The South Fork Natural History Society will hold a book party and signing to celebrate the publication of three books by SoFo members: "The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates" by Noel Rowe, a nature photographer, "Winds of the Fish's Tail" by Richard Hendrickson, a naturalist and weatherman, and "Winged" by George Held, a poet.

The reception will be from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Vered Gallery in East Hampton, which is itself displaying an exhibit of nature photography and painting: "Nature at Its Best."

Mr. Rowe is director of Primate Conservation Incorporated, a foundation that funds field research of primates in their natural habitat. He has traveled all over the world to photograph mountain gorillas in Zaire, langurs in India, lemurs in Madagascar, and snub-nosed monkeys in China.

Mr. Hendrickson has been observing weather for the National Weather Service in Albany from his farm in Bridgehampton since the 1930s. His book provides a wealth of information about hurricanes, northeasters, beach erosion, blizzards, and summer heat on the South Fork.

"Winged" is Mr. Held's first chapbook of poems, many of which grew out of observation of his Sag Harbor garden. He teaches literature and creative writing at Queens College and is co-editor of The Ledge, a poetry and fiction magazine.

Betrayed Country

East Hampton

November 21, 1996

To The Editor,

No one ever doubted that, as your obituary notes, Alger Hiss was charming and showed "restraint in dealing with the accusations" that he betrayed his country. He was not accused of having a nasty demeanor, simply of turning over State Department documents to the Communist underground in Washington.

While you get around, in the third column, to saying he was convicted and went to jail, your initial identification of him is as "the diplomat accused of being a spy and the defendant in two notorious trials that heightened the public's fear of Communist infiltration into government."

He, not the trials, was notorious; and, disagreeable as it may be to you, several Communist turncoats - not just Whittaker Chambers - identified real government employees who really did spy for the Soviet Union. (Some fled to Russia; some jumped out of windows; some admitted the truth; and some, like Hiss, went on stonewalling.)

Anyone who reads the testimony of the two trials and the Congressional hearings must conclude that Hiss's denials were lies - even though the chief accusers, Chambers and Richard Nixon, were much less fun than Hiss.

In the perspective of 50 years, and with Communism disgraced, it's hard to cast the kindly old Hiss as a villain. Chambers himself never did. But for the sake of history and those young people who now and then consult it, you owe a little more fealty to the truth: Hiss was a disciplined, productive spy who gave secret documents to the Soviets and used his influence to advance their foreign-policy aims.

He spied not for money but because he believed the community revolution might save the war-ravaged and depression-ravaged world of the 1930s. He was, in that sense, idealistic; so were the Weathermen of the '60s and so are the militias of the '90s.

SAM SEGAL

We direct the reader's and Mr. Segal's attention to the "Connections" column in this week's Star. Ed.

Ban Local Reviews

East Hampton

November 22, 1996

To The Editor:

The two whining letters about Sheridan Sansegundo's review of Bobby Van's restaurant ignore some elementary truths.

A restaurant, like any business, can be judged only on its worth to paying customers. Current and potential patrons and the rest of the community have no moral obligation to keep afloat any enterprise that fails to render value for money. Hack it or pack it is the name of the game.

Then, while personal opinions can differ on the quality of just about anything, it makes no sense to institutionalize "criticism" of a small community's activities in its own media. If I owned one of the local papers I'd ban all locally written "reviews" of local commercial and cultural events.

Why? Aside from the reviewer's credentials (which can range from expert to abysmal), how honestly objective can we expect him or her to be? Can you imagine a frank thumbs-down verdict on one of the clinkers produced on our local stages from time to time? Hardly more conceivable than panning the kids' performance in the high school play.

Can the work of local artists and authors and musicians be fairly judged by even the most knowledgeable neighbors they're apt to encounter at the post office and in the homes of mutual friends? Of course not. Dispassionate, dependable criticism is best rendered by strangers - the more distant the better.

Most untrustworthy of all are local "reviews" of restaurants, given that their advertising is so vital to the economic health of the local weeklies. Normally I pay no attention to these cozy editorial puff pieces. I prefer to rely on The New York Times or Granny Poo for a disinterested customer's critical opinion - with which, of course, I may disagree after trying the restaurant myself.

Yet I did notice Ms. Sansegundo's piece on Bobby Van's as a refreshing novelty. (I had lunch there a summer or two ago and remember nothing beyond a cacophonous New York crowd.) But even her oh-so-gentle slap on the wrist, more in sorrow than in anger, managed to hit the fan. So why doesn't The Star just forgo these writeups entirely - even the rare forays into fainter praise? Instead, why not invite your restaurant advertisers to write their own "reviews" for publication at a special reduced space rate?

Sincerely,

SUSAN M. SEIDMAN

On-Line Edition

November 22, 1996

To The Editor:

I like reading your on-line edition.

