“Miss Electricity,” a play by Kathryn Walat, will have its last two performances tomorrow and Sunday at the Mulford Barn on James Lane in East Hampton. The second production this year by the Mulford Repertory Theater company, “Miss Electricity” is a comedy for younger audiences.

    “Ten-year-old Violet (Licia James Zegar) is determined to show the world, not to mention the cool kids at school, just how special she is,” a release said. “With the help of her best friend, Freddy (Joe DeSane), Violet sets out to break a world record — any record — so she can prove to her classmates (Lydia Franco Hodges and Devon Leaver) how extraordinary she is. And just when things seem hopeless, something electric happens that changes Violet’s and Freddy’s lives and friendship forever.”

    “It’s a family show,” said Kate Mueth of East Hampton, its director. “It’s funny and contemporary and deals with real kid issues, like bullying. But mostly it’s about friendship and being yourself.”

    Besides the play itself, which is a “compact” 50 minutes, Ms. Mueth said the small cast also drew her to it. “It lends itself well to the space.”

    Performances are at 6 p.m. both days. Seating is limited to 50 per show, and attendees have been encouraged to bring along a blanket and have a picnic on the grounds of the Mulford Farm beforehand. The gates open at 5 p.m.

    The East Hampton Historical Society, which manages the buildings and grounds at the Mulford Farm, intends to “breathe life into our historic sites,” according to a release. It has long been known for its Old Farm Days and battle encampments but has been making forays into live theater with the formation of the Mulford company. The society also stages dance performances, readings of new works, and art exhibits.

    Tickets for “Miss Electricity,” which are available in advance by calling TheaterMania or visiting its Web site, cost $20, $25 at the door.

    Once a year, the staff at the Montauk Lighthouse presents Lighthouse Weekend, which offers an opportunity to take a step back in time and learn the ways of colonial people. The event will take place on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

There will be old-fashioned games with Shari Crawford, basket weaving with Camille Meade, and leather crafting with Steve Crawford. Stuart Vorpahl will demonstrate how to trap fish, and the Kings of the Coast Pirates, a scary-looking lot, will recreate a pirate battle complete with “Arrs!” and “Blimeys!” and a shout of “Fire in the hole!” before a very loud cannon is blasted. They may even dance the hempen jig. The pirates will perform twice a day each day, at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Some of them will mingle with the crowd afterward.

There will also be face painting, book signings, artwork, and boat-safety tips offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for those over 65, and $4 for children 12 and under. The fee to park, which is charged until 4 p.m., is $8.  

    Lawrence Cooke of Montauk is on a one-man mission to get a Montauk Indian museum built in the hamlet. He has the collection, which includes several of his own pieces as well as some from the collections of others, but he needs money to get the job done, about $500,000.

    A local storeowner donated $1,000 to the cause, which helped Mr. Cooke get T-shirts made and fliers printed. “I wish there were 4,999 more people like him,” he said this week in his front yard, where chickens clucked, tomatoes grew in tubs, and kayaks were scattered about.

    At the last two crafts fairs on the grounds of the Second House Museum, Mr. Cooke set up an information booth with several displays to collect donations. On hand was a rough-hewn, hand-carved canoe that he made. Used for people to toss dollar bills and coins into, it featured a face etched by Malcolm Frazier, who sculpted the Lost at Sea Memorial at the Montauk Lighthouse.

    “I’m appealing to the people of Montauk,” Mr. Cooke said. “If they want an Indian museum they have to pay for it.”

    He was set up near the area where he’d like the museum to sit, at the back of the Second House property. It would be attached to a small cottage there that is part of the property managed by the Montauk Historical Society, of which he is a member. The plan is being considered by the East Hampton Town Planning Board. Mr. Cooke applied for septic approval weeks ago from the Suffolk County Department of Health and said no news is good news.

    The cottage sits on a berm to the north and is used for meetings. A building would be attached to its west side and include a small gift shop, classroom space, and the museum’s exhibit, which would be comprised of photographs, ancient tools, arrowheads, steel points, hammerstones, pottery shards, and other items from private collections, some of which have already been donated to Mr. Cooke. Some of the items are now displayed in the Second House Museum.

