no basis in fact for what they're stating."

Trial Delayed

County Court Judge Gary J. Weber called a temporary halt on Friday to a trial scheduled in East Hampton Town Justice Court Tuesday, on charges that Mr. Macklowe had violated the East Hampton Village Code.

The delay will allow the judge to consider Mr. Macklowe's request to move the trial from East Hampton to Southampton Town Justice Court.

Mr. Macklowe's motion to Justice Weber claims that "a change of venue is required because the extraordinarily hostile political climate in the Village of East Hampton . . . directed at defendants has so imbued these proceedings with bias that a fair trial . . . cannot be had."

Allegations

It further alleges that Mayor Rickenbach has applied particular "pressure" to "harass" Mr. Macklowe, that the village's pursuit of zoning charges against him is in retaliation for lawsuits he had filed against the village, that the village is guilty of an "improper favoring of [Ms.] Stewart," that the village's special prosecutor has breached a lawyer's code of ethics, and that there is "a deep-seated official bias and hostility against defendants on the part of the village community and within village government."

The suit also refers to "the spate of local press coverage concerning these matters."

Mayor Rickenbach responded this week that "his allegations are baseless and without foundation. They're flailing in the wind."

Mr. Rodgers responded on Tuesday that the allegations were "smoke and mirrors." In particular, he said the allegations of political pressure and ethical breaches were "simply not true."

"They're trying to weave a conspiracy, and I just don't see it," Mr. Rodgers said. "There's no basis for any of that."

Mr. Macklowe faces six zoning charges in Town Justice Court for allegedly authorizing landscaping, electrical work, and fencing within a regulated wetland area without a wetlands permit.

Three of the charges, dated June 10, 1996, would have been the subject of Tuesday's trial; the others were filed this summer.

Stay Ordered

Until he decides on Mr. Macklowe's request for a new venue, Judge Weber ordered Mr. Rodgers and both East Hampton Town Justices, Roger W. Walker and Catherine A. Cahill, to refrain "from conducting any further proceedings in both" sets of charges.

Mr. Rodgers has until tomorrow to respond formally to the papers filed by Mr. Macklowe's attorneys, Paul R. Levenson of Manhattan and Michael G. Walsh of Water Mill - a thick stack that includes affidavits, village correspondence, and articles from The Star and other publications.

Last week's stay was the latest in a string of legal delays on the charges, which stem from activities that allegedly took place in 1995.

The move aggravated the special prosecutor, who said at a special appearance in East Hampton Town Court Monday afternoon that he had worked 32 hours over the weekend preparing for the trial.

Application Question

Mr. Macklowe and his neighbor, the lifestyle expert Ms. Stewart, have been embroiled in a battle over the boundary between their waterfront properties on the east side of Georgica Pond. They were notified in 1995 that landscaping there required East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals review.

Both were instructed to apply for wetlands permits. Ms. Stewart did, and eventually received permission; Mr. Macklowe withdrew his application just before it was to go to a hearing.

No Plea Bargain

The village claims that subsequent materials submitted were incomplete. His attorney, however, claims otherwise and that the Zoning Board has refused to act.

The latest development in the neighbors' zoning disputes is covered separately in today's Star.

Mr. Rodgers said "the village has bent over backwards" in trying to get Mr. Macklowe to comply with village law, saying that he and his agents "have refused" to correct the violations.

He said as recently as September he offered a plea bargain with a six-month adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, but the offers met with rejection.

Mr. Walsh claims this is because the offers came with a condition that his client's lawsuits against the village be dropped.

Subpoenas "Oppressive"

"I'm not going to even comment on that one," Mr. Rodgers said this week.

Also last week, Mr. Walsh sought to have subpoenas issued by Justice Walker at the request of the prosecutor for Tuesday's trial quashed. The subpoenas were "defective . . . arbitrary, unnecessary, and oppressive, and issued merely for the purpose of harassment," according to Mr. Walsh's legal papers.

Justice Cahill, who was the presiding judge when Mr. Walsh's request came in, referred it to Justice Walker, who has handled the case from the beginning. He called for a Monday hearing on Mr. Walsh's arguments, but could not proceed in light of Judge Weber's order.

Wrong Defendant?

In an interview this week, Justice Walker said he saw no wrongdoing on the bench.

"I have been impartial throughout this whole thing," Justice Walker said. "I in no way lean on one side or the other."

The subpoenas, for Bruce A. Anderson of Suffolk Environmental Consulting in Bridgehampton, Jack Whitmore of Whitmore and Worsley in Amagansett, Donald Bousson, Mr. Macklowe's caretaker, and Edward Bulgin of Andreassen and Bulgin Construction in Southampton, were "perfectly legitimate," Mr. Rodgers said. "It's incumbent upon me to establish each and every part of this case."

Mr. Walsh claimed in court in September, the last time Mr. Macklowe was scheduled to go to trial before his last-minute motions delayed it, that his client should not have been named as a defendant.

Earlier Petition

He told the court that Mr. Macklowe "does not own the property . . . and he is not a shareholder or stockholder of KAM Hampton I Realty Corp.," the corporation that holds the deed.

