Essential Amenity
Ponte Vedra, Fla.
August 10, 2026
Dear David,
I lived in Springs for 40 years and for each of those approximately 2,000 weeks took something totally for granted — the importance of having a thoughtful, comprehensive local newspaper available, which in my case, of course, was The East Hampton Star.
I moved away three years ago to a community that lacks this essential amenity. One needs to become a reporter to find out what the heck is going on! In fact, since I'm still an online subscriber to The Star, I know more about what's happening in East Hampton than I do in my new town.
Just think: Without The Star where would one find out about who passed away, police and courts, government, business, villages, sports, schools, arts, not to mention the opinion section and the wonderful Letters to the Editor.
Unfortunately, local papers are folding all over the country, which is terrible for an informed citizenry.
So, I'm writing to remind you, dear readers, just how lucky you are to have The Star and to urge you to support it. Subscribe! Advertise! Buy a Star calendar or hat! Or you can even make a tax-deductible donation to make sure that The East Hampton Star can keep shining for all.
Sincerely,
MARY ANN MCCAFFREY
Excellent Care
Springs
August 10, 2026
Dear David,
I read with interest Christopher Gangemi's article of Aug. 7 on the Stony Brook Hospital East Hampton Imaging and Emergency Department's first year of operation. Your article focused on the emergency services offered but failed to mention the most valuable new service offered at the Stony Brook facility: the M.R.I. technology that can quickly identify life-threatening conditions not identified by X-ray imaging.
I was also disappointed that the article did not include mention of the existing urgent care walk-in clinic right next door at 200 Pantigo Place, East Hampton Family Medicine. This excellent bilingual clinic operates every weekday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Under the guidance of Dr. George Dempsey, this clinic has been serving the underserved working-class folks in East Hampton for over 20 years.
Dr. Dempsey has devoted his career to provide excellent primary care medicine to the entire East Hampton community, and, among other community building and humanitarian efforts, has been a leader in the recognition and research on tick-borne illnesses that are now endemic here.
Dr. Dempsey and his excellent long-term staff are capable of handling all the urgent care needs of our community and they need our support and recognition to keep their walk-in clinic a vibrant option for our medical needs.
Sincerely,
JOHN R. POTTER
Want to Be Heard
East Hampton
August 7, 2026
To the Editor,
Last evening, I attended an informal reading and discussion of Lenny Ackerman's new book titled "Moments Out of Time."
I had attended other presentations given by Lenny discussing his writing in the past and was intrigued by his storytelling ability. I was not disappointed, as a large audience joined him as he shared with us several stories from his childhood that, in the telling, brought back many of our own childhood experiences that mattered.
As Lenny shared his stories and the writer's process that he undertook, I could not help but think about how important adult-child relationships are, whether they are with family or friends. Taking the time to give children a voice, asking them thoughtful questions, and being present to their inner thoughts, children want to be heard to be understood. Providing that opportunity for children in a relationship lasts a lifetime and creates those moments of meaningful nostalgia needed for self-reflection and growth.
As I am lucky to be around young children most days, I am reminded how important it is to take some time to engage young children in a dialogue that brings out their inner voice, their imagined and real thoughts about the world around them, and to share your thoughts and stories with them.
TIMOTHY C. FRAZIER
Executive Director
Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center
Fix the Road
East Hampton
August 8, 2026
To the Editor,
The road surface on Newtown Lane at the railroad tracks has been difficult to drive on for months. It is lumpy, bumpy, and major holes have developed. It is a heavily trafficked intersection that deserves a flatter surface.
Ever since the "work" dug up the road months ago, it has not been fixed. Every car has to slow down to a crawl, which backs up traffic. Plus the wear on tires is enormous.
The village spends money on sidewalks, signs, flashing lights, basketball courts, etc. Fix the road, which affects everyone!
JANE ADELMAN
Instituting a Toll
East Hampton Village
August 6, 2026
To the Editor,
Years ago, Dan Rattiner spoofed a story in Dan's Paper about instituting a toll to cross the Shinnecock Canal. My visiting sister-in-law from Vermont almost believed the story.
