The filming of "Deep Impact," Steven Spielberg's latest movie - a comet heading toward Earth causes chaos of Hollywood proportions for a cast of big-name stars - is having a deep impact of its own on the western end of Napeague. A convoy of trucks, trailers, and portable toilets and a horde of stars, crew, and extras moved in Tuesday morning and could remain through tomorrow.

"I feel like I'm living in the Holland Tunnel," said Stanley Fein, who has a summer house on the corner of Sandcastle Drive and Castle Court. Mr. Fein said the trucks parked along Sandcastle all day Tuesday were blowing diesel fumes in his direction, leaving an oil slick on his swimming pool.

By late afternoon, though, a location manager for DreamWorks, Mr. Spielberg's production company, had smoothed things over with Mr. Fein, who reported someone had even come to clean the pool.

Glitch On The Road

With a permit from East Hampton Town, police supervision, and permission from the owners of three small private roads, the crew of "Deep Impact" was trying to shoot a scene at Darcy Kuzmier's house on Whalers Lane and on the ocean beach.

According to the script, T‚a Leoni (the star of the NBC series "Naked Truth") drives up to the house looking for her father, played by Maximilian Schell. She walks over the dune to the beach, finds him there, and they have a conversation.

It is a brief moment in the film, but could end up taking three days, through this afternoon, to shoot. The scene was not going at all well on Tuesday. A truckload of lighting equipment was stuck somewhere between Washington, D.C., and New York City, after breaking down on Monday night.

Hiatus

Crew members said there was no filming at all Tuesday afternoon, although the publicist, Stuart Fink, said later that Mimi Leder, the director, had managed to work out a modified scene.

Ms. Leoni, who also stars in the recently released "Flirting With Danger," and Mr. Schell, who won an Oscar for his supporting role in "Judgment at Nuremberg," are among the 220-odd cast and crew who have been put up in motels and inns from Montauk to Southampton.

Another 50 or more people were picked from those who answered last week's casting call at Guild Hall and hired to provide atmosphere on the beach - "human scenery," as extras are sometimes known.

They sat around the Amagansett Firehouse all day Tuesday and were never called to the beach.

"The food was good, though. They treated us well," said Dorine Drohan, who in real life is an East Hampton Town police officer.

Ms. Drohan didn't answer the casting call. Instead she had answered a complaint some time ago, in uniform, about a mysterious truck idling on Whalers Lane. It turned out to be DreamWorks officials scouting a location. They later offered her one of the $99-a-day extras' jobs.

Waiting To Be Killed

Ms. Drohan said the extras were told they would not be needed yesterday, due to the modified scene, and could be called back again this morning.

They are to play some of the billions waiting to be killed by tidal waves from the comet's impact - the Government can save only 800,000 people in its underground bunkers, and holds a lottery to pick the strongest and brightest - and have chosen to spend their last few hours at the beach.

"We have to look scared," said Ingrid Lemme, who took three days off from her job at Gurney's Inn to perform. "Some of us have to be serene and ready to die, and others have to be terrified."

Mr. Fink cautioned against characterizing "Deep Impact" as a disaster flick, however. "This is a drama, a human drama," he said.

Guess What, Ma?

Ms. Lemme called her mother when she was picked. "She is going to sit in a movie theater in Europe and see her daughter in a Steven Spielberg movie for three or four seconds - Oh, my God! - so naturally, when I told her, I was the daughter of the year."

Kevin Sarlo, the town police officer assigned to be sure the operation did not violate any condition of its permit, had five traffic control officers to help him maintain order, including one with a beach buggy.

The production company put up $1,000 a day for the service, and will be billed if the department's costs come to more, said Chief Thomas Scott.

Curious Contained

DreamWorks also hired Pond View Services, a housewatch and security firm owned by two local men, John Diamond and Village Police Sgt. Michael Tracey, to keep curious onlookers and autograph seekers at bay.

There didn't appear to be many, though. A CBS News crew showed up Tuesday but stayed only a short while, as did photographers from two local papers. Any others were turned away at the Montauk Highway yesterday morning, as the shoot was starting.

"Not welcome. There are just too many independent papers out here to let everyone in," said Mr. Fink. He added that Ms. Leoni had been upset the day before by a photographer who got a little too close.

Not On Mitchell Dunes

The property owners on Whalers and Shipwreck Lanes had agreed to have their streets blocked off to all but crew members and residents, and the town allowed Sandcastle Drive, which is public, to be blocked off as well. Napeague Lane, also a town road, was not blocked off but was used to get trucks and crew over the dunes and onto the beach.

The residents of Mitchell Dunes, in the middle of the mile-by-mile-and-a-half location, apparently did not agree to have their road blocked. It was the only one between Napeague Lane to the west and Shipwreck Drive to the east that was not full of trucks and crew waiting around to start filming.

Mr. Fink said DreamWorks representatives had contacted all the residents weeks ago to warn them about the shoot and to offer to compensate any who would find it too inconvenient, by putting them up "somewhere even nicer" for the three days. He said that and other forms of compensation were "typical" of big studio productions.

Sayed At Home

Frank Notarianni, who is spending the whole summer on Whalers Lane, remembered the notice but said no one asked him about closing off the road. Mr. Notarianni likes to walk on the beach, about 400 feet from his door, early in the morning. He managed a walk Tuesday, then decided not to leave the house yesterday, but said he would try again this morning.

"It's a bit of a nuisance, but having them here is good for our community," he said.

Mr. Spielberg and Joan Bradshaw are the executive producers of "Deep Impact." His DreamWorks studio is sharing the production credit with Paramount Pictures, which is to handle domestic distribution, according to Mr. Fink.

Close To Home

Besides Mr. Schell and Ms. Leoni, the movie stars Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman, Vanessa Redgrave, and Elijah Wood. They are getting a break between filming at the last location, in Washington D.C., and the next, in Manhattan's Washington Square Park.

After Manhattan, the entire operation returns to Los Angeles, said Mr. Fink.

