Off the record, on the QT in WHB, and very hush-hush…
...from being a simple double-breasted schmuck to being a back street variety goniff as well due to his utter disregard for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
But then, he, or whoever administers his J.P.O.E. blogspot, has probably never heard of DCMA, much less become familiar with it's provisions, a précis of which is: More...
...finally found his way to the Speir family homestead on East Main Street about the time I was concluding his "local" credentials might be completely fraudulent.
The countdown had commenced on August 26th when a campaign worker called to More...
...and curious... or not.
The myriad of vehicles with flashing red and white light in front of chez Speir just now, were not here for either my wife, myself, or any invited guests. More...
I wasn't around for the "Long Island Express," referred to here abouts as "the '38 Hurricane."
But I sure remember others like "Carol" and "Hazel" in 1954 and "Diane" a year later, and while I was up in Connecticut for "Hazel," I was running around with my father in "the Muttering Monster," our '36 Buick, helping kith and kin haul out boats in Remsenburg. More...
Updated 09/03/2010 – 01:56 pm
Near SRO this evening at the monthly meeting of the Westhampton Beach Board of Trustees.
At a glance it was the bad ol' days before the last election with everyone from Angelo de la Fuente and deposed Planning Board Chairman Ralph Neubauer, to local bund activists Irene Barrett and Bob Dillmeier, and J.P.O.E. hotdog Arnie Sheiffer. More...
From today's Southampton Press Western Edition in which Village Trustee Joan Levan makes "her position clear" on an eruv:
"We were elected by the residents of this village, and whatever we do, we do for the best interests of our residents. I think our residents were very clear that it's More...
This just in from Jewish Week, and it looks like Marc Schneier might be in for an inquisition:
Rabbinical Group Poised To Probe Marc Schneier
High-style rabbi declines RCA offer to resign; says bipolar condition to blame for unusual behavior.
"Unusual?" More...
Haven't done a This Week's Murphy Malfunction in awhile, so check out page 11 of today's East End Independent, "The Earl of Atlantic Strengthening," which contains:
"It could strike the mainland coast around Cape Cod and North Carolina by Friday, and then may well shoot up towards{sic} the New York metropolitan area." More...
More importantly, what's it made of?
With a fortnight left before the Republican Primary in New York's 1st Congressional District, to play off a line by author Thomas McGuane, as voters...
"...we are assaulted by carpetbaggers in squadrons." More...
Ten days ago OtBB called architect Nick Vero out on this disgraceful situation at Six Corners because the ball had been in his court More...
...the National Weather Service or your own lyin' eyes? Or in this instance, those of my on-the-scene wife!
At "11:23 am EDT, Sun., Aug. 29, 2010" The Weather Channel posted the following: More...
It arrived in the form of an E-mail tickler from Amazon.com:
"As someone who has purchased 'King Kong (Collector's Edition),' or other films of Robert Armstrong, you might like to know that 'Paid' is now available." More...
Updated 08/27/2010 – 15:45 pm
The scenario in which the East End Eruv Association could be seeking Long Island Power Authority approval in establishing the mostly symbolic religious boundary, took on greater credence as more information comes to light.
"Remember," a source familiar with the issue told OtBB, "all that is required of an entity to grant an eruv, is that it have the More...
It didn't take long for Jewish People Opposed to the Eruv, which has been unsuccessfully attempting to reinvent themselves as "Jewish People For the Betterment of Westhampton Beach," to raise the alarm about the most recent threat of an eruv in the area.
Early Thursday morning, alerted by Trustee Joan Levan, the following E-mail was circulated over the signature of J.P.O.E. Chairman Arnie Sheiffer: More...
Updated 08/25/2010 – 11:36 pm
...with fear at the Country Club, and that sound from the end of Notamiset Road in Quiogue will be nutburger Irene Barrett's head exploding.
The eruv lives! More...
It arrived earlier this month, and probably should be entitled "Where not to eat in Westhampton Beach."
"Crazy Dog Ice Cream - BooRah – 115 Montauk Hwy Westhampton Beach, NY 11978 – Restaurant Reviews for Westhampton Beach" More...
Which in this instance is preferable to NY Post or Daily News, either of which would have been about grousing in the goodie with Gitty.
Actually, it was a two-parter, with today's "A Short Second Life for a Building With History" concluding yesterday's "3 Years After a Windfall, an Unexpected Reality for the Genealogical Society." More...
Whatta week this past week wasn't!
I totally punted Wednesday's August Village Board meeting... it was mostly Bo Bishop's fault... but then so did the Empress of Oneck and Junior Palmer. More...
"The new marquee is already fabricated and ready to be installed as soon as I complete my end."
...and in an interview conducted August 5th, cited "the end of next week" (of August 8th) as his completion date. More...
...by one of his own, Marc Tracy, editor of Tablet Magazine's daily blog, "The Scroll:"
Does Marc Schneier Speak for Us?
Rabbi’s infidelity said to reflect on community
The community which Tracy references More...
...or not, depending on how much attention you've been paying over the past 18 months!
It is the time of year when the Westhampton Beach Police Benevolent Association makes its mail solicitation for "financial support." More...
...I say "to-mah-toe," and the Suffolk County Water Authority1 says "ka-Ching!"
The "Dog Days of August" arrived uncommonly early this year, sometime around the end of June, and while it has greatly reduced our lawn-mowing requirement, it has put a More...
While I'm am a columnist-turned-blogger, I still get some small satisfaction from scoring a "beat" on a professional news-gathering operation such as The Southampton Press or, even better, Newsday.
Never much thought about The New York Times, though... 'til now. More...
Headline last hour on 27East.com:
Westhampton Beach man accidentally shot in Calverton
The lead reads: More...
Although I have still officially foresworn the Detroit Lions, I still take note when they are involved in something newsworthy, as happened yesterday in Pittsburgh.
Angry NFL official’s expletives aired in stadium
During a pre-season NFL game encumbered by heavy rain and lightning, following a More...
...he's a stud, but then who among the penis-encumbered of us, hasn't fancied ourselves one at some point in our lives.
Unfortunately, even with four marriages and half-a-century beneath his size 52 belt, the globe-trotting Hampton Synagogue Rabbi has yet to learn the most critical element of indulging in hanky-panky: discretion. More...
...that everyone has been eagerly awaiting has arrived, safely, and even on its due-date!
Eleanor Ramsay, daughter of Jenn and Matt, granddaughter of Barbara and Stephen arrived around 5:15 pm at Southampton Hospital, weighing in at 7 lbs. 9 oz.
This is gonna be some kid!
Shocking Update: 08/13/2010 – 12:51 pm
Beach Bakery's Simon Jorma appeared before the Westhampton Beach Planning Board this evening with an old application for a Modification of Site Plan, but a new attitude.
As a result, there seemed for the first time in recent memory to be a genuine meeting of the minds between applicant and Board. More...
...as when it was spoken almost 70 years ago, perhaps even more so.
The speaker is stock player Barton MacLane in reply to Humphrey Bogart's patriotic exhortation in a relatively minor Warner Brothers release, "All Through the Night." More...
...include an aero-medivac from the Great Lawn to Stony Brook University Medical Center of a man injured in the surf at Rogers Beach.
Emergency apparatus, four each from Westhampton Beach Police and Fire Departments, and Westhampton War Memorial Ambulance Association plus miscellaneous vehicles from Quogue and Eastport, ringed the field More...
OtBB was all over the bookstores thing mid-May, and while it garnered some comments and a note of appreciation from The Open Book owner Terry Lucas, life progressed apace in downtown Westhampton Beach.
I thought of it again earlier this week when I spotted what looks to be a P.R. firm's release in The Wall Street Journal. More...
...and always on the corner of Mill and Main, backed up against the old Seaside building.
It's local artist and chronicler of our More...
...at Six Corners...
...with the "old," purely coincidentally, being the subject of some discussion at the August Village Board Meeting. More...
...if and when the former Southampton Town Supervisor goes to trial in late October.
In a stunning blow to the defense, Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith has made known his ruling that the video of Linda Kabot interacting with Westhampton Beach Police Officers Ryan Lucas and Steven McManus, as well as statements she made after being pulled over on Main Street, may all be used by the More...
The evenings of unexciting Village Board meetings continued for a second straight month with only a couple from Seafield Lane providing any non-standard fare during the 35 minute session.
Resolutions discussed during the July Work Session were passed, and there will be: More...
I'm not certain what induced me to check out the debut of "Breaking Bad" on January 20, 2008 since Cable AMC was not even on my "favorites" list 32 months ago.
In its early years, American Movie Classics, which launched in 1984, showed uncut, commercial-free films on basic cable. More...
...but purely for the amusement of those who might remember something about this locale of July 26, 1987.
It was post-Gloria, the "Bess Mess" with its Exchange Point locus was headed to court, and Black Monday was still three months away.
Things were rosy all over with people More...
The mention of Nancy Genovese on 27East seems to generate more vitriol and heat than anyone else over the past 52 weeks.
In fact, her arrest one year ago yesterday was named #1 of the 25 most-read stories of 2009 on The Southampton Press' Website. More...
...of what happened on Sunset Avenue which attracted so much law enforcement attention Saturday morning.
A couple new to the Village, stopped at the first deli they spotted, Sunset Court. More...
Because of crap... not reportage, but flat-out "crap" (since OtBB tries to maintain certain language standards)... like this:
"She's the Coco Chanel of bank robbers, darling.
It's just because we're a "Hamptons" More...
I loved Billy Loes, the kid from Astoria who pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1950-1956 less the year he took off for military service in 1951.
(I've always felt that if Loes had played in '51, and had beaten out Bud Podbielan or Erv Palica, Bobby Thompson would be a forgotten name1 today.) More...
Updated 07/31/2010 – 03:56 pm
A robbery occurred this morning at the Westhampton Beach branch of Astoria Federal Savings at 71 Sunset Avenue.
Contrary to earlier information, no firearm was displayed by the robber, described by More...
Circumstances last evening dictated dinner at Starr Boggs, then Performing Arts Center for their 5th Annual Long Island Comedy Festival
Dinner, as always, was terrific, but the comedy event was, um, erratic. More...
Updated 07/29/2010 – 10:17 am
...on the Internet, of course, at the Internal Revenue Service site under:
"Exempt Organizations At-Risk
of Revocation - New York"
...several local organizations in danger of losing their Tax Exempt status. More...
