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Gristmill: Parting Ways

Shades of Jimmy Carter, the part of my hair suddenly switched sides.

Point of View: Truth Shall Set Us Free

I must say, in retrospect, that if the coronavirus were still raging, Authors Night would have been a good place to catch it.

Guestwords: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Roiling Stones

I've had some amusing experiences while passing stones. Have you?

Hampton Classic Saddles Up Sunday

The 46th weeklong Hampton Classic Horse Show, one of just nine five-star-rated shows in the country, is to begin at the 60-acre Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds on Sunday at 8 a.m. with leadline classes for children judged by Joe Fargis, an Olympic gold medalist, in the Grand Prix ring.

Tennis Legends in Amagansett

On Saturday, the eighth annual Johnny Mac Tennis Project's Pro Am in the Hamptons will be held at the Sportime Amagansett Tennis and Swim Club on Abraham's Path. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Johnny Mac Tennis Project, a nonprofit founded by tennis legend John McEnroe that aims to introduce tennis to thousands of under-resourced children by helping to remove racial, economic, and social barriers that often face them.

Revamped Montauk Skate Park Reopens Friday

The Lars Simenson Skatepark, on South Essex Street in Montauk, will reopen Friday after an extensive renovation made possible through a public-private partnership.

22 Chairs Are a Call to Action

The Chair of Hope Project, an art installation at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Amagansett, is a cry against gun violence, featuring a chair for each child and teacher who died in the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., plus one more to represent hope.

The Age-Old Art of the Farriers

"We joke and say it's the world's second oldest profession," said Ike Birdsall, owner of Birdsall's Hotshoe, a farrier based in Sag Harbor. Farriers, who tend to horse hooves, are an essential but unheralded segment of the $122 billion horse industry, and the job hasn't changed substantially since 400 B.C. when the earliest horseshoes were made.

South Fork Farmers Adapt as Drought Persists

While much of the South Fork of Long Island is now in a severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, many East End residents have not changed their watering habits despite warnings from the Suffolk County Water Authority. Not so for East End farmers. For them, water is a factor in every decision they make about which crops to plant, and which to forgo.

Fifty More Places to Call Home Soon

The new Three Mile Harbor development, expected to be completed within 18 months, will feature 10 one-bedroom, 29 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom apartments across five two-story residential buildings. Officials broke ground on Aug. 17.

A Site for Wind Farm Work

The subcontractor that will perform the onshore cable installation for the South Fork Wind farm plans to use an approximately one-acre area at the end of an abandoned East Hampton Airport runway, adjacent to Industrial Road in Wainscott, as a laydown area. 

Cannabis Expo: High Hopes, Big Money

Equity was a big talking point last Saturday at the second annual Hamptons Cannabis Expo held at the Clubhouse in East Hampton, where the frequent roar of private jets at East Hampton Airport combined with the aroma of roasting blunts provided a handy metaphor for an event top heavy with accounting firms, insurance representatives, cannabis investors, and multistate operators — large cannabis companies poised to enter a New York pot market that's off and running in a big way.

Town Taking Harder Line on Overclearing

The East Hampton Town Board, citing rising instances of overclearing of parcels during building construction, voted last Thursday to increase the fees for vegetation compliance reviews. The vote followed an Aug. 16 discussion during which an assistant town attorney and Natural Resources Department official relayed numerous examples of overclearing.

Trustees to Do Drone Survey of Shoreline

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted on Monday to conduct an aerial drone survey of approximately 50 miles of shoreline, a companion to the recently commenced on-the-ground survey of docks in waterways under their jurisdiction.

Maidstone Gun Club Targets New Land Lease

The expiration of its 30-year lease of town-owned land is still more than a year away, but the Maidstone Gun Club, which leases some 97 acres of town land off Wainscott Northwest Road at an annual rent of $100, has informed the town it intends to negotiate its renewal.

Item of the Week: The 1973 L.V.I.S. Horse Show

This invitation to the 1973 Ladies Village Improvement Society Horse Show feels particularly timely considering this year's Hampton Classic Horse Show starts Sunday.

Lack of Wireless on Village's Agenda

"Right now, our village code, and our zoning code specifically, lacks any regulations pertaining to wireless facilities," Billy Hajek, the East Hampton Village planner, told the trustees. "We've been able to get by without it, but as the population increases there's going to be more demand for wireless facilities."

John Eastman, 83, Entertainment Lawyer

John Eastman, a prominent entertainment lawyer whose clients included the musicians Paul McCartney and Billy Joel, the Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning, and the playwright Tennessee Williams, died at his Lily Pond Lane, East Hampton Village, residence on Aug. 10. Mr. Eastman, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two months earlier, was 83.

For Simon Perchik

A memorial service for Simon Perchik will take place at Ashawagh Hall in Springs on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. Mr. Perchik, a longtime resident of that hamlet, was a well-known poet who died on June 14 at the age of 98.

Robert Otto

Before starting Robert E. Otto Glass Inc., Bob Otto was a partner with Ward Freese in a similar business. The two parted ways in 1960 and Mr. Otto took the glass business to a storefront on North Main Street in East Hampton. Five years later, he moved it to where it has been ever since, on Montauk Highway in Wainscott. Two generations of Ottos have followed him in the business.