This is the director's, Ms. Leder's, second film. Her first, "The Peacemaker," DreamWorks's first theatrical release, is to come out in September. She has won two Emmys, for "China Beach" and "E.R."

The proximity of this week's Amagansett setting to Mr. Spielberg's summer house on Georgica Pond in East Hampton was no coincidence, said Mr. Fink.

One of the few pieces of evidence of the Sea Slug Lounge's existence is a small sign at the beginning of a dirt track saying "Seafood and eat it." It sets the tone for an off-beat and quixotic eating secret that - yes, yes, I hear your screams of outrage - is about to be blabbed.

In a remote spot on Napeague is a fish farm that has been an East End institution for years. Fish and shellfish are sold to local restaurants and wholesale shipments travel as far away as China and Japan. East Enders drop in to buy prepared clambakes, shucked clams, some fish for dinner. The office, with its pot-bellied stove, mountains of paperwork, and occasional goat could be from a Melville novel.

Outside, big, circular tanks compete with rusting equipment, rotting sheds, and huge, muddy puddles for the marine grunge award. But keep walking and the sea comes into view. On a little fenced patch of sand between a water cistern and an ancient wooden barn is the Sea Slug Lounge - a handful of tables under umbrellas and a plastic palm tree.

Rooster Patrol

Two handsome roosters and a few hens patrol the lane and add their voices to soft-rock oldies cranking from a radio near the trellised, frond-covered cook station.

The all-seafood menu is chalked on a board at the entrance. There are clams and oysters on the half shell, two types of chowder, shrimp cocktail, and lobster bisque, a house specialty. There are stuffed clams and steamed mussels with garlic, whatever size lobster you want, and a couple of choices for the "fish of the day."

This is not a place for the impatient - when we were there, the one cook was juggling all the lunch orders and at the same time boiling a mountain of lobsters for a rush party order. So the service is friendly but slow.

Oysters By The Sea

We sat there in the shade of the plastic palm tree watching my granddaughter patiently trotting after roosters. Occasionally we would wander over and dig through the ice in a big metal drum to find ourselves a soda or an iced tea. The sun beamed down, the blue waters of Napeague Harbor sparkled, and we could have been in Maine.

What could be better than eating oysters by the sea? Everyone since the ancient Romans has loved oysters - Casanova ate 50 with his evening punch, Germanicus, brother of the Emperor Tiberius, consumed 100 a day, and Henry IV of England worked up an appetite for dinner with 300.

Ausonius wrote an ode to them, and Sallust, visiting Colchester, where an oyster festival has been held every Oct. 8 since 1318, wrote "Poor Britons! There is some good in them after all. They have produced an oyster."

Help Yourself

Oysters always taste better outdoors and these, at $6.50 a half dozen or $9.50 a dozen, couched on a bed of ice (albeit in a tinfoil dish), were the very flavor and spirit of summer.

The Manhattan clam chowder, at $4, was a chunky meal in itself and, of course, there's no doubting that these clams are straight out of the water. The mussels were small, but luminously fresh and sweet-tasting.

No one worries overmuch about pulling their "beards" off first, this is a help-yourself kind of place.

The price for lobster varies according to size, but otherwise the most expensive dish is the fish of the day at $12.50, on this occasion a choice between salmon and a kebab of swordfish and tuna.

Getaway Funk

We picked the salmon, a hefty portion cooked as you watch and served with home fries and a fresh ear of corn. To the delight of several children, a large Rhodesian ridgeback wandered through the cafe and politely volunteered to deal with the leftovers.

The Sea Slug's lobster roll costs $7.50 and it's all lobster, there's no "mystery fish" here. The roll is one of those soft, white, mushy things, of course, but even that tastes better in the fresh air.

The Sea Slug Lounge isn't for you if you want white tablecloths and nice china. You won't like it if you're bothered by mud and visiting dogs. You certainly won't like it if you're looking for "The Hamptons."

But if that is precisely what you're trying to get away from, take an hour off and go. I can't think of a funkier place.

Robert Rubin, the owner of the Bridgehampton Race Circuit, has dismissed out of hand State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.'s suggestion that the state form a partnership with Suffolk County, Southampton Town, and environmental groups to buy the 516-acre tract off Millstone Road in Noyac.

"The property is not for sale," he said yesterday. "It will take more than a check to separate me from my golf course."

Earlier this year, Mr. Rubin won a change of zone from the Southampton Town Board to allow him to develop a private 18-hole championship course on a portion of the property. The plan for his "Golf at the Bridge" is now before the Town Planning Board. It also would allow the development of 20 so-called estate lots, on which main and guest houses could be constructed. He has also offered to turn over about 150 acres to the town as open space.

Pending Lawsuits

Environmentalists have argued at public hearings that the golf course, with its pesticides and fertilizers, would poison the groundwater, and the Town Board's approval of a zone change has spurred two lawsuits, one from the Group for the South Fork, another by a group of Noyac residents. Both are pending.

Accusing Mr. Thiele of "political grandstanding," Mr. Rubin said he was "completely perplexed that Fred Thiele would take this position."

He said Mr. Thiele, as Town Supervisor, had supported his plan for up to two courses on the property and added that the Assemblyman did not "even consult with the Town of Southampton" before suggesting the purchase. "The town is quite happy with the plan it passed," Mr. Rubin said.

In a letter to John T. Cahill, Commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Conservation, Mr. Thiele called for the state to make the property a "priority" for purchase.

"There is great disagreement over what should happen to this property," said Mr. Thiele in explaining why he is now in favor of the purchase. "It's been fairly obvious to me that the whole issue of a golf course versus a race track has split the Noyac Community, but I think most residents could get behind acquisition."

Mr. Thiele said there were several reasons for the timing of his request. "The equation has changed making acquisition feasible," he said.

The property could qualify for funding through the state's $5 billion Clean Air/Clean Water Bond Act, he said. That bond includes up to $150 million for the purchase of open space to protect groundwater. The race track sits above the largest aquifer in Southampton Town east of the Shinnecock Canal.