    “I want people to walk down that path to Fort Pond and be able to envision what Montauk was like thousands of years ago,” he said, adding that his main goal is to honor the original locals. He also wants to provide a place that would honor the collections of old-timers after they die. “A lot of these collections get lost,” he said.

    The exhibits would be interchangeable to draw people from outside Montauk. Some of the items Mr. Cooke has collected have come from places across Long Island, as far west as Queens. There would be interactive exhibits, lectures, and various other events held at the site. Although the museum is currently just a vision, it is one that Mr. Cooke plans to see through. “But it can’t become a reality without real financial help,” he said.

    More information can be found at montaukindianmuseum.org.

A law requiring low-nitrogen septic systems for all new residences, for existing buildings — including commercial ones — that expand their floor area by 25 percent, and for nonresidential properties that require site plan review was adopted by the Sag Harbor Village Board on March 12. 

The law, which will take effect April 1, also gives the village’s harbor committee, and the Suffolk County Department of Health Services the authority to require the installation of upgraded systems. 

Nitrogen pollution from conventional septic systems is excessive, widespread, and threatens the health of drinking water, bays, estuaries, and coastal waters, the law states. The legislation, passed in a unanimous vote, and without discussion among board members, follows similar laws enacted by Southampton and East Hampton Towns, which include sections of the village. At a public hearing on the measure on Jan. 8, there was no opposition. 

To monitor compliance, the law empowers the village building inspector to require reports on the performance and maintenance of systems. The penalty for violations would be a fine of not less than $1,000, in addition to making the premises compliant with county standards.

Carol Marie Salomonson and Kevin Guthrie Santacroce of Sag Harbor were married on Saturday afternoon at the Breakwater Yacht Club in that village. Stake President Barrett L. Richards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officiated. 

A wine and champagne reception with crudités followed at the club, and later a second reception and party was held at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, where the groom works as a sound engineer. There was pizza from Sam’s restaurant in East Hampton and a chocolate fountain with fruit, peppers, and marshmallows. The band Little Head Thinks performed, and D.J. Prince Terrence from Manhattan played. The crowd threw dried flowers as the bride and groom made their exit. 

The next morning, the newlyweds’ families gathered for brunch in the map room at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor.

Mr. Santacroce is the son of Donna Cosgrove and Peter Santacroce of East Hampton. He grew up here and graduated from East Hampton High School. He is the owner and mix engineer of Shark Studio in Sag Harbor. 

The bride’s parents are Vince Victor Salomonson of South Jordan, Utah, and the late Peggy Lucille Salomonson. She grew up in Maryland and earned a bachelor’s degree in studio arts and media and communications from Hunter College in New York City. She is a licensed real estate saleswoman with the Corcoran Group in Sag Harbor. For real estate purposes, she will continue to go by her stage name, Carol Sharks, but will change her legal name to Carol Santacroce. 

The couple met when she was D.J.ing at the Talkhouse and reconnected two years later while she was on sabbatical in Montauk. “Their first date was to meet at the Hither Hills Overlook for a brisk hike,” on March 9, 2016, the bride wrote. They revisited the site each year on that date, and this year they chose March 9 for their wedding day. 

The bride wore a white Victoria Beckham-designed knee-length dress (bought at the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society’s Bargain Box, she noted, and tailored by Nancy’s Tailoring in Noyac). She carried a bouquet created by Diana Payne with white and blush roses, with ranunculus and other flowers. 

The bride was attended by Adam Aleksander of Manhattan, Harriet Stubbs of New York, London, and Los Angeles, and Jessica Pilot of New York and Los Angeles. Her father gave a speech at the reception.

Mr. Santacroce’s best man was Jason Payne of Sagaponack. Michael Mazzaraco, also a sound engineer at the Talkhouse, was his groomsman.

For their honeymoon later this month, the couple will travel to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka in Japan to see the cherry blossoms.

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons will host a special book-and-author reception and talk with Steve Israel, a former Long Island congressman, on April 4 at 5:30 p.m. at Seasons of Southampton. Tim Bishop, a former congressman from Southampton, will serve as M.C. for a question-and-answer session.

