Will Open Soon
Montauk
December 7, 2025
Dear David,
A letter in last week’s Letters to the Editor about the Montauk Playhouse Aquatic Center raised several questions and included several inaccuracies. One point was correct: The center is still not open, four months after the first-look ceremonial ribbon-cutting.
Since then, the prime contractors have been completing outstanding tasks and addressing issues identified during turnover to the Town of East Hampton, the building owner. These tasks included securing Suffolk County Health Department permits, which are now in place. This has allowed Imagine Swimming, the pool operator, to begin hiring and training staff. However, work by the mechanical contractor to stabilize water temperature and humidity, install a replacement chiller, and verify system performance is still ongoing and has taken longer than expected.
We regret the delay and will open the pool as soon as the remaining mechanical issues are resolved and all systems are operating correctly. Pricing information will be posted soon on the Imagine Swimming website, and the opening date will be announced once the pool is fully ready. Anyone with questions or concerns is welcome to contact us directly for a site tour or further information.
JENNIFER CARNEY IACONO
Board President
Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation
Anchor’s Efforts
Springs
December 7, 2025
To the Editor,
In response to the editorial from Nov. 27 “Thank Your Local Shopkeeper” and pertaining to the Anchor Society’s efforts vs. all those stores that we don’t shop in:
Spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Ithaca, N.Y., we visited the village of Skaneateles. We walked in and out of mom-and-pop shops, one after another, while Dickens-like characters strolled about wishing us a merry Christmas with some on corners singing carols. Some stores were too crowded to even enter.
It’s the “high end-ness” of East Hampton stores that makes you not consider even walking around the village. Those days have been gone for years. This makes me sad.
So yes. Thank you to the Anchor Society.
JEANNE MULLER
Farming Again
Orient
December 3, 2025
The old Sherrill Dairy is going to be farmed again! Wouldn’t my grandfather be pleased! He started the dairy with his father, A. E. Sherrill, in 1910, when he was 19, while his two younger brothers were headed for West Point. His family had been in the agricultural business since 1792, when his great-great-grandfather Abraham Sherrill, a Revolutionary War veteran, purchased the property from the Conklings.
He loved the farm, as we all did, and would be so happy to learn that Changing Tides Equine, Ocean to Earth, and Amber Waves will be farming the land again. After he sold the dairy, retiring in 1973, he rented land to a horse breeder, and loved watching the race horses frolic in the former cow pastures. They exuded pure joy.
So delighted to hear that Ms. Brabant is planning to let people just come sit at the farm to watch her rescue ponies, donkeys, and miniature horses. And that Mr. Yashinowsky and Ms. Merrow might offer U-picks. We might again be able to see those beautiful amber waves of grain.
Thank you, Town of East Hampton for making this all possible. The Sherrill farm lives on, for us all to enjoy.
MARY FOSTER MORGAN
Ultimate Irony
Potsdam, N.Y.
December 7, 2025
To the Editor,
The preface to C. David Coats’s’ “Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm” offers a relevant and disturbing reminder about the self-defeating logic of humanity. Mr. Coats encapsulates the absurdity of our current practices: We “kill wildlife by the millions” to protect domestic animals, then “kill domestic animals by the billions and eat them,” which in turn “kills man by the millions” through fatal degenerative diseases. He observes the ultimate irony of this escalating spiral of destruction: torturing and killing more animals to find cures for these diseases, while simultaneously sending out a card praying for “Peace on Earth” once a year.
This stark, disturbing reality described by Mr. Coats must serve as a mirror reflecting the fundamental flaw in our civilization’s structure. He exposes an essential conflict: We cannot have genuine peace in the world until we end the systemic war we wage daily in our food system. The widespread, systematized violence we normalize has a corrosive effect on societal harmony.
This is the crucial point addressed by Will Tuttle in “The World Peace Diet.” Mr. Tuttle argues that the animals, having “suffered immense agonies under our domination,” are owed our most profound apologies, which can only be paid through fundamental change. The book’s title is not just a phrase; it is a prescription for healing the rift between human consciousness and compassionate action.
