Luna, my Percheron-Lipizzan- cross mare, was due to foal on May 16. It was only May 10 but, since she was showing signs of being early, I was keeping a close watch.

After several peaceful hours observing her in her stall, as she went about her business in her typically stately and dignified manner, I came to the conclusion that nothing would happen that night. Mother's Day was two days away and perhaps Luna, a horse with a great sense of occasion, would observe the day by becoming a mother herself.

Four hours later, I heard Luna whinnying from the barn. Not unusual, she did that every morning when she heard me letting the dogs into the backyard. But this morning something was different in the sound of her voice.

"She's foaled!" I thought as I rushed through the back gate, dogs leaping in my wake.

Desperate Call

She called out again as I ran toward the barn, and the call had a desperate exhausted sound to it. I knew then that something was terribly wrong.

At first glance, the scene that greeted me was a beautiful one - a healthy, sturdy foal nursing from its mother. But Luna was looking everything but healthy and sturdy. She stood shuddering, covered in sweat. When I entered her stall and touched her neck, she was icy to the touch and her normally expressive, friendly eyes were glazed and unseeing.

Suddenly she began to plunge forward. Around the huge foaling stall she reeled. Her legs kept buckling under her, but she fought to stay on her feet.

The foal, following his instinct to remain at her side, stuck to her like a barnacle. At one point her massive hindquarters, swinging violently out of control, slammed into him and threw him hard against the wall.

Rare But Fatal

Shocked into action, I pulled him into my arms and carried my leggy burden into a far corner of the stall. Luna collapsed onto the stall floor. When I returned from placing a rushed and frantic emergency call to my veterinarian, a terrifying sight greeted me. The foal had returned to his mother's side and his spindly legs had become enmeshed with the madly thrashing legs of his mother.

Again, I gathered him into my arms and hoisted him away. Miraculously, he was unhurt. When I turned back to his mother, she lay still. Luna, my beautiful Luna, was gone.

Reinforcements soon arrived in the form of Pam Glennon, my invaluable helper, and Dr. Davis, my veterinarian. Judging from her sudden and total collapse, Dr. Davis surmised that Luna had ruptured an artery when foaling - a rare event and one that always proves fatal despite any attempts at intervention.

Saving The Foal

Kindly but efficiently, he marshaled his teary troops into saving the life that remained. A foal is born with an insufficient immune system. The first milk that it suckles from its mother, known as colostrum, contains the antibodies that it needs to survive. It was essential to get this milk into Luna's baby.

Getting the milk into the foal necessitated getting it out of Luna first, and Dr. Davis took on the sad job of milking her to obtain the precious colostrum. Pam hurriedly prepared a stall for the foal and then rushed off in search of baby bottles while I called local barns in search of equipment and milk supplements.

Due to the kindness of some complete strangers and of close friends, by midafternoon I was in possession of an arsenal of nipples, bottles, and formulas. And the foal was in possession of a name, albeit a possibly politically incorrect one. Due to the white circles around his eyes that give him the appearance of wearing blackface, we named him Jolson.

Equine Sociopaths

A true survivor, Jolson eagerly drained every drop of the colostrum from the bottle. Through the following night I gave him a much appreciated feeding of formula every two hours. Jolson's nutritional needs were now being met, but what of his psychological needs?

Horses are herd animals. They need interaction with their own kind to learn how to function in an appropriate manner.

"Horses that are hand-raised by people are different and not different in a good way," counseled Dr. Browning, Dr. Davis's associate at the South Fork Animal Hospital.

Foster Mother

Other experts concurred. Horses raised by people usually have behavioral problems that render them useless and often downright dangerous. Without experiencing the give and take of horse society, they respect no rules and are, in effect, sociopathic.

Enter Dolly Pouska. Ms. Pouska runs a nurse-mare business in Maryland. She weans the foals early from her broodmares and milks the mares, keeping them lactating and ready to serve in emergencies such as mine.

Barely over 24 hours after his birth, Ms. Pouska's truck and trailer pulled into my driveway and Jolson met Dixie, his new mom. Appropriately enough, it was Mother's Day.

Jolson was immediately enamored of his foster mother. Alas, typically, she was not of the same opinion. Mares know their own foals and Dixie, a very pretty little quarter horse, knew that this gangly, big-eared boy was not hers.

Began To Relent

Ms. Pouska, a kindly woman with a marvelously infectious chortle, instructed us on how to get the mare to accept the foal. Keep them together as close as possible and make sure that the foal nurses frequently. When the mare begins to pick up the scent of her milk on the foal, she'll accept him.

"She'll come round and love and care for him like he's her own," said Ms. Pouska reassuringly.

At the time, it took somewhat of a leap of faith to believe that, given the snapping teeth and stomping feet of Dixie, but I was determined to give Jolson the best start in life. I owed it to Luna.

The ensuing three days and nights were very, very long, and if not for the help of friends, in particular Jennifer McGivern, who took over supervision duties for me so I could snatch some sleep, I would doubtless be communicating this column from the grave. But, wonders of wonders, Dixie began to relent.

Burgeoning Affection

The signs of her burgeoning affection for Jolson were small and subtle at first. She began to look up from her hay to check on his whereabouts. Then signs of protectiveness began to appear. Finally, gloriously, she began actively to seek him out and stand guard over him while he slept.

Dixie loves her gangly, big-eared boy now. She loves him a lot but is also firmly teaching him the etiquette appropriate for young gentleman horses.

And for that I love Dixie, and nothing is too good for her - the best hay, the best feed and, of course, the best carrots.

A Special Horse

I've learned a great deal from this experience. Frightening things as well as practical things. But the most positive thing I've learned is that, though the horse world is competitive and, at times catty, when the chips are down, we all remember why we got into this world in the first place, because we love and cherish these animals.

I am very grateful to all the people, many of them whom I don't know or barely know, who called with advice, support, and offerings of supplies. And extremely grateful to Dr. Davis for his expertise and reassuring calm during the worst of the crisis.

And, most of all, I am grateful to Luna, a truly wonderful, special horse. We all love and miss you very much.