...or, This Week's Murphy Malfunction, as found on page 19 of today's East End Independent in Karen Fredericks' cartoon:
"...why Billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been such a harsh and relentless critic of Senator Carol Gillibrand.... " More...
Beats the bejabbers outta me, but that More...
...of Charlie Bates' Tiana Beach Club not long after it'd been converted from a WWII Coast Guard rescue station into a very successful Dune Road destination.
During the days, when Mike Kammerer, Dave Royce and I parked cars @ $2 each, the sun, the sand and the surf was a huge draw, and each Saturday and Sunday we would jam 450-480 vehicles into a 400-car lot. More...
Following June 13th's third season finale of "Breaking Bad," Cable AMC quietly plopped in an episode of a new series, "Rubicon."
Perhaps unprecedented in television-land, it was a real deal "sneak preview," i.e., it was unannounced. More...
...I learn from Ms. Alison Frost's Wild Westhampton blog, that what I've always called an "Ocean-going Sunfish" is a/k/a a "Mola Mola."
The Summer of 1960 a subway motorman from Ocean Parkway arrived with his wife and kids for a week's vacation at a cabin they rented each July in Hampton Bays. More...
How 'bout the "Quality of Driving" infractions, the kind one can readily observe riding or walking along Westhampton Beach's Main Street in the Summer after Noon on a Friday!
(That is, unless one is a uniformed Traffic Control Officer... they never seem More...
OtBB is informed by former Deputy Village Clerk Patricia Ann Stinchi, who seems to know these things, that the Newsday obituary for Hizzoner was not incorrect when it reported:
"Morgan is survived by brothers Ronald Morgan, of Coos Bay, Ore.; Russell Morgan of New Jersey; and another Robert Morgan, also of Westhampton Beach." More...
Updated 07/29/2010 – 10:17 am
...on the Internet, of course, at the Internal Revenue Service site under:
"Exempt Organizations At-Risk
of Revocation - New York"
...several local organizations in danger of losing their Tax Exempt status. More...
...we were just getting to know you.
The Southampton Press Western Edition's Hallie D. Martin is headed to South Carolina to marry the guy. (A newspaper man, natch!)
In her stead Will James will move over to the Westhampton Beach desk from which he covered the July Trustees Work Session, just concluded.
Sometimes the East End Independent is good for a hoot, mostly for publisher Jerry Della Femina's weekly "Jerry's Ink" column.
Of recent, though, it is not, and mostly because of it's skewed coverage of Westhampton Beach politics and Editor Rick Murphy's More...
It's no secret that I'm such a Law & Order aficionado that I regularly record and watch the week-daily three-hour block of reruns on Cable TNT.
It's a great time in the day for me... I open and peruse mail, work on a sudoku problem and, invariably, have a nap. More...
Updated 07/19/2010 – 11:18 pm
Westhampton Beach Police Sergeant Nicholas Fusco calmly and surely disposed of a major lynchpin of the defense's "conspiracy!" theory this afternoon in a Riverhead Town courtroom in front of Justice Allen Smith.
Sergeant Fusco was questioned under oath by attorney William Keahon and asked More...
From this morning's coverage of Linda Kabot's DWI case:
"Police testified they inadvertently erased a portion of the video while reviewing it."
No, they didn't! This is a material misrepresentation of what the Westhampton Beach Police Officers have testified to.
Always a delicate matter relating anything less than effusively adulatory regarding the recently departed, but it has been with considerable restraint that I have held off this long!
The principal player is, as one may have surmised, Hizzoner, Robert W. Morgan Jr., on July 2, 1984, the day he was sworn into office as 15th Mayor of Westhampton Beach. More...
From Newsday's obituary of Bob Morgan:
"Morgan is survived by brothers Ronald Morgan, of Coos Bay, Ore.; Russell Morgan of New Jersey; and another Robert Morgan, also of Westhampton Beach." More...
...now gone with the passing Monday of one Naftali Kupferberg, better known as "Tuli," co-founder of the political-satirical group known as The Fugs.
If one spent any time below 14th Street, particularly in the East Village around Tompkins Square, in the early '60s, you probably came across Tuli. More...
There was no way of knowing that OtBB's birthday bouquet to Bob Morgan in April would be my last message to the man who was such an important part of the lore of our Village.
(Not to mention to the "popularity" of my column in the old Hampton Chronicle-News during the mid-'80s.) More...
Whatever juju Linda Kabot's attorney William Keahon is conjuring from his bottle of scotch and his extensive trial background, seems to be having the effect he desires.
That immediate effect is widespread confusion in the media as well as some dubious reporting... or at least discrepancies between the accounts on Newsday and in 27East. More...
Remember Vince Offer (née Shlomi), the ShamWow/Slap Chop TV infomercials guy who had a spot of trouble with a strumpet in South Beach in February 2009?
While the Israeli-born pitchman hasn't done anything of note of late, the Southampton Village Police nabbed a More...
This afternoon Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith called another halt to to the pre-trial hearing of former Southampton Supervisor Linda Kabot on her DWI arrest last September.
Announcing that "things were just too weird in Westhampton Beach," the black robed More...
George Steinbrenner, Yankees’ Owner, Dies at 80
And me, a Dodgers' fan of 60 years standing!
I grew up hating the Yankees, not just More...
Updated 07/13/2010 – 11:16 am
...tonight's premiere of "Rizzoli & Isles," Cable TNT's updating of "Cagney & Lacey" with the all-important twist.
TNT has heavily promoted the show for the past two months, and since I've always found Angie Harmon a pleasing eye-full, and Sasha Alexander, late of "NCIS", not bad either, I took a look. More...
The last person I want to hear from on any subject is that racist hypocritical media-thug, the no-so-Reverend Jesse Jackson, especially on the subject of LeBron James.
But now he's back in the news accusing Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert of seeing his former hoops superstar as "a runaway slave." More...
What a long unusual trip it was for Louie Rakowski, from being discovered abandoned in a box outside Brookhaven Town shelter by my wife's nephew Alex, to a last look at the Pacific Ocean yesterday morning before his master Baier had to do that terrible and loving act.
I'd like to think that Louie had a good final run and leg-lifting along the sands, but his More...
The signal beacons of Fort Terry went dark many decades ago, not long after Suffolk County Army Airfield (built January 1943) was surplussed and turned back to the County.
However, when the facilities were reactivated as Suffolk County Air Force Base in 1951 to serve as a fighter interceptor base under the Air Defense Command1, no one was interested in tiny Fort Terry. More...
...and King James XXIII, holding court in a live ESPN cablecast, has told a global audience that he's going to "South Beach," what next?
Well, someone in Cleveland burned a "James #23" jersey last night, and who could fault any such display of anger and betrayal? More...
Hadn't looked in on the Planning Board in a while, and with the resumption of its Chair by Vic Levy, I thought I'd look in to see if there was going to be any hitch in the transition from the previous Board to what shall henceforth be known as "LevyII."
Mostly I was interested in observing the demeanor of the two distaff members of More...
From this morning's Southampton Press Western Edition story about the restoration of Trevor Gonce's Lieutenancy:
"...some speculated at the time that Lt. Gonce's demotion was spurred by More...
...and I thought it worth sharing even though it's three weeks old.
Sub-titled "A Fisherman's Ode to the Oil Spill," singer/songwriter Leonard Scott's More...
Updated 07/07/2010 – 08:32 am
Or, the annual organizational meeting, held the first Monday of Westhampton Beach's fiscal year... or Tuesday, if Monday is a national holiday. (Which it was.)
Following the oaths of office administered to the victors in June's election, the Village actually was able to get on with the More...
The dog daze of August seem to be a whole month early this year.
Things won't ever be right 'til they put the rocks back on the moon!
...on the most divisive Village Board in the 41 years I've been clocking Westhampton Beach government.
With the retirement of Trustee Jim Kametler and the election of Sue Farrell, the obstructionist troika becomes the symbiotic twosome of Joan Levan and failed mayoral candidate Hank Tucker, and they are now, mercifully, in a minority. More...
The National Hockey League has had numerous tough guys and "enforcers" over the decades since I started following the sport in 1951 while living in the Detroit area.
There were only six teams in the NHL back then... really just two, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadians... and the More...
From ESPN.com, bylined Andrew Marchand:
"Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden says he is over his tiff with New York Yankees shortstop Alex Rodriguez, but his team won't let it go."
Ennnt! Thanks for playing!
...some of the great old broads of the silver screen who are observing natal anniversaries on our Independence Day:
Hey, I'm as big a sports fan as anyone past the age of 40, and I used to live and breathe the New York Knickerbockers in the days of Reed, Frazier and Snazzy Cazzie Russell.
But this all-LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh-all-the-time crud is i-n-s-a-n-e! More...
Not that the blogger is prescient, but I can parse language with the best of'em.
A year ago when Ned Dougherty announced "Club Marakesh-Our First Reunion," OtBB noted:
"The 'First,' presumably, of others planned."
Well, it's b-a-a-a-c-c-k, this time at More...
Or at least tries to.
This morning's Southampton Press Western Edition "noteworthy news" item is in a small box found on Page 4, captioned:
Clarification
"The story 'Clean Sweep For Unity Party' in the June 24th edition of The Press More...
When I was in my single digits and susceptible to the usual array of childhood diseases, if I was abed and feverish, there was often an accompanying sound as if there were a hundred flies buzzing.
I've never figured what that juvenile auditory sensation was about, but was reminded of it while watching the FIFA World Cup matches over the past several weeks. More...
...could have caused the Maywood, California city council to take this drastic a step:
California City Fires All Workers, Including Police
That's major for any municipality! More...
...when a couple went separate ways, the husband often placed a classified in the local newspaper to the effect:
"My wife, having left my bed and board, I will no longer be responsible for her debts."
My, but times have changed! More...
This popped up on Google Alerts recently from MyHotel.ws' Hotel and Travelling{sic} information page:
"Although the Westhampton area, including the incorporated villages of West Quogue, Westhampton Beach, and West More...
Received Thursday last a strong Comment from former Southampton Town Councilwoman (her description, not mine) Carolyn Zenk in response to a blog entry from last October.
I don't know whether someone just now called Ms. Zenk's attention to that entry, or if she was Googl'ing herself to see what she's been up to, but her words would otherwise More...
...or was it yesterday?
I don't remember. More...
Alerted by "Chip with a Tip" that a TV show was filming in the Village, I was able to grab a couple of shots and get the 4-1-1 on what was going on near Rogers Bridge this afternoon.