By choosing to “act better, and by acting better, we can live better,” as Mr. Tuttle advises, we dismantle the industrialized systems of suffering that are the root cause of much of the world’s violence, environmental collapse, and disease. Our choice to move away from exploiting animals is an investment in human health, planetary sustainability, and a global ethic of kindness. A hopeful future is not a gift we receive but a world we build — one meal, one deliberate choice, and one ethical commitment at a time — thereby giving “the animals, our children, and ourselves a true reason for hope and celebration.”
RANDY JOHNSTON
Tune Out the Noise
North Haven
December 8, 2025
Dear David:
The Hamptons DocFest founder, Jacqui Lofaro, is presenting the 18th year of top-quality films, often including the creators and, occasionally, the actual subjects.
Again, we have the opportunity to better understand the truth of a diversity of issues that actually matter, as opposed to having to settle for censored content and the deceptive palaver rampant in commercial and “social” media.
We also have The Star here, as an important surviving asset, offering honest local journalism with fact-checked truth and inclusive letters, as we often see.
These credible assets are important because we get swamped with lies and deliberate deception. We may get lazy and cling to those falsehoods, or hold onto our own bias of so-called principles or cherished beliefs.
Some courageous folks take serious risks to investigate and document the ills of government, business, clergy, and society. Their commitment is to save these institutions from themselves, and not to destroy them. We need to respect this gift being offered in the face of chaos and actual threats of violence.
Thursday, we saw the dangerous but tenacious on-site field journalism of Amy Goodman, best known for her program “Democracy Now.” She made a generous informative presence at the Q.-and-A. afterward. This was an experience not to be missed, if one is at all interested in the noble and risky effort to seek and publish the truth. The film’s title, “Steal This Story, Please!” reflects her strong desire that the hidden stories she digs up at great risk and effort not be for her personal aggrandizement, rather for other journalists to pick up and carry forward with.
“Cover-Up” was a film about the journalist Seymour Hersh, detailing many of his important investigations of government and military atrocities. It shows how important good, honest, and courageous journalism is to our understanding and well-being.
Government, corporate, and even some religious institutions peddle their agendas with duplicity and mendacity for their own selfish benefit. A society interested in survival and quality of life that includes respect for others and extends help to the needy, must listen to these reporters of the honest facts. It behooves us to tune out the noise of deception that is all around us.
Amy digs deep into hidden subjects like the World War II illegal round-up of U.S. citizens of Japanese race who were never found to have had any connection to the Japan war effort. Our government burned all those incriminating documents; however, Amy discovered this information and exposed it. She is often accused of being anti-American, but is actually our biggest protector.
We also saw a brilliant investigation into the Vatican cover-ups of adult female sexual abuse, extending well beyond already-known pedophilia. The well-oiled machinery for the deliberate hiding of those disgusting facts and perpetrators was made clear.
We need to look into ourselves to be sure we are individually — and collectively as a society — behaving in an honorable and civilized manner. Anything less is the destruction of our country as we once knew it.
ANTHONY CORON
Back in the Day
East Hampton
December 5, 2025
Dear David,
I was tickled by “Guestwords” this week by Bob Greenberg. I totally relate to the love of a good pair of well-worn jeans. Back in the day, I bought my first pair of Levi’s straight leg (not to be confused with skinny jeans) at The Gap in Kings Plaza, Brooklyn. Washed to a nice soft denim feel and look, hardily made to last. I wore those babies till they shredded. They lasted much longer back then. They had all those metal buttons. So cool.
I remember that jeans shop on Kings Highway. My high school, St. Brendan’s, was near there. We walked those blocks often after school, browsing for new jeans, and shopping at the “India” shop for gauzy peasant tops with tiny mirrors, and dangling beaded earrings.
What memories it brought back. That’s where the Jesus looking guy said, “Hello, beautiful” to me as I exited the bus. He was standing right there on the corner, smiling at me. No halo.
I was embarrassed, but secretly flattered. We were leery of strangers, but he was harmless. Those days mostly were mostly peaceful, though we had a few incidents on the buses. Tough public school chicks who did not like Catholic girls in uniforms. I wasn’t a fighter. I had my hair pulled and my friend Julie Spahr had choice words for the chick, (Jules had three brothers), and we beelined it for the bus exit up front. We ran down Flatbush Avenue like gazelles. We couldn’t wait to get home and change into our normal clothes. Levi’s, of course.