Mr. Israel will speak about and sign copies of his second novel, “Big Guns,” a political satire about the powerful gun lobby. The novel, published a year ago, is set in Washington, D.C., and in Asabogue, a mythical village located between Southampton and East Hampton. The climax of the book takes place at a League of Women Voters candidates debate, of all places. 

Mr. Israel was the U.S. representative from the Second and then the redistricted Third Congressional Districts in Nassau County and Suffolk County’s North Shore for eight terms, from 2001 to 2017. He is now chairman of the nonpartisan Global Institute at Long Island University, where his congressional records will be housed.

This month, and in April and May, he is presenting a three-part lecture series at L.I.U.’s C.W. Post campus in Brookville on the topics “Inside Congress,” “Global Challenges,” and “Common Ground: How Republicans and Democrats Can Get Along in Washington, D.C.”

Tickets purchased before next Thursday are $65; they will be $70 after that. Checks can be sent to the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons at P.O. Box 2253, East Hampton 11937, to reserve a place. Hors d’oeuvres will be served, and there will be a cash bar. Payment by credit card can be done by calling the league’s office at 631-324-4637.

Nothing less than “an incredible impact” on iconic oceanfront residences is at stake in a hearing before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals, board members were told as they considered an application for a third time on Friday. But a largely skeptical board called that characterization extreme, and with an environmental report from a consultant to the village still pending, the application will be considered for a fourth time next month. 

Norman and Helene Stark want to demolish the approximately 4,600-square-foot house that is situated in a coastal erosion hazard area at 33 Lily Pond Lane and replace it with a substantially larger house — as well as a swimming pool and hot tub, a patio, retaining walls, staircases, and dry wells — to be sited landward, though still requiring multiple variances from the zoning code meant to preserve ocean dunes. 

In the first two meetings at which the Starks’ application was considered, Leonard Ackerman, an attorney, and a team of consultants asserted that the proposals pose no threat to the dune. At the second meeting, the applicants presented a pared-down plan that included removal of an existing koi pond and abandonment of a planned deck addition, a trellis, part of a brick patio, a walkway, and a play set. A tennis court, which encroaches on a setback, is to be reduced by 10 feet. The plans were also modified to move the house and new swimming pool farther landward. The Starks still seek variances to legalize a 77-square-foot addition to the existing residence, a storage shed, an addition to a tennis house, steps built into the landscape, and a generator. 

The house’s demolition and reconstruction would trigger mandatory compliance with Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations pertaining to flood-hazard areas, requiring the new structure to be elevated. Construction plans call for 66 pilings to be driven into the earth, which board members worried on Friday would disturb the dune. 

Mr. Ackerman, quoting a memo to the board from Billy Hajek, a village planner, referred to “the ‘gorilla in the room,’ the view issue,” a reference to the unique view enjoyed by oceanfront property owners. Mr. Hajek, he said, was suggesting that FEMA “should dictate . . . further retreat to the north, which is another way of saying there should be a non-ocean view for this property.” 

In fact, he said, all oceanfront construction, including reconstruction resulting from extreme weather, flooding, or fire damage, would result in loss of an ocean view should the zoning board deny the application before them. The board, he said, has “a tremendous amount of power to dictate, and by precedent to both set not only the tone but to set the limits with respect to development of properties. I caution you that, if this case goes the route that it would appear to be going,” more than 18 iconic properties “have the capacity to be moved and shifted, by determination here, to the north, all of which would lose their ocean view.” 

Lys Marigold, the board’s chairwoman, “has very eloquently stated that it is her task and desire to maintain and preserve the iconic nature of homes in East Hampton,” Mr. Ackerman said. But “the elimination of those homes by virtue of not being able to be reconstructed under your interpretation, or under our code, would have an incredible impact on the preservation of the homes in East Hampton.” 

Craig Humphrey, of the board, called the statement extreme, and Ms. Marigold repeated his appraisal. “Nobody is saying you can’t have some kind of construction there,” the chairwoman said, but “there’s not one time that we have ever allowed somebody to raise a house, move it, expand it, and move a swimming pool on the oceanside.” Previous cases Mr. Ackerman cited had unique circumstances, she said, such as a rotting foundation that left a house in danger of collapse, and in all cases property owners were compelled to implement substantial mitigation measures in exchange for permitting or variance relief.

