After writing earlier this year to President Joseph R. Biden expressing their concerns and hopes for the future of the country, David Cataletto and his sixth-grade students at the East Hampton Middle School were pleasantly surprised when the children got a letter back from the president on June 9.

Turnout was light last weekend at Windmill Village on Accabonac Road in East Hampton, the site of early voting ahead of Tuesday's Democratic Party primary, in which there are races for the nomination for town supervisor, town board, and town trustee.

The lead character playing the part of Ahab these days is a commercial lobster diver from Provincetown, Mass., named Michael Packard, and in this updated adventure on the high seas, Packard, while diving near his hometown last week, said he was inhaled by a whale.