Last June, however, a petition filed in a lawsuit against the village and Ms. Stewart by KAM Hampton and Harry and Linda Macklowe, states that "KAM Hampton I Realty Corp. . . . is a New York corporation owned by Harry and Linda Macklowe. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Macklowe and their family use the KAM Hampton premises as a summer residence." It also includes Mr. Macklowe's statement that "I am the president of KAM Hampton I Realty . . . ."

The Peconic Health Corporation, a newly incorporated consortium of three East End hospitals, asked four hospital employees earlier this month to give up their union membership to help staff a new medical-supply warehouse in Riverhead. The four agreed, but a union official has characterized the request as a "declaration of war."

"The employees have agreed to work at the new facility as non-union workers, with no loss of seniority or vacation time," said Thomas B. Doolan, the Health Corporation's president.

The warehouse will centralize purchasing, storage, and distribution of supplies to its members: Southampton, Central Suffolk, and Eastern Long Island Hospitals.

Non-Union Shop

Mr. Doolan, formerly Eastern Long Island's chief executive officer, said the corporation, as a new employer, has "the option" of hiring on a non-union basis, and its employees in turn have the option of organizing - in this case, reorganizing - into a union.

The warehouse is scheduled to open on Jan. 5. It will have four management-level employees and 13 non-union workers: the four who will drop their union membership and nine others.

Mr. Doolan said the hospital consortium decided the warehouse would begin as a non-union shop on the advice of its Manhattan attorney, Thomas Lamberti.

Check Delivery

Meanwhile, the hospital's financial problems continue to be serious. Dr. John J. Ferry Jr., Southampton Hospital's president, is expected today to "hand-deliver" a check for nearly $290,000 to Eleanor Tilson, the executive director of Hospital and Health Care Employees Union Local 1199 in Manhattan. The money was due Nov. 30.

The payment will avoid, at least for the moment, any court action by the union to collect health insurance premiums, pension contributions, child care, and other benefits for its 275 members who work at Southampton.

The money owed is part of an agreement arrived at in October by the hospital and the union, outlining a payment schedule through June 1998 to restore unpaid union benefits.

Steven Kramer, the union's executive vice president, said Tuesday that if the payment were not forthcoming "immediately," the union would file a protest with the State Department of Health. He preferred not to exercise that option, he added.

Late payments such as this jeopardize workers' health-care insurance, among other benefits, Ms. Tilson said. Had the employees been insured by Blue Cross-Blue Shield, she said, their health care "would have been cut off by now."

Mr. Kramer said that as of this week Southampton Hospital was "in default" to the tune of $1.083 million.

On Saturday, the board of directors of the hospital approved a 1998 budget which calls for an 8 percent reduction in salaries and non-salary operating expenses, but "no layoffs," according to a spokeswoman, Rebecca Chapman.

Fingers Crossed

Ms. Tilson, a part-time Southampton resident, said she knew the hospital "was having financial problems," as reported by The Star last week. She said she had her "fingers crossed" that officials there would find a way "to figure this out."

Describing plans for the new warehouse yesterday, the hospital's attorney, Mr. Lamberti, said, "I'm not a union-buster." He expects that at least one union will organize, he said, but hopes there will be no more than that. "We're trying to bring order into the process," he said.

As an employer, it would be "cumbersome" to negotiate with two unions, Mr. Doolan explained.

"Worse Scenario"

"There could not be a worse scenario," said Mr. Kramer. One of the four workers in question belongs to his union, Local 1199. The other three belong to Local 1115.

"They want to undermine the unions," Mr. Kramer said. He predicted that the consortium's action was only the opening wedge. "Ultimately they will undermine the strength of the unions in all their facilities," he said.

Mr. Doolan denied the action would "set a precedent." He confirmed, though, that the Health Corporation was in the process of consolidating the three hospitals' medical laboratories, where he said "union matters will become an issue as well."

The consortium is also planning a new ambulatory surgery facility slated to be built in 1999 in Hampton Bays.

Large Saving

Centralizing their supplies will save the three hospitals about $4 million over a five-year period, Mr. Doolan estimated, citing "better contracts" reflecting volume discounts as one example.

In time other health-care enterprises such as nursing homes, pharmacies, or even other hospitals, might participate in the supply warehouse, he predicted.

"We understand 'economies of scale,' " said Mr. Kramer, "but we have to respect the rights of employees . . . . At a minimum, they have to recognize the unions and move forward with negotiations."

Mr. Kramer reiterated his position at two meetings earlier this month. Mr. Doolan said this week, however, that he had "no plans to meet again."

"Embarrassing Activities"

If there is no resolution, he said, the union will begin an "expanded action," including "informational picketing" at the three hospitals and other "embarrassing activities" that he declined to specify.

In a statement to local newspapers this week, Robert M. Ringold, a registered nurse-anesthetist at Eastern Long Island Hospital and a member of Local 1199's negotiating committee, said the unions "support Peconic Health Corporation's programs to reduce costs without compromising the high standard of health care the East End community values."