Maybe it's not such a bad or crazy idea.
LINDA BUCKLEY
Will Be Missed
Rye, N.Y.
August 8, 2026
Dear David,
We are saddened to hear the news that Mike O'Rourke, owner of Amagansett Seafood, recently passed away.
Mike was always committed to procuring the freshest and best seafood for his clients, which included chefs, year-round locals, and the summer crowds. There were many other aspects to Mike's personality, some he was known for and some not very apparent.
Mike was a character! He loved joking around with his customers, always ready with a witty observation or an irreverent zinger in his distinct Irish brogue. His store was usually packed with people buying seafood or by those who just enjoyed sitting and chatting with other patrons. At Mike's, it was always 5 o'clock somewhere.
Mike also was a caring and generous person. He was supportive of local causes and donated frequently to the community. He organized care packages for friends in need after the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters. He remembered faces and knew the names of family members, consistently interested in what they were doing as he welcomed them into his shop.
Mike treated his staff with respect. He frequently provided them with assistance, both monetarily and with moral support whenever needed. Many of his employees returned year after year to work or to visit after they were in college to update him on their progress. He was proud of them and bragged about their accomplishments.
He was outspoken about the discrimination of immigrants. As the movement against immigration accelerated, he had difficulty in finding help, as did many other local businesses. He was concerned not just about his store, but about the safety and well-being of those too afraid to come to work.
Mike will be missed by everyone who knew him and called him their friend. His absence and that of his iconic seafood shop will be felt in the heart and soul of Amagansett.
Mike, may the road rise to meet you.
MARY and TOM TALLEY
Sing Their Praises
East Hampton
August 7, 2026
To the Editor,
I read the article regarding the Montauk lifeguards and could not help but share my feelings regarding our lifeguards at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett.
Having been an East Hampton resident since 1982 and a dedicated beach lover here, I would like to sing the praises of those young men and women who have fearlessly gone in the waters to help and guide us all these years (myself included, having been caught in a rip current once).
Last week, Friday, when the waters were treacherous, they did not think twice about risking their lives for us. John Ryan Sr. must be so proud of the legacy he has passed on to John Ryan Jr.
PATRICIA ANHOLT HABR
Garbage In . . .
East Hampton Village
August 10, 2026
David,
East Hampton Village's decision to preserve its recorded meetings is welcome, but the project must begin with a comprehensive discovery audit of all online and offline records.
The proposed comparison of Google Drive files with existing YouTube videos is useful, but it covers only the materials already known to exist in those two locations. Relevant records may also be stored on village computers, external drives, DVDs, videotapes, cloud accounts, former systems, or in the custody of departments and outside vendors. Agendas, minutes, exhibits, public comments, photographs, and other documents may likewise be needed to place each recording in its proper context.
In information management, the familiar warning is "garbage in, garbage out," or GIGO. Even the most sophisticated searchable system will produce an unreliable archive if the materials entered into it are incomplete, mislabeled, or deprived of context. Cross-referencing an incomplete collection is particularly dangerous because it can create the appearance of a complete and authoritative archive while important records remain unidentified or disconnected.
Before files are renamed, converted, linked, or uploaded, the village should conduct and publish a thorough inventory of all potentially relevant assets, including their locations, formats, dates, ownership, condition, and preservation risks. It should then adopt a comprehensive plan covering digitization priorities, metadata standards, quality control, retention, redundant backups, public access, and the relationship between videos and their supporting records. This would give records managers and decision-makers a documented basis for evaluating the archive's completeness and reliability.
A searchable archive can be an important public resource. But searchability is not the same as completeness, and organization should not be mistaken for preservation. The village should first determine what it actually possesses — and what may be missing — before presenting the resulting archive as the public record. A reliable archive must be built on a complete and verifiable foundation.