Did you know that your Lynx version is stuck on your Oct. 31 issue (while the graphic version works fine).

ROGER ROWLETT

We did know Lynx was stuck that week. It is fine now. Ed.

Joys Of Computer

East Hampton

November 25, 1996

Dear Helen:

The less than enthusiastic and superficial "Guestwords" piece by Doug Garr on the alleged perils of on-line banking is dramatically contrary to our experience with bill paying via our computer - and may be the result of Mr. Garr's inadvertent bad choices or lack of information.

His article is a disservice to anyone considering the use of their computer to simplify their financial life.

His downbeat report simply ignores the options that work.

And when the writer admits that "when it comes to balancing a checkbook, plus or minus $100 is close enough for me," his credibility as an arbiter of managing money on or off-line becomes a bit dubious.

One of the joys of having a computer is that it provides immediate access to sophisticated advice and knowledgeable opinions.

Before considering the use of on-line, my wife and I asked questions in a variety of easily available forums on Compuserve (an on-line information service) and in various news groups in the Internet. We were not about to trust our checking account to the caprice of cyberspace without doing the research.

It took only a few days to find that the options for on-line banking were obvious and not very complicated.

Some banks offered account access and bill paying capability. But not our local Bank of New York. And many banks did not provide software for a Macintosh (our computer of choice) So much for the banks.

Intuit, the publisher of Quicken, which we use and wholeheartedly recommend, has a billpaying service (as described by Mr. Garr). In all of our on-line explorations (including Intuit's own forum on Compuserve) the problems with this fairly new service were immediately obvious. Mr. Garr lumps Intuit with the banks. Wrong.

We found that the bill-paying service most often recommended was CheckFree (inexplicably not even mentioned by Mr. Garr). It is not affiliated with any bank. It can handle electronic payments to anyone and for anyone with a checking account at any bank. We have been using it for over a year with literally no problems. We send approximately 20 checks a month. The charge for the service is $5.95 per not (not the $9.95 to $15 per month quoted by Mr. Garr.)

We don't use CheckFee to save money (but we do indeed save in check charges, stamps, and stationery). We use it to save time. With a few key strokes on our computer we send those payments in a very few minutes - as compared to having to write the check, address and stamp the envelopes, etc.

The cliche of breaches in electronic security alluded to by Mr. Garr is old-fashioned nonsense. Doing business via computer is no riskier than giving your credit card to a waiter or the card number to a catalogue retailer on the phone.

It is difficult to understand why Mr. Garr did not explore the positive aspects of on-line banking as carefully as he did the problems.

Cordially,

ROBERT WARNER

Please address correspondence to editor@easthamptonstar.com

Three East Hamptoners who use basketball as a means to work with youth - Mark Crandall, William Hartwell, and Anthony Allison - have formed a nonprofit organization, Hoops for Hope, that they hope will not only spur the growth of the sport in South Africa and Zimbabwe's high-density suburbs, but also will serve as a link between young people of the South Fork and the South Bronx and those of Cape Town, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mr. Crandall, 28, a graduate of East Hampton High School and the University of Vermont, who first went to Zimbabwe as a Rotary exchange student while in high school a dozen years ago, has come to spend part of the year in southern Africa, helping to run a popular sports camp in Harare and working with young people in Cape Town, who, were it not for the recreational outlets that he helps provide, could be expected to roam about in gangs.

"Like A Whirlwind"

South Africa's minister of sport, Steve Tshwete, has said that "basketball has hit our shores like a whirlwind."

But the boom in interest there has not been accompanied by the courts, hoops, backboards, sneakers, uniforms, and so forth that are required in order for the sport to take hold.

That's where Hoops for Hope comes in. "There are only eight courts for eight million people in Soweto, for instance," said Mr. Crandall during a recent conversation. "When I visited in '94, I had this idea: There's a lot of equipment here, we have practice uniforms here, balls, sneakers.... Sneakers that would be thrown out here would be highly utilized over there...."

South African Effort

There were, said Mr. Crandall, South Africans who were doing things - chiefly, Liz Bester, a former provincial player who oversees the highly successful Hout Bay Dolphins basketball program, and Terry Kita, a Zairian pro who "travels all over with six portable hoops in his truck and gives massive clinics."

"I help both of them when I'm there, in the townships and high-density suburbs around Cape Town. That's who Hoops for Hope is linking up with. Liz says a new team calls her every day. But there are no resources. The kids have a lot of time on their hands, but no place to play. They take public transport many miles to get to what courts there are."

"There's a big need for uniforms of any kind," Mr. Crandall continued. "That's one of our goals. We're writing all the athletic directors in New York State to ask them for matching uniforms of any kind. Bill Hudson [of East Hampton], who donated about $2,000 last summer, is also donating 600 T-shirts with 10 different colors and sizes."