(No, the "Extreme Makeover" had nothing to do with last Friday's sweep by the Village Unity Party.) More...
It'll be front page news in tomorrow morning's Southampton Press Western Edition because, well, it's important news.
It will have nothing to do with the fact that the results of Friday's Village elections mirrored the editorial endorsements in the previous week's edition. More...
Updated 06/23/2010 – 10:13 am
...truly have been lost on the Empress of Oneck, as we learn from intrepid beat reporter Hallie Martin's updated report on 27East:
"But on Tuesday, Ms. Levan said she told Westhampton Beach Police Chief Ray Dean that she did not trespass. In fact, she said she was home at that time on June More...
From a 27East report about an injury at the Suffolk County Police firearms range:
"The unidentified officer was participating in routine training at the shooting range, located off Old Country Road in Westhampton, when his service-issued Glock More...
...and there are so many reasons that it's hard to focus on just one... but I'll try.
This came from Sunday's edition, a story with the ambiguous headline: More...
As Oirish playwright and poet Brendan Behan said to his wife Beatrice on his deathbed:
"We've seen the two times."
Friday, I and others who share similar concerns, definitely saw those two times. More...
A 27East comment postulated an intriguing thought this weekend:
"...with a 12 vote loss of her candidate, who knows if news of her unconscionable actions two days before the election might have been the deciding factor." More...
Defeated Mayoral-wannabe Hank Tucker, in the Newsday report on Friday's election:
"I think the people who voted for me voted for change. I have no regrets. I More...
The joke making the rounds right after the 1960 Presidential election was that JFK had just sent a one word telegram to the Vatican:
"Pack!"
Today's quip is the text-message Conrad Teller just sent Rabbi Marc Schneier: More...
...and the Village of Westhampton Beach has taken an important step back from the abyss.
In short, the Village Unity Party has swept the 2010 elections with incumbent Mayor Conrad Teller besting challenger Trustee Hank Tucker by a dozen votes. More...
Updated 06/18/2010 – 05:12 pm
As today's Village Elections continue... the polls opened at Noon in the municipal meeting room at Six Corners... some news from the Police Department.
Item: Interviewed personally by Police Chief Ray Dean due to her position within the municipality, Trustee Joan Levan was More...
Apparently the Empress of Oneck deems her domain to extend well beyond her own property lines.
Westhampton Beach Police "Incident Information" report #10-01759 entertains a trespass complaint by Stephen J. Arrasate against "Joan Levanne"{sic}, subsequently identified as the Village Trustee of similar name. More...
I've had my battles with The Southampton Press Western Edition and its Editor Frank Costanza over the past several years, but I'm delighted with this morning's across-the-board editorial endorsement of the Village Unity slate in tomorrow's Westhampton Beach elections.
And no, it has little to do with the fact that we're backing the same candidates: Teller, Birk and Farrell. More...
And if anyone thinks that's the height of silliness, they haven't seen the campaign literature being circulated by Mayoral-wannabe Hank Tucker.
Last week's hand-out began with a cynical recycling of 2009's nuclear eruv bomb, and concludes with a whopper of a falsehood... More...
Well, some of us do while others are ignored.
Today's top letter comes from Liberty Party Trustee candidate Charlie Palmer Jr., with four campaign promises: More...
OtBB reader "Redheadmom" is dubious about assertions made here that Westhampton Beach Trustee Joan Levan is ram-rodding the 2010 campaign efforts of Mayoral-wannabe Hank Tucker and would-be Trustees Charlie Palmer, Jr. and, as a write-in, Michelle Buggé.
"You've said that they're running together, but all three are running on different political parties, and each have their own campaign signs, thematically different. More...
Well, some of the Westhampton Beach Police Benevolent Association, at least, authored in part if not in toto by Officer Mike Bruetsch.
Aside from being PBA Vice President, Bruetsch is one of the two tainted Village Officers under suspension following a lengthy Suffolk County Police Internal Affairs investigation. More...
...Mayoral-wannabe Hank Tucker and Trustee candidates Charlie Palmer Jr. and write-in hopeful Michelle Buggé, are ostensibly running on separate lines when they are so clearly running as "the Levan team."
And if those aren't wondering, should be!
And this is directed at Hank Tucker and Charlie Palmer, Jr., who have been carrying on about anything they hope will give them any traction at the polls next Friday.
One of their big issues, aside from the recycled mezuzah-rattling about the eruv, has been the lack of "accreditation" of Westhampton Beach's Police Department. More...
Back in the news again, that is.
27East broke "the story" yesterday, "Lindsay Lohan's father in talks to open club in Westhampton Beach," and now it's national news in the trash tabloids and their television counterparts. More...
...is known as "the Second City," and one has to look no further than the pages of today's Chicago Tribune, with it's PhotoShop'd image of "Chrissy Pronger," captioned:
"Looks like Tarzan, skates like Jane" More...
Updated 06/10/2010 – 12:28 am
Yesterday afternoon, while traveling through the intersection of Montauk Highway and Oak Street/Old Riverhead Road, I noted that the Chih-controlled property between Lilac and Oak was, as is common each June, festooned with campaign signage supporting whoever Trustee Joan Levan would have elected.
I mean, we're talkin' corner of Lilac across and down Oak to the end of the parcel which was, most recently, The Corner Restaurant. More...
It didn't exactly rise to the level of the celebrated Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, but they were long-overdue and greatly welcomed.
Who "won?" Depends on where one sits, of course. More...
...of the first candidate's debate in Westhampton Beach in the past five years.
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, it has thoughtfully been relocated from Village Hall to the auditorium of Westhampton Beach High School, and starts at 7:00 pm.
Updated 06/06/2010 – 11:32 am
No, more like a series of pops and some white smoke followed by black smoke emanating from the self-storage units located at the north part of Gabreski Airport.
The incident, around 9:25 am, was nowhere as extreme as George Plimpton's foundation-rattling pre-BiCentennial test run in More...
The comments on 27East regarding the vehicular fatality caused last year by Caroline Goss have been relentlessly angry at the proposed plea bargain she is set to enter into next week.
(See "Mattituck woman to be sentenced to six months in prison for DWI fatality involving Hampton Bays teen" and "Follow-up.") More...
Shannon Price is not the type of person anyone would want covering their back!
Ms. Price, 25, is the ex-wife of former child TV actor Gary Coleman, 42. who died in Provo, Utah last month after falling and hitting his head and suffering an epidural hematoma at his home in nearby Santaquin. More...
Updated 06/04/2010 – 10:05 am
The eruv lives!
Well, at least that's what Trustee Joan Levan's retinue would have everyone believe with the Village elections just 15 days away.
That overt scare tactic paid off for Levan and Hank Tucker last year, and since this season's Tucker, Charlie Palmer, Jr. and Michelle More...
From this morning's Southampton Press Western Edition:
Bugge Will Still Make Bid
"Michelle Bugge announced Tuesday More...
Updated 06/03/2010 – 00:45 am
But not first base umpire Jim Joyce who this evening "took a perfect game away" from a young pitcher with a controversial, but correct, call on what could have been the last out in the Cleveland-Detroit game.
No, the ump who should be "killed," and at least suspended from the game of baseball, is Joe West, who last week in one two inning span, demonstrated why some people should not be in positions of authority. More...
Lotta huffin' 'n' puffin' this past weekend over the revelatory OtBB item involving the relationship between The Independent's area correspondent Lisa Finn, members of the Westhampton Beach Police Department and wannabe Mayor Hank Tucker.
It became more interesting when Ms. Finn's editor, Rick Murphy, got involved late Saturday night and made a series of indignant, blustery and threatening comments to the blog. More...
OtBB readers may have forgotten this unhappiest of items from last August:
Right! Who's to say otherwise?
A 15-year-old boy riding his bicycle on Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton Bays, was struck and killed by a woman from Mattituck. More...
From the OtBB entry of March 31, 2010, "What's the real 'smokescreen?':"
"...and shouldn't the powers-that-be at East End Indy look a little more closely into the relationship between "reporter" Lisa More...
His name has been bandied about the Village for over a year, but until now, Westhampton Beach Police Officer Steven McManus has yet to speak publicly about several controversial incidents in which he has been involved.
Here, for the first time, Officer McManus goes on the record about his missing pistol, Supervisor Linda Kabot's DWI arrest and the police contact with East End Independent reporter Lisa Finn's son: More...
The following appeared in the OtBB Comments queue within the past hour to be appended to "The connection clarifies."
It is presented unedited, but broken into paragraphs for greater legibility: More...
...you certainly had your demons, but over the past three decades, you became a cinematic icon with your lunatic intensity and quirky acting style.
Interesting incident on Dune Road late last evening which sheds some light on the nature of the coverage of Village politics by The End End Independent and its area correspondent.
A Westhampton Beach police cruiser on routine patrol between 10:30 and 11:00 pm found a vehicle parked at Lashley Pavilion, the More...
Updated 05/28/2010 – 11:25 am
...a candidates' debate in the run-up to this year's Westhampton Beach elections.
This should be a good thing, right?
Ennnnt! Not so fast there, folks! More...
Updated 05/27/2010 – 07:38 pm
No, not "Jeanne," my wife, but Jean Schweibish, a woman with whom I've spent the better part of two decades not getting along.
No particular reason other than polarity... we have traditionally been on opposite sides of (mostly local) issues, and neither of us are reticent about expressing ourselves. More...
Slow evening at the Westhampton Beach Village Board's monthly Work Session... no more police officers suspended, no further reports of "blue flu" and no activity on the Disciplinary Charges presently hanging over the heads of Michael Bruetsch, Joseph Pesapane and Steven Cunneen.
The charges involving Officers Bruetsch and Pesapane are now entering their eighth month without resolution thanks to the intractability of the three obstructionist Trustees, Joan Levan, Jim Kametler and Hank Tucker. More...
Updated 05/24/2010 – 16:45 pm
...running for two Trustee seats on the Westhampton Beach Village Board as Suffolk County Board of Elections has determined Sunshine Party candidate Michelle Buggé's Nominating Petition to be "invalid."
A fax over the signature of Commissioner Cathy L Richter and received by Village Clerk Kathleen McGinnis following this morning's meeting of Commissions in Yaphank, declared that Ms. Buggé's petition was deficient in valid signatures. More...