This is the fifth article in a series examining various aspects of real estate on the South Fork.

"For many years it was the other Hampton, the last resort if you wanted to be on the East End," said Frank Newbold, a managing partner with Sotheby's, about Sag Harbor. Now, as other villages get more and more crowded, it seems that Sag Harbor has become the desirable alternative - popular for some of the very things that once put it at the bottom of an East End real estate shopping list.

"People used to look down their noses at Sag Harbor as a sort of blue-collar town," Scott Weiss of Harpoon Realty said last week. "It has come all the way around almost to where it was in the whaling days - diverse, very cosmopolitan. It's fascinating."

But, Mr. Newbold said, many feel Sag Harbor retains a rural character despite this, and the rural feel is what buyers want. "And," he added, "it's a fun town."

Fixer-Uppers

David E. Bray, a principal and managing director of Allan M. Schneider Associates, agreed. "Everything you like about it, they like about it," he said, pointing to the historic houses, the walkability, the waterside, and the community feel of the village.

In Sag Harbor, as in its neighbors nearer to the ocean, the sales market for houses and a limited supply of land has been booming. A house in the historic district can go for anywhere from $195,000 for an older fixer-upper to over $1 million for a large Victorian treasure.

But those fixer-uppers are getting fixed up fast. "There aren't many left," said Kathy Kingston of Harbor Cove Realty.

Antiques Attract

Their mid-range is from the high 200s to about $350,000. "We have a lovely Victorian house for $290,000," Mr. Bray offered.

According to Ernest Schade, the owner of Robertson Realty, "if it's not historic, you might find the occasional bargain of $150,000."

Outside the heart of the village, in Noyac or elsewhere, a two-bedroom ranch will go for $150,000 to $160,000.

According to Mr. Weiss, "whatever is on the market and is realistically priced is selling."

Most people know what they're looking for before they go through the door of the real estate office, he said. Many want an antique. "Instead of putting one on your shelf, you live in it," remarked Mr. Bray.

Catching Up

Those buyers may get lucky, because at any moment there are at least half a dozen historic Sag Harbor houses on the market, Mr. Newbold said. This spring, in fact, there seem to be many more - a drive through the village turns up hardly a street without one or two For Sale signs.

Not long ago, Sag Harbor was considered cheaper than its fashionable neighbors by the ocean. Now, prices have caught up. Mr. Newbold said houses that were being offered for $250,000 a few years ago were on the market for $495,000 this year.

Some buyers are surprised by the prices, brokers said. Even those who pay cash (and quite a few, apparently, do) have a budget.

"It's really a matter of education," Mr. Bray explained. "If you haven't lived here before, you need to be introduced to what's available at what price."

Wild Water

Sales of houses on or near the waterfront have been "wild," Mr. Weiss mand have soared. Any spot with a water view in Sag Harbor, brokers agreed, is both very expensive and very much in demand.

That includes neighborhoods like Redwood, a peninsula that juts into Sag Harbor Cove, where there are newer houses, and old resort-colony areas like Ninevah and Azurest on the bay.

Harpoon Realty recently sold two modern houses in Bay View, another small peninsula across the cove from the village between North Haven and Noyac, for $325,000 each. One of the buyers tore the existing structure down and put a traditional shingled house in its place.

Who's Buying?

Vacant land, which is hard to find within village boundaries, can start at $75,000 for a half acre. On the fairly new Archibald Way, off Jermain Avenue - an area without water views, but within walking distance of the commercial area and at the edge of the historic district - land sold slowly for a number of years. Now there are only a few lots left, Mr. Weiss said, and the asking price for a half acre is $110,000.

And who's buying?

Mr. Schade said it was people looking for "second homes, retirement homes, vacation homes."

"We draw writers, people in communications, fashion, advertising," Mr. Bray said. "The professional taste-setters," Mr. Newbold offered.

"If the other villages are Uptown, Sag Harbor is Downtown," he continued. "They like the funkiness, the quaint, old-time, small town feeling. The anchors of the community underlie that."

Priced Out

Indeed, the village still has many of its longtime businesses. In fact, small shopowners priced out in other places still find Sag Harbor a feasible alternative, although commercial prices are starting to push the envelope as well.

For example, the building at 29 Main Street that used to be home to Helena's restaurant recently sold for $747,000. Another Main Street commercial building is on the market for $1.1 million.

Mr. Weiss, a longtime Sag Harbor resident, mentioned a new worry that has been familiar for at least a decade in the villages to the south. "The hesitation is when it starts to get too expensive for the working people to live here," he said. "For $150,000, they can barely do it. It will be a loss if these people can't afford to live in the community anymore."

There are still plenty of year-round renters in Sag Harbor because of the number of small houses and apartments there. They pay $800 to $1,500 a month and "when they find a good place at a reasonable price, they stay put," said Mr. Newbold.

Most gardeners, heaven knows, are happy enough if their perennials reappear, their shrubs flourish, the grass gets mown, and the deer dine elsewhere. They're not too sure of their plant names or their garden lore, they're just delighted "that pink rose" has now covered the front porch.

But out there in the East End undergrowth are the plant professionals, the obsessed, the ones with the sharp clippers and a command of Latin names that sounds as if they're reciting Caesar's "Gallic Wars."

Among these you can count Carol Mercer and her partner Lisa Verderosa, who run "The Secret Garden" landscaping company from an office surrounded by Mrs. Mercer's garden on Ocean Avenue in East Hampton.

Dance To Landscape

"I never intended to be a landscaper," said Mrs. Mercer, who started her working life as a DeMille dancer in such movies as "Oklahoma." She then became an artists' and photographers' representative and a flower arranger for both Presidents Reagan and Bush.

When she married and settled in East Hampton, she took a design course with the New York Botanical Garden so that she could design her own garden.

"People would see my garden and ask me to come and look at theirs and I would be standing around for a couple of hours giving free advice. After a while I thought - What am I doing?"