"We're also building a couple of courts. There are a lot of concrete surfaces lying about idle. We want to get the government's permission to convert those spaces into courts. Liz and Terry will do that. Local guys will construct the hoops and backboards. Cape Town's a windy city, so they'll have to come up with sturdy hoops. We estimate that a set of hoops will cost $500."

"Got To Do It"

Mr. Crandall essentially is transferring to Zimbabwe and South Africa methods of youth counseling that Mr. Hartwell has used on the South Fork for years.

"When I mentioned the idea to William," said Mr. Crandall, whose East Hampton Sports Camp participates in various activities with Mr. Hartwell and Mr. Allison's Camp Hampton, "he said, 'Oh yeah, we've got to do it.' "

All three have found that basketball is an excellent means of connecting with kids. "Basketball helps you get to the next level," said Mr. Allison, who has worked with at-risk young people throughout the world. He added, "As Maya Angelou said, 'If you're not thinking of someone else, you're not living.' "

"The kids here are used to having the resources," said Mr. Hartwell. "It's altogether different in Africa. The one thing they have there is space, but with the space comes trouble. We've got to help them have things that we here take for granted. Then the kids here, if they give their old sneakers, for instance, will feel they're helping to make a difference."

Mr. crandall said that "the life changes" that Bester had helped bring about in Hout Bay had been "amazing. Through her persistence she got them a set of hoops and balls, and started to coach. It's been an experiment in basketball. The town and the kids have completely changed around. The court has become a focal point of pride. The kids under 14 pick up the game so quickly, and the older kids are progressing very well. They begin not being able to look you in the eye or dribble the ball."

As examples, he offered half-a-dozen statements by Hout Bay teens included in the Hoops for Hope brochure.

"Never did I think basketball would change my life," writes Dawn Douw, a 13-year-old. "My work has improved. I was a child always bored at home. When I told my parents about this sport, they told me to go and join and that I would never get this opportunity again. If I think back most of us would be gangsters today. Basketball has changed the lives of many youngsters. When I am older I would like to teach children to play this game. Out of basketball I have learned self-control and to be on time for any outings or practices."

A Web Site

The linkage that Hoops for Hope hopes to promote should be abetted soon by a Web site that is being designed for it by the I.Q. Company of New York City. "That way," said Mr. Crandall, "we'll be able to link schools, such as Bridgehampton or those in the South Bronx with schools on that side. Maybe sister and brother exchanges will come about to further bridge the gap. We can talk together using the computer. It would expand awareness on both sides."

Mr. Crandall added that he had found during the Hoops for Hope's organizational period - Mr. Crandall, Mr. Hartwell, Nick Scoppetta, New York City's children's advocate, and Mr. Allison make up its board of directors - "people have always been willing to help. It's been so inspirational. The whole idea and the progression of Hoops For Hope has been positive. It's bringing out the best in people."

As for the kids, "It's a fundamental right to have fitness and fun," he said.

It seemed as if it rained 40 days and 40 nights last week, 18.13 inches in eight days - the most in a century during a single storm on the South Fork. If bucket brigades, round-the-clock basement pumping, and housebound people and pets qualify as ark construction, then hundreds were in the works by Saturday.

Despite winds that gusted to 50 miles per hour, it was not the ferocity, but the long-winded nature of a stalled weather pattern that caused flooding from New Jersey to New England, and filled cellars, roads, and ponds here.

The rain that fell steadily from Oct. 7 to early Saturday morning greatly accelerated erosion on both the ocean and bay sides of the South Fork. Steady winds of 25 miles per hour and higher drove surf and tide east to west along ocean and bay beaches.

From Montauk to Sagaponack, much of what is left of the ocean dunes was saturated by the rain, making it even easier for wind-driven surf and full-moon tides to consume them. To the east at Montauk's Ditch Plain Beach, the primary dunes were hit hard.

They are the only features blocking the ocean from making a downhill run through a low-lying community to Lake Montauk. According to the East Hampton Town Department of Natural Resources, as much as 24 feet of dune were lost in at least two places where surf pounded, at the same time as water from a flooded wetland attacked the dunes from the landward side.

Once again, the ocean drew close to Montauk's beachfront motels when fierce east winds, waves, and especially high tides carved sand away to within a few feet of the buildings' foundations.

Flooding was the worst in memory. In Sag Harbor severe flooding took place in the area of upper Glover Street at Redwood and the sump behind Rogers, Latham, Division, and Henry Streets. The village's sewer system nearly overflowed, a problem that was exacerbated when a few Main Street merchants pumped out their basements directly into the sewer system, according to authorities. In all, 293,000 gallons had to be pumped from the treatment plant into tanker trucks to keep effluent from entering the harbor itself.

A large section of the soil cover that drapes the East Hampton landfill on Springs Fireplace Road became saturated and sloughed off.