Happy holidays!
NANCI LAGARENNE
At Its Best
East Hampton Village
December 8, 2025
To the Editor,
This past Saturday was East Hampton at its very best. The village was full of Christmas cheer, with lots of neighbors joining in to celebrate the holiday season. Never before has the village been so packed, starting with a parade through town, to Santa arriving by helicopter in Herrick Park at 11 a.m. What followed was a day of good cheer and lots of free giveaways to add to the 20 or so mini-stalls set up on the lawn of Village Hall, each with something interesting to sell.
The line to sit on Santa’s lap stretched from an alley off Main Street down the block with hundreds of children and families waiting to confide in Santa their wishes and dreams. It all culminated with an outdoor ceremony led by the leaders of the village and at least 1,000 locals to light the tree in Herrick Park.
It was in every respect a throwback to what East Hampton must have been 100 years ago with Christmas lighting on the streets, decorations in every window, and most of all, hundreds if not thousands of locals participating in a truly village event.
East Hampton needs more of this local esprit de corps. If we expect to see our village survive and prosper, we need more locals buying from our local stores, going to the movies, hanging out at the restaurants, and enjoying our multiple sports facilities.
To stay alive, a village needs vibrant leadership with ideas as we now have and active participation by its citizens! Make 2026 a year for renewed commitment to keep East Hampton alive and vibrant — and to make next year’s Christmas celebration even bigger.
ALAN PATRICOF
SantaFest
East Hampton
December 7, 2025
Dear David,
As the mayor of East Hampton Village, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped create a truly wonderful SantaFest community celebration this past Saturday. It was one of the most well-attended holiday events our village has ever hosted. Thousands of residents and visitors filled Main Street, our parks, and businesses with holiday spirit.
This year’s SantaFest showcased the very best of East Hampton. Santa made a dramatic entrance by police helicopter, thrilling families. From there, our vintage 1952 East Hampton Village police car proudly escorted Santa to the start of the Santa Parade, a moment that connected our history with the magic of the season.
Throughout the day, families enjoyed a wide variety of free, family-friendly activities. Guild Hall hosted festive cookie decorating, BonBon provided free Scandinavian candy, and children packed the theater for a free showing of “Elf.” Santa greeted families at Millstone Park, creating memories captured in countless photos. At Village Hall, our holiday market was a huge success, featuring local makers and small businesses contributing to the festive atmosphere.
This year also featured our Christmas tree lighting, proudly illuminating what could be the largest Christmas tree on Long Island. Adding to the magic, Fifth and Dune built and generously donated the beautiful tree skirt, crafted to resemble a giant holiday drum, which became an instant crowd favorite and a stunning visual centerpiece for the event.
I also want to recognize our grand marshal, Jen Tarbet, the retired elementary school principal, past Main Beach manager, former ambulance volunteer, and past president of the Ladies Village Improvement Society. Her lifelong commitment to serving our community made her a truly fitting and inspiring choice for this honor.
A special thank-you as well to the L.V.I.S., which generously provided gift wrapping for everyone throughout the event. Their dedication added to the spirit and convenience of the day, and we are grateful for their partnership.
Events like SantaFest don’t happen on their own. They require dedicated planning, teamwork, and passion. I want to personally thank my entire village team, our Police Department, Fire Department, Ambulance Department, Department of Public Works, Village Hall employees, and the many volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the day seamless, safe, and joyful for all.
I also want to extend a sincere thank-you to Bradford Billet and Mary Wasserstein from the East Hampton Village Foundation, whose hard work and funding through generous donations from local businesses and residents made this event possible.
A very special thank-you to Marcos Baladron, the village administrator, for his shared vision, passion, and drive for a united community. His leadership and commitment were essential to the success of this year’s SantaFest.
SantaFest is more than a celebration: It is a reminder of what makes East Hampton special. A strong, connected community that comes together to create experiences our families will remember for a lifetime.
Thank you to everyone who participated, supported, and attended.