With celebrity-hungry BM (big media) making a fuss in the tabloids about sightings of Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin and über-hunk Colin Egglesfield... Colin who?... in "the Hamptons," we can take some comfort in the fact that no more specific location was identified.
(Some mild sleuthing reveals that it's in Southampton... poor them!) More...
Updated 05/23/2010 – 11:03 am
"Bauer's gone berserk" says another diehard devotee of Fox's long-running "24" which will conclude its eighth and final season Monday evening at 8:00 pm.
It is, since its debut on November 6, 2001, one of perhaps four multi-season broadcast network series1 where I've never missed an episode in sequence. More...
Anyone who thinks that lame duck Village Trustee Jim Kametler wrote the letter over his signature in this morning's Southampton Press Western Edition, has never read one of his field reports from his time on the Westhampton Beach Police force.
The letter is an interesting critique of his fellow Trustee Toni-Jo Birk's time in office and More...
Being a continuation of Part 1.
Whatever Fred Hager may say about his separation from the Village Police Department today, the agreement makes it plain that he knew the jig was up and desired...
"...to avoid the commencement or initiation of any charges against him pursuant to Civil Service Law Section 75;" More...
...on the Westhampton Beach School District and Westhampton Free Library voting.
The budget measures succeeded, but the one most had their eye on, Proposition 3... More...
...when voting on the Westhampton Beach School District and Westhampton Free Library budgets today.
The "Turf Wars" have been waged here and at Board of Education meetings, and if you didn't decide which which lever you plan to throw on Proposition 3, then you probably don't intend to vote at all. More...
Veteran Westhampton Beach Police Officer Steven Cunneen was formally suspended this noon at a special session of the Village Board.
In a meeting called for 11:30 am and attended by Mayor Conrad Teller and all four Trustees, Detective Cunneen was suspended, with pay, effective tomorrow, May 18th. More...
Obtained from the Village of Westhampton Beach under a Freedom of Information Law request, even redacted it's not pretty, portraying a man unwilling or unable to comport himself in the professional manner required of a law enforcement careerist.
But as a friend of OtBB likes to say, "It is what it is." More...
No, not the upcoming Belmont Stakes field, but the final (pending petition challenges) line-up for the Village Election on June 18th.
And only one "dark horse" candidate, Michelle Buggé on the ironically-named Sunshine Party, has filed a nominating petition with a total of 64 signatures. More...
Updated 05/14/2010 – 5:53 pm
Dreadful news leaking out of 30 Rockefeller Center... NBC has decided to shut down its record-tying long-run series, "Law&Order!"
And somewhere five floors above West 96th Street, my wife's friend Myrna, a fellow "L&O" aficionado, is staring down at the pavement... an option I do not have.
NBC confirmed this afternoon that it will telecast the series final episode, Monday, May 24.
Rats! Brandon Tarticoff would never have let this happen!
From Wednesday's Publisher's Weekly:
"The Books & Books indie chain is working its way north from South Florida with the July 1 opening of (a 2,000 sq. ft.) Books & Books Westhampton Beach."
The release further goes on to quote co-owner (with Denise Berthiaume) Jack McKeown, described as a "book industry consultant," More...
The videotape record of the May 2010 Westhampton Beach Village Board meeting is now available for all to see.
An OtBB reader wondered if perhaps Trustee Jim Kametler and Remsenburg gadfly Angelo dela Fuente were right, and that I was making it all up.
Res ipsa loquitur.
...of the Yiddish term chutzpah is that of the son who murders both parents, then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.
There can be no better current example of the term than in yesterday's The East End Independent article by Lisa Finn, the bulk of More...
...may be found on the Website of Potunk Lodge #1071, whose Masonic temple is on Montauk Highway, next to the West Methodist Church in Westhampton.
Updated 05/11/2010 – 09:09 am
This evening's School and Library budget hearings were held in the High School's Large Group Instruction Room.
Less than five people who didn't have to be there were in attendance, so it seems that any questions anyone had prior to next Tuesday's vote, have already been settled. More...
Updated 05/10/2010 – 11:20 am
This evening is the Budget Hearings for both the Westhampton Beach School District and the Westhampton Free Library ("WFL"), and it is the latter which raises larger questions than even the school's contentious "turf wars."
(Voting will be held next Monday in the High School's Large Group Instruction Room, 7:00 am to 9:00 pm.) More...
...why Phil Ochs' "Power And The Glory" didn't achieve the folk-era patriotic anthem status of Woody Guthrie's "This land Is Your Land."
(Lyrics)
It's a powerful and rousing song which I first heard Ochs perform at a tiny Greenwich Village club, The Gaslight on Bleeker Street, in More...
An archetype of my formative years, Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame right-hander Robin Roberts, passed away Thursday, age 83.
I hadn't thought of Roberts in years, but for the first half of the '50s I thought about him often, wishing my Brooklyn Dodgers had such a dependable ace pitching for them. More...
The question mark is less about Chris Cox's intentions than just how "local" he actually is.
His campaign Website positions him as:
"A resident of Westhampton Beach, the grandson of former President Richard Nixon and a successful businessman, More...
...in local geography. On-line Newsday headline from this morning:
Southampton rallies against sex offender trailers
"Parents, educators and the Southampton supervisor are rallying this morning against housing homeless sex offenders on county land in Westhampton Beach." More...
When the scandal broke two years ago which led to the immediate resignation of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer, the enduring image for many was that of Silda Wall Spitzer appearing at her philandering husband's side as he did his mea culpa and "I'm outta here" act before the media.
What a sad, lovely and courageous figure she seemed, standing with that bounder. More...
Someone has a terrific sense of humor.
Just in from OtBB's crack research staff, an on-line listing for the 24 Oak Street property owned by Jim Kametler's wife, Carol S. Meyer: More...
If the signs in front of 24 Oak Street and his property on Montauk Highway in Westhampton are to be trusted, we won't have Jim Kametler to kick around anymore.
Nor will he be screwing around anymore with the Village in service to his vendetta against his former boss, Chief Ray Dean. More...
Growing up in Westhampton Beach there was no more iconic location in the Village than The Patio Hotel & Restaurant.
Owned by a group of prominent local businessmen... the Weixelbaum brothers and ol' Herm Bishop among them... the restaurant was not only a hub in the Village, but a "destination" from all over Suffolk County in the way More...
...to JoAnn and Ed Dean on attaining the almost unimaginable, 50 years of marriage!
That's half-a-century, and who even expects to achieve such a milestone anymore! More...
(Being a continuation of this and Part II.)
In yesterday's Letter to the Editor of The Southampton Press Western Edition announcing his candidacy for Westhampton Beach Trustee, Charlie Palmer Jr. played fast and loose with the recent history of the Village.
It's a bad way to kick-off a campaign to earn the voters' trust and support More...
Updated 04/29/2010 – 05:37 pm
(Part the First being Tuesday's item.)
It was French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) who said "History is a set of lies agreed upon," but there's a whopper on the Letters page of today's Southampton Press Western Edition to which no one should agree.
It is promulgated by Trustee hopeful Charlie Palmer, Jr. when he describes fired More...
Light lifting at the monthly Village Board Work Session this evening, with no acrimony from the front of the room, and only four Village residents in attendance.
O, and the Board flew one short as apparently lame duck Trustee Jim Kametler couldn't be bothered to show up. More...
"You could have turned your TV sets off right there!"
From 27East.com's story on Charlie Palmer Jr.'s decision to run for Village Trustee: More...
Westhampton Beach Mayor Conrad Teller has made it official; Victor Levy will succeed retiring Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Chris Bean.
It's full circle of sorts for Mr. Levy, who began his lengthy and varied public service career in the Village on the ZBA 30 years ago before his election to the Village Board in 1985. More...
Headline last Wednesday on 27East.com:
Hampton Bays school budget includes 18.5 percent tax hike
Them's fightin' words! More...
This'll make Benny Nidgzyn proud.
As noted during OtBB's inaugural season, there are reasons to go to Speonk other than to hook up with the L.I.R.R. or dine at the Trackside Cafe.
The "shout out" this time goes directly More...
Twenty-three year Westhampton Beach Zoning Board veteran Chris Bean, serving the last 12 as Chairman, has tendered his resignation to Mayor Conrad Teller, effective immediately.
For Mr. Bean, the decision was a simple one.
"Screw these clowns! I knew I was More...
Are you actually serious with your Letter to the Editor of yesterday's Southampton Press Western Edition???
"The landscape plan for Westhampton Beach Village Hall was approved more than five years ago, and never was completed during the four years that Mayor Conrad Teller has been in office. More...
Who'd'a thunk it, back when we first met near Pike's Beach Summer '58, that he would one day evolve into Robert W. Morgan Jr., 15th (and almost final) Mayor of Westhampton Beach?
I sure didn't! But then Bob was full of surprises, by golly! More...
Updated 04/21/2010 – 03:38 pm
...must be getting fat from all the cheesecake Village Trustee cum Mayoral wannabe Hank Tucker has been spoon-feeding her along with story lines to further the unholy agenda of his and Joan Levan's.
This morning's East End Independent, citing "anonymous" sources and "unconfirmed reports," attempts to suggest that 23-year veteran of the Westhampton Beach Zoning Board of Appeals, Chris Bean, is guilty of More...
Spent some time with an old college chum (Adelphi 1959-63) recently and the subject of our favorite teachers and courses of half-a-century past arose.
It was a short part of our reminiscences, for we both had clear recollections of the highlights of our English Major experiences. More...
Despite Trustee/Mayoral-wannabe Hank Tucker's irresponsible handling of Tom Moore's letter of resignation from the Zoning Board of Appeals... it took Tucker over three weeks to hand it over to Mayor Conrad Teller... the Mayor quickly filled the position.
By the Mayor's appointment, veteran ZBA member John Wittschen rejoins his former Board to fill out Moore's term which expires May 31, 2013. More...
Just look at this date in history... April 19th:
In 1775, British soldiers loyal to King George III, and American volunteer militia men exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord, and the seven year War of American Independence was off and running.
But then, everyone knows about that. More...
A good indication is this headline on a self-congratulatory press release from our Congressional representative, Tim Bishop (D, Southampton).
Bishop announces energy grant for Village of Westhampton Beach
"Congressman Tim Bishop announced that the Village of Westhampton Beach has been awarded $392,500 More...
While perusing today's "new look" Southampton Press Western Edition, my gaze fell upon the following "Blotter Report" on page A2:
"An 18-year-old Hampton Bays man was arrested by Westhampton Beach Village Police at police More...