The corporation's position "is clearly illicit and serves no purpose other than to cause disruption to everyday health care," said Mr. Ringold. Hiring non-union workers who are former union members was "ridiculous," he said.

Local 1199 is one of the state's most powerful unions, counting more than 100,000 members. The last time a serious union matter came to a head at an East End hospital was in 1993, during a strike by Local 1199 workers at Eastern Long Island Hospital over contracts. The local's roughly 180 workers are again in negotiations. Their last contract expired Oct. 15 and was extended to Jan. 7, 1998.

Whining Diners

Springs

December 13, 1997

Dear Helen,

Not to diminish the complaints of all the folks who have whined in this section about poor service, menu prices, and management's manners while dining in East Hampton restaurants, but since when is the letters to the editor a restaurant complaint department?

So far, there have been attacks on the Maidstone Arms, Rowdy Hall, Della Femina, the Farmhouse, and Gurney's in the last six months. There have been others. This is folderol, and a below-the-belt assault to avenge what were either bad dining experiences or disputes about menu pricing. (Memo to future complainants: Spare us your crying.)

Guess what? You can't always get what you want. Guess what? The best revenge anyone can ever exact on a restaurant is to not go there. If a diner has a problem, there are better ways to try to get one's point across: 1) approach the manager and let him or her know that you are displeased, 2) don't be bitchy - it gets you nowhere, 3) write a letter to the owner. If your complaint has not been resolved, I repeat: Don't go back.

But I have a suggestion. Why don't you start a column called "Whine & Dine," where restaurants and grumpy diners can spar in print? Because believe it or not, the restaurants have a few complaints of their own!

How about customers who: 1) abuse reservationists for a table, 2) talk on cell phones while dining, 3) have cell phones ringing while dining, 4) show up late for a reservation, 5) don't show up at all, 6) treat wait staff and bar staff like chattel, 7) get drunk and disorderly, 8) come on to staff members, which includes inappropriate touching, 9) leave less than 15 percent tips, or, 10) no tip at all? What about the old trick of drinking half a glass of wine and then saying you don't like the wine?

(Or maybe we should continue our public gripes. How's this sound: Helen, I went into Village Hardware the other day, and there was dust on a box of Borax? Then I went to the File Box and I had to wait five seconds to buy a pen while the clerk finished processing the person in front of me. I was so miffed that I went to the movies, and do you know what? I had to wait to go to the bathroom. And then I picked up a copy of The East Hampton Star only to find a typo!)

And let me say this: I have had exceptional meals at the Maidstone Arms (cassoulet), Rowdy Hall (best burger in town), Della Femina (three stars by Newsday, three stars by The Times - hello?) on a consistent basis. I haven't had the pleasure of dining at the Farmhouse, but I hear their pizzas are excellent; my last meal at Gurney's was a hearty rack of lamb. And take notice: These places are still open. They must be doing something right.

One more reminder to the whiners - and this is important: Restaurants employ lots of people, they truly help the local economy. Tomorrow's artist or writer is today's waitress or bartender; today's server may be a mom or dad. Kitchen workers have families to feed. All restaurant owners are not millionaires; they pay taxes. The next time you have a bad meal, just don't go back.

I have 23 years of experience in the food business as a waiter, a bartender, a maitre d', a manager, and as a restaurant publicist. If I ever own a restaurant and you whiners come in and don't behave (or complain) properly, you'll have me to answer to - and my pen.

Sincerely,

STEVE HAWEELI

Get Real

Springs

December 15, 1997

To The Editor,

A few thoughts about the Confederate flag issue. Let's consider for one moment that Saturday's Santa parade was actually a facade for what really lay behind it, the covert recruitment of white supremacists and militants. Men in white sheets carrying signs of hatred and racism, crosses soaked in gasoline, were they spotted? Were the words of hatred, racism, or religious bias heard? Members of a state militia, were any of those guys seen? Just a Confederate or sometimes called rebel flag, that was it, nothing else.

William Ritter stated that the Chamber of Commerce encourages flags be put on the trucks and tractors, but the "American" flag. The Confederate flag is indeed an American flag, it is a very important part of our nation's history.

It symbolizes an ill-starred attempt at liberty and was carried into battle on "American" soil. I don't condone the flag's use as a symbol of hatred or racism. I believe that the men that fought and died for that same flag would turn in their graves if they knew that it would be misused in such a manner.

It is clear that Mr. Danyluk displayed the flag as an icon to a television show, "The Dukes of Hazzard," which is popular with kids of all ages. The fact that troubles me the most is that children who are taught "prejudice" will practice "prejudice" for the rest of their lives.

The keyword here is "teach." What are we teaching our children?

Better yet, what is Mr. John F. Beuscher teaching our children? Reread last week's article and recall what his first thoughts were, and I quote: "Oh my God, there are some white supremacists looking for new members." Then my first thoughts were Oh my God, he's working with kids! He then asked around him, "Is that a Confederate flag?"

Is that a Confederate flag? He's a teaching assistant in the Amagansett School, I would certainly hope that he could identify an American flag. Teachers should be open-minded and in my opinion Mr. Beuscher is not! In other words, John, get real!

Thank you,

C. KRAMER

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