DAVID GANZ
Changed the Location
Wainscott
August 10, 2026
To the Editor:
I write to you in response to Rona Klopman's letter printed in the Aug. 6 Star charging that I, as chairman of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee, changed the location of our regular Aug. 1 meeting to a "closed-to-the-public Zoom link" and that I need "a lesson in open government."
The meeting location was tentatively changed at our July meeting when I realized that the Wainscott Chapel, our normal venue, which is capably overseen by the Wainscott Sewing Society, had been scheduled for an Aug. 1, 10 a.m., lecture by Hilary Osborn Malecki, the president of the Sewing Society.
During the weeks leading up to the Aug. 1 meeting, I canvassed the committee about the alternative of meeting in person on another date or staying with the originally scheduled Aug. 1 date and meeting remotely.
The agenda for the Aug. 1 consensus date was posted on the town website and at the Wainscott Post Office on July 29, as is customary, with the instruction for those wishing to attend to send an email to allthingswainscott.com for the Zoom link. Visitors to our meetings have always been welcome and their questions and comments invited.
I am sorry that Ms. Klopman missed our Zoom meeting and made the unnecessary drive to Wainscott from Amagansett. I urge her, and any interested readers, to join our next in-person meeting at the Wainscott Chapel on Aug. 29 at 9 a.m. The first Saturday of September is Labor Day weekend, hence the change.
HERSEY EGGINTON
Mythic Leviathan
Amagansett
August 10, 2026
To the Editor,
First humpback whale of season gently rolling past Amagansett beach like a marvelous summoning sentinel that the ocean still breathes. Leviathan has swayed mythic tides in our souls since time immemorial. But over all the oceans are not happy. They are acidifying, and corals might not survive the century. Almost 75 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has undergone bleaching. We have reached an inflection point beyond compare, and the whales that speak as the greatest angels of the deep need to be honored.
That Iceland has resumed whaling after a two-year hiatus strikes me as perfidy. Even the death of a single fin whale, the world's second largest after the blue whale, attaining lengths of 85 feet, strikes me as a depraved example of humanity's inhumanity, but 150! And over 160 minke whales!
It can take over a couple hours for a whale to die. The horror we are inflicting on the natural world will boomerang back to us for sure. It is happening. The great Ragnarok myth about the battle between the Norse gods and chaos signified by monsters and giants could include the battle between humans and whales.
It is not a coincidence that Iceland's special forces captured the Bandero, operated by Capt. Paul Watson, who fought tirelessly to stop the massacre of seals by Canada in 1976 and cetaceans by the Russians in 1975 and the Japanese over the last several decades.
The Icelandic government may eventually ban outright any whale hunting but right now the whale meat is sold to Japan, who, despite international outcry, withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019.
We are taking liberties with the life of the oceans that will haunt us. Whales are key stabilizers in the carbon cycle of the Earth and distribute major nutrients like iron, nitrogen, and phosphorus back to the surface after they have fed on squid, krill, and other species. Phytoplankton use these nutrients, which give us 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe.
Most of us are not whale researchers, but the sight of a whale and the mere presence of the cetaceans swim astride our conscience as the very embodiment of the power, beauty, and ineffability of the life force. Herman Melville, who mentioned Sag Harbor in "Moby-Dick," knew about human hubris and its ability to destroy. He wrote, "He swam the seas before the continents broke sideways from the gates of birth." His masterpiece is incomparable, and he would have shuddered with utter shame about the toll our species has taken on the whales.
Iceland's and Japan's continued massacre of the innocent cannot be forgiven. The strains on the overheated oceans, soon to be exacerbated by El Nino, cannot be overlooked. We have literally entered uncharted waters, waters that feed our longing to be at one with origin, the oceans, because that is where we came from.
We had the extraordinary honor of having our last book, a dedication to childhood, include an introduction by Paul Watson. The book is called "Wonder and the World — A Childhood Among the Species," and it includes a photo of our son about to greet a gray whale in Baja, the very same grays that are undergoing a catastrophic mortality event because their source of nourishment, the copepods, are vanishing -- the whales who are the paramount paragon of wonder on Earth.