Sincerely,
JERRY LARSEN
First of Many
Montauk
December 3, 2025
Dear David,
I don’t always get my mail from my post office box punctually, and I know little about Jerry Larsen, as I live in Montauk, but it seems to me that waiting until after the holidays to begin his campaign for supervisor in 2026 would have been appropriate.
In my mailbox, among all the Giving Tuesday requests, I received the first of what will probably be many political fliers. I’m already voting for anyone else.
SALLY KRUSCH
Standard
East Hampton
December 8, 2025
To the Editor,
Jerry Larsen has every right to run for a new office, and I’m delighted to see that he is upfront with his Trump-like playbook. In a recent Star article he referenced his lawyer and, as we know, that’s standard in that world.
But it was the bragging that most struck me. He crows about his “traction.” So the money men are on board — and hoisting those champagne toasts.
Thanks to The Star for catching this reality show in its early days.
TOM MACKEY
Why Attack?
Amagansett
December 5, 2025
To the Editor:
Christopher Gangemi’s article “To Cease and Desist” quoted my friend Anna Skrenta: “[I]f [Jerry Larsen] truly wanted the endorsement of the [Democratic] committee, why attack us before he screened?”
This was more confirmation of what I wrote last week, that Mr. Larsen’s approach (a fit topic for psychoanalysis) is to bully the people whose support he needs.
I also compared him to Donald Trump, but there are two differences. Trump mixes bullying with flattery. Mr. Larsen lacks the populist piece; he does not know how to make people feel valued. When he does switch to making promises, they are very generic, the same anyone else makes, about good government, better financial management, and the like. More important, Mr. Larsen is playing to the wrong demographic. Republicans (so far, and I hope that continues!) are much more prone to voting for authoritarian demagogues than Democrats. And the First Citizen has to win a primary to run as a Democrat in the general election — so the majority of the people who voted for Trump in 2024 will not be able to vote for him.
This makes me mildly hopeful that Mr. Larsen will not be our next supervisor — but let us please not allow hope to make us passive. There is a lot of work needed to defeat this guy.
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Matter of Time
East Hampton
December 8, 2025
Dear Mr. Editor,
Hope all is well at The Star. Glad to see you’re back on the water; I could not understand a two-year layover for a prop shaft.
Sorry you have not heard from me lately but I was discouraged from writing over the summer. You had too many left-wing pinheads in the mix. But now we are back to the few local dregs of the movement.
Your headline “Condo Plan Shouted Down at Town Hall” I’m sure has townwide attention. I have been waiting to hear of something like this. As you know, we were discovered long ago and it was only a matter of time before a carpetbagger came up with something like this.
I did not make the meeting, with the midday timing and planned short notice which (of course) prevented my attendance. Thankfully, many attended and said, “No,” which would be my answer.
If 16 people said “No” in person, that would transfer into 1,600 noes, if polled.
We will have to wait and see how the petition goes. The sales presentation with Kirby Marcantonio (the pitch man) and Chris Kelley (the heavy) proved interesting. The pitch for a local business to buy and rent for less than market value is a quagmire, or perhaps a scam to get some type of approval. Where is the value? Employee quits or is laid off, where does he go? It can take months or up to a year to evict.
What about seasonal workers? I can see employers advertising for winter rentals, but none of that is the issue. The issue is size.
Why would anyone want to ruin the Springs and the rural character we try to maintain? The problem is these people won’t go away till they get what they want, or close to it. As long as government (Democrats) entertain these absurd proposals, these carpetbaggers will hang around like that black fly at the beach.
As far as the town board, we had three nays and two for. The two for, Tom Flight and Ian Calder-Piedmonte, both are pro-accessory dwelling units and work force housing. which, as far as I am concerned, will turn into short-term Airbnb and Vrbo rentals. The government won’t monitor them. This past season, the party house on my corner had 19 short-term rentals. No one cares.
Just like the beer barn in the village, they will keep pushing till they get what they want, and once constructed, do what they want.
Best regards and, as always, yours to command,
JEFFREY PLITT
Just One Issue
Amagansett
December 7, 2025
To the Editor,
The Amagansett School Board hired Adam Ross, an attorney, on March 5. This individual has made the claim and alleges to be impartial. There is just one issue. Adam Ross works for the Amagansett School Board at the taxpayers’ expense.