"Plant Nuts"

She started the Secret Garden in 1986 with a friend called Fern and the very first year they won two medals at the New York Flower show. Mrs. Mercer was well and truly hooked. Her first partner moved on and she has been with Ms. Verderosa (who also has a serendipitous name, meaning green rose) for nine years.

"We're both plant nuts."

And notwithstanding the initial impact of a spectacular view across sloping lawns to Hook Pond and the ocean and dunes beyond, this is a plantswoman's garden. Its main impact is not immediately around the house but unfolds as you tour the periphery, as one unusual plant follows another.

There's a big blue swimming pool near the house, which calls for strong compensatory plantings. Anyway, says Mrs. Mercer, "I don't like those sissy gardens, all pink and white and blue. I think every color goes with everything if it's done right."

Behind a deep bed, clematis and climbing roses romp up a backdrop of arborvitae. The bed sports poppies and peonies, the vivid burgundy leaves of perilla, arisaema Bowle's Mauve, rock roses, pale and dark pink salvias, the burgundy Geranium sanabor, tri-colored sage and bronze fennel, the unusual pink spears of Phlomis tuberosa and the splendid glaucous blue foliage and pink flowers of Rosa rubrifolia.

Not to mention lupines and foxgloves, phlox and euphorbia, and, in the planters on the other side of the pool, a brilliant purple bougainvillea.

Nothing namby pamby about this planting.

Varied Geraniums

The mood changes as you walk under a monumental weeping willow to reach a partly shaded garden and a charming picket-fenced vegetable and cutting garden. As the two gardeners led a tour around the garden, the Latin names were coming like machine gun fire, with only one in 10 being legibly transcribed. Mercifully for those plant lovers who visit this garden, a regular on tours, most of the plants are clearly tagged.

There are dozens of different geraniums, some upright, some more spreading - Cedric Morris, Lily Lovell, Langthorne's Blue - many aquilegias, including a variegated form and one called Green Apples, yellow thalictrum, Chrysanthemum macriphyllum, a huge white aconitum, and anthriscus Raven's Wing, a little cow parsley with black foliage.

Mrs. Mercer and Ms. Verderosa are inveterate travelers in search of plants and inspiration and they spotted this plant growing by a garden wall in England. They slammed on the brakes, asked if they could look around the garden, and, well, somehow or other its offspring is now growing in East Hampton.

By the time you have reached the fenced garden, with its David Austin roses, herbs, trellised sweet peas and hops, and beds of wildly different salvias, the atmosphere of the garden has turned downright romantic. It is reached through a wisteria-laden archway and overlooked by an old gray bench, half-buried in a weeping silver pear, ferns, and the roses Abraham Derby and Graham Thomas.

Beyond the cutting garden lies a narrow creek opening up to Hook Pond where a large reptile - either a water snake or perhaps a snapping turtle - could be seen through the banks of Siberian iris, slowly swimming in the shallows.

By The Creek

The creek is bordered by a deep bed of damp-loving plants. There are elegant grasses like pennisetum Burgundy Giant, thistles, blue sisyrinchiums, a six-foot angelica, and the huge leaves of petacites. As elsewhere, the emphasis is on texture and foliage interest, like the strange toothed blackish-purple leaves of Ligularia dentata Desdemona and a vast clump of bronze-leafed lysimachia.

The heraculum, a plant with attractive foliage, had to be moved to the back of the bed because, like euphorbia and rue, it causes skin rashes.

"We put a big sign saying 'Don't Touch,' but everyone did anyway."

A Shady Spot

Not only is this garden full of rare and interesting plants, they are all incredibly lush and healthy-looking. But asked how they achieve this, the answer was top-dressing in fall and that's it (except for the roses). Not a satisfactory answer - plenty of gardeners top-dress in fall, but not many end up with gardens looking like this.

At the completion of a full circle of the garden is the final romantic touch - a Japanese rock, fern, and moss garden constructed beneath a grove of soaring maples. It's the perfect, peaceful, shady spot to rest after an impressive and slightly intimidating garden tour.

There's been much talk of the real estate boom in the Northwest Woods section of East Hampton, but solid proof of it came this week when the East Hampton Post Office announced it was adding 66 streets in Northwest and the northern limits of East Hampton to its home-delivery routes.

Delivery, which is optional, will begin on June 2, said Carol Kroupa, the East Hampton postmaster. Depending on how many people take up the opportunity to have one less chore in their busy days, the change could affect more than 800 residences, Mrs. Kroupa said.

Only houses that have numbers assigned to them by the Town Assessor's office and are located on paved, town-maintained streets are being added to delivery routes. Residents of a dirt road such as Ely Brook to Hand's Creek may not be out of luck, however; they have been invited to submit a request to the Post Office if they would like to place a mailbox at the point where their street meets a paved delivery road.

During her eight years as East Hampton's postmaster, Mrs. Kroupa said, she has seen petitions asking for home delivery from most of the streets on the list.

There were not enough houses on any of them at first to warrant the new route, but now, she said, "it's developed to the point where these people are eligible."

Happy Residents

Eligibility is not established by the local Post Office but by the district office in Hauppauge, Mrs. Kroupa said. That office looks at the amount of development in an area and judges whether it meets the quasi-public business's criteria for home delivery.

Averill Geus of Old Orchard Lane has been petitioning for delivery every since she and her husband, Edwin Geus, moved from East Hampton Village to their present house.

Hearing the news for the first time this week, Mr. Geus said, "We're very happy about it." They will be putting up a mailbox shortly, he said.

Others called this week were equal ly and happily surprised by the news.

"Very pleased," said Stanley Singer of Quarty Court.

"I am thrilled about this," said Veronica Wallace of Powder Hill Lane. "What is it, six or seven miles . . . just to get the junk mail?"

"This is kind of shaking me up," Lawrence Koncelik Sr. of Mile Hill Road said on a more jocular note. "What will happen to my morning routine?"

Mr. Koncelik has lived in Northwest for going on 50 years, and remembers when there was "nothing but trees." Though he said he'd have to check with his wife, Doris, he said he'd probably choose home delivery.

Mrs. Kroupa stressed that one can opt for home delivery and still keep a box in the Post Office.