Baja is one of the few places on Earth where a large mammal actively goes out of its way to greet humans. Will this epiphany beyond compare be possible in the future? Paul wrote, "Cruelty is not something we are born with; it is an indoctrination forced upon children to justify certain adults' desire for them to hunt, to eat meat, and to perceive animal life as less valuable than human life."
We have to take stock of what we are doing to the whales before it is too late and reverse course. Our survival and sanity depend on it. We will have no way to explain to the children that we did not love them enough to change, to salvage the life force of this planet, which exists nowhere else in the universe.
CYRIL CHRISTO
Time to Act
East Hampton
August 6, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Although Donald Trump will not be on the ballot in November, voters will still be casting a ballot to either support or reject the policies and actions his administration has taken.
If one supports what Trump has done, then voting for Nick LaLota makes sense. Mr. LaLota's votes in Congress have demonstrated his commitment to enact into law what Trump has proposed as policy. On the other hand, if one doesn't support what Trump has done, then voting for Chris Gallant makes sense.
Democratic votes cast for Mr. Gallant, however, will not ensure a victory. With registered Republicans outnumbering registered Democrats in our congressional district, Mr. Gallant will also need the votes of independents.
Fewer than 100 days remain until the election. The time to complain about Trump has passed. The time to act against Trump has arrived. As the election approaches, remind Democrats and urge independents to vote for Mr. Gallant. Help send Trump a message of condolences through the ballot box this November.
SALVATORE TOCCI
Climate Leadership
East Hampton
August 5, 2026
Dear Editor:
Congress continues to spend billions subsidizing industrial meat and dairy production even as these industries contribute significantly to climate change, water pollution, and other environmental problems. Instead of addressing the root causes of these impacts, policymakers are investing even more in a system that increasingly relies on technological fixes rather than meaningful reform.
Americans are encouraged to recycle, drive less, and reduce their carbon footprints, yet taxpayer dollars continue to prop up industries that undermine those same climate goals. Imagine if even a fraction of those funds were redirected toward plant-based innovation, sustainable agriculture, conservation, or helping farmers transition to more resilient food systems.
Real climate leadership means aligning public policy with the future we want to build, not spending billions to preserve a system that is costly for our environment, our communities, and taxpayers.
Respectfully,
EDWIN HORATH
Crossed a Line
North Haven
August 10, 20326
To the Editor:
On July 5, our community crossed a line, when a group of uninvited anti-Israel/antisemitic demonstrators stormed into Lulu's Kitchen and Bar in Sag Harbor under false pretenses, interrupted diners, unfurled flags, chanted slogans, and targeted the restaurant because it is owned by Marc Rowan — a prominent Jewish businessman and outspoken supporter of Israel.
Following this incident, a couple of these provocateurs took to the pages of local newspapers to demonize Israel and its supporters. They leavened their letters with their frequently parroted false charges of genocide directed at Israel's military action in Gaza following the Hamas-orchestrated spree of murders, rapes, and burnings of Israeli nationals on Oct. 7, 2023.
As the distinguished New York Times commentator Bret Stephens observed, the charge of genocide is a moral obscenity because it subverts the definition of genocide which is precise: "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious groups as such." Here, there is no evidence of any official Israeli plan that was implemented or intended to systematically target or exterminate civilians in Gaza.
Throughout this war, Israel has distributed food and medical assistance into Gaza. The military has also warned of impending military action, advising civilians to vacate their homes where Hamas fighters have secreted themselves and their weapons. No war is pleasant, but no country in the history of warfare has, when attacked, been required to defend its lives and borders with one hand behind its back — only the State of Israel. And, despite the human rights violations existing in many parts of the world and ignored for the most part by these pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian zealots, it is only the State of Israel that is being subjected to the threats arising from boycott, divestment, and sanctions movements.