Residents of the communities surrounding Georgica Pond reported the highest pond levels in memory, a fact verified by East Hampton Town Trustees who ordered the pond opened on Tuesday afternoon. That was much too late in the opinion of Kevin Mulvey, a resident of Chauncy Close. "Gross negligence," is how he characterized the trustees' slow response to the unprecedented rain. Mr. Mulvey said he had to stay awake night and day to keep his basement pumps working.

If the wind had come from the southeast instead of the northeast, erosion on the ocean side probably would have been worse, although a southeast wind might well have opened the narrow sand dam that separates Georgica Pond from the sea. Even before Tuesday's letting, sand from a flat near the pond's mouth was reserved on behalf of beachfront homeowners in Wainscott and Sagaponack who are in danger of losing their homes. Up to 6,000 cubic yards of sand will be excavated and trucked west within days.

Larry Penny, East Hampton's director of natural resources, said that his department, like its counterpart in Southampton, was flooded with applications for emergency permits to control erosion. "And this is only the beginning," Mr. Penny said.

Mr. Penny said he was going to recommend that motel owners and others fearful for their property consider using the same, large canvas bags filled with sand that were used to repair the New Orleans levees that broke following Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Penny said that with winter storms not far off, the bags would probably be acceptable to the State Department of Environmental Conservation as an emergency stopgap measure.

During a meeting of the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday, Supervisor Bill McGintee announced that the town would try to expedite the D.E.C.'s permit process for those needing to rebuild dunes. Damage must be documented by the Natural Resources Department.

A high dune just west of Beach Lane in Wainscott was badly scoured, leaving a staircase dangling in the air. In nearby Sagaponack, the ocean drove its way right up to the Town Line and Gibson Beach Road ends. Billy Mack of the First Coastal Corporation, coastal engineers, said that about 40 feet of dune were lost. Dune Road in Bridgehampton was overtopped.

"We're working on about a dozen calls for emergency sand. We have enough, but it's too risky to put it in some sections because the beach is too narrow. It would just get washed away. We have to time it," Mr. Mack said.

Gary Ireland is a lawyer who has sued the Army Corps of Engineers and the county to have three rock groins in East Hampton shortened, or removed, and the stretch of beach between them and Sagaponack rebuilt. It is an accepted fact that beaches located downdrift from hard structures such as groins and jetties are subject to scouring.

"I've been telling people to call their senators. Mathew Cohen is Senator Charles Schumer's aid, and Rasi Cooper, Senator Hillary Clinton's assistant. Tell them we appreciate the [Army Corps of Engineers'] studies, but we need a project. We know the cause of the erosion. It's the groins in East Hampton. The towns are going to be inundated with applications for bulkheads, rocks. Until the beaches are nourished, you can't blame people. They have to see a solid beach in front of them," Mr. Ireland said.

At the same time that sand was taken away by waves and tide, it was also collecting in the Accabonac Harbor inlet, making it nearly impassable. On the inlet's south side, erosion cut Louse Point back to the beach parking lot. On the north of the inlet, waves overtopped Gerard Drive, and the new culvert under the drive was clogged with sand and stone.

On the bay side of Montauk, the Soundview community west of the harbor inlet took its usual beating. Farther west, 150 feet of bulkheading collapsed on the Clearwater Beach side of the Hog Creek channel.

Michael Wyllie of the National Weather Service laboratory in Upton explained the cause of all the wind and rain. He said that beginning on Oct. 7, a subtropical system took up residence close to Bermuda. A rare "inverted trough" grew from there into the northeast. The trough was kept in place by a high pressure system located off the coast of New England.

As a result, a series of low pressure systems moved southeast to northwest along the boundary of the trough, creating the tropical rains. "One of the lows was strong enough to create winds between 30 and 50 miles per hour," Mr. Wyllie said.

Richard Hendrickson, who keeps local statistics for the weather service, said the rain started on Oct. 7 and continued every day until Saturday morning. The heaviest downpour occurred on Friday, 5.69 inches. The next day, it rained 4.32 inches before the storms finally passed.

The total was 18.13 inches, according to Mr. Hendrickson's gauge in Bridgehampton. It was a record for a single storm according to the weather service's records from 1900 to 1917, and from 1930 to the present day. If more fell during the 13-year gap in the records, we will never know.

Some 40 law-enforcement officers and officials staged a pre-dawn drug bust on Tuesday. When it was over, 13 residents of Montauk and East Hampton had been arrested on felony drug-dealing charges, and all were either on their way to jail or already behind bars. Two others had been picked up over the weekend.

East Hampton Town police, Suffolk County Sheriff's Department officers, state troopers, Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, and representatives of the Suffolk District Attorney, who had brought a fistful of indictments with them, participated in the raid.

Representatives of the press were notified in advance and invited to come along and watch. It was hard to tell, in fact, whether those with cameras and notebooks outnumbered those with guns and bulletproof vests.