Having It All

There are "those people [who] won't give up their Post Office boxes," she said. "It's an individual choice."

Part-time residents in particular, said Mrs. Kroupa, may feel more secure having their mail kept at the Post Office. Others, she suggested, may find it convenient to have bills and other business mail go to a Post Office box and personal correspondence to the mailbox at home.

Everyone affected by the change agreed on one thing: It would end the fight for a parking space at the Post Office.

Have You Heard?

Mrs. Kroupa suggested this week that those newly eligible for home delivery keep their post office boxes until the rent runs out, to allow time to notify people of their change of address.

Not all of those postal patrons have been notified of their new options as yet, said Mrs. Kroupa, because not all of them maintain boxes in the East Hampton Post Office. A shortage of boxes, before the expanded Gay Lane building was completed, forced some people to get their mail elsewhere.

Those who are not sure whether they are now eligible have been asked to call the East Hampton Post Office.

Those who are eligible can begin receiving mail at home as soon after June 2 as they put up a box labeled with their house number, which should be at least one inch in height.

"Posts must be neat and of adequate strength and size," states the Post Office.

Growth Business

Though developments, such as Dune Alpin, Georgica Estates, and Hansom Hills, have been added to delivery routes in the past, Mrs. Kroupa said this was the first time in quite a while for a whole geographic area to be included.

"This is probably the largest growth in one time that I've seen," she said.

Speaking of growth, the staff at the East Hampton Post Office has grown by four in the last year.

More part-time summer help will be hired once again this season, Mrs. Kroupa said, to handle the "increase in business, just as any other business experiences."

Long-Term Parking

East Hampton

May 16, 1997

Dear Helen:

Unfortunately, I was the only person affected by the new long-term parking rules for the Lumber Lane lot who was able to attend the recent Thursday morning work session held by the East Hampton Village Board. As someone who was outraged by the village's initial proposal and who emerged from the first hearing more than a little skeptical about the village's thinking and motives, I was startled, during the brief work session, to find my sentiments taking a 180-degree turn.

The village, looking ahead, has provided its taxpayers with long-term parking. The town has not done the same. I have no idea what conversations may or may not have taken place between the Town and Village Boards about long-term parking in the Lumber Lane lot. Certainly the present Town Board is dealing with a situation it inherited, not one it created. Nonetheless, the time has come for the town to create its own long-term parking facilities and be independent of the village's accommodations. How can this be done?

The most civilized approach would be for the town to work out an arrangement with the village whereby the two could share the Lumber Lane lot and Railroad Avenue parking lots under an East Hampton Parking Authority, with the town making proper reimbursement for the village's expenses, past and present. Should the village not be agreeable to this solution, at least the Town Board could tell us what happened when it made such an overture.

Under any circumstances, the town should convert its parking lot in Amagansett to a 14-day lot, thereby providing some long-term parking for its residents. By its own estimate, the Hampton Jitney is carrying twice as many passengers as the Long Island Rail Road to East Hampton, and all town residents who use any of the bus lines could have a no-sticker parking facility in Amagansett, cutting the number of town residents at the Lumber Lane lot by approximately two-thirds.

The most forward thinking of all plans would be for the Town Board, working in conjunction with the Long Island Rail Road, to ask the railroad to build its new platform to the rear of the town parking lot in Amagansett (which is actually nearer to the tracks than the Lumber Lane lot) and to request that all trains stop in Amagansett; to acquire the land between the railroad tracks and the present parking lot in Amagansett; to turn that land into long-term parking and to be prepared to face the 21st century and the improved railroad service that is supposed to be coming to the East End. Whatever the merits of this suggestion, it is certainly more feasible than talk of a railroad stop at the airport, which is miles farther from the tracks and inaccessible to the bus lines because of the low trestles.

Frank Iraggi, an assistant to Thomas Prendergast, president of the L.I.R.R., has stated that if the Town Board wishes to move the Amagansett station and make Amagansett a stop for all trains, it should contact the railroad as soon as possible since once the current platform at Amagansett is raised, the town itself would then have to pay for the new station. If the railroad is contacted now, Mr. Iraggi has certainly implied it would assume the cost.

The bottom line is that town taxpayers should not, at this time, be haranguing or vilifying the Village Board. We should be turning to the Town Board to provide us with our own space, and the Town Board should inform us 1) of what happens when they approach the village about an East Hampton parking association; 2) when they will convert the Amagansett lot to long-term parking; 3) what is happening in conversations with the railroad about making Amagansett a stop for all trains and relocating the station, and 4) what efforts are being made to acquire the land behind the parking lot in Amagansett.

The ball is in the Town Board's court, and I would urge all the people concerned about long-term parking stickers to shift their attention - at least for the present - from the Village Board to writing letters to the Town Board and, if that doesn't produce answers, to attend the Town Board's meetings to obtain further information.

Sincerely,

HARVEY GINSBERG

Global Warming

East Hampton

May 17, 1997

Dear Helen,

Some nights ago, I rode home on the Long Island Rail Road. Never have I sat in a more disgusting, dirty, dilapidated carriage in my life.

At a time when global warming is almost certainly upon us - note the "500-year floods" in the Midwest, and the worst drought in Britain since record keeping began 280 years ago - we continue to pour out carbon dioxide from our exhaust pipes while locked bumper to bumper in unmoving traffic on the Long Island Expressway, doing our bit to add to the problem. At the same time, a perfectly acceptable set of rails reaches our part of the world.

This train could be updated to be the most modern, sleek, fast, reliable, dependable, comfortable train in the country, leaving Penn Station every hour on the hour.

We would all gladly prefer such a comfortable commute where we could read our papers, work on our computers, and drink a little aperitif to calm shattered nerves after a day in Manhattan before we arrive relaxed, ready to greet the beauty and peace of East Hampton.

If we used our collective willpower and our powerful connections, we could shortly establish such a system, thus establishing a precedent for the whole country.

Global warming promises to bring with it unprecedented epidemics of disease and to cause millions of global ecological refugees. Let's do our bit for the world, while making our own lives a lot more comfortable!

