This weekend is the 25th anniversary of the Great Backyard Bird Count. To participate, you spend a minimum of 15 minutes counting birds, and afterward report what you see to the number-cracking scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The Pierson and Bridgehampton High School boys basketball teams won county classification titles Wednesday at Westhampton Beach High School, the Whalers over Greenport and the Bees over Smithtown Christian.
The East Hampton Town Board voted on Thursday to postpone the planned temporary closure of East Hampton Airport to May 17. The planned reopening date is now May 19.
“Cellphone, cellphone, wallet, cellphone, car keys, wallet, wallet. . . . Underwater scooter.” So began a visit last week to the Sag Harbor Village Police Department’s property room, where everything that people turn in as “found property,” or that officers happen to find while on patrol, awaits reunion with its owner.
Much may depend, however, on an assessment of the condition of the site’s four structures, commissioned by the town and to be issued this week. Its author, the consulting engineer Drew Bennett, has said that “there are some things of concern” in his report.
The struggle over the future of East Hampton Airport intensified on Tuesday with the filing of lawsuits seeking to prevent the town from carrying out its plan to close the airport on Feb. 28 and reopen a new, private-use airport on the site on March 4 with a prior-permission-required framework, under which advance clearance is required before a pilot may use the airport.
Lucky for us, if the ponds remain unfrozen, kingfishers are fairly common around the East End during the winter months.
Monday marks the federal holiday originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington’s birthday on the 22nd of February. It wasn’t until 1971 that it officially became known as Presidents Day, when it was included in the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, and moved to the third Monday in February, as an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Perhaps it’s time to take a historical jaunt and commemorate the South Fork’s ties with many sitting POTUSes over the years.
A New York State mandate that people wear masks or show proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms, theaters, offices, and stores was lifted last Thursday. The decision, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the time, was motivated by improving Covid-19 measurements, including the percentage of tests coming back positive, hospitalizations, the number of cases per 100,000 people, and vaccinations.
Fishermen and other residents of East Hampton Town who have been prevented from accessing a 4,000-foot stretch of Napeague ocean beach commonly known as Truck Beach have a new ally in an outside attorney for the town trustees.