The only house the board allowed to be completely rebuilt, she said, was that owned by Peter Morton, a co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain, whose West End Road house was destroyed by fire in 2015, and even that application contained a variance request that was denied. “There is no precedent here,” she said. 

The existing house, Ms. Marigold said, “protected the dune, in a way. . . . This new location of the house, even though it’s moving by inches landward . . . is actually digging out the backside of the dune. It’s on 66 pilings. . . . I know from digging sandcastles that when you disturb sand it comes rushing back in.” Driving 66 pilings into the earth would “reverberate through the entire village,” she said. “I don’t think that’s good for the dune.” Ray Harden, the board’s vice chairman and a builder, agreed that pile driving “certainly affects the area around it.” 

Mr. Ackerman continued to press his point. “If you do not allow any of these . . . landowners to rebuild their homes under an adverse determination in this ruling, you realize that every one . . . of these 18 families will not be able to reconstruct their home with an ocean view, because you would be setting a precedent.” 

“That’s not true,” Ms. Marigold said. “We have let them reconstruct or add on, on the landward side. . . . Each case is individual.”

The Starks’ extended family has grown substantially, Mr. Ackerman said. “The alternatives to this application are that we would have to come back with a renovation and expansion of this existing house. What we’re doing is retreating, which we think, based upon the science that we have, is less detrimental to the dune. . . . You would prefer us to do what?”

“The general purpose of the coastal erosion hazard area regulation is to protect natural protective features such as beaches, bluffs, and primary dunes,” Ms. Marigold said, reading a passage. “ ‘The construction of new buildings and structures within the coastal erosion hazard area and on the primary dune is a prohibited activity.’ I take that seriously, ‘prohibited.’ ”

Larry Hillel and Mr. Humphrey indicated opposition to the application. “My feeling,” Mr. Hillel said, “is when you’re starting anew, you really want to do it within the regulations. . . . This is a completely new house with a tremendous amount of variances.” Mr. Humphrey echoed the chairwoman. “ ‘Prohibited’ means no,” he said. 

The environmental report from the village’s consultant should be distributed prior to board’s April 12 meeting, Ms. Marigold said, when the hearing will resume. 

In other news from the meeting, the board announced six determinations. Barry Rosenstein, who purchased 60, 62, and 64 Further Lane in 2014 for $137 million, was granted a variance to allow solar panels to be installed at 64 Further Lane, where there is no principal building. The panels are to serve the house on the adjacent lot. 

The board granted trusts in the name of John Trousdale and Mary Margaret Trousdale variances to raze a 294-square-foot building containing a bedroom and construct a 325-square-foot building with sleeping facilities at 3 La Forest Lane, where a principal residence stands, and to allow the principal floor area to increase to 9,788 square feet, where 9,757 square feet exist now and the maximum permitted under current code is 8,368 square feet. The relief was granted on the conditions that the new structure will never be rented to, or occupied by, anyone other than guests, family members, or household staff; there will be no cooking in it, and a low-nitrogen septic system is installed for it as well as the principal dwelling. 

Robert Zecher, contract vendee for property owned by Edwin Sherrill Jr., was granted a wetlands permit and variances to allow installation of a pea gravel driveway, gate columns, a gate, dry wells, and landscaping, all within required wetlands setbacks at 68 Egypt Lane. 

Nedenia Rumbough and Donald Handelman were granted a variance to legalize 442 square feet of coverage more than is legally permitted at 55 Egypt Close. Mr. Handelman and Stanley Rumbough were granted a variance to legalize a walkway falling within the rear-yard setback at 3 West Dune Lane. 

The board granted Kathryn Krone variances to allow an air-conditioning condenser and patio pavers to remain within required setbacks, and to permit 313 square feet of coverage more than is legally permitted at 18 Huntting Lane.

The Montauk Library is preparing for its first expansion and renovation since construction of its current building in 1991. 

