Robin Murphy was elected Dec. 12 to the office of fire commissioner in the Bridgehampton Fire District. Voters also overwhelmingly approved changes to the Length of Service Award Program.

Shortly after 8 p.m. on Dec. 9, on Abraham’s Path near Asa’s Path in Amagansett, a town police officer pulled over a black 2011 BMW with temporary Alabama license plates and “an exhaust system that was modified to amplify sound.” It resulted in felony D.W.I. charges, one of two such incidents here in recent days.

A 35-year-old resident of Flower Hill, a small village in Nassau County, was seen starting a fire and then cleaning up ash behind the power station off Old Stone Highway in Springs on the afternoon of Dec. 11. A police officer ticketed him for an illegal “open burn.”

Aidan Corish and Bob Plumb were spooked by draft legislation introduced before an affordable housing workshop that would create an Affordable Workforce Housing Zoning District “floating zone,” with one calling it “a powerful and potentially damaging tool.”

Newsday announced that Emma McGrory, a senior midfielder on Bonac’s playoff field hockey squad, has been named to its 12-player all-Long Island team, and tiny Bridgehampton High’s boys basketball team beat Riverhead — a rarity.

Colin Mather has plunged on New Year’s Day for years, jogging the 1.6 miles to the ocean at the end of Beach Lane with whoever shows up at his Wainscott shop. His plunges have been more low-key than those at East Hampton’s Main Beach, but this year will be different.

Padel, a racket sport new to America, but not to Mexico, South America, and Europe, will be added to the East Hampton Indoor/Outdoor Club’s list of offerings come the spring.

Pat Mansir, who served three terms on the East Hampton Town Board and had a reputation reflecting her “willingness to think for herself,” died on Dec. 10 of complications of heart disease. She was 77.

David Marshall, who had served as the assistant basketball coach at the Ross School under Kelly McKee in his retirement, died of cancer on Dec. 12 in Southampton. He was 69 and had first been diagnosed about 20 years ago.

Andrew Strong, described by his family as “a father who found his greatest contentment raising his three children, a husband married to his best friend and soulmate, a beloved friend, and a lawyer who fought for justice, human rights, and freedom,” died of a heart attack on Dec. 11 in The Hague. Formerly of East Hampton, he was 43.

Grace McTurk of Montauk, “the last of the old guard,” her family said, died in her sleep on Dec. 11 in Viera, Fla. She was 104 and had not been ill.

From The Star’s photo archive, this Christmas card sent by Lion Gardiner (1878-1936) and Ida S. Loomis Gardiner (1881-1973) shows the Gardiner House on Ocean Avenue covered in snow.

Tidings of comfort and joy from The Star of yore to you, dear reader.

It’s The Star’s holiday mailbag.

Sometimes all you want in life is a little something that makes you happy, tiny tweaks to public spaces that would make your life better. Are you listening, State Highway Department or Department of Public Works?

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul did something of huge importance this week when she signed a bill that could lead the way for the state to make reparation payments to the descendants of the state’s enslaved people.

My parents’ generation had a pretty good idea of how to have a good time.

It’s important to “be of good cheer,” as the old folks used to say, not just during the winter holiday weeks but all year long.

Who says it’s passé? Good news and fine times in a YouTube music search.

If Greece and Turkey could reach a rapprochement it would not be too far-fetched to imagine that other ancient antipathies could be similarly dealt with. One can hope.