"Don't Make Us Shoot!"

Armed with search warrants, police began the roundup at precisely 6 a.m. at the Mulford Avenue, Montauk, residence of John (Jack) O'Dea, 46, a fisherman by trade but, police said, a drug dealer on the side.

Law officers gathered a half-block away and not so silently descended on Mr. O'Dea's small, nondescript ranch house, smashing in a side door with guns drawn. Mr. O'Dea was sound asleep, leaving only his dog to fend off the unexpected visitors.

"Don't make us shoot the dog!" they screamed. "Walk toward me! Right now!" The shouts were deafening, though the animal, which police alternately called Buster or Killer, warmed to the crowd.

"Killer's licking everyone's legs," one officer observed.

Stunned And Sleepy

"Anyone else here? Anyone else here? Hands behind back! Now get down! Let's go!"

Mr. O'Dea, unkempt, disheveled, and sleepy, was made to dress and led out. Obviously stunned, he barely said a word, and at one point appeared to yawn. "House secure!" came a voice from inside.

"That's a hell of a way to get woken up," said East Hampton Town Police Chief Tom Scott, on hand like virtually all the department brass and rank and file.

Inside Mr. O'Dea's house, police said they found a quantity of cocaine "in excess of two ounces," packaging materials, and "some rifles."

As the procession moved down the block toward Lycke's Apartments, a party broke off to execute a second no-knock warrant, at Edward Mueller's Glenmore Avenue house.

Pounced On Pair

There, Mr. Mueller, 36, who owns an excavation business, and Julian Tanner were awake, sitting in a family room. Police pounced on the pair, and afterward said they found cocaine, marijuana, records allegedly indicating drug-dealing activity, and scales.

Mr. Mueller, like Mr. O'Dea, was charged with three counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance third-degree and three counts of criminal possession third-degree, all felonies.

Mr. Tanner had not been charged as of press time, though a felony possession charge was a possibility, said Det. Lieut. Edward V. Ecker Jr. of the town force, who was present during the raid.

Lycke's Apartments

Meanwhile, some officers fanned around and behind Lycke's complex, while the rest split into two teams and descended on apartments 8 and 17.

"Police! Open up!"

A push on number 17's door opened it right up - it was unlocked. Several people inside could be seen scurrying about.

"Defendant right here!" yelled the first officer in. "On the floor," bellowed those who followed. "Get down. Get fuckin' down!" The orders were repeated in Spanish. Everyone inside hit the floor.

Neighbors stirred. "No, we're not after your brother. Everything is okay. Go back inside," a cop said to a woman next door.

Captured By TV Camera

One youth in the apartment was arrested. Mauricio Holguin, 18, had been picked up on similar charges last summer, but, said Detective Ecker, "he went right back out and started dealing again." He faces three counts of criminal sale and possession.

At apartment 8, two women opened the door when the police knocked. The younger one burst into tears when she realized what was happening. She wept loudly as she helped the other woman put her socks on, and continued sobbing as she combed the woman's hair. A television camera zoomed in for a shot.

The woman sobbing was not charged, but Joanne Roge, 43, who was last seen applying makeup, was hit with three counts of criminal sale and possession third degree. The younger woman may have been her daughter, someone at the scene said.

Before it was completely light police had finished the chore. Also arrested, almost all at their residences in Montauk, were Tara Woodruff, 25, who lives at the Montauk Manor, Sidney V. Barton, 51, of Fort Pond Road, John J. Patino, 30, of South Dewey Street, Kelvin Jiminian, 19, of Flamingo Road, and Kurtis Briand, 31, of Edgemere Road.

Farther West

Simultaneously, other teams stationed farther west picked up Brian T. Russell, 24, and Teri Neuhaus, 29, at their house on Abraham's Path in East Hampton. Both were charged with criminal sale and possession.

Angel Velez of Ocean Boulevard in East Hampton, 28, was picked up at his house as well, though he had not been indicted. Police said they seized about two ounces of cocaine and packaging materials at his house.

Mr. Velez was arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on numerous counts of criminal sale and possession and sent to the county jail in Riverhead in lieu of $25,000 bail.

To Ask High Bail

Julie Campbell of Fernald Avenue in Montauk, also arrested though not indicted, was remanded to the same jail in lieu of $10,000 bail after being arraigned in Justice Court on Tuesday.

All those indicted were being arraigned at press time, and prosecutors said they intended to ask for significant bail in every case.

Two other Montauk residents, Frances Martell, 25, and Peter Harlin, 30, both of Edgemere Road, were picked up Saturday and charged with similar offenses. They were arraign ed in County Criminal Court.

Ms. Martell was released Tuesday after posting $2,500 bail, Mr. Harlin a day earlier when he came up with $5,000 bail money.