...that I now find myself joining the growing number of voices calling for the dissolution of the Westhampton Beach Police Department.
Not only is the department an expensive "luxury," but it has become as big an embarrassment to the Village as was the Shane Daniels near-fatal beating in 1996. More...
Updated 04/11/2010 – 01:32 pm
While it's only one week into election season, just when it looked like Mayor Conrad Teller's running mates, Toni-Jo Birk and Leola "Sue" Farrell might run unopposed, another Trustee candidate has tossed his sweatshirt hood into the ring-a-round Five (née Six) Corners.
No surprises, though.... More...
Ponderables for a Saturday morning.
Was that declared Mayoral candidate Hank Tucker having breakfast en famille in unfamiliar surroundings (Bun'n'Burger) this morning? More...
...in the Spring of '10 according to a "Google Alert" this morning, and affirmed by Press reporter Hallie Martin on 27East this afternoon.
Tucker says he will challenge Teller in Westhampton Beach mayoral election
Trustee Tucker's bid has been More...
Now that Passover has concluded, may I without offense offer a suggestion?
Please be more observant of those around you as you walk the thoroughfares of Westhampton Beach. More...
Updated 04/06/2010 – 06:45 pm
Around 4:00 pm today former Southampton Town Trustee William H. Bennett "totaled his truck on Jessup Lane" returning to his home from Dune Road.
The accident was caused when a 200-pound female deer leaped in front of him. More...
Back to Sunset Avenue to redeem some store-brand empties at the snazzy new recycling machines... a major improvement over what had been there seemingly forever... and discovered that Waldbaun's "West Hampton{sic} Beach" has a new manager!
Gone is Diane Cassone, the biggest asset the company has had in Westhampton Beach in over 30... if not 40... years. More...
...and the stoopid bastids in nowhere zen Montvale, New Jersey still can't get it right.
OtBB reader John Smith... well, at least that's how he used to sign the guest register at Bailey's Motel... sent the following for our amusement and despair: More...
...on this morning's "honey do" list!
(Except this was a "go out and get" list.)
Jeanne likes to make a (relatively) minor deal out of Easter Sunday dinner for whatever family members are attending. More...
...with applicability to Westhampton Beach.
Seen in Newsday...
Lynbrook police chief suspended after domestic dispute
The really interesting part: More...
Updated 04/02/2010 – 07:56 am
Good attendance... aided by the non-resident gadflies who start appearing this time of year... but a short and uneventful monthly meeting.
New Village Attorney Richard T. Haefeli was introduced as Mayor Conrad Teller's appointee to fill out the term of Hermon Bishop who resigned two weeks ago. More...
Reporter Hallie Martin, who has received some critical notices of late, has a solid page one, above-the-fold story in today's Southampton Press Western Edition, just in time for this evening's Village Board meeting.
(If you didn't see the newspaper, a shorter version is on 27East.com.) More...
...and shouldn't the powers-that-be at East End Indy look a little more closely into the relationship between "reporter" Lisa Finn, and Westhampton Beach Trustee-who-would-be-the-next-Mayor Hank Tucker?
Last year the Tucker-Joan Levan smokescreen was the eruv which successfully played on local fears of Orthodox Jews running amok on Village streets with perambulators. More...
...which used to be solely over politics. But two months ago, the situation became grave!
My wife's four-year-old Dell PC started getting kludgy, not surprising since she's never paid much attention to maintenance. More...
This could just as easily have been titled "Now it can be told," but recent local events bookend something which seems to be, not so much unique to, but typical of this type of modest-size Long Island community.
Anyone who has been here for the past 20 years who didn't foresee the "blanket party" Chris Bean hosted for Tom Moore the week before last, has a short memory. More...
I likely met Frank about 50 years back when he and his wife, the former Carol Moller, first began keeping company.
Their marriage is a terrific story, but one which his widow should relate since I had no part in any of it. More...
...from last evening's Executive Session of the Village Board, so Westhampton Beach is flying without a Village Attorney.
It is clear from what's been going on with this present administration over the past year plus, that now is an especially perilous time for the municipality to be without counsel. More...
What a yawner of a meeting this evening... at least the public portion of the session.
No word on what happened in the subsequent Executive Session, but considering what has occurred at Village Hall over the past 20 days, it had to have been livelier. More...
Last Thursday evening the Westhampton Beach Zoning Board of Appeals threw a "blanket party" for one of its members and Tuesday, Village Attorney Hermon Bishop tendered his resignation.
Although not the object of the internal corrective action, Mr. Bishop's decision to step down after almost four years as counsel to the Village's four boards, is related. More...
And speaking of youth being served, in the midst of the disgraceful gridlock on the Village Board, there is something to celebrate.
Westhampton Beach's Junior Fire Department will be honored in Alexandria, Virginia on April 30th by the National Volunteer Fire Council for being named the Junior Firefighter Program of the Year. More...
(With acknowledgment to George Borrow.)
On occasion, when stopping into Dean's Country Meats to pick up some of their excellent ground round, if there's no customers in the store, I like to give School Board member Bryan Dean the needle about the "turf war."
(It's great! His balding pate reddens, his nostrils flare, and he's off to the races, explaining why artificial turf on Hansen Field is going to happen!) More...
Updated 03/19/2010 – 03:27 am
And no, it has nothing to do with anything related to what the late Al O'Connell described as "The Frozen Chosin."
And we're not referring to Amnesty International's issues with the Beijing government over human rights violations. More...
A page one, above-the-fold story in tomorrow's Southampton Press Western Edition is headed:
Police Chief Won't Obey Orders
It is another indication that, while The Press publishes in the "broadsheet" format, their headlining style is more along the lines of a "tabloid," with all the negative connotations which accompany that description. More...
If I had ever bet which of my two favorite crime writers was going to outlive the other, it probably would have been Robert B. Parker.
Both were still prolific, Parker more so than Elmore Leonard, and the latter was seven years the former's senior. More...
...is Westhampton Beach Police Chief Ray Dean's attorney in the sorry affair promulgated by the obstructionist Trustees, Joan Levan, Jim Kametler and Hank Tucker.
His name is Mike Axelrod, and he's a plain-speaking lawyer who just wrote the above-referenced troika a six-page letter in which the word "whereas" does not appear once! More...
Updated 03/14/2010 – 11:57 pm
The Big Blow of 2010 reached Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale, and we hope they don't get any bigger... for a long looong time!
"For de win' she blow lak hurricane,
Bimeby she blow some more..."
(Thank you, William Henry Drummond.) More...
Yeah, I know... it still seems a little weird having to set your clocks and watches an hour forward this early in the year, but that's the dictates of Daylight Saving Time.
Remember that at 2:00 am, it will actually be 3:00 am. Just do it, and don't look back... 'til November 7th.
The gridlock at Six... or Five, pick'em... Corners is uppermost in the minds of many (as it should be) but another matter burns brightly in the area.
The issue of artificial turf vs. natural grass in respect to resurfacing the Carl A. Hansen Memorial Field has been a contentious More...
...about basketball legend Julius Erving's departure from the then New York Nets resonates locally.
Earlier today at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Nets' future Brooklyn home, New York's beleaguered top official quipped: More...
Saturday Tom Moore, a member of the Village Zoning Board of Appeals and a former member of the Westhampton Beach Board of Education, handed a letter to Village Trustee Hank Tucker identifying himself as author of the (illegal) resolutions passed (3-2) by Tucker and his Village Board cohorts at Thursday's meeting.
It is a remarkable document on several counts, not the least of which are the rationales it offers for Mr. Moore's insinuating himself into the municipal process. More...
For thems what are interested, the official full-length video of last Thursday's Village Board Meeting, all uninterrupted 2:15:02 of it, is now the municipal Website.
Someone might like to send the link to former Village Labor Attorney Vincent Toomey and suggest that he review Trustee Hank Tucker's comments at the 47 minute mark.
Billy Hughes, who I've known for 25 years, is a stand-up guy... the highest compliment I know to pay someone.
He's fought the Viet Cong, and he's lived it out with desperate hostage-taking gunmen here in Southampton Town. And last Summer he jumped from a helicopter into the Atlantic with guys one-third his age. More...
...is a passage read by Mayor Conrad Teller at last Thursday's monthly Village Board meeting which leaves the obstructionist Trustees with no place left to hide.
(It is heard on video IV at 2:25.) More...
...missed a 5:55 minute video segment of last Thursday's monthly Village Board meeting.
(The other segments are here.)
Acrimonious, but some important information.
Now that copies of Thursday evening's resolutions have been obtained under a Freedom of Information Request, and studied more closely, some questions arise.
Have the Village Trustees declared Westhampton Beach a "police state?" More...
...and from this vantage point, it looks like it might have been ABC/Disney.
The "Statement from Rebecca Campbell, President and General Manager, WABC-TV" posted at 8:44 pm, reads: More...
It's the 11th hour and at this posting, neither Cablevision nor ABC/Disney has blinked.
The cable folks, however, has been scrambling to provide its subscribers with alternatives to sitting in the familiar comfort of one's own home, watching on one's own 60-inch HiDef TV with Dolby surround sound: More...
Planning an "Oscars party" this evening?
You're gonna need a satellite dish! More...
...and I don't wish to come off like an ersatz Andy Rooney... but is anyone else annoyed by "You got it!" as what seems to have become the standard response by restaurant service employees?
I likely first became aware of it when Jeanne and I used to stop at The Corner Restaurant (née Chappy's Corner) for one of More...
Updated 03/08/2010 – 12:45 pm
While all await Blacksheep Television's official record of last evening's Village Board Meeting, an enterprising local has come through for those not in attendance.
The first hour of the two-hour plus session is now available on the 'Net.
Due to the requirements of YouTube, the videos are mounted in ten short segments, comprising about 73 minutes of the 135 minute meeting.
 I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
| VI |
VII |
VIII |
IX |
X |
T-t-t-t-t-hat's all folks! (For now.)
...it occurs to me that what Trustees Joan Levan, Jim Kametler and Hank Tucker did to the Village of Westhampton Beach last evening was nothing short of treason, and certainly violative of their oaths of office.
The troika sold everyone out and the big question is, "in service to what agenda?" More...
The actions of Trustees Hank Tucker, Joan Levan and Jim Kametler strain credulity.
Or rather, the troika's "explanations" for those actions are what leave rational thinking residents shaking their heads and wondering just where it all went wrong. More...