The $7.5 million project, which must be approved by voters, would give the library another 5,000 square feet of space, but increase its footprint by less than 1,600 square feet. The rest would be gained by filling in most of the double-height interior areas. A one-story addition with a basement is planned for the northeast side of the building and is to include a new entry that would also house a local history and fishermen’s center with gallery space. 

The library plans to triple the space allocated for children, to create a new area for teens, and to reorganize its mezzanine level to include a cafe counter, an outside terrace with an ocean view, and a quiet study area. 

At the basement level, the library is looking to expand its archival room, meeting room, bathrooms, and storage area.

“Back in the day, the library was the keeper of the books,” Denise DiPaolo, the library’s director, said on Friday. “In the ’90s that’s what libraries were built for, but times have changed, library ser­vices have changed, and we do more than books. Books are not 100 percent of what we do; they’re maybe 25 percent of what we do, because we’re now here as a community center, and we are providing services and programs, entertainment, a place for social gathering, engaging, and we’re more of a physical place than a place to shush and check out books.” 

In just the five years between 2013 and 2018, according to Ms. DiPaolo, visits to the library increased by 21 percent and circulation increased by 22 percent. During that period, the library increased its adult programming by 137 percent and saw attendance in those programs increase by 39 percent. Its children’s programming increased by 139 percent, with 100 programs offered in 2013 and 239 in 2018, but attendance in those programs increased by 346 percent. 

And yet “the children’s department is so small that when families come in, there’s no place for adults to sit when the parents are there with their young children,” Ms. DiPaolo said. Looking at that usage data and seeing how cramped the children’s area is, the library board opted for a radical reorganization of the library’s main floor.

A narrow children’s area now runs the southwestern length of the building, tucked off to the side of the main floor. Upon the addition’s completion, the bulk of the existing first-floor space would be devoted to children and teens. The current children’s room is to become a children’s programming room. 

“Now everybody’s vying for the same space” — the community room — “and the children’s programs are sometimes messy,” Ms. DiPaolo said. “There’s sparkles and there’s glue.” Having a dedicated space for children’s craft workshops and play programs and cooking classes “will make the community room cleaner and available for more adult programs.”

The main-floor space now used for nonfiction and reference would become part of the larger children’s space that is planned to include a play area. It would open onto a walled exterior terrace for additional outdoor children’s programs. “In good weather we can have story time out there, children’s puppet shows,” Ms. DiPaolo said.

An enclosed teen area would also be on the main floor. And there would be a dedicated children’s bathroom.

Patrons would enter the library through a 1,150-square-foot addition, which is to house the local history and fishermen’s center, the circulation desk, and a new bathroom. 

“We’ve heard from the public that they’d really like to have a place to exhibit the rich fishing history of Montauk, and we feel we’re the place to do it,” said Ms. DiPaolo, who described “a technology center that pays tribute to the history of Montauk.”

Stairs to the second level would be in a small addition on the northwest side of the building. 

Filling in most of the open mezzanine on the second story would not only give the library more usable floor area, it would improve acoustics in the library as a whole. 

“Back in 1990, when this was a quiet library where people came to just read, it was fine, but now we are a social place, we are a joyful place, and people come to the library with enthusiasm and something to share and we are louder than we were in 1990, and that’s okay because this is a lively place for people to gather, but the sound travels and there may be somebody upstairs who is having a test being proctored or they are working on a project, but the sound from the lower level and the main level travels all the way upstairs,” Ms. DiPaolo said. 

Adult fiction, nonfiction, and periodicals are to be housed on the second level, which would continue to be accessible via elevator. There would be a cafe service counter in the periodicals area. The level would open onto a new ocean-view terrace on the southwest side of the building, allowing patrons even more space to take in what might be one of the best views offered by any library on the East Coast. 

The northeast side of the building would feature a landscaped roof terrace that the director described a “High Line type of garden,” referring to the park created on an abandoned elevated railway line on New York’s West Side.

New basement space below the entryway addition would allow the library to expand its archival storage beyond the tiny room it now occupies and provide much-needed storage space. Bathrooms in the basement, where the library’s community room is now, would be replaced with ones that are accessible to the disabled. 