HELEN CALDICOTT

Classic American Town

Amagansett

May 19, 1997

To The Editor,

Forty years ago when I first saw it, Amagansett was a real village. It had a grocery store, a drugstore, a school, churches, a Post Office, and other establishments that humans need to survive.

Today it is a ghost town. The grocery store and Post Office moved away many years ago, and the drugstore closed. You can't buy a tube of toothpaste, a quart of milk, a stamp, or even, God forbid, a newspaper in this so-called "village."

Yet the population of the area in general grew fivefold. How can this be?

Amagansett suffered the same fate as tens of thousands of other small towns across America. Highway sprawl, strip malls, and shopping centers sucked the blood and life out of these functional central villages. Well-intentioned zoning laws did not help. Today's laws would not allow the construction of the classic American town.

The recent 300-page study, confusingly titled "The Amagansett Corridor Study," is another example of planning gobbledygook designed to justify the continuing destruction of our quaint little village by legitimizing even more strip malls and commercial sprawl.

Isn't Montauk Highway from Southampton to East Hampton cluttered enough? The answer is simple. Stop building on it. Concentrate all future development around existing towns and villages, where people can walk from store to store. Heaven forbid, don't tear down any historic buildings or build on any of the open spaces on the highway in Amagansett. There is plenty of room around the parking lot to the north of the village for anything anyone wants to put up. Build an access road to Windmill Lane, so there are two commercial streets in the village. Put the stores close together - without lawns in between - like they used to be. Make any future development pedestrian-friendly.

Destroying our historic village and scarring our main highway with strip malls and increased commercial activity (no matter how campuslike they look) is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. What can these misguided planners be thinking? Have we learned nothing in the last 20 years?

BLAKE FLEETWOOD

Peaceful Kingdom

Springs

May 16, 1997

To The Editor:

It is irresponsible to report, as Russell Drumm did in the May 15 issue of The Star, "If you see a fox in daytime, it's sick." This is a quote from Dr. Dale Tarr, who perhaps knows more about domestic animals than wild ones. There are quite a number of us fox-fanciers around who know otherwise and would be delighted to share our information.

I have foxes - parents and twin youngsters. They are extremely healthy and playful with glossy coats. Their food of preference is hulled sunflowers hearts and they come to breakfast between 7 and 9 a.m., are often seen at lunchtime, and again well before dark. Their den apparently is across the road from me on Old Stone Highway, and they can often be spotted crossing back and forth in full daylight. Are you going to push the public's panic button, making people believe this is a colony of sick wildlife?

As for the Department of Environmental Conservation's Mr. Knox, I have photographs of foxes eating seeds on their platform with my cats five feet away, lying down, and washing themselves. Here it is truly a peaceful kingdom.

Sincerely,

EMILY COBB

Please address correspondence to [email protected]

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

One life was lost and five persons were rescued in three separate incidents on Gardiner's Bay and Block Island Sound on Friday afternoon when unseasonably strong northwest winds turned the morning calm into a threatening maelstrom.

"Boat capsized, man in water," was the call that came to John Tilly, an East Hampton harbormaster, from the Montauk Coast Guard at 12:40 p.m. He was under way in a 25-foot patrol boat minutes later, with Frank Kennedy, a former harbormaster.

Although the boat was slowed by 8 to 10-foot seas that had come up in less than an hour, it reached the capsized dragger, the Little Robert E, within 10 minutes. By that time, Norman C. Edwards Sr. of Amagansett, a man of the sea and experienced captain, was lost. He had gone out at dawn and was fishing alone, as was his custom. His body was found nearby.

Looking For Blackfish

It was 76-year-old Captain Edwards's second outing since returning from an annual winter stay in Florida. The boat had been rigged out the morning before with the help of Stuart Vorpahl, a longtime friend. Mr. Vorpahl said Captain Edwards had made one tow the previous evening in search of blackfish.

An eyewitness to the accident, whose name was withheld by the Coast Guard at her request and whose house in on Hog Creek Point, told the Montauk Coast Guard she had not seen the boat turn over, but saw Captain Edwards first standing on the overturned hull, then sitting, then slipping off into the water.

Its temperature was reported to be 50 degrees. Authorities are investigating the possibility that the fisherman took a blow to the head which caused him to lose consciousness.

Over 40 Knots

At virtually the same time, the Montauk Coast Guard was responding to two other distress calls that came as a result of the sudden blow.

Michael Wyllie of the National Weather Service in Brookhaven said the winds, which gusted to over 50 knots, were caused by a large high- pressure trough of the kind normally seen here in the winter. The front dipped much farther south than is normal for this time of year and blasted the area beginning mid-morning. A small-craft advisory was issued.

David Whelan of North Haven, a dock-builder, was working UpIsland near the old Brooklyn Navy Yard when the first gusts passed there. He said later that he felt sick because his daughter, Christa, a freshman at Boston College who is an experienced sailor and a member of the varsity sailing team, was scheduled to leave Block Island in a 27-foot sailboat with two friends. They were headed for Sag Harbor.

Friend's Effort

Mr. Whelan notified the Coast Guard and called a friend, Henry Uihlein, the owner of Uihlein's Marina in Montauk.

"'It's blowing 40 knots here, and it's headed your way,'" Mr. Uihlein reported a worried Dave Whelan as saying. " 'If the kids are headed for Montauk, they'll never make it.'" The Coast Guard was constrained from initiating a search at that point, however, because there had been no Mayday from a sailboat or any report of an overdue boat.

Mr. Uihlein agreed to look for the sailors, taking out a 23-foot Sea Craft power boat. He was accompanied by Robert Bushman, who had gone along for what would soon become the ride of his life.

After heading for a craft off Rocky Point that turned out not to be Christa Whelan's sloop, Mr. Uihlein motored to Shagwong Point and beyond, to the waters east of Montauk Point.