Updated 03/04/2010 – 01:38 pm
While there's no discernible movement on the so far inimical positions of the Trustees and the Mayor in the matter of the police disciplinary charges, this evening's monthly Village Board meeting is shaping up as a volatile one.
Mayor Conrad Teller will again introduce his seven resolutions in an attempt to move forward on Disciplinary Hearings involving More...
Revisiting the fluctuating price of Beach Bakery's two-pack of chocolate chip cookies:
OtBB is pleased to learn from the last two visits there since the original blog entry, Simon Jorma seems to have fixed the cost of those baked confections at $1.90.
Our gratification is boundless.
This one's been building slowly but inexorably, and the faction within the Westhampton Beach School District which has been promoting an artificial surface for the Carl A. Hansen Memorial Field, has decided... perhaps unwisely... that now is the time to make their big push.
When OtBB first looked in on this debate, the cost of $1 million the resurfacing was for felt to be too expensive... and that was back in 2008. More...
...are by no means unique to the East End.
The on-going difficulties within the Westhampton Beach Police Department have been well-documented both here and on 27East.
And a major squabble has surfaced within Southampton Village involving their More...
As in "things that make you go...," because this is getting ridiculous!
And no!, we're not referencing the Village Board's obstructionist attempts to whitewash Police Officers Michael Bruetsch and Joseph Pesapane! More...
...News12 Long Island is a third-rate "news organization."
In reporting the Olympics hockey news this morning, anchorman Doug Geed cited the United States Men's team 2-0 victory yesterday over Sweden. More...
It was a singularly uneventful Work Session of the Westhampton Beach Village Board this evening.
Aside from some business of the Village being done... which is exactly how it should More...
...and, unfortunately, there is no progress to report in Westhampton Beach.
None! Zilch! Nada!
And we're all paying for it with our tax dollars while two cops on "restricted duty" sit More...
...along the Special Election campaign trail.
Commenters on the 27East report on last Thursday's Candidates' Debate in Hampton Bays, seemed to focus on the hot button issue of illegal immigration. More...
Imagine my surprise, astonishment even, when the caller ID came up "Throne-Holst!"
"Madame Supervisor," I said.
"You can drop the 'Madam!'" and it wasn't a request, so I was spared the need of coming up with a clever variation on the Berlin, Crouse & Lindsay title. More...
Updated 02/18/2010 – 05:09 pm
My wife just stumbled on some Texas news channel doing real-time coverage of the air crash in Austin, and the audio reminded me of just about every other "news" cast when the on-air people are working without scripts from teleprompters.
Few today know how to do it. More...
(When we left off, my sister was about to introduce me to the old "Superman" serials.)
Although I will always have great affection for the wonderful Republic Studio chapter plays produced from 1936 to 1956, few others from Columbia and prolific Universal have worn well with me over the decades. More...
Those words at the end of a Saturday matinée serial were an Army brat's curse while I was hitting 44 states before I was 12-years-old!
I was rarely in one place very long, so chances were slim I'd never find out how the hero was able to extricate himself or the ingénue from what always looked to be certain doom. More...
...for Martyn (the) Meek who inherited my one and only daughter, is a long and happy union!
Pegs is again globe-trotting with the singing Clarkson girl while her husband, and just about everyone else in British Columbia, is caught up in all things Olympic. More...
Friday evening began well with dinner at Micole's: I enjoyed an excellent Calf's Liver with bacon and onions; Jeanne opted for "Shane's Shepherd's Pie" and learned what I've known for several years now: it's hard to improve on Brian Mazzio's version1 (at 2/3rds the cost) at Finn McCool's... if Brian's back on his feet.
(Memo to Brian: Hurry!) More...
It's been eight days since the last Village Board meeting, and at this writing, you have failed to even request a meeting with the Village's Labor Counsel, let alone schedule one.
When directly asked when you were going to do it, you stated on the record, "I hope quickly." The burning question remains... More...
...of last week's Westhampton Beach Village Board meeting1 is now on-line.
Good thing, too, for those interested in a more reliable record of what occurred during the February 4th meeting than the account appearing in today's edition of The Southampton Press Western Edition. More...
Too sad. Nancy's, Susan's, Scott's and Peter's mom passed away last Saturday.
A terrific lady, whose friends and neighbors will be remembering her on Sunday, February 14 at 2:00 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church on Quiogue.
...or, a primer on things that howl in the night.
"Whoever is bitten by a werewolf and lives, becomes a werewolf himself."
So sayeth tiny, wizened Maria Ouspenskaya1 in the original (1941) version of "The Wolf Man," still one of the best of the Universal Studios "horror" films of my youth. More...
On this third anniversary of the Great Oak Street 'Possum-Shooting Caper, OtBB takes the opportunity to connect for posterity some otherwise disparate events and comment on Trustee Jim Kametler's remarkable myopia.
No re-hash of the then Deputy Mayor's actions are required. Suffice to note, he did something extra-legal, was caught red-handed, and there was no consequence... for him, at least. More...
...and oft-misquoted, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...."
But I don't consider consistency, "foolish" or otherwise, to be deserving of such opprobrium... even from one the stature of a Ralph Waldo Emerson. More...
Updated 02/05/2010 – 08:57 am
Several dozen hearty souls who braved the deep Winter temperatures this evening were treated to a lively session that clearly drew the battle lines between the troika and the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
And the highpoint of the monthly Village Board meeting may have come when, following a brief furtive exchange between Trustees Joan Levan and Jim Kametler1, the deposed More...
Updated 02/04/2010 – 02:45 pm
...require discussion at this evening's Westhampton Beach Village Board meeting... assuming, of course, that the bashful troika don't see a full room and decline to attend.
Foremost will be the results of the meeting the Trustees, led by Oberstgruppenführer Joan Levan, wanted to reschedule with Village Labor Attorney Richard Zuckerman to determine whose view of the police situation is the correct one. More...
...redeem the soul of Eastern Long Island?
After filing the report of the unfortunate closing of Westhampton Steakhouse, it occurred to me that what Westhampton Beach... if not the entire South Fork... really needs is more restaurants and fewer real estate offices. More...
...in perhaps the most unseemly local match-up since Bob King and Fred Adams threw down with one another in the brokerage offices of Robb&Robb in the mid '80s, we have Ed Dean and Jim Kametler in of all places Waldbaum's.
It was shortly before 9:00 am Friday when words were exchanged, fingers were pointed, threats were made and Mr. Dean More...
Updated 02/01/2010 – 02:32 pm
...on the local "East Beat" as the Village of Westhampton Beach awakens to a new month.
Historic Mechanic's Hall is again available for occupancy as its most recent tenant, Westhampton Steakhouse, has quietly folded its tent and faded into the night. More...
...on the Westhampton Rotary Club's 18th Annual Spaghetti Dinner at the Immaculate Conception CCD Center on Quiogue.
And since an immoderate number of local Rotarians made pointed remarks about OtBB's critical comment... More...
Let it serve as a reminder of why the Red Sox should go another 90 years before appearing in another World Serious.
Updated 02/02/2010 – 12:18 pm
One needn't be a sports fan to have taken notice of the on-going controversy surrounding 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and a scheduled Super Bowl XLIV paid advertisement on behalf of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family.
The burning controversy? More...
From NBC New York's website:
"The victim, a married father with three children, was discovered bound and strangled with seven stab wounds. Dtectives{sic} on the scene believed the brutal nature of the crime screamed foul play."
And that's why they're called "detectives!"
E-mails! We get E-mails... such as this from OtBB reader Ray Overton:
"Any chance I can get you to put a plug in this week for the Rotary Club Spaghetti Dinner on your blog?" More...
An easy meeting this evening... in and out in under an hour, with the full board on board for the event.
Nothing pressing was decided, which is not to report that nothing of interest was discussed More...
...is who and how many might show up for this evening's monthly Trustees' Work Session.
'Twas but 19 days past that the infamous "No Show" non-meeting occurred, and the feeling is that the likelihood of a full compliment of Board members may be inversely proportional to those tax-paying residents in attendance.
...like YaVaughnie Wilkins, and it's already cost someone $250,000.
"YaVaughnie who?" one might ask, and with reason as she was not a household name prior to this past week's end. More...
"Turn out the lights, the party's over."
Gang Green's Super Bowl coach turned into a pumpkin in Indianapolis this afternoon, but there is very definitely just cause for Jets' fans to reprise that pre-'55 chant of Brooklyn faithful everywhere: "Wait'll next year!" More...
...and counting.
And this year, I didn't almost blow it... thanks to one of our wedding gifts from friends JoAnn and Cathy. More...
One of the most beautiful of filmdom's faces passed away last night at her home in Santa Monica, nine days shy of her 81st birthday.
British-born Jean Simmons, a naturalized American citizen, was already a veteran of a dozen films when she first came to prominence with her nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as "Ophelia" in Olivier's 1948 version of "Hamlet." More...
The "official video" of the January 7th Village Board non-meeting has been mounted on the Village of Westhampton Beach's Website.
(It appears, in all respects, to be identical to the unexpurgated version which debuted on Sea TV last weekend.) More...
One of my all-time favorite meals for near 20 years was Milo's East "Sizzling Fajita Platter," the only complaint about which I had was that there was always too much meat, onions and peppers to stuff into the three tortillas they provided.
Then the place changed its name and menu, prices went up, and it wasn't the same. More...
There are two this morning, one in Haiti and a second across America's political landscape.
I'm not certain, though, that "aftershock" is the proper term for the seismic event in the stricken Caribbean nation. More...
The biggest story coming out of Massachusetts for me today, is that the creator of the tough Boston-based private detective "Spenser," was found dead "just sitting at his desk" at his home in Cambridge yesterday.
I discovered Robert B. Parker in the mid-'70s when I grabbed up a baseball-themed novel, "Mortal Stakes," from a remainder house for one dollar, and liked it enough to start reading the entire series from the beginning! More...
By now, most have heard the names of Gilbert Arenas, Plaxico Burress and Jayson Williams, and even if their career statistics cannot be recited by rote, most are aware that all three are or were professional athletes.
Some can even recognize them as ones who've had legal problems involving firearms. More...
Improbably, the New York Jets are going to the AFC Championship game next Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.
Having just now beaten the highly-favored San Diego Chargers, 17-14, in the only More...
Just because there was a "non-meeting" of the Westhampton Beach Village Board on January 7th, doesn't mean there wasn't a video record of that evening.