False Hope

The Southampton Town Board has recently come out in favor of a real- estate transfer tax, which could add millions to its open-space coffers, Mr. Thiele said.

Although Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio was the only member of the Town Board to vote against the zone change for the property, he too questioned Mr. Thiele's position.

"I hope Fred isn't giving the people of Noyac false hope and taking a political stand," he said. "But normally Fred talks when he has information, and if he can find the money on the state level, I'd be happy to be supportive."

The Supervisor said he would discuss the idea with the Town Board to see if there was a "consensus," but he pointed out that the property is not on a town priority list and questioned whether county funding would be available.

"We won't know unless we make the effort," said Mr. Thiele. "Before the property is gone, we have to try."

Acknowledge Debts

Amagansett

July 25, 1997

Dear Helen,

As a former weekly newspaper editor, I have marveled at the generous amount of space you allot to your readers' letters. Now I would like to take advantage of that generosity myself.

First I want to thank The Star for noting in such a nice way the death of my husband, your faithful reader and, as Sheridan Sansegundo put it, your sometimes cantankerous reviewer, Edwin Diamond. Next to still being alive, he would most of all have enjoyed the acknowledgement he has received for his efforts to improve journalism, and his achievements in that area and his contributions to it through the hundreds of his students who are now active, hopefully to its betterment.

I want just to note how very much he loved being out here. We discovered the Hamptons late. Although we lived for some 20 years in Sands Point on Long Island, we only came here to visit our daughters at Camp Blue Bay, until 1978, when we sold our house at Manhasset Bay and cast about for another way to be around water. (Transplanted Midwesterners, we loved the ability, once East, to keep ourselves a hop, skip, and jump away from some body of water.) And we found it in Springs, near the lovely little Barnes Hole beach, and we have spent a lot of time here for the past 20 years.

I want very much to acknowledge those wonderful folks who have taken care of that house and yard and us for all that time because without them neither Edwin nor I would have enjoyed being here nearly as much. And I would urge everyone like us who has benefited from the help and services of similar people to remember them, their needs, and their important contribution to the good life here, when planning for the future of this area.

It's one thing when I go to the store and spend a half hour getting to where I am going, another half hour seeking parking, and at least another half hour to pick up one more unnecessary tidbit for a party I could survive without giving. And it's a very different thing when someone is working here all day and remembers they need diapers, or a bottle of milk, or razor blades and has to try and run that errand on the way home or at lunch and, heaven forbid, in addition, it's Thursday, Friday, or Saturday during "the season."

Anyway, I want to acknowledge our debts to the wonderful and wonderfully helpful people who are responsible for making it possible for us to enjoy life here so much.

I will continue to enjoy the benefits of all these people and places. Edwin unfortunately will not. But from the bottom of my heart, I will always say "thank you" for adding as much to his life, and to our life together, as has the ocean, the special light, and the open space.

ADELINA DIAMOND

Walk Barefoot

Naples, Fla.

July 21, 1997

To The Editor:

As a former Long Island resident now residing in Naples, Fla., I am thoroughly appalled at the condition of the beaches. I have been spending my days at Wiborg's Beach and find there is total disregard for the clearly posted law regarding dogs. The owners allow them to roam freely, leaving their feces all over. Whatever happened to concern over the cleanliness and beauty of these beautiful beaches? It takes a cooperative effort by every resident and observance of the rules. Unless some action is taken, the beaches will eventually lose the appeal for which they have been recognized as among the best in the world.

The blatant disregard for the village's laws make me wonder how serious the Village Board was in passing them, since no effort is ever made to enforce them. The local police appear to drive from beach to beach merely to check on parking permits.

Hopefully, when I return next year, I will be able to walk barefoot without having to look down with every step I take.

Sincerely yours,

TERRI LOKPEZ

Maimed Beach

New York

July 21, 1997

To The Editor:

The East End is so very desirable mostly due to its beaches, its raw beauty, and its summer community atmosphere combined with its proximity to New York City. One beach in particular, Main Beach, is quickly becoming a blemish on an otherwise beautiful canvas.

The glaring problems are as follows:

1. Instead of being a quiet, restful, peaceful beach, the beach manager is turning it into a recreational playground.

a.She put a permanent volleyball court in the middle of the beach.

b.She put a basketball hoop in parking lot number one (the parking lot people pay extra for!).

c.Although the rules clearly state "ball playing in designated areas only," she allows it all over the beach; there is no designated area.

2.Instead of being a clean, beautiful, natural beach, the beach manager is turning it into a party garbage pit.

a.She never cleans the sand. Unfortunately, rude, nonthinking people use the sand as an ashtray. As a result, almost wherever one sits, there are cigarette butts at one's feet. Most beaches use a strainer-like apparatus on a machine to sweep and clean a beach. At Main Beach, they only empty the garbage pails. That's it for cleaning up. The actual sand is filthy. Even the natural seaweed washed up is not cleaned and should be.

b.She allows the lifeguards and their friends to "hang out" in and in front of the shed. The doors are wide open, and the messy inside is totally exposed to everyone. There's even an old ratty lounge chair in there that is sometimes pulled out and put next to the stand.

c.The floor in the snack bar is always dirty; french fries litter the place. The benches and areas around the tables are greasy and unkempt.

3.Instead of hearing only the ocean and the birds, the sounds one hears are harsh and irritating.

a.Police vehicles are constantly going from Main Beach to Georgica, zooming on the sand, making tracks, driving near blankets, making noise and pollution. Why? This was never done before. There is no emergency every day. If they want to go to Georgica, they should use the road.

b.Radios, especially on the weekends, are blasting. How about barring them, except for use with earphones?

Why can't the Main Beach get better and better, instead of worse and worse each year? It used to be so nice. The only change that brought improvement was the covers put on the garbage pails. As it is now, Main Beach should be called Lame Beach or Maimed Beach or Defamed Beach. Bring back the beauty and the serenity!