"Barely Made It"

"The wind was at our back and we couldn't feel it. The front was behind us. The My Mate [a charter boat] was heading back and hadn't seen them. We looked and looked, then we saw a boat to the northeast. We went five more miles, looked back, and saw a wall of water. I thought, if they're out here, they're in trouble," Mr. Uihlein said. He turned his boat back to Montauk.

"We barely made it over the first wave. It was living hell. The boat seemed like it was going up waves at a 90-degree angle, teetering in the air, and coming down stern first."

At other times the boat was airborne, he said, free-falling eight feet and hitting hard. The engine eventually stalled, and the experienced boater radioed a Mayday signal - the first ever in his 40 years on the water - to the Coast Guard. "I thought we were going down."

Another Search

At the same time, conditions on the sloop, called Angel under the Moon, were frightening, too.

"The waves were 15 feet. I thought it was because we were in shallow water. We were still heading north under a reefed mainsail. It was fine, but then we tacked to go to Montauk - my father said to put in there if we had trouble," Ms. Whelan said.

By this time, the Coast Guard had called the young woman's mother, Mary Whelan, to say they were going in search because of the quickly deteriorating weather.

Petty Officer John Siesta said the Montauk Coast Guard's 41-foot patrol boat was dispatched to find the sailboat. The 44-foot boat went to aid Mr. Uihlein and Mr. Bushman. In each case, the waves were too big for the Coast Guard vessels to get close for fear of colliding.

All Grateful

The Angel under the Moon's jib had torn. Its small outboard was started and Ms. Whelan headed the sloop back to Block Island with its Coast Guard escort. The waves were too large for the 41-footer to return to Montauk until the next morning.

Mr. Uihlein said the two-and-a-half-hour passage back to Montauk was harrowing. "I've always had respect for the Coast Guard. That's never changed. They risk their lives. It was so good seeing them, knowing they were there," a grateful Mr. Uihlein said on Tuesday.

Christa Whelan was grateful too - to the Coast Guard and to Mr. Uihlein for his effort. Her sailing companions, Abby Browner of Vermont and Jackie Bassett of California, school friends who had no experience on the water, were perhaps more grateful still.

"I baked them [the Coast Guard] cookies and delivered them yesterday," Ms. Whelan said Tuesday. "I never felt completely out of control, but it was scary. It's incredible. You think Gardiner's Bay, that it's too sheltered."

Back in the bay, Captain Ed wards's small dragger remained overturned yesterday, its bright new blue bottom paint matching the sky.

Friends said the boat, the Little Robert E, probably had begun taking on water, and that her captain probably had attempted to run her onto a shoal about 500 yards offshore to avoid going down before she capsized.

Teamwork by members of the Montauk Fire Department and a police officer saved the life of an 11-year-old Montauk resident, Steven Forsberg, who was stuck in a strong rip tide off the Royal Atlantic beach on Tuesday afternoon.

"He was caught in a bad situation," said Anthony DelPercio, the firefighter who actually pulled the boy onto the shore.

In the course of saving the boy, one of the rescuers found himself in trouble as well.

It all began when Steven's cousin, 10-year-old Donny D'Albora, re ceived permission from his mother to go surfing as long as someone else went with him. Donny called Steven, his frequent surf partner, and within an hour the two boys were paddling through the white water.

More Cautious

Donny is the more cautious of the two boys, according to his mother, Jennifer D'Albora. Deciding it was too rough, he returned to the beach. There he stood watching as a wave hit Steven so hard that he lost his board. Donny ran up the block to his mother's store, crying, and told her Steven was in trouble.

While Mrs. D'Albora called 911, Donny ran across Main Street to the police substation and told Police Officer Peter Murray his cousin was in trouble. Officer Murray radioed for help and drove to the beach with Donny. Steven had drifted eastward toward Mimosa Beach by this time.

Meanwhile, the call came into the Montauk Fire Department and was heard by Mr. Del Percio, who was close by. He got to the beach the same time as Officer Murray and Dennis Snyder, second assistant chief.

Surprisingly Calm

Officer Murray pulled off his gun belt and shoes and entered the water. He managed to grab the boy's wayward surfboard before the waves forced him back to shore.

Mr. Del Percio and Mr. Snyder, members of the department's water rescue team, stripped down to their pants and jumped into the water. Mr. Snyder had Steven's surfboard with him. When they reached Steven, Mr. DelPercio said, he was surprisingly calm.

"I'm fine," Steven, who was wearing a wetsuit, told him. "I'm just cold and tired."

They put Steven on the surfboard and began swimming back toward shore. But when they reached the breakwater they were hit so hard by a wave that they lost hold of Steven and the board, and Mr. Snyder's pants were forced down around his ankles. He dove under the water, released the trousers from his legs, and surfaced to find Steven again.

Rescuer Gets Stuck

Mr. DelPercio got Steven in a rescue lock, while Mr. Snyder retrieved the surfboard and a rope handed to him by rescue workers on the beach. He tried to paddle back toward Mr. DelPercio and the boy, but was constantly thrashed by powerful waves.

Mr. DelPercio managed to get Steven to shore on his own, but now Mr. Snyder was stuck in the rip tide. According to Montauk Fire Chief Tom Grenci, who was on the beach, Fire Department members could tell Mr. Snyder was tiring and very cold. Water temperatures are hovering around 48 degrees.

Robert Grossman, a member of the Fire Department, picked up another surfboard lying nearby and tried to get out to Mr. Snyder. His efforts were thwarted by the waves.

Winded And Tired

Alan Burke, a Fire Department member who is a surfer, had his wetsuit and surfboard in his truck. He quickly pulled on the wetsuit and dove into the water, managing to reach Mr. Snyder.

Chief Grenci said Mr. Snyder was winded and tired when Mr. Burke reached him, but they both managed to get to shore safely.

Mr. Snyder was wrapped in blankets on the beach, put on a stretcher, and taken by the Montauk ambulance crew to Southampton Hospital, where he was released after three hours.

"That water was cold!" he said. He had lost his pants in the rescue effort, wallet and all.

Thankful Parents

"I can't thank them enough," said Steven's father, Steven Forsberg, who with his wife, Virginia, was waiting on the beach during the rescue operation.