It's not much, but it's the "official record" of the event which was televised on Sea TV last evening and again this morning.
And since, not surprisingly, it hasn't been mounted on the Village's Website, it's here.
...to the inadvertent inclusion earlier today of the portion of Senator LaValle's plea for assistance to the Haitian relief effort which read:
"I encourage local residents to consider contacting the American Red Cross...." More...
Updated 01/15/2010 – 11:45 pm
From the Associated Press:
"The international Red Cross estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday's cataclysmic earthquake, based on information from the Haitian Red Cross and government officials. Hard-pressed recovery teams resorted to using bulldozers to transport loads of dead." More...
...at #292 Sunset Avenue... and with more than two months 'til Saint Patrick's Day!
Spike Larsen, Dick Whitney and "Easy Ed" Desmond may no longer be with us, and if anyone knows where Jerry Mangles is, they're not sayin', but the hope born in 1968 endures! More...
...by way of Speonk, courtesy of Fran and Spencer Fink.
"This an account of last night in and just outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. More...
Saturday's report of a "magnitude-6.5 earthquake" off the California coast and Monday's even larger (7.0MW) one in Haiti reminds us of how fortunate we've been on the East End.
I don't think we've had one since the "minor" tremor in March 1992 which registered 2.8 on the Richter scale. More...
Updated 01/12/2010 – 8:57 pm
...the Westhampton Beach Trustees just can't quite figure it out, and it's wasting a great deal of Village taxpayers' money.
This morning's "make-up meeting" progressed relatively smoothly... until the end when there was some contention as to whether the Board should repair to Executive Session or hold a Public Discussion More...
...of the Westhampton Beach Village Board has been scheduled for tomorrow (January 12th) at 10:30 am.
While an agenda has yet to be released, presumably this will be for the purposes More...
...and with a score like that, even with the overtime period, it certainly cannot be called a "defensive battle."
Despite the Packers dreadful start and falling behind by 21 points, by the end of the third quarter, the viewer has the sense that it was going to come down to who last had possession of the football. More...
Awwww, never mind "redux!" It's deer me, still, and with no end in sight!
Last Wednesday evening, in the space of 15 minutes, Suffolk County's deer population came close to wiping out half the residents of 256 East Main! More...
...the foreseeable future for the Cincinnati Bengals, or at least until training camp opens this Summer.
It was the New York Jets who were victorious this day, something not even their fans dared predict, as they won their first play-off game since 2004.
Go Gang Green!
...in professional law enforcement agencies which understand the need for credibility and integrity.
Department to fire five police employees
From the WSVN-TV report: More...
Updated 01/09/2010 – 12:00 am
...Westhampton Beach Trustees Jim Kametler, Joan Levan and Hank Tucker didn't come upstairs to last evening's Village Board meeting.
(Apologies to David Letterman.) More...
Well, a meeting was scheduled, but it was canceled for lack of a quorum... the Jim Kametler-Joan Levan-Hank Tucker troika was a no-show.
They were in the building beforehand in a closed door meeting in the Mayor's office where raised voices were loud enough that they could be heard through a second door and in the vestibule of the building. More...
Trustee Demands Answers After Stabbing
That's the page 9 headline in this week's East End Independent: More...
The area lost three already this year, Beach Road resident Harris Palmer on Saturday to a brain tumor, and the famed Bailey's Motel this morning to advanced decrepitude.
The latter condition also overtook Quiogue's Kate Agar, at 92, last weekend. More...
...preparatory to the first Village Board meeting of 2010, Thursday evening at 7:00 pm.
The primary issue is of enormous import, and I'm not sure just how many "get" it! More...
...Giants Stadium!
We're talking Jets, of course... the less said about the New Jersey (née New York) football Giants today, the better! More...
An acquaintance who subscribes to the 27East RSS feed, forwarded their E-mail of Wednesday last, captioned:
"25 most-read stories of 2009"
Top among them was, not Linda Kabot's Labor Day DWI arrest (which was only ranked More...
Updated 01/08/2010 – 03:47 pm
Someone has cracked (not "hacked") the website of Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.
And after a week of fits and starts, the site appears to be functioning normally once again. More...
All but forgotten today is a small South Fork weekly yclept The Whale, and published by a recovering stock car racer and born-again congregant of the Southampton Full Gospel Church, Rev. Donald M. Havrilla1 presiding.
The publication's raison d'être wasn't readily apparent to those who picked up the freebie, but what was clear to all, was that Richie had no budget for actual news gathering. More...
In the smattering of Papiamentu gleaned from my years in the West Indies, felis nobo aña!
With that (and some rumor control) dispensed with, as Winchell used to say: "Let's go to press." More...
"Many people were killed," – W.C. Fields
No, there was not "a shooting" at the Westhampton Steak House early this morning!
Yes, police were called at approximately 2:45 am in the New Year, and two More...
...which is a high-falutin' way of saying, "Can you believe the cojones on these guys?!?"
Shortly after starting yesterday's "four-to-12" tour, Sergeant Nick Fusco and Officer Jeff Speer were spotted in their Westhampton Beach police vehicles at the Gabreski Airport location of Holey Moses Cheesecake, Hank Tucker, proprietor. More...
...and I hate it when I feel compelled to do this, but fair is fair!
In yesterday's entry regarding our cinematic choices at Six Corners, "It's Complicated" it was written (note passive voice): More...
...or so one would think from this account in today's New York Times:
Quick Action by Passengers Halted Attack
(At least the updated headline tends toward the remedial.) More...
Happily, at Six Corners in the familiar purview of the Hampton Arts, again operational after a brief pre-holiday hiatus.
The big Christmas openings are the eagerly-awaited "Sherlock Holmes" and the much-promoted "It's Complicated" with Meryl "I'd watch her in anything1" Streep. More...
This isn't original... actually, some friends sent it along earlier this week.
But as a "dog family," Jeanne and I found this irresistible. More...
A retired Marine and airline pilot1 pal sent me a link to a YouTube video of a fatal crash during the filming of "The Flight of the Phoenix."
I hadn't seen it, and what really caught my eye was the way the plane reacted during the mishap... I'd experienced something eerily similar 61 years ago this week. More...
...investigated, suspended, then semi-restored (to restricted duty), Officer Joseph Pesapane, handling snow removal duties this week.
How else are Westhampton Beach taxpayers to get any value out of the officer? More...
...or why corporate attorneys should leave the media statements to their flack-catchers!
From today's New York Law Journal:
Trekkie's Suit Against Auction House Fails to Live Long, Prosper
The précis: some schlub of a fanboy More...
...to the tune of $290 million, an early Christmas award from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C.
Of course, in Redmond, Washington, such a sum is considered "chump change" by Microsoft, or Bill Gates' "walk-around" money. More...
My wife, a medical professional who steadfastly refuses any perquisites from the ubiquitous pharmiceutical representatives who insinuate themselves into her places of work by any means available, is on a rampage.
She was using Google to research the latest on "health care reform," and virtually every news link she followed took her to a page containing an institutional Pfizer advertisement. More...
Last week's Letters page in The Southampton Press Western Edition recalled a story Groucho Marx told Dick Cavett about the last time he saw his long-time foil, the incomparable Margaret Dumont (1889-1965). More...
Updated 12/20/2009 – 01:38 pm
And what to our wondrous eyes did appear this morning? More snow!
We're so completely under here on East Main, that failing a drastic temperature inversion 'tween now and then, we will awaken to our first White Christmas in recent memory.
(Jeanne thinks the last was '95 but I don't recall.) More...
Updated 12/20/2009 – 00:46 am
At least two members of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department drew their service weapons this afternoon during a snowball fight at 14th and U streets.
(Raw footage-language advisory.) More...
Updated 12/23/2009 – 01:25 pm
James Cameron's much anticipated follow-up feature to 1997's "Titanic," opened today and my wife, bless her!, commanded that we head to the nearest imax screen to see it.
It's an event, it's spectacle, and a Friday night flick is almost a family tradition. More...
One of the nicest and most gracious ladies of my acquaintance passed away in Florida last Sunday after a lengthy illness.
Barbara (always "Barbara") was a long-time Summer resident of Westhampton Beach, and was often in the company of More...
...as Bo Diddley used to sing, "by lookin' at the cover."
Or, it seems, even by reading the title! More...
Seems that the entry of two days ago ("Dispatch from Six Corners") struck a raw nerve inside the Police Department and a responsive chord elsewhere in the Village.
While the citizens of Westhampton Beach have yet to march on Six Corners with pitchforks and burning fagots, there have been dark rumblings 'round town1, and that bodes ill for the troika. More...
According to Southampton Town Tax Receiver Theresa Kiernan:
"Taxes are payable by cash; credit cards and ACH {electronic check}."
Well, that makes it easy, doesn't it?! More...
Updated 12/15/2009 – 11:51 am
It wasn't but six months ago that the Village, spurred by Newsday's story about Police Chief Ray Dean's salary, was up in arms over the amount that the Village's top cop was getting.
The outrage, led by sycophants of the troika, was for a time shrill! More...
The headline on 27East late today read:
Oddone Guilty of First-Degree Manslaughter
...which verdict had been agonized over for nine days following a seven week trial. More...
...of the Village Trustees' decision to give the suspended cops "a pass" on their criminal behavior, is substantial.
Aside from the demoralizing effect it has on the honest members of the force, it clouds the entire Westhampton Beach Police Department in far-reaching ways. More...
...and the inaugural "Winter Farmer's Market."
There was a great deal of activity around noontime, and the Speir family did its best to make it successful... Jeanne spent money like a sailor in San Diego, primarily at Steve's Salad Dressings and Carson's Farm Vegetables! More...
It's baaaack!, with "it" being a Winter version of the highly successful Farmer's Market held from June to November in the Mill Road parking lot opposite Woodland Avenue.
With the energetic but low-key Elsie Collins again at the helm, this is being launched as a "pilot program," and is being held More...
At times OtBB has felt like a voice in the wilderness, speaking out... yes!, opinionatedly... on matters about which I feel strongly.
It's often frustrating to discover that enough others aren't sufficiently motivated to demand that changes be affected and wrongs righted, and I wonder what it takes. More...
In response to those OtBB readers who've wondered exactly what Mayor Conrad Teller said in his statement following the Trustees squashing of the Suffolk County Police Internal Affairs report, here ya go: More...