Sincerely,

MARILYN BREGMAN

For All To Share

Montauk

July 24, 1996

To The Editor,

My husband is a surf fisherman and enjoys fishing at Ditch Plain Beach. He is always well aware and quite polite to all the surfers there. However, mutual respect is not always given. This past weekend, my husband found a nice open spot to cast and directed his line far away from the surfers on his right. After a handful of casts, a new surfer swam out across his path and positioned himself directly in the way. As a result, my husband stopped fishing for the day. He didn't want to set his hook into a person.

The beaches are here for all to share, and we all should make concessions to each other so everyone can enjoy their own sport of choice.

RIKKI KUEHN

Ticketed At Church

East Hampton

July 22, 1997

To The Editor,

Guilty! I confess, my check is in the mail. No need to prosecute. One minute late for the 10 a.m. services at Holy Trinity, and I broke the law.

Had I been aware of my thoughtless behavior, I would have parked in one of the free spaces in the church parking lot. Instead, I jumped out of the car and proceeded the 50 odd feet to the corner, where, being the only pedestrian, I thanked the crossing guard for stopping traffic, crossed the street, and entered the church. Now two minutes late.

When I left the service and approached the intersection, I could see what the crossing guard must have seen while I was parking and, for that matter, over my shoulder while being thanked by yours truly for stopping traffic. I had parked on the sidewalk. Guess what else was visible? A summons for illegal parking adorned my windshield.

Good Judeo-Christian behavior would have called for this crossing guard to point out my infraction as it was taking place. As a matter of fact, I intended to interview some of our Jewish brothers and sisters as the basis of this letter.

Then it struck me! This was more a question of common courtesy than anything else. We year-round residents like to take shots at the larger summer population for bringing their city driving manners to our beautiful community. Maybe we should take a better look at the face we show them upon their arrival.

I have never before seen a car ticketed at church services.

Sincerely,

DAVID T. FETTES

Please address correspondence to [email protected]

Please include your full name, address and daytime telephone number for purposes of verification.

The mother of the young landscaper involved in a May 21 confrontation with Martha Stewart and the East Hampton Village Chief of Police both expressed surprise and displeasure this week following Suffolk County District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr.'s announcement that no criminal charges would be filed against Ms. Stewart.

Matthew Munnich had told police the homemaking authority backed her car into him that night, pinning him against a gate and bruising him after finding him and his crew working on Harry Macklowe's next-door property. Ms. Stewart and Mr. Macklowe, Georgica Close Road neighbors, have long been at odds over plantings on their common border.

"I'm very unhappy with the decision," said Addie Munnich of Port Jefferson Station, the mother of the 23-year-old Mr. Munnich. "I just feel let down by the law." She said her family had hired a new attorney, Leonard Austin of Huntington Station, and was trying to decide what to do next.

Charges Were Readied

Following the incident, village police had got so far into their investigation as to type up charges of second-degree reckless endangerment and attempted assault in the third degree.

They passed the case along to the D.A.'s East End Bureau, according to Chief Stonemetz, simply to let the attorneys look the case over, but it wound up in Mr. Catterson's personal office, with his top investigator assigned to it.

It took nine and a half weeks for the District Attorney to announce his decision. Chief Stonemetz several times criticized what he called an unusual delay.

D.A.'s Statement

"Justice and common sense dictate that the confrontation between Ms. Stewart and Munnich, as objectionable as it may appear, does not warrant arrest and criminal prosecution," Mr. Catterson said in a written statement. "Not every event which adversely affects a person's life deserves to be litigated in criminal court."

To the contrary, Chief Stonemetz said this week, he thought there was indeed probable cause to file charges. He described his reaction to the D.A.'s decision as "one of shock and, quite candidly, probably disbelief."

Ms. Stewart said she was "pleased to have been exonerated in this case."

"It is unfortunate that accusations like this take the D.A. away from much more pressing duties and are a terrible waste of taxpayer time, money, and energy," she said in her own written statement.

"We have maintained all along that Martha Stewart has done nothing illegal," her Manhattan attorney, Larry Shire, said in the same release. "Ms. Stewart at no time intended any harm to Matthew Munnich."

Three Witnesses

This week, village police made available witnesses' statements and other information gathered during their investigation, which help paint a more complete picture.

John Ward Pawson of London, who was doing design work for Ms. Stewart, and his assistant, Enzo Manola of Italy, "arrived in East Hampton via the Hampton Jitney," Mr. Pawson stated, and were "met at the bus stop by Martha Stewart. We then went to dinner at the Palm restaurant," steps away from the Jitney stop.

"At dinner were Martha, Enzo, Ben Krupinski, his wife [Bonnie], two other couples, and myself. During dinner I did not drink any alcohol nor did Enzo. I'm not sure if Martha did, I think not. Dinner ended at approximately 9 p.m." According to a receipt in the police file, the dinner tab and tip came to $767.61.

"Seemed Depressed"

"Martha, Enzo, and I decided to go to her house on Georgica Close Road to observe the beautiful moonlight," Mr. Pawson goes on. "Martha drove us in her car, a large, dark colored truck. When we arrived at the house . . . the three of us walked down to the water."

"When we got there, Martha observed that a fence had been erected by her neighbor, Harry Macklowe. Martha became upset and seemed depressed about the situation. We heard people working on the other side of the fence. We walked back to the road and Enzo and I walked over to Mr. Macklowe's driveway, stopping before the gate."

Ms. Stewart drove into Mr. Macklowe's driveway, the statement says. "I heard Martha asking the workers as they were walking by what they were doing. I observed the workers ignoring Martha's inquiries."

Denies Incident

"Finally, one man [Mr. Munnich] did stop at the driver's window and speak with her. I couldn't hear the conversation, but I did hear the man say to Martha, "Are you calling me a liar?" Martha then reversed out of the driveway, she reversed straight out. People still had room to pass her vehicle on both sides."

"Once Martha reversed out, she then pulled forward heading toward her driveway. Enzo and I then got into her vehicle. I got in the front and Enzo got in the back behind Martha."