There is another name for this marginalization of the Jewish state and the imposition of standards to it not applied to any other nation. We call it what it is: the modern form of antisemitism and it includes such acts of intimidation that Jews throughout America are being targeted with now similar to the abusive acts of the July 5 Lulu invaders. But, to be sure, it is more than that; it is a message to all Americans, not just the American Jewish community, that these hooligans are in the forefront of a movement to remake America into a very different country than that our governing laws had in mind. When they, like storm troopers, entered a restaurant trying to intimidate the owner, who was trying to operate a business, or when they applaud the harassment of a Jewish boy or girl on a college campus trying to receive an education, they are attempting to eradicate the values that have guided and enriched America for 250 years.
These cultist-socialists have little respect for the rights of property or the importance of enforcing rules of personal conduct familiar to many of us as the law.
It is astonishing to us that the local print media, The East Hampton Star and The Sag Harbor Express, ignored this event of hate. Both papers had no problem splashing its pages with the news of Justin Timberlake's misadventure in Sag Harbor or its florid coverage of the arrest of a local shopkeeper in Sag Harbor regarding charges that he harassed and violated the civil rights of a young African-American patron (charges later dismissed in justice court). Does this silence portend a position that this event of intimidation never happened? This silence is a serious act of journalistic malpractice on the part of both papers.
East End Jews for Israel was created to support Israel, to combat antisemitism, and to support American values. The Jewish community in America has enriched our nation; likewise, America has been a beacon for us as Jews. We intend to preserve that connection.
MITCHEL AGOOS
STEVEN BECKER
ALAIN HYMAN
DAVID SAXE
East End Jews for Israel
Covering Fire
Amagansett
August 7, 2026
To the Editor:
Christopher Gangemi's "Ire Over Este Still Smolders" (Aug. 7) describes how two Montauk restaurants have expanded far beyond their permits: Barlume Beach, approved for 75 seats, has more than 500, and Este, under construction, filed for 39 seats but is much huger than that, and applied for a liquor license for 500 customers.
Both developers are following Marc Rowan's playbook at Duryea's, which only ever received approval to be a fish takeout shack, and has expanded to seat as many as 150 people.
Before Rowan led the way, no one would have dared. Now this kind of unpermitted expansion has become common, even epidemic, gutting the quality of life in Montauk. Thank Rowan for a gift that keeps on giving!
The handout at the Lulu's action included the following: "After purchasing [Duryea's], Rowan has engaged in a yearslong legal battle with the Town of East Hampton, challenging zoning regulations, and disregarding neighbors' complaints of encroachment on their properties. . . . Despite orders from East Hampton officials, Rowan continues to operate Duryea's in violation of town code."
Mitchell Agoos and friends, in their letter to The Star last week, referred to this action as "the invasion of a Jewish businessman's restaurant" by "a pro-Palestinian gaggle." They all live here, right? Can we please talk about who Marc Rowan really is and what he has done to this town?
Last week, I said that there were two categories of people screaming insults at us, the liars and the people they conned. Mr. Agoos knows perfectly well what the truth is here and doesn't care.
I particularly enjoyed the claim that I exhibit "disregard for the core principles of American democracy that operate as a barrier for the well-being of all of us" — all as part of a sustained barrage of covering fire for a MAGA billionaire who has done more than anyone to sap democracy right here and is fairly close to Elon Musk in importance in his support of authoritarianism at the national level.
There is an easy way to find out which of us is telling the truth — come to Long Wharf in Sag Harbor at 3 p.m. any Sunday, post yourself on one of the windmill benches, and watch the two of us for an hour. I will mainly be silent, looking out for the well-being of the pro-Palestinian protesters conducting their vigil, and not engaging with the people Mitchell sends across the street to scream threats in my face from six inches away.
For his part, Mitchell yells a lot. "Turn Gaza back into a sandlot!" stands out as an expression of his real take on things. He and the others don't feel the need to disguise their authentic views and personalities on Sunday afternoons in Sag the way they do in their Star letters.
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE