Villages

       The beaches in East Hampton Village were largely a success story in 2013, the village board was told at its work session last Thursday, but its trees are suffering and in urgent need of protection.

       Olivia Brooks, chairwoman of the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s tree committee, and Michael Gaines of C.W. Arborists in Sagaponack told Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and members of the board that construction and other vehicles that park over trees’ roots while at job sites are damaging them to the point that they may not be able to survive.

       The scene: Tuesday, Nov. 4, Stuart’s Seafood Market, Amagansett, one day after the start of the 2013 scallop season. A man stands before the store’s display case. A woman, a longtime friend, enters, greets her friend and stands beside him looking into the case.

       As the counter clerk approaches, the man begins to ask: “Have you come for . . . ?”

People looking to get rid of clothing, bedding, accessories and toys will have an opportunity to do so this weekend and benefit the East Hampton Synchro Swans synchronized swimming team at the same time. The Swans are a competitive synchronized-swimming team that trains at the East Hampton Y.M.C.A.-RECenter.

Collection will be at the Springs Presbyterian Church on Old Stone Highway on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Swans have asked that all donations be packed in tied trash bags.

Items that will be accepted include:

       Nicole Lomitola, the daughter of Phyllis and John Lomitola of Montauk, was married to Ryan Hiller on July 25 at Gurney’s Inn in Montauk. The bridegroom’s uncle, the Rev. Dave Bollinger, performed the ceremony.

       Mr. Hiller’s parents are Kathryn Adair of Park City, Utah, and John Hiller of Salt Lake City.

       The bride’s cousin Candace Hiddlestone of San Diego was her maid of honor. She was also attended by her cousins Genna Pallan, Danielle Defina, and Taylor Monte of New York and by Karen Loftus of San Diego and Julie Towers of New York.

       On election eve an unusually small group of 18 members attended the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee’s monthly meeting. They learned from East Hampton Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the committee’s town board liaison, that a taxi task force has been formed to come up with ideas for limiting the number of out-of-town cabs that infiltrate the hamlet each summer to cash in on the influx of seasonal visitors.

    A cocktail party for the Darlene Lycke scholarship fund will be held at Sammy’s restaurant on West Lake Drive in Montauk on Friday, Nov. 8, from 6 to 8 p.m.

    The party is a new fund-raiser that replaces Joan Lycke’s yard sale, which was held on her lawn annually for many years to benefit the fund, established in her late daughter’s name. The scholarship goes to Montauk students who graduate from East Hampton High School.

    Helene Tallo of Montauk knits about 120 baby blankets a year, at least 12 per month. They are given to every newborn infant patient at her son’s pediatric medical practice at the Children’s Health Center in Fort Wayne, Ind. Most of the tiny patients leave their first visit already swaddled in the blue, mint green, purple, or pink coverings.

    The Rev. Mark Phillips, pastor of the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor, the church’s historical committee, and members of the church’s Session have announced that the historic trompe l’oeil mural in the building’s sanctuary will be restored. The public has been invited to a talk about the project on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the church.

    The mural, part of the architect Minard Lafever’s original design of the church, which was completed in 1844, creates the illusion of a curved apse with classical columns framed in an Egyptian-style border.

    The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals had a lengthy back-and-forth with the former chairman of the board about the definition of garages in the village code and how they can be used.

    With Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and members of the East Hampton Village Board wearing pink in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Friday’s meeting was brief. Two public hearings on proposed amendments to the village code were held, and they were quickly adopted unanimously after no one commented.

   The board of trustees of the Amagansett Library will conduct a study to determine how the library can continue to meet the community’s needs, and has asked the public to attend focus groups, held by an outside facilitator, on Saturday and Wednesday.

    The board seeks input as to whether it is providing the community with good value, adequate staffing, resources, services, and space, and if it is meeting expectations, among other questions.

    In a Sept. 21 wedding at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk, Meghan Anne Ryan and Nicolas Michael Finazzo were married. The Rev. Michael Rieder of St. Therese officiated.

    Mr. Finazzo is a son of Rori Butterfield of Montauk and Michael Finazzo of Boca Raton, Fla. He is a math teacher at the East Hampton Middle School. He received an undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s College in 2009 and is in the master’s program in special and elementary education at Touro College on Long Island.

    September was “an ideal late-summer month,” Richard G. Hendrickson wrote in his monthly weather report from Bridgehampton.       

     Mr. Hendrickson, a United States Cooperative weather observer, recorded daytime highs in the 70s during the first half of the month and mainly in the 60s in the second half. Nights began mainly in the 60s, then dropped mostly into the 40s by month’s end.

    The hottest day last month was Sept. 11, when it was 85 degrees. The coldest temperature of the month was 38 degrees on the 18th.

     The Montauk Chamber of Commerce will host its annual fall festival this weekend in the downtown area, with music, food, a 30-horse carousel, inflatable rides, crab races, pony rides, face painting, pumpkin decorating, raffles, and more, much more.

    The top brass of the East Hampton Town Police Department visited a meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday to address speeding and other concerns on Second House Road in the hamlet.

    Chief Edward V. Ecker Jr., Capt. Mike Sarlo, who will take over as chief in late December, and Lt. Chris Hatch, the Montauk precinct commander, told the group that enforcement of existing speed limits would be the key to solving the problems that residents are having.

    Representatives of a village civic group asked the Sag Harbor Village Board on Tuesday to create a citizens advisory committee that would be charged with studying and recommending traffic calming measures.

    It was tuxedos and Croc sandals for David A. Steckowski and Adisorn Chaikhram, who were married in an evening ceremony on the bay beach in Amagansett on Sept. 19.

    The couple gathered before a group of family and friends, with their dogs, at the Cross Highway house of Mr. Steckowski’s grandmother Charlotte Hallock as the sun set and the moon came up over distant Napeague.

    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s 11th-hour veto of a bill that would have smoothed the Montaukett Indian Nation’s path toward state recognition will not be the last word on the tribe’s effort to reclaim its identity, according to State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Chief Robert Pharaoh.

    In his veto message, the governor said the bill would require New York State to adopt the lengthy and thorough federal process for recognizing Indian tribes. Mr. Cuomo said that would be too costly for the state.

    An archaeology festival sponsored by the Montauk Historical Society will be held on the grounds of the Second House Museum on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    The festival, now in its second year, is held to raise awareness of a proposed Montauk Indian Museum to be established in a cottage owned by the Town of East Hampton on the north side of the Second House property. A future addition to the building is planned.

    An active approach to health for older residents will be the subject of a morning forum Saturday, sponsored by the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation. Rethinking Aging will be held at the Emergency Services Building at 1 Cedar Street from 9 a.m. to noon. Free coffee and a light breakfast will be served at 8:30.

    The East Hampton Town Trustees will hold the 23rd Largest Clam Contest on Sunday at noon at the Donald Lamb Building in Amagansett.

    The annual event will include a clam chowder competition, judged by writers from The Star and featuring both Manhattan and New England-style variations on the delicacy, chowder and clams on the half shell for all, and a display of the Dongan Patent, the 1686 document that created the trustees and granted them authority over the Town of East Hampton.

    The Concerned Citizens of Montauk will hold its annual meeting at the Montauk Firehouse on Saturday at 3 p.m. After a brief meeting, “Beaches or Boulders: Montauk’s Future Shoreline” will be discussed by guest speakers including Orrin H. Pilkey, a James B. Duke professor emeritus of earth and ocean sciences at Duke University. A pre-eminent marine and coastal geologist, Mr. Pilkey specializes in the study of ocean beaches and coastal policy, particularly in resort communities.

    Doreen M. Petrillo and Eric Drew of East Hampton were engaged on May 3, the future bride’s birthday, although they first met 26 years ago while working at Gurney’s Inn. At that time, Ms. Petrillo was a spa receptionist and Mr. Drew was a lifeguard there.

    The East Hampton Village Board will host a roundtable discussion on deer management at the Emergency Services Building on Monday at 1 p.m. Representatives from the Village Preservation Society, the Ladies Village Improvement Society, the Town of East Hampton, the East Hampton Group for Wildlife, the Garden Club of East Hampton, and the Maidstone Club are expected to participate, and input from residents will be welcomed.

    Registered East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School District voters approved the East Hampton Library’s 2014 budget on Saturday. The vote was 162 to 43 in favor of a $2.1 million budget, representing an increase of $141,000 over this year. Next year’s budget will result in an average tax increase of $7.76 for homeowners.

    The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will hold its annual budget vote and trustee election on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

    Residents of the Bridgehampton and Sagaponack School Districts will weigh in on a $1.55 million spending plan for 2014, which includes a debt service of $560,000. Total spending is up $29,100 over this year’s budget, and taxpayers will be asked to contribute an additional $30,100 next year. The library expects to raise $10,500 through fines and fees and $13,600 in investment income.

    A new police officer was introduced at a brief meeting of the East Hampton Village board on Friday, and the Long Island Power Authority’s application for an excavation permit to upgrade its transmission grid was discussed.

    “We are going to welcome into the ranks of the East Hampton Village Police Department our newest member,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., standing at the lectern with Richard Lawler, a trustee, told the assembled.

    The Montauk Seafood Festival is set to happen on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. under a tent in the parking lot of the Montauk Marine Basin, near Lynn’s Hula Hut.

    There will be nonstop music by the 3Bs, Timmy Fee, and Remember September. Fish races, a snapper derby, fish-print demonstrations, T-shirt airbrushing, and coloring contests will keep the kids busy.

    Seaside sights, sounds, and tastes will bring the masses to the 24th annual Greenport Maritime Festival this weekend to benefit the East End Seaport and Marine Foundation and to celebrate the village’s 175th year. Over 40,000 people have attended the event in the past, whether for a glimpse of visiting tall ships, maritime demonstrations, or offerings from local artisans.

    The John Jermain Memorial Library’s budget vote and trustee election will be held on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and is open to all registered voters in the Sag Harbor School District.

    The proposed 2014 budget is just under $2.29 million, an increase of $71,633 over this year’s approved budget, with $60,450 of that increase to be covered by taxpayers. That represents a difference of about $5 per year for the average homeowner, according to the library.