"[Sgt. Gerard] Larsen has asked me if I saw the young man get struck by Martha's vehicle and my answer is no. I would have seen this happen if it happened. Sergeant Larsen has also asked me if I saw Martha's [car] mirror hit the electronic security control box and my answer is no. I would have seen or heard if she hit anything."

Mr. Pawson said the trio then returned to Ms. Stewart's Lily Pond Lane, East Hampton, house.

"Stop The Car"

Mr. Munnich, a foreman trainee with Whitmore Worsley Landscaping in Amagansett, had accused Ms. Stewart of pinning him with her car against the electronic security box.

"I was trapped against the electronic box, the sideview mirror on the driver's side door, and the driver's door," he said in his complaint, filed the day after the incident. "I started to yell, 'You're fucking crushing me, stop the car, let me out.' She looked right at me and kept backing."

Mr. Munnich said his right side was black and blue, and that he was still in "discomfort."

Mr. Manola, an architect who works in London for Mr. Pawson, said he saw Ms. Stewart pull into the driveway and then later back out. He did not say whether or not he saw her vehicle hit anyone.

Another Whitmore Worsley em ployee who was working at the Macklowe property the night of the incident, Agustin Centeno, also gave village police a statement.

Photographs

He identified himself as having "worked for [Whitmore Worsley] for the last four years. I can read and write the English language a little."

"I was standing next to the gate on the left as you leave the driveway," Mr. Centeno told police. "I saw the car start to back out. I saw the car wheels turn and the front of the car went to my right. I then heard Matt yelling . . . I asked Matt what had happened and he told me the lady ran him over. He told me that the lady had trapped him between her car and the gate box . . . Matt seemed very upset and was complaining of pain in both his sides."

Photographs in the police file show minor bruising and markings on Mr. Munnich's side.

Confrontation

In releasing his decision Friday, the District Attorney acknowledged that "a confrontation occurred."

"It is beyond doubt that the incident was initiated by Ms. Stewart," said Mr. Catterson, "in the mistaken belief that Mr. Munnich was responsible for the erection of a fence . . . Although the possibility of injury was present, such injury thankfully was averted and Mr. Munnich was not seriously hurt."

The D.A.'s statement describes, at some length, the continuing litigation over Mr. Macklowe's and Ms. Stewart's multimillion-dollar properties, noting that all of it has been initiated by Mr. Macklowe.

It also states that his decision not to prosecute is "in no way intended to minimize or disparage Mr. Munnich or his recollection of the events."

"He is free to institute a criminal charge of harassment," Mr. Catterson states, although "under all the facts and circumstances presently known a successful prosecution of such a charge is extremely unlikely."

The Chief Objects

Chief Stonemetz called Mr. Catterson's finding "one bad decision."

"I may be more inclined to file the criminal charges" before turning over a file for the D.A.'s review in the future, he said.

In reaction to Mr. Catterson's statement that "celebrity status alone cannot be considered a relevant factor in deciding whether or not to prosecute in a particular case," Chief Stonemetz said his investigation "did not focus on the peripheral activities or politics . . . and did not consider who the . . . alleged perpetrator was."

"Our investigation reveals that this was much more than harassment," he added.

Mr. Austin, the Munnich family's lawyer, said yesterday he thought Mr. Catterson's statement, rather than explaining why he was not pressing charges, "outlined his opening statement to the jury." The lawyer said the family was contemplating filing a civil suit against Ms. Stewart.

While urbanites are used to having food delivered to home or office, the practice has not been pervasive on the South Fork. For several years, however, two services have been catering to the edible delivery needs of summer residents. Far from ubiquitous Chinese takeout, however, these companies deal with luxury restaurants. They are bringing first-rate steaks from the Palm, langoustines from the wood-burning oven at Nick and Toni's, and spicy Tuscan seafood stew from Sapore di Mare to the door.

One such service is the Southampton-based A La Car. The other is the national Dial-A-Dinner, which even brings favorite foods from restaurants in the city to the summer retreats of Manhattanites in the Hamptons.

The owner of Dial-A-Dinner is David Blum of Manhattan and Montauk. He says Manhattan to the Hamptons deliveries account for 25 to 30 percent of his business here.

Usual Suspects

While visiting friends on the East End one summer, Mr. Blum recalled, the actor George Hamilton had his favorite eats from Arcadia, a Manhattan restaurant, flown in by Dial-A-Dinner. Yes, flown in, on a charter plane that landed at the East Hampton Town Airport.

"It went with a delivery person," said Mr. Blum. And more often than not, a Dial-A-Dinner delivery person is outfitted in a tuxedo.

The usual suspects - Billy Joel, Alec Baldwin, Ron Perelman - are regular customers, Mr. Blum said this week. But other notable deliveries have included one several years ago, when $3,500 of Petrossian caviar was brought out from Manhattan at the behest of Imelda Marcos, the wife of the late deposed Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos, during a brief East Hampton stay.

From The Big Apple

Its willingness to bring orders out from the Big Apple is among the things that make his business different, Mr. Blum said, though a somewhat sizable order is necessary. "It's amazing how many people order from the city, three hours away," he said. "You know what it is, people are used to special things they like."

Can't find a poached salmon comparable to that at La Cote Basque? Fear not, Dial-A-Dinner will bring the incomparable to you. Have to have one of those popular cakes from the Little Italy bakery Ferrara? With advance notice, no problem.

This is the sixth season for A La Car, owned by Alex Oliva, a self-described Manhattan transplant who has lived in Southampton for 30 years. He began his business, which delivers the food of 22 restaurants from Westhampton Beach east to Amagansett and Springs, when he craved such a delivery himself.

"Can Afford More"

"Why can't I call and have someone deliver food from my favorite restaurant?" was the question that got him thinking, Mr. Oliva said. "We're dealing with a consumer that's pleased we're bringing food to their home."

Though Mr. Oliva does not deliver food that comes from the city, he noted that his customers call him, often several days ahead, from Manhattan. Others call on their car phone, while traveling the Long Island Expressway on their way out.