After Six Months

Police said the raid culminated a six-month-long investigation that earlier had yielded a two-kilo seizure of cocaine in East Hampton and several arrests. Those involved in the latest bust allegedly sold cocaine to undercover agents or police informants during the investigation.

"This is really going to curtail the cocaine problem in Montauk," said Detective Ecker. "They were dealing out of their homes, cars, in bars, to people in the community."

"We became aware of it during the summer," Chief Scott said. "There are a lot of people here, and there was a lot going on."

As for inviting the media, Chief Scott said, "It was the D.E.A. They wanted to show they are a presence on the East End and that they intend to continue to be."

A man in a van pulled into the Lycke's parking lot in the midst of the ruckus. He was looking for a co-worker, he said. A squad of officers eyed him suspiciously and began to descend the stairs toward him. He drove quickly off, past a "Slow - Children At Play" sign and away.

Guild Hall's Lifetime Achievement Awards dinner at Manhattan's Plaza Hotel, an annual celebration of the outstanding literary, visual, and performing artists of the South Fork, is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tickets for the party, which will honor the playwright and librettist Peter Stone, the filmmaker Alan J. Pakula, and the painter Jane Freilicher, are still available.

The master of ceremonies at this year's awards dinner will be the ABC News anchor and senior editor Peter Jennings. He and the three honorees all have houses on the South Fork - Mr. Jennings in Bridgehampton, Ms. Freilicher in Water Mill, Mr. Stone in Amagansett, and Mr. Pakula in East Hampton. The poet John Ashbery will be one of the presenters.

Mr. Pakula, an Oscar nominee for best director for "All the President's Men" and for best screenwriter for "Sophie's Choice," was honored for his contributions to the medium at this year's Hamptons International Film Festival as well.

Host Of Awards

Mr. Stone has written the book for 14 Broadway shows and has been recognized with Oscar, Edgar, Tony, and Emmy awards. His stage credits include "The Will Rogers Follies," "1776," and "Woman of the Year." He also wrote "Titanic," which opens next year, and the Oscar-winning screenplay "Father Goose."

Ms. Frielicher has used her house in Water Mill and its surrounding ponds and wetlands as subjects in scores of paintings. She first showed her work 44 years ago and has since had almost 40 solo exhibits and a traveling retrospective in 1986.

The three will accept their awards in person at Tuesday's awards dinner. Tickets begin at $500 apiece and can be reserved by calling Guild Hall. They include round-trip transportation from the East End to Manhattan for those who need it.

Opera And Bookmaking

Guild Hall events closer to home this week include two new classes for adults. Oxsana Protenic, the director of Opera of the Hamptons, will lead an introduction to opera workshop covering composers, styles, and periods of music, costumes, and staging.

As a performer with the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Protenic has taken the stage at the Kennedy Center, the United Nations, and Avery Fisher Hall, as well as venues around the country, in Europe, and in the Far East. The course will start Tuesday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. and will continue next Tuesday at the same time.

Michele Allison will head a holiday bookmaking class beginning Wed nesday from 10 a.m. to noon. Participants will use basic folding, gluing, and sewing techniques to make a variety of books just right for holiday gifts. The class will also meet on Dec. 11 and 18 at the same time.

Guild Hall's events and classes for children are listed on the Schools page of today's paper.

Two popular entertainers will return to the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor over the Thanksgiving weekend: Karen Akers and the Paper Bag Players.

Ms. Akers, one of America's most successful cabaret stars, will give three performances, tomorrow at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m. She will be accompanied on piano by Michael Abene.

The statuesque chanteuse, who has performed throughout America and Europe as well as in Russia, continues to carry the torch lit by Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. She appeared on Broadway as one of the original stars of the musical "Grand Hotel," and made her debut in 1982 in "Nine," both directed by Tommy Tune.

Paper Bag Players

To round out the Thanksgiving celebration for children, the Paper Bag Players will present their latest show, "The Horrible Horrendous Hideous Haircut!" on Saturday at 1 p.m. and again at 3 p.m.

The show features a haircut of tremendous proportions as its central theme, along with such sidelines as a postman who sprouts butterfly wings and a pizza that delivers itself.

For 39 years, this company has provided children's theater, addressing such issues as getting along with siblings, family vacations, doing homework, and making friends. The shows combine short funny plays, freewheeling dances, and lively songs.

Tickets to both events are available from the box office.

I am large, I contain multitudes.

Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

For a long time, I used to cook little meals in little pots, the smallest meals that would fill me up, cooked in the smallest pots that would do the job. I was often wrong about how small a meal would fill me up and how small a pot would do the job, and when I was wrong, things boiled over and made a mess of the stove, or in the course of adding ingredients I would reach a point where the next ingredient wouldn't fit in the pot and I would have to transfer the whole hot concoction to a larger pot, or when I'd finished eating the little meal I'd made, the pot would be empty, but I wouldn't have had enough. Why did I persist in that particular folly, always making little meals in little pots? I was reacting against my mother's cauldron.

My mother's cauldron was an enormous soup pot that looked like a prop from the witches' scene in Macbeth. She actually called it a cauldron, and she used it to make clam chowder. She had other pots, but only that one would do for chowder. She could have made enough for the six of us in a smaller pot, and she could have made much less chowder than she did. She would have had an easier time of it if she had, because the cauldron was really too big and heavy for her to handle, but she stuck with that cauldron and wouldn't use anything else. It embarrassed me. I thought it made us look like peasants and made her look like a witch. I wanted her to get rid of that cauldron or disguise it as a planter.

I couldn't manage to tell her any of that directly, of course, so I tried to be subtle. One day when she was making chowder I asked, "Ma, why don't you use a smaller pot?" You see how subtle I could be in those days.

She looked at me with her brows knit and said, "A smaller pot?"

"Yeah." I said. "You wouldn't have to struggle with it the way you do with this thing."

"I couldn't use a smaller pot," she said, and she waved the idea off as preposterous.

"You could," I said. "You could use a smaller pot. Look. Look at all that chowder. That's more chowder than we can eat. Lots more."

She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, and she smiled the indulgent smile of a mother who sees that her daughter has a lot to learn. "You've got a lot to learn," she said.

"Maaa!" I said, and I frowned the impatient frown of a daughter who is convinced that her mother has nothing to teach her.

"Look," she said. "You see how much extra chowder there is in this cauldron?"

"I sure do."

"That has to be there. There has to be some extra, in case."

Old-Fashioned Shortcake

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. sugar

7 Tbsp. sweet butter, cold

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a nine-inch round cake pan very well.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and two tablespoons of the sugar. Cut three tablespoons of butter into nine pieces. With the paddle of an electric mixer, or by pinching it between your fingers, combine the butter with the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a separate bowl beat the egg, then beat the milk into it. Fold the egg into the flour mixture one quarter at a time, turning it with a rubber spatula after the last addition, until all the flour is incorporated.

Spread half the dough in the cake pan. Cut the remaining four tablespoons of butter into small pieces and dot the dough with it. Spread the rest of the dough over the butter with your fingers. Sprinkle the remaining two teaspoons of sugar on top.

Bake until the top of the shortcake is golden and firm, about 30 minutes. Turn it out of the pan and cool it right side up on a wire rack. It will be about one inch high.

When the shortcake is cool, slice it with a long-bladed serrated knife into two layers. Assemble with fruits and sauces of your choice.

Serves 8 to 10.

The Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts was established in 1970 by the Harbor for Girls and Boys to give youngsters from the inner city high-caliber training in the arts. Many of its graduates have gone on to successful careers in the theater, film, dance, and music worlds.

On Monday the accomplishments of the conservatory students will be showcased in "The Harbor Celebrates the Arts," a benefit for The Harbor for Girls and Boys, formerly known as Boys Harbor. The cocktail reception, buffet, and theater performance will take place at the Harbor's center at One East 104th Street at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and the Hackscher Theater.

The Harbor is a nonprofit educational youth agency in East Hampton and New York City founded 60 years ago by Tony Duke.

Future Stars?

The benefit will feature Peter Duchin, one of the honorary benefit chairmen, performing with conservatory students, and will pay tribute to the late Dr. Richard (Lonnie) Williams, who was the Harbor's executive director for 26 years.

The conservatory provides preprofessional training for children aged 4 through 18 in instrumental music, voice, dance, and theater arts. It encourages public performance early in the students' training. Members of the conservatory's Gestures Dance En semble, Jazz and Latin Ensembles, 100% Ham Skit Comedy Ensemble, and Classical Music Departments have all performed before audiences.

Conservatory students have recently landed roles in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical "Whistle Down The Wind" and Paul Simon's forthcoming "Capeman"; have enrolled in the Juilliard School, and have performed in the Aspen Summer Music Festival.

Latin Music Archive

But the longtime director of the conservatory, Sandra Owen, now director of institutional advancement, stressed that its goal is not limited to nurturing artistic talent. "We have long felt that we are teaching for more than simply putting kids on stage," she said. "We also feel very strongly that the arts improve a student's ability in general to succeed."

She noted that artistic training not only enhances self-expression and self-esteem but also improves academic performance and concentration. Studies have shown that learning to decode music can improve students' general reading skills, she added.

The conservatory is also known for its Latin music archive, which contains rare photographs, original arrangements and scores, audio and video recordings, books, magazines, articles, and interviews with artists. It is the most comprehensive such archive in the country.

Robeson As Emcee

The master of ceremonies for Monday's event will be Paul Robeson Jr. A Harbor alumnus, Vincent Henry, currently featured in the orchestra of "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk," will join the performing students.