He's not too keen on the youngsters returning to the surf. "I'd like to break them both in half," he said of the boys' surfboards.

There's so much more to say about the Harbor Rose in Sag Harbor than just a description of the food.

First of all, there's the atmosphere of the place, which manages to evoke everyone's fantasy of that little European hangout they're going to find when they have the time and money. The spacious bar area is furnished with big, comfortable, rather seedy furniture and has an imposing counter that looks as if generations of serious drinkers have given it a patina of long stories and short drinks.

There are books on the wall and a chess set on a table in the window. On a recent night, a mother was playing chess with her young daughter - it's the sort of place where a mother could comfortably do that - and there were two tiny babies accompanying their parents in the dining room.

Winsome Loo

When renovations were under way, it was discovered that the Shell Lubrication sign, which had been on the facade of the building when it was a gas station long ago, was still there. It has been incorporated into the decor, with the exception of the first three letters, which were removed and stuck on the door of the ladies room.

Talking of atmosphere, half of you should go and have a look at this same ladies room, which has to be the most charming on the East End, with a tailor's dummy covered in dried rosebuds, an exquisite kimono, and evocative photographs.

My first introduction to the Harbor Rose was brought on by curiosity to see what its winter Wednesday night "artists' dinners" were like. Advertised as being three courses and "all the wine you could drink" for $20, we were skeptical as to how good it would be. It turned out to be a spectacular bargain - a fine salad, perfectly cooked cod with a mixed-bean dressing served with green beans and mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake - served at long tables where everyone talked with their neighbors.

Test Of Skill

There's a consensus of opinion that the Harbor Rose's mashed potatoes are in a class of their own, but the feat of serving fresh green beans cooked to the second of perfection to 30 or 40 people at once is a sure test of the kitchen's skill.

On a recent Saturday evening, the Harbor Rose had all tables filled by 8:30. The tables are not jammed together but are comfortably far apart, which helps with the noise, which does get a little overwhelming at times.

Wines by the glass are very reasonable and there is a selective, well-chosen wine list with very good prices. We chose a 1994 SagPond merlot which met with the favor of all.

John Dory Wins

Two or three wines are showcased and discussed in a conversational way on the regular menu, which is an original touch - as is the idea of listing food as "small dishes," "medium dishes," "large dishes," and "side dishes," with prices to match, instead of dividing the menu more conventionally.

The mixed salad was bouncingly fresh and delicate, and large enough to share between two, as was the Caesar salad. The crab cake (also available as a main dish) has to be right up around the top of my ratings list of East End crab cakes: sweet, velvety, and crabby in a crunchy but very light shell.

The cold linguine in a hot peanut sauce with sesame seeds and snap peas was a slight disappointment. The sauce was just fine but the linguine were too cold, clumsy, and heavy - it needed a more delicate pasta.

We tried large and medium dishes, old faithfuls and the more exotic, specials and regulars. The winner was voted a dish of John Dory, a sweet, fine-textured fish flown in fresh daily from New Zealand. It was served in a burnt lemon butter and caper sauce with rice and asparagus and was outstanding.

Poultry Paradise

The steak, though pricey, was perfectly cooked and served with superior french fries. The tuna steak was also adjudged perfectly cooked and of a superior cut. The chicken had obviously spent its days in some aristocratic free-range poultry Eden, because it tasted like chicken used to before the whole chicken population was incarcerated. As mentioned before, the Harbor Rose does its customers proud with its mashed potatoes and vegetables.

The Tuscan fish stew, a sinus-clearing bowl of garlicky mussels, scallops, and different fish in a tomato-based broth, was one of the dishes listed as "medium," but it turned out to be almost too large to finish.

If you are lucky, lobster ravioli may be on the list of specials. Nearly a pound of fresh lobster divided into two large ravioli, it is served with a creamy sauce and a whole peeled tomato and is delicious. It would also make a fine appetizer divided between two - which is one of the nice things about this mix-and-match menu.

Delectable Duck

If you don't mind putting calorie concerns out of your head for the meal, the Harbor Rose's delectable duck confit, though hardly a health food item, is highly recommended. The duck is packed with herbs and spices and marinated in its own juices before being fried, so it's crisp on the outside and falling-off-the-bone tender inside. It's served with a healthy salad of young greens and homemade french fries. (It's also just $17.)

Dessert gets a mixed review. The raspberry creme brulee was all that it could be, with a divine texture, a sharp bite of raspberry, and expertly caramelized. The cheesecake, on the other hand, was too sweet and rather blah.

The brown and white chocolate mousse was half delicious (the chocolate part) and half odd-tasting (the white part). The chocolate cake was okay.

The service on the night we were there was exemplary, but reports have said that it can be spotty. When the Harbor Rose opened last summer, year-rounders complained about "attitude" and felt it was catering only to the city visitors.

But that has changed completely - helped by the many bargain offers - and now that the restaurant has entrenched itself in the affections of local residents it is hoped that it will always remain as welcoming as it is now.

Is the Harbor Rose expensive or not? It's hard to say. The small dishes, salads and such, are inexpensive and quite generous portions, while the "large" dishes are definitely city prices, all over $20. But some are large enough for two and the restaurant is happy to divide any dish. Some of the medium dishes are full-sized entrees but others are not quite enough. So you could have two courses for about $20 or two courses for nearly $40.

And then there are the two-for-one offerings early in the evening or on Sunday evenings and the off-season artists' evenings which offer a value that can't be beat.

I guess you just have to keep going there until you work out your best choices - and that will be no hardship at all.

Willie Nelson and Family, who traditionally hold Fourth of July picnic concerts in the heartland, will usher in Memorial Day with a 7 p.m. show on Sunday at Guild Hall.

Mr. Nelson has been writing country hits since the days when Patsy Cline recorded "Crazy." His popularity peaked in the early '80s with "On the Road Again," and he has spent much of the past decade content to record duets with other artists, some good, some forgettable. In recent years, he has returned to his roots with two strong recordings, "Across the Borderline" and "Spirit."

