The news stories that captured East Hampton Star readers' attention in 2019 include headlines involving murder, drunken-driving crashes, major drug busts, fires, and a shooting.  

Our readers' comments

It may be self-serving for us to speak about the role of the local press in today’s closed-loop media ecosystems, but several responses from readers last week to an editorial about the sharp rise of anti-Semitism and its ties to a tone set by the president got us thinking.

Fires in two huge South Fork houses, one in Bridgehampton on Dec. 19 and another in Water Mill on Saturday, should remind residents and visitors of the tremendous commitment of our volunteer firefighters and ambulance personnel.

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. is now former Mayor Rickenbach after stepping down on Dec. 20, closing out 27 years in the post. Mr. Rickenbach first began service when he joined the village Police Department in 1958. He became a village trustee in 1988. He has seen the village in times of boom and bust and ably oversaw and balanced the desires of residents first and foremost with summer visitors and businesses. This has been no simple task, but Mayor Rickenbach handled it with aplomb, and with the continued support of the community.

This time of year always reminds me of The Star’s origins: The paper hit East Hampton on the day after Christmas in 1885. The Star arrived on the doorsteps of East Hampton Village residents even before the Long Island Rail Road had an East Hampton stop. Think of that! In 2020, we will count 135 years of newspapering, and are proud to say so.

Keeping our 9-year-old away from electronic devices has been a struggle since he first figured out how to work the track pad on his mother’s Mac laptop. His is a generation saturated in all things digital that finds playing a video game while listening to something on television and keeping up with friends on social media hardly distracting.

Long Island real estate is suffering as sales decrease and homes lose value, and one reason is chronic flooding fueled by climate change.

Every day during these holiday weeks seems to me like Sunday, which, I hasten to add, isn’t a particularly good thing for someone who likes to think of himself as purposeful if not actually useful.

The prices listed here have been calculated from the county transfer tax. Unless otherwise noted, the parcels contain structures.

It was cloudy and relatively warm on Friday, 50 degrees to be exact, which, when it came to skating, was fine with him, Doug De Groot said, the Buckskill Winter Club’s enemy this time of year being the sun.

“Did we . . . win?” the sportswriter asked on arriving late at East Hampton High. “They won,” a young fan answered on his way out.

“Our defense was good enough for us to win,” Dan White, East Hampton’s coach, said after a 45-30 loss to Eastport-South Manor here, but when it came to offense there wasn’t much to write home about.

Hoops rivalries will be the order of the day Friday, as Bridgehampton visits Greenport, and Southold plays at Pierson in Sag Harbor. Monday takes the Bonackers bowling against Greenport-Southold at the All Star lanes in Riverhead.

Southampton Town has more than 60 freshwater ponds. Most of these ponds are contaminated to this or that degree, but the most contaminated are given a label by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation that speaks to their fragility.

Alastair Gordon shares memories of Doug Thompson, a longtime friend and noted architect who died in November.

The Amagansett streetscape will soon suffer a significant loss with the closing of Ille Arts, which has been a vital source of culture and visual art in that hamlet at two different locations since March 2012.

Faux Mission Chinese Chicken Wings

Having just dined at Mission Chinese for the first time, I immediately ordered the restaurant’s cookbook. I do not have it yet, but I found this recipe online, which is supposed to replicate Mission’s famous chicken wings with xxx spice.

This is a story that could be sad, but it is not. It is more of a silver-lining story that brings us to family, food, and the holidays.

The new Pushcart Prize table of contents lets us know that authors are thinking about drug overdoses, racism, cultural appropriation, caring for elderly family members, and the complicated political divide.