Sherry Bronfman, Susan and Charles Avery Fisher, Jane and Alfred Ross, and Barbara Smith and Dan Gasby are chairing the benefit. Serving as honorary benefit chairmen, along with Mr. Duchin, are Brooke Hayward and Alexandra Danilova.

Cocktails and a buffet supper will be served at 6:30 p.m., with the theater performance set for 8. Tickets may be reserved by calling Donna Rich, the benefit's coordinator, at (212) 362-2233.

A simple wooden sign hanging from a lamppost proclaims the new home of East Hampton's village office in the 200-year-old Beecher-Hand House on Main Street.

The sweeping picket fence, ample lawn, and curving brick path provide a gentle introduction to the venerable house's newest use, as the offices for Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., Village Administrator Larry Cantwell, Tom Lawrence, building inspector, and the other village staff.

A tiny note on the door suggests turning the old brass knob to the left to gain entry. Thus you cross the threshold into an unexpectedly handsome and peaceful world. Not that he ordinarily expects trouble, but Larry Cantwell has been amazed at the impact of the house on residents and visitors alike.

Father's Old Home

"The old house seems to have a calming effect; everyone's tension levels seem to drop. It is a real pleasure to work here," said Mr. Cantwell.

The history of the house from its first owners, the Hutchinsons, including its famous decade as the home of the Rev. Lyman Beecher, and the ensuing century of ownership by the Hand family, is chronicled in a pamphlet written by Averill D. Geus, the historic site manager of Home, Sweet Home, also owned by the village.

Illustrated with early drawings and photographs, the pamphlet provides amusing anecdotes as well as the many details of the house's colorful career and is available at the reception desk to the left of the entrance. In it you can read an excerpt from a letter written by Catherine Beecher sometime in the 19th century.

"The picture of father's old home at East Hampton is, with slight exceptions, exactly as I remember it in childhood and calls up many pleasant memories. The large room on the left, as you enter, was the sitting room and behind it a bedroom. Father's study was a small room on the right of the front entry. The schoolroom was over the sitting room and in the two chambers opposite were four young ladies who boarded with us. The chambers over the kitchen and bedroom were given to the housekeeper and Zillah and Rachel. We took our meals in the sitting room."

New "Family" Now

The sitting room today is the reception area, and behind the large desk you can see the handsome fireplace that warmed the many Beecher children. Beyond it the bedroom has been turned into a library. The chambers upstairs are offices for the Mayor and Mr. Cantwell.

The kitchen and other rooms at the back of the oldest part of the house now provide offices, while the old back porch, which still looks like a porch from Main Street, is the home of the heavy-duty copier.

When the village purchased the house in 1993, its interior had already undergone a detailed renovation by the Clause Realty firm, the former owners, and only required cosmetic finishing. To provide space for a conference room, fireproof record storage, and access for the handicapped, the village built a two-story extension on an existing rear wing.

Robert Hefner, an architectural historian, oversaw the work and developed the concept of the rear entry and elevator. Douglas Herrlin, the architect, supervised the structural aspects, and the designer Anthony Tyson coordinated the carpeting, paint, and wall covering.

The interior is now fresh and appropriate for contemporary business while still highlighting the old floors, beams, and woodwork. The new section at the rear is cause for some celebration, for it provides access from the hidden parking lot into a high-ceilinged space lined with a row of windows.

Saved For Posterity

The architecture plays on the feeling and window arrangement of the many summer cottages farther down Huntting Lane, and the sunlight pours into a nicely proportioned space that includes a staircase and the elevator.

Conversely but equally successful is the concrete bunker that holds the village records. Behind an unassuming wood-paneled door in the conference room is the heavy metal door to this concrete-lined vault. Safe from fire, flood, and collapse of the rest of the building are the assessment records from 1923 and Building Department records from 1938, after the hurricane.

Surveying the neat stacks of labeled file boxes with obvious pride, Mr. Cantwell added that the office staff had reorganized all the records themselves when they moved in.

Returning to the front of the old part of the house, the ceilings are lower and the atmosphere is cozier. On the mantel behind the reception desk is a clock made by Harold Dominy from pieces of old wood he collected from Home, Sweet Home, the Gardiner Mill, and the Pantigo Mill. He presented it to the village for use in the new office. There is also a handsome oak table carved in the early Puritan style and a bench under the stairs.

Pieces Of History

Many residents have generously donated antiques and other decorative furnishings, such as the andirons and fire screens given by Wendy van Deusen when emptying the Poor Cottage on the other side of Main Street.

Still to come are the old photographs collected by C. Frank Dayton. The village is hoping an interested resident with professional picture-hanging experience would be willing to help with this project.

On a busy weekday the office work goes on with quiet efficiency while nearby the office mascot looks on. In a tiny niche, the mortise in an old beam, sitting on a nest of fluff, is one of those gray-fur toy mice - so little you don't really notice, but so realistic that you do.