On Monday, a smattering of standing-room-only tickets, at $70 each, remained in the 385-seat auditorium.

The Absolut Vodka-Seagram's Tonic Waters series continues on Friday, May 30, when Echo & the Bunnymen, a post-punk band out of England that recently reunited after a nine-year hiatus, performs an 8 p.m. show. Plenty of seats, at $30 each, remain available.

Since breaking up in the late '80s, the band has attained minor cult status, with Courtney Love, the Flaming Lips, and Pavement covering its material.

The concert series continues through the summer with appearances by George Shearing and Joe Williams, George Benson, Spalding Gray, George Carlin, Hot Tuna, and Arlo Guthrie, among others.

Unless you are in the Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney musical "Babes In Arms," where else but in East Hampton could you go to see a play in a barn and know that it might be headed for Broadway?

Where else would some of America's leading playwrights launch their plays in a field? Where would actors such as Alec Baldwin, Mercedes Ruehl, Roy Scheider, Danny Aiello, Anne Jackson, and Eli Wallach express interest in reading plays while seated on bales of hay?

A group called the Manhattan Drama Collective will put on a series of readings in East Hampton this summer at the barn on the historic Mulford Farm in the heart of the village. Plays by Jon Robin Baitz, Terrence McNally, Joe Pintauro, and Patsy Southgate, The Star's theater critic, will be read.

The Inspiration

The readings, which stem from a trial run at the barn last fall of Mr. Pintauro's "Sand Castles," will raise money for the East Hampton Historical Society, which owns the site. "Sand Castles," which was read by Ms. Jackson, Mr. Wallach, Kelly Curtis, and others, was a sellout, with eager playgoers having to be turned away.

Mr. Pintauro will have two plays in the series. The first, which will open the series on June 21 and 22 at 5 p.m., is "The Dead Boy." The series will end with his play "Faith" on Sept. 26 and 27.

Mr. McNally's play, "Andre's Mother," will be read on July 6 and 7, followed by Ms. Southgate's "Solo," on Aug. 9 and 10, and "A Fair Country" by Mr. Baitz will be on the boards on Sept. 6 and 7.

Helpful Trial

The Manhattan Drama Collective was founded by Mr. Pintauro and Patricia Watt, who is producing the readings, to celebrate contemporary American playwriting. Ms. Watt said Edward Albee and Wendy Wasserstein may participate in next summer's series.

"I normally don't care for play readings," said Mr. Pintauro, "but last year, working with really good actors, like Eli and Anne, was enormously helpful to me."

This series, he said, was not just to scout out good material but also to give playwrights a chance to work on their plays with some of the many experienced actors that spend time on the South Fork. All of those mentioned above do. He added that the series would lean toward a "post-Ibsen style."

"I feel we've rather dropped the ball on the great tradition of American playwriting - Inge, Williams, Miller - and maybe it is time to get back to that."

"To return," he continued, "to the language/story/classical realistic ap proach with a little lyricism - not too much - thrown in."

The group also would like to pick one play a season from a writer who is not as well known - new plays by new writers.

"I've been coming to the East End since I was a child," said Ms. Watt, who for some years owned and ran Havana 1919 in Amagansett. Five or six years ago she returned to her "family business" - the theater.

Ms. Watt's father, Douglas Watt, was the drama critic of The New Yorker for many years. Her mother is a producer and actress who, as Ethel Madson, starred in 14 Broadway shows.

Promising Possibilities

"I've had the idea of a series of play readings out here for a long time," she said. This year Ms. Watt also is producing an Off-Broadway vehicle, "Stones in My Pathway," about the great blues singer Robert Johnson, as well as a musical based on her father's columns called "Tables for Two," which uses his music and lyrics.

Mr. Watt explained that after the success of "Sand Castles" a number of playwrights, actors, and directors expressed interest in participating in the series. While none of the actors mentioned actually have been cast, all have local residences and all have expressed interest in being included in one or more of the plays. In addition, Mr. Baitz, like Mr. Pintauro, lives in Sag Harbor, Mr. McNally in Bridgehampton, and Ms. Southgate in Springs.

The playwrights will choose their directors, and Mr. Pintauro is hoping that Mr. Baldwin or Mr. Scheider will direct "The Dead Boy," for instance.

Priesthood

"The Dead Boy" is about what is happening to priests in the Catholic church in light of recent scandals, and how the church, from cardinals to lay members, is affected by challenges to the faith. Mr. Pintauro knows the priesthood at first hand, having joined it as a young man.

"Faith," Mr. Pintauro's second play, takes place on the East End and could, he said, be a play that follows "Men's Lives," which was adapted from Peter Matthiessen's book of that title about local fishermen, and "Heaven and Earth," a play about North Fork farmers which opens at Bay Street this summer.

It is set in the present day and is about people who have moved here from afar and people whose families have been here for generations. Specifically, it is the story of a Jesuit, whose sister is married to a Bonacker and lobster fisherman turned carpenter, who tries to make a new life here. It is also about how theological politics and differences are still so strong that they can separate families.

AIDS Drama

"Andre's Mother" by Mr. McNally is a stage adaptation of his Emmy Award-winning television film about a mother and her son, who has AIDS.

Ms. Southgate's "Solo" is a work-in-progress about a woman alone on New Year's Eve in New York City.

"Gaby Rodgers - who flogged me into it - will direct," said Ms. Southgate. Ms. Southgate, who does frequent profiles for The Star, has written several short plays, including "Freddy," which was published in the Evergreen Review and produced by Ms. Rodgers at Guild Hall. It starred Clarice Rivers and the artist Jim Dine astride a wooden horse, played by the sculptor William King. Ms. Rodgers, who also has a Springs house, has directed numerous works here over the years.

Mr. Baitz's play, "A Fair Country," was seen at Lincoln Center. This is a new version, however, in preparation for a production by Steppenwolf in Chicago in the fall. It focuses on a family of Americans in South Africa and how politics and responsibility affected a marriage and the children of that marriage.

"Jon makes politics extraordinarily intimate. I think this is one of the most stunning plays he has written - I was enraptured by it."