All areas of the library would be made accessible as part of the renovation, and sprinkler systems would be added throughout.

The project also includes a number 

of energy-efficient and environment­ally conscious features, among them solar panels, vertical axis wind turbines, stormwater collection for irrigation, and a low-nitrogen septic system. 

The plan grew out of a series of surveys, needs-assessment interviews, and focus groups, Ms. DiPaolo explained. Patrons had great things to say about the staff, the ocean views, the concerts, children’s programming, and the library’s local history collection, but they were critical of the noise, the small children’s space, the lack of a teen room, and the fact that much of the library was not wheelchair-accessible. Responses confirmed much of what the library board already knew.

Ray Beeler of Gallin Beeler Design Studio was the architect for the project and also designed the original building. “We didn’t need to familiarize him with the way this building functions,” Ms. DiPaolo said. “He knows it all; he’s got it all in his files.” 

The library would float a 20-year bond for the project, with a bond vote to take place at the Montauk School on May 21 from 2 to 8 p.m., the same day as the school budget vote and board elections. (The library and school district boundaries are the same.) Bond service is expected to cost the average taxpayer about $6.67 a month, or just over $80 a year, according to a release from the library.

Architectural plans and renderings and details about the project in English and Spanish can be found on the library’s website. 

Library officials will discuss the proposal with residents and take public comments at meetings on Sunday at 1 p.m., Monday at 6 p.m., April 27 at 1 p.m., May 1 at noon, May 7 at 3:30 p.m., and May 15 at 10 a.m. Ms. DiPaolo is also meeting with all manner of community groups and organizations, from the Montauk Chamber of Commerce to the Montauk chapter of AARP.

The Montauk Library is preparing for its first expansion and renovation since construction of its current building in 1991.

The $7.5 million project would give the library another 5,000 square feet of space, but increase its footprint by less than 1,600 square feet. The rest would be gained by filling in parts of the double-height interior areas. An approximately 1,150-square foot one-story addition, with a basement, is planned for the east side of the building and would include a new entry that would also house a "local history and fishermen's center" with gallery space. The library plans to triple the space allocated for children, to create a new area for teens, and to reorganize its mezzanine level to include a cafe counter, an outside terrace with an ocean view, and a quiet study area.

At the basement level, the library be able to expand its archival space, add a meeting room, bathrooms, and increase storage area.

The library would float a 20-year bond for the project, with a bond vote to take place at the Montauk School on May 21 from 2 to 8 p.m., the same day as the school budget vote and board elections. Bond service is expected to cost the average taxpayer about $6.67 a month, or just over $80 a year, according to a release from the library.

Library officials will discuss the proposal with the community and take public input at meetings on March 17 at 1 p.m., March 18 at 6 p.m., April 27 at 1 p.m., May 1 at noon, May 7 at 3:30 p.m., and May 15 at 10 a.m.

While stemming the opioid use epidemic has dominated the fight against substance abuse in Suffolk County in recent years, the concurrent, ongoing push to legalize recreational marijuana in New York State has created a different challenge for parents and children, who are getting mixed messages about the use of pot. 

The contention that opioid use can be lethal goes largely unchallenged. But whether marijuana is harmful can depend on factors such as the age of the person using it, according to Kym Laube, program director for SAFE in Sag Harbor, a coalition of parents, educators, businesspeople, and other professionals from various sectors of the village, Noyac, and North Haven.

“What I worry about regarding marijuana is there is this perceived low risk if it’s legal — as in, ‘If it’s legal, what’s the harm?’ ” Ms. Laube said. “But one point we always talk to people about, as an organization, is there is no safe use for alcohol or marijuana or nicotine in young, developing brains. The brain in adolescents grows the fastest it grows in a person’s lifetime. We also know the brain doesn’t fully finish growing and hardwiring until the average age of 25 for men and women.” 

“When you add the use of a chemical [like marijuana] that has the potential to change brain chemistry in an ongoing fashion, what you really have is a recipe for disaster. Yet many parents still look at marijuana use casually, same as they do alcohol.”