"Can you have dinner there ready for me when I arrive?" Mr. Oliva said they ask.

In Mr. Oliva's words, many of the wealthier South Fork residents "can afford more of anything."

Both businessmen also agree, though, that, in Mr. Blum's words, "regular, everyday people order with us" as well. The cost of delivery for either service is 20 percent of the total bill, not including a tip.

The Restaurants

Both services share three common participating restaurants - Nick and Toni's, the Palm, and Sapore di Mare in East Hampton. Others that are listed in Dial-A-Dinner's brochure, which has offices in East Hampton and Southampton, are Della Femina and the James Lane Cafe in East Hampton, Caswell's and Gurney's Inn in Montauk, and Mirko's in Water Mill. Mr. Blum noted that his business will pick up at any restaurant if the customer asks.

A La Car's other participants are, in East Hampton, the Quiet Clam and the Annex; Citron, Serafina, Harbor Rose, and Chili Peppers in Sag Harbor; Bridgehampton's Razzano's and Sagaponack General Store and Cafe; Al Dente, Savanna's, 75 Main, the Porterhouse, La Parmigiana, Wings to Go, and Fletchers in Southampton; Giorgio in Hampton Bays, and Westhampton Beach's Tierra Mar, Sam's Hampton Square Cafe, and Baby Moon.

Pizza Boy

Mr. Blum started his business in Manhattan at the age of 17, a pizza delivery boy trying to raise money for his bills at the University of Miami. He takes pride in being "the first" to offer such a delivery service, which he began in the early 1980s.

Now Dial-A-Dinner offers its services from 5 to 10 p.m. seven nights a week year-round, though more advanced timing is required in the off-season, as well as for lunch and brunch orders.

A La Car is open for business seven nights a week, from 5 to 9:30 p.m., from approximately Memorial Day weekend to Christmas. Both businesses promise delivery within the hour, though, needless to say, a Dial-A-Dinner trip from Manhattan would require more time and planning.

Party Services

Along with meal orders, A La Car will bring its customers San Pellegrino water, LavAzza coffee, and cigars from the Cigar Bar in Sag Harbor.

Dial-A-Dinner, which also operates in Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., offers, according to Mr. Blum, not just home delivery but "more of a fine dining experience." It also will act as a caterer in helping to plan private parties and doing all the work involved, except cooking. Sunday brunch parties are particularly popular, Mr. Blum said this week.

And, who would want to do it themselves, especially when they can afford otherwise?

Richard Price, a writer of tough, graphic, inner-city novels and screenplays, sports an impressive list of literary credits. The author of "Bloodbrothers" and "Clockers," and the screenwriter of "The Color of Money" and "Sea of Love," to name but a few, he knows his turf from the asphalt up.

Born and bred in a racially mixed Bronx housing project, he aspired at first not so much to write as to be a writer. "I was more interested in the wrapping than the gift," he said.

As he dabbled in styles ranging from Dickens to Mad magazine, however, there were moments of recognition between the writer and his subject. "Suddenly, the writing became deadly serious."

Finding A Voice

In the mid-'60s Mr. Price read Hubert Selby Jr.'s "Last Exit to Brooklyn," a scathing novel about union thugs, transvestites, and dope, and "something in the language and cement of his world rang a bell. It seemed not exotic but familiar, like looking in a mirror."

"I realized that when one starts to think about oneself as a writer one's first question should be, what do I have to tell you that you don't already know? The second question: What is closest to my heart?"

"Last Exit to Brooklyn" triggered an epiphany. He would write about the dicey world of his youth and its increasingly dark take on the American dream.

Reading transcripts of Lenny Bruce's comedy routines helped center his style and rhythm. "That's what I want to sound like," he thought.

"The Wanderers"

After attending the Bronx High School of Science, Cornell, the Fiction Collective in Boulder, Colo., and Stanford University as a Mirillees Fellow in Fiction, Mr. Price, with thoughts of teaching, embarked on a six-year quest for a master's degree at Columbia. By the time he got it - the foreign language credit was the sticking point - he had already published two novels.

"The Wanderers," his first, a streetwise coming-of-age memoir, appeared in 1974 when he was 24. He'd sent Mr. Selby a copy of the galleys and, thrillingly, his role model honored the gritty, poignant story of teenage gang warfare with a blurb calling it "an outstanding work of art."

"I felt like a Little League kid getting a letter from Mickey Mantle," recalled Mr. Price. The novel won him a Macdowell Fellowship and a Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation grant.

"Bloodbrothers"

"Bloodbrothers," about a kid in an abusive working-class family who declines to join a construction union, followed; both novels were later made into films. Mr. Price had acting parts in "The Wanderers" and in "Life Lessons," his segment of "New York Stories," the 1989 trilogy of short films directed by Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Woody Allen.

Next came "Ladies' Man," a raunchy and unexpectedly moving novel about a "lost weekend of sex instead of booze," followed by "The Breaks," which almost broke its author.

"It was a long Bildungsroman about a kid who wants to become a teacher, so long I can't even bring myself to describe it," he said. "It weighed about three pounds."

Feeling "kind of sick of myself" after these literary efforts, Mr. Price took off the next 10 years to write screenplays. Mr. Scorsese, who had a script he didn't like for "The Color of Money," agreed, following a three-hour meeting, to "let one more guy take a shot."

"The Color Of Money"

After much trial and error, "The Color of Money" got made. A sequel to "The Hustler" starring Tom Cruise and the original lead, Paul Newman, 30 years older, it received an Academy Award nomination in 1986.

"I feel the worst thing an artist can do is read a book on how to do something," said Mr. Price of his screenwriting debut. "You can't use your mind creatively if half of it is trying to remember Rule No. 4. I just went to a lot of movies and pretended I was the writer."

"At first I did too much; you can't believe how little is too much. Some of my most dazzling dialogue sounded totally artificial when spoken by actors. Smart lines are okay for a book, where the world exists on paper, but they tend to sound like creative writing in the realm of the flesh."