When he makes improper statements, as he has done, such as, “What do you want short of ‘Wait?’ ” Short of? Without hearing and considering all the facts? That doesn’t sound impartial. That sounds as many already know. Predetermined. No recommendations from Adam Ross can be considered accurate and impartial.
I’m glad I told Mr. Ross he is the “personal attorney” for the school board and Michael Rodgers. As always, until the end of time, Michael Rodgers deserves, in my humble opinion, to have a 3020A brought against him and be fired for just cause. Immediately.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
War Crimes
Montauk
December 2, 2025
Editor:
War crimes! When did politicians become concerned about war crimes? Trump and Hegseth have only murdered about 80 people. No big deal.
For the past two years, Biden and Trump have been supplying our “ally” Israel with military weapons, money, and 2,000-pound bombs to use against the Palestinians. The death toll is about 70,000, the majority of whom have been women and children.
If leveling Gaza and bombing schools, hospitals, and refugee centers with 2,000-pound bombs, while targeting aid workers and journalists don’t amount to war crimes, then genocide war crimes and genocide don’t exist.
Since the Oct. 10 cease-fire, Israel has killed 350 Palestinians. This past weekend, Israel killed two brothers, aged 8 and 10, out collecting firewood — the same age as two of my grandsons. Israel said it will investigate.
GEORGE WATSON
Symbol of Hate
North Haven
December 7, 2025
To the Editor,
Not once in his dopey hectoring on the virtues of restorative justice does Jim Vrettos (Letters, Dec. 4) even mention what swastikas mean to Jews. Well, we will let him in on a little secret. Swastikas, for Jews, are a symbol of the hate that had its apogee during the Holocaust under the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler.
When this skinhead began to spew his graffiti-laden swastikas throughout Montauk, it sparked deep fear and uncertainty among the Jewish community until he was apprehended.
The upheaval and attacks he made against the Jewish community are trivialized by the absurdly lenient five-day prison sentence meted out to him by Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski and approved by his fan club led by Jim Vrettos.
Memories of families and loved ones being sent to the Nazi ovens are not properly dealt with by having this skinhead placed in some secure therapeutic environment, as Mr. Vrettos would have it, “to receive the necessary help he needs.” Frankly, this sounds much like a day at the spa!
There are no facilitators around to engage this bum in some imagined time-intensive program of community engagement. There seems to be little here to indicate any accountability on his part, especially with respect to how his actions affected the entire East End Jewish community.
In our view, the proper sentence for this skinhead was to place him in a state prison for nearly the maximum time his plea permitted. If he then refused the plea, the district attorney should have tried the case. Such a sentence, well publicized, is a deterrent to those with similar antisemitic proclivities and a possible desire to act on them. They would know that if they did, the law would provide a nice dark, cold, and altogether unpleasant living environment for a solid period of time.
East End Jews for Israel,
DAVID SAXE
MITCHELL AGOOS
Crime Declined
East Hampton
December 4, 2025
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Following the shooting of the two National Guard soldiers, Donald Trump said his administration will “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World countries” and vowed to deport any immigrant who is “non-compatible with Western civilization.” Trump has repeatedly portrayed immigrants as “illegal and disruptive populations” claiming that “this refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America.” The facts tell a different story.
In March 2024, a comprehensive study of immigration and crime in the U.S. from 1870 to 2020 published by the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded, “As a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the U.S.-born for 150 years. Moreover, relative to the U.S.-born, immigrants’ incarceration rates have declined since 1960: Immigrants today are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated (30 percent relative to U.S.-born whites).”
In October 2024, the American Immigration Council released a report comparing crime data to demographic data from 1980 to 2022, the most recent data available. The data showed that as the immigrant share of the population grew, the crime rate declined. The report also states, “In fact, immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born. This is true at the national, state, county, and neighborhood levels, and for both violent and non-violent crime.”
Trump’s claims about the relationship between immigrants and crime are just more examples of his “alternative facts.”
SALVATORE TOCCI