SAFE in Sag Harbor, SAFE referring to Substance Abuse-Free Environment, is a nonprofit that works in conjunction with Human Understanding and Growth Services, or HUGS, a provider of recreational and educational programs for young people. A federal grant funds SAFE’s activities.

Part of SAFE in Sag Harbor’s mission is to challenge the idea of “What’s the harm? What’s the big deal?” said Danielle Laibowitz, the group’s project coordinator and the mother of three children.

“We don’t take a formal position on the legalization of marijuana,” Ms. Laibowitz said, stressing that her group is not a political organization. “But we do want people to be informed.”

According to Sag Harbor School District survey data, 51 percent of the students in grades 11 and 12 reported that they have tried marijuana (as do 29 percent of ninth and 10th graders). Over all, alcohol use ranks number one among Sag Harbor teens, marijuana use is number two, and vaping is third.

Sixty percent of the high schoolers also said there is no perceived risk to marijuana. SAFE in Sag Harbor says some research tells a different story.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, for example, has found that marijuana’s negative effects on memory, attention, and learning can last for days or weeks, and impair focus, concentration, and the ability to execute complex tasks. 

The institute’s teen website, teens.drugabuse.gov, has reported that a study following people from age 13 to 38 found that those who used marijuana in their teens had up to an eight-point drop in I.Q.

To help people make educated decisions, SAFE in Sag Harbor has sponsored various community education efforts. It holds parent workshops and teen leadership gatherings at which alcohol, drug, and nicotine use is discussed. The group has produced public service announcements that recently began running on local cable television stations. Volunteers have staffed tables at events such as Sag Harbor’s HarborFrost celebration and the recent Stories From Suffolk opioids forum in Southampton that was organized by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. During the four-hour forum, marijuana was barely mentioned.

SAFE in Sag Harbor is also conducting a direct mailing campaign to all 6,000-plus residents in the 11963 Sag Harbor ZIP code. It features a series of postcards with information and tips on how parents and kids can talk to each other about marijuana use. Five mailings have been done so far, and there are more to come, Ms. Laibowitz said.

Some of the messaging is aimed at parents. They are reminded that today’s marijuana is significantly more potent than it was a generation ago, and far more likely to be laced with a range of other substances such as PCP, heroin, or fentanyl. 

They are also shown how a Columbia University study found that teens who do choose to remain drug-free said their parents were the number-one factor in the decision — something many parents might not know.

“What I sometimes hear from my friends is they’re scared their teenage kids won’t communicate with them” if they engage them about drug use, said Tanya Rulon-Miller, a vice president of SAFE in Sag Harbor who has two children under 14. “It gets very complicated the older the children get. Everything I’ve learned is it’s important to start these conversations with kids early, while they’re still kids.” 

SAFE in Sag Harbor also gives parents tips about how to discuss drug or alcohol use with their children, such as avoiding polarizing words and actions, being a good listener, setting clear expectations and including real consequences, and helping children deal with peer pressure.

Ms. Laube said an interesting thing that surfaces in the HUGS/SAFE in Sag Harbor workshops is how parents who don’t approve of under-age drinking or drug use often report feeling peer pressure themselves — from other parents.

“It comes up in every parent workshop I run,” Ms. Laube said. “Those parents say they feel they’re in the minority. And they have a hard time being ‘that’ parent. The other parents challenge me on it all the time, too. They’ll say, ‘Kids are going to do it anyway. Better to let them drink in our basement, where I can keep an eye on them.’ ”

But Ms. Laube insists that retort misses some important points. Research has shown that people who start with alcohol or marijuana are indeed more likely to try other drugs.

“One of the biggest misses we are having right now as a culture is we continue to form task groups around the drug of the day,” she said, “and we’re not talking enough about the disease of addiction itself — we’re talking about substances instead.” 

If New York does legalize recreational marijuana, communities do have some choice in the matter. The bill being proposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo permits cities and counties with more than 100,000 residents to opt out of allowing retail sales.

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. is among the public officials who have urged Mr. Bellone to have Suffolk County exercise that option. As the bill reads now, East Hampton, like Sag Harbor, could not opt out unilaterally.