Screenwriting is a craft, not an art, unless you're also the director and control the final product, according to Mr. Price. "You are making a blueprint a whole bunch of people will work off; you are not the master architect."

"Keep it short," is what he learned. "It's about momentum, not language. Just write what happened next with no more prose than you'd put in a telegram. A screenplay is a telegram Scotch Taped to dialogue Scotch Taped to a telegram."

The making of his next movie, "Sea of Love," illustrates the moral of the story of his screenwriting career, he said.

Basking in the glow of the Academy Award nomination, he was approached by Dustin Hoffman for scripts and floated an idea about a detective who falls in love with a crime suspect. It was snatched up by the actor's development company, with much fanfare.

"Sea Of Love"

When the star's attention got sidetracked onto "Rainman," however, Mr. Price's script fell from favor. So he walked it over to Al Pacino, who also loved it, and the future box-office hit was on again.

"When Dustin was involved with 'Sea of Love' everybody loved it," Mr. Price said. "When he cooled, so did everybody. Then when Al Pacino took it up, everybody loved it again."

"It's got nothing to do with the writing. It's like, who's attached to this? If there's a gorilla attached to it, I love it. Things happen when you attract a gorilla."

"Life Lessons"

"Life Lessons" came out that same year, a film about a painter that takes a sharp look at the art world.

Why a painter, and not a writer or an actor?

"I know a lot of artists through my wife, [the painter] Judith Hudson, and painting is a visually dramatic activity. A close-up of a guy typing? A guy acting? No."

Based on the diaries of one of Dostoyevsky's mistresses who delighted in tormenting him - "D. is at the door again, I hate when he cries" - "Life Lessons" dramatizes Mr. Price's response to the "I can't work unless I'm in pain" school of creativity.

"Mad Dog Glory," about a serial killer, came next, followed by remakes of Jules Dassin's "Night and the City" and "Kiss of Death," Richard Widmark's chilling first film.

"Clockers"

"Ransom" appeared last year, a thriller directed by Ron Howard, whom Mr. Price describes as "a solid pro," unlike Mr. Scorsese, "a jagged artist."

Meanwhile he published "Clockers," a riveting inner-city crime story described by Scott Turow as a brave book "which refuses to declare the imagination out of bounds when it wanders into terrain that others might wish to call forbidden."

Mr. Price has recently finished a novel set in the same troubled world as "Clockers" but with another emphasis and different characters. It will be published next year.

Parallel Careers

Leaning back at his desk in the workroom attached to the big, old remodeled barn in East Hampton he shares with his wife and daughters, Annie, 12, and Gen, 10, he reminisced about his parallel careers.

"You always feel wistful about what you're not doing - a novel, a screenplay - because what you are doing is always anxiety provoking," he said. But while he romanticizes whatever's on hold, he prefers being the author of a book to being the writer of a screenplay.

"I got sucked into the screenplay world because of the money. It's very social, and kind of heady. You're name-dropping and going to parties and meetings and spending half your life at the Carlyle, and occasionally you write something that pays in spades."

Someone Else's Movie

"But when the final product comes out, you always feel sort of stunned, because it's never exactly what you meant. Even though the film is faithful to your script, there was a movie playing inside your head while you were writing it, a movie you were directing, now obscured by the imprint of many other sensibilities."

As for the books, looking back, he often feels embarrassed. "The more you know, the more you respect what you don't know. I wince at some of my earlier stuff. I keep doing things and disavowing them and then moving on."

Summing it all up, "If you're a studio, I can describe a movie to you in two minutes, and make you see it, so you'll give me the green light," he said.

"Books are much harder. Finding something to write about can take years. If you're a publisher, I can never really describe a book to you. It's an exploration of a character in a moral dilemma or crisis I have to figure out as I'm writing it. But at least, with a book, there's no middleman. In the end, everything is mine."

Having a show banned in one Jersey Shore town and threatened with closure in another should it get too "obscene" can be a sort of badge of courage for a comic team. From Lenny Bruce to George Carlin, comedians have attracted followings and media attention with controversial material.

Baus & Troche, the comedy duo who begin previews for their new show, "Tempting Fate," at Guild Hall next Thursday, aren't known for sidestepping serious or sensitive issues.

"Candid Tandems," the show that won them notice and notoriety in Bay Head and Maplewood, N.J., contained a sketch called "Safe Sex." The two comedians, Ted Baus and Debbie Troche, played fifth-graders talking about sex for a class show-and-tell project, including the strange rituals of adult mating. Props included a cucumber and condoms - that, above all, was what turned the good people of Bay Head against Baus & Troche.

Gushing Praise

The show went on to receive a good deal of attention and critical acclaim despite, or in some cases because of, their reception in New Jersey. Raves poured in - from New York Newsday, The Village Voice, The New York Post.

"They tackle the things that bother them," wrote Blake Green of Newsday, ". . . in the best laughter-is-the-best-elixir manner." The Voice praised the duo for its "unnerving alacrity." "From the opening number of their brilliant new show . . . Ted Baus and Debbie Troche hold the audience . . . in the palms of their incisively funny hands," gushed The New York Post reviewer after seeing "Candid Tandems."

Whether playing twins in the womb talking about their hesitation to join the outside world, an executive supermom, or a horny Latin boy confused about his sexuality, Mr. Baus and Ms. Troche have gained a reputation for the humorous characters they create and portray.

Oedipal Comedy

"Tempting Fate," which will have its premiere at Guild Hall on Aug. 20, is full of such characters. All 10 in this modern-day Oedipal comedy - which Guild Hall's president expects to be the sleeper hit of the summer - are played by Ms. Troche and Mr. Baus.

The show spoofs the pillars of contemporary pop culture from TV talk shows and game shows to 1960s films to Madonna. At its center is Eddie Jaffe, a Hollywood producer who was left on the nunnery steps by his actress mother shortly after birth.

"Who is it that talks about the root of all tragedy being the source of all comedy?" Rod Kaats, the director of "Tempting Fate," asked Monday.

The show also features Sister AnnMargaret, a nun dying for a TV career, Eddie's adoptive parents, a pair of Catskills comics, and a number of other quirky personalities.

Eddie goes to Hollywood and meets his real father, a producer, at an audition and feels instant dislike. At the same time, he has always been in love with the actress who is, unbeknownst to him, his real mother, who gave him up to pursue her acting career. And the plot unfolds.

"They all have their noses up against the glass, they're all trying too hard to get over in this culture," Mr. Kaats explained.

In Sophocles' classic drama "Oedipus Rex," the characters strive for power; in this play they want celebrity. Rather than kings and queens, they're producers, actors, small-time comedians, and wannabe personalities.

"Sort Of Bawdy"

"It's a very, very fun, sort of bawdy show that's great for the East End," Brigitte Blachere of Guild Hall said.

"Bawdy" is a word that turns up a lot in descriptions of the comedy. One of the first things Mr. Kaats asked Guild Hall's president, Henry Korn, was, "Do you think it's too bawdy?"

"Naughty's another word," Mr. Kaats laughed. While he said it does "push the envelope," he was sure to emphasize that, whatever it is, "Tempting Fate" is not obscene. Weird maybe. Quirky certainly. But not obscene.

Mr. Kaats has been fine-tuning the comedy with Ms. Troche and Mr. Baus for a little over a year, but it's been in the works for five or six years.

"Tempting Fate" has been read to invited audiences at the New York Theater Workshop, but Baus & Troche haven't performed it for a public audience yet.

Decade Of Performing

Mr. Baus, who is from Brooklyn, and Ms. Troche, a Queens native, have known each other since high school. They began writing and performing comedy together in 1988.

They arrived in East Hampton yesterday with Mr. Kaats to begin dealing with staging and other technical issues on site at Guild Hall.

The set will be very simple. Mr. Kaats wants it to feel as if the play is "sort of being pulled out of a trunk." All the focus will be on Mr. Baus's and Ms. Troche's cast of characters.

"Tempting Fate" will open at Guild Hall on Aug. 20 and run through Aug. 25.

Have you noticed the goings-on at Guild Hall lately? Just a glance through last week's lineup gives a pretty clear indication of the cultural center's increasing liveliness.

As part of a notable literary series the poets John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch read from their work. For artists and gardeners, Jack Lenor Larsen, guiding spirit of LongHouse, spoke on "The Garden as Art," and for film fans there were two more movies in a series of French cinema classics.

The Hot Topic of the week was the Clinton Administration, with an all-star panel featuring a former White House counsel, the dean of the Yale School of Management, a columnist for The Washington Post, the former president of the Import-Export Bank, and the publisher of The Daily News.

The galleries were in the final week of a risky and challenging show of installation art. Then there was comedy from George Carlin, a magic show for children, a Joni Mitchell impersonator, and an evening of tap dancing and 1930s tunes.

While this year's Delsener concerts were not as applauded by the younger set as last year's, there is no doubt that Guild Hall is reaching out to diverse segments of the population, just as its director, Henry Korn, promised when he came on board three and a half years ago.

In many people's minds, the word "museum" connotes a ponderous institution, often carved of granite and moving forward with about as much animation. Guild Hall is proving to be a lighter, brighter entity.

It took 65 days for Suffolk County District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr. to decide that no charges should be filed against Martha Stewart for reportedly pinning Harry Macklowe's landscaper against a gate with her Chevy Suburban. While the D.A.'s opinion that the root cause of the incident - the longstanding hostility between Ms. Stewart and her neighbor Mr. Macklowe - was best settled in civil court, his involvement in the case at all is suspect.

That Matthew J. Munnich, the landscaper, should have been caught, literally, between two combative neighbors was unfortunate and unfair. Ms. Stewart's vehicular maneuver seemed by most accounts to be as East Hampton Village Police Chief Glen Stonemetz characterized it at the start: unintentional, but nonetheless reckless. In the chief's opinion, a misdemeanor charge, no more (but no less), was warranted.

What, then, prompted Mr. Catterson to go to the extreme of having his senior staff, himself included, review Mr. Munnich's complaint? A statement from his office announces the decision that "the confrontation between Ms. Stewart and Mr. Munnich . . . does not warrant arrest and criminal prosecution." It also states that "celebrity status alone cannot be considered a relevant factor in deciding whether or not to prosecute in a particular case."

Exactly. The statement begs the issue, which is that a misdemeanor charge stemming from an incident such as this never would have reached the District's Attorney's desk if it weren't for the fact that Ms. Stewart is a celebrity.

The yearlong ugliness between the Georgica Close Road neighbors has been the subject of debate as much on the checkout line at local delis as in the national tabloid news. Undoubtedly, the talk is fueled by the love-to-hate-them notoriety of the combatants - Ms. Stewart, the doyenne of domesticity whose image is often spoofed, and Mr. Macklowe, the Manhattan real estate developer, known for tearing down buildings (and building a fence) in the middle of the night.

Mr. Catterson was quoted in The Star late last month saying it was precisely the "notoriety" of Ms. Stewart and Mr. Macklowe that prompted him not to "rush to judgment and cause a spectacle."

His office gave a similar response to questions about the extraordinary investigation into a far more serious matter, the 1995 rape of a Southampton College student by Kerry Kotler, a Montauk fisherman convicted just this month. Mr. Kotler made national news after D.N.A. evidence helped clear him of an earlier rape, for which he had spent 11 years in prison. That notoriety triggered an eight-month, around-the-clock effort by up to 75 detectives, a helicopter, and K-9 units.

The D.A.'s office declined to put a price on that effort, though millions would be a safe estimate. The costs of the two-month investigation into the Martha Stewart incident can be tallied by a different measure - public confidence.

Mr. Catterson's critics charge that the D.A. - who is, not so incidentally, running for re-election this year, as he was when Mr. Kotler was under investigation - weighed public reaction in both high-profile matters and did what he thought would be politically advantageous. The voters, undoubtedly, will tell us in November if he was right.