...Westhampton Beach Fire District Election is incumbent Victor Levy.
The results of the vote, held earlier this from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Sunset Avenue Firehouse, are:
| Candidate | Votes |
| Victor Levy | 120 |
| Robert Schunk | 70 |
Mr. Levy will hold the Commission seat for the next five years.
...of the shameful December 2nd Village Board meeting, courtesy of Black Sheep Television, Jacques Ditte, videographer.
The really shameful stuff starts at the 0:14:20 mark.
The drumbeats calling for the disbanding of the Westhampton Beach Police Department grow louder.
...will be held this evening at the firehouse on Sunset Avenue, and then we can call it quits for the year.
It's the annual election of a Commissioner in the Westhampton Beach Fire District which also encompasses the unincorporated areas of Westhampton and Quiogue. More...
...following Monday afternoon's Executive Session, the Westhampton Beach Village Board did what they should have done last week: appoint Village Attorney Hermon Bishop to respond to Winhaven Realty's Article 78 proceeding against the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Mayor Conrad Teller had offered the same resolution at December's meeting, but couldn't get a second to bring it to a vote. More...
And no, this isn't about Rod Stewart, rather one of those moments when someone... in this instance The Southampton Press' Hallie Martin... clicked her lens shutter at precisely the right second, and deposed Deputy Mayor Jim Kametler's mug was captured for posterity.
It may even become the iconic image of the man's sordid career. More...
...guaranteed to compel further reading:
Tom Brokaw Shaken but Uninjured After Fatal Crash
But it's not a "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" item. More...
Quiogue nutburger Irene Barrett, not-so-sotto voce to former Village Police Officer Neil Hanrahan as former Deputy Mayor Victor Levy was addressing the Village Board Wednesday:
"He's running against you next year!"
Now Mrs. Barrett is a hate-filled harridan who loves to interject herself More...
The sheer audacity of Westhampton Beach Village Trustees Joan Levan and Hank Tucker is stultifying.
And yes, deposed Deputy Mayor Jim Kametler was part of it, but those who've watched him for any period of time... ten minutes or more... understand that he has no more audacity than he does intelligence. More...
...that there are risks involved before undergoing any surgical procedure, but I wonder how many of us really hear what they are telling us.
I know I didn't when I was being prepared for my gall bladder removal in Spring '02. More...
...or as it will henceforth be known, "the Night of the Ol' Fixeroo."
In an unforeseen move, the Westhampton Beach Board of Trustees, less Deputy Mayor Toni Jo Birk who did not attend, voted 3-1 with Mayor Conrad Teller opposing, to direct Chief Ray Dean to rescind the suspensions of the two Village Police Officers. More...
...is now in the hands of the jury.
On November 30 it became apparent that the District Attorney's office had finally acknowledged what the more rational observers of the Anthony Oddone trial have said all along: the prosecution had over-reached in its original charge of "Intentional Murder." More...
...for the December Village Board meeting could be an explosive one.
The agenda, per Village Law set by Mayor Conrad Teller, contains three items of particular interest: More...
The current Westhampton Beach Village Board is, en toto, a cheeky lot who clearly do not "know their place" as spelled out in New York State Code.
It's also apparent that they are obtaining legal counsel from a source other than duly appointed Village Attorney, Hermon Bishop. More...
Updated 11/30/2009 – 11:16 am
...give Tiger Woods a call as you may have some valuable experience to share with him.
While his early Friday morning one-person vehicular accident in Florida was almost certainly not alcohol-related, you more than most know how people love to talk! More...
The British they are a funny lot... I don't know who said that (Noël Coward?), but if it was no one else, then I just did.
The impetus for this comparatively mild outburst is an on-line "poll" conducted by the decidedly messy Music Radar site which selected Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" as #1 among the "Top 50 Guitar Riffs of All Time." More...
Washed out of our jaunt upstate... the weather in the Catskills starts getting a little dicey this time of year.
To mitigate Jeanne's disappointment, we dined at the Triangle Pub last evening, and had a good and eminently affordable meal before repairing to The Patio for an early nightcap... and a major shock. More...
Updated 11/28/2009 – 10:41 pm
Where exactly did this bad craziness, as the late Hunter S. Thompson would have called it, come from?
How bad can the craziness get? Last year a Valley Stream Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death when a frenzied horde of 5:00 am early bird bargain hunters smashed through the store's doors. More...
...before over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house you go.
(Or in our case, over the Whitestone and up the New York State Thruway.) More...
...and I have to write it in that manner 'cause I don't have a font installed that allows the representation of a "long a" to differentiate Cable AMC's all-time most popular show from a group of angry males.
Although I watched the debut of "Mad Men" back in July 2007, I bailed out shortly thereafter, seriously disturbed by its depiction of a particular period in my own lifetime. More...
...it being the third Saturday in November, the turkeys will be nervous for the next five days.
(And if Jim Kametler and Hank Tucker aren't as well, they should be!) More...
...with a camera, an "assault weapon" and a metallic silver convertible who was arrested on Country Road 31 outside of Gabreski airport on July 30 for her photographic activity.
Nancy Genovese, age variously reported as 49 or 53, of either Quogue or East Quogue, has had a trespassing charge against her dropped by the Suffolk County District Attorney. More...
...from Kelly&Hulme, P.C., those wonderful folks on Mill Road who've brought us, among other law suits:
This promised to be a brief meeting as the agenda was short and neither Trustees Toni Jo Birk nor deposed Deputy Mayor Jim Kametler were present this evening.
As is increasingly commonplace, however, appearances can be deceiving. More...
"Reporter" (and I use the term advisedly) Lisa Finn and the East End Independent now seem to have their sights set on Westhampton Beach and the Village's Police Department.
After reading the tripe passing as reportage on page 9 ("Momentum Builds for Kabot 'Conspiracy' Theory") and the lead editorial in the November 18 edition, it's apparent that they've been had by Linda Kabot's attorney and certain members of the Village Board. More...
I was never a huge fan of British actor Edward Woodward, who passed away earlier today at age 79, but he had one of the all-time great "exit lines" in the history of movies!
Set during the Boer War, 1980's "Breaker Morant" relates the fact-based story of Australia's Bushveldt Carbineers in the South African Transvaal, and the courts martial of three of its members. More...
As a response to recent discussions here about the pros and cons regarding installation of a synthetic surface on Carl A. Hansen Memorial Field, I was presented with some literature on the subject to take home and study.
The eight-pager, entitled "Overview of the Latest Attacks Against Artificial Turf," was one of the most handsomely produced brochures I've seen in ages. More...
It is said that a good litigator or debater can convincingly take a position or argue a point, and then turn around and argue the other side of the issue with equal success.
Now we're going to find out just how good an advocate attorney William Keahon is. More...
Now it's another million dollars we don't have for "Astroturf" or its more modern equivalent.
Why? Because it always "looks pretty," and "everybody else has it?" More...
The subject is the Westhampton Beach School District's primary athletic pitch, Carl A. Hansen Memorial Field, and whether the natural surface should be replaced with an artificial one.
But the "overdue" part isn't the installation of "Astroturf," but a frank discussion of the pros and cons, starting with the cost. More...
...so be sure to stop a moment around 11:00 am and thank a Vet.
And it's appropriate to mount a photograph, circa 1944, of a patriotic local gal, Dorothy Overton, and a serviceman from Michigan, Andy Wind, on the edge of the Village Green in front of one of my favorite spots to visit when I was in my early single digits. More...
...a Cook County (Illinois) Circuit Court ruling could have on those making "deeply disturbing" remarks on a newspaper website.
In a recent decision Judge Jeffrey Lawrence ruled that an anonymous on-line commenter can be "outed" in case the aggrieved party wishes to pursue legal action. More...
...especially friends no longer with us, from Bill Winters, Jr. and Jim Kinane, Sr., to Colonel Richard Fredey and Al O'Connell.
S.F., you are all missed! More...
Gravel-voiced, rumple-faced Wallace Beery (1885-1949) was an acquired taste for many, but during the '30s he was one of the most reliable box office stars on the MGM lot.
For the last decade of his life his appeal declined, and today he is remembered less for his Oscar-winning role as More...
...must not have been a consideration with the member of Village Government who "leaked" the Suffolk County Internal Affairs report to The Southampton Press.
This is likely be due to a lack of familiarity with Westhampton Beach Village Code, specifically §15-4.A(2) which provides: More...
It actually shouldn't come to fisticuffs or jello-wrestling, but the two primary food providers in this evening's Food Pantry Community Fund Raiser, are Erin Finley and Elyse Richman, two Main Street business women who've had their share of squabbles over the years.
Erin's doing a "Gourmet Buffet," while Elyse is bringing the ice cream. More...
If you were a habitué of Magic's Pub, née Shotwell's Pump, in the '70s, you had to have known "Digger" McMahon... then he moved to the other side of the Canal.
Richard Hayes McMahon, co-owner of Barrister's for the last 30 years, passed away at his home in Southampton Village last evening. He was 61 and had been in ill health.
We are diminished.
Short agenda, longer meeting thanks to a presentation before the Village Board by attorney James N. Hulme, Kelly & Hulme, P.C. on behalf of... wait for it... The Hampton Synagogue.
(And if the irony requires elucidation, pass by.) More...
"Remember, remember
the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."
Definitely be at Six Corners this evening for the monthly Village Board meeting.
The World Serious is over. No excuses.
Updated 11/07/2009 – 12:45 pm
...on the matter, but this just in from one of the OtBB faithful who couldn't resist. More...
The cat's out of the bag with details of the suspension of two Westhampton Beach Police Officers following a six-month investigation by Suffolk County Internal Affairs.
In a Page 1 story reported by Hallie D. Martin in tomorrow's Southampton Press, Michael Bruetsch and Joseph Pesapane are identified as the officers suspended two weeks ago by Mayor Conrad Teller. More...
As two blog-readers have recently informed us, the restaurant atop Westhampton Coachworks has gone the way of Chappy's Corner and The Red Fox.
(Damn! Jeanne and I were saving up for a return trip, having so thoroughly enjoyed our maiden voyage.) More...
Updated 11/03/2009 – 11:32 pm
...for the election workers, at least. And probably for some candidates as well.
In a reasonably parochial election, the Westhampton Beach Firehouse (E.D.s 10, 14, 30 and 37) processed approximately 850 voters without incident... no machines suffered malfunctions, no one had to removed from the polling place, and only a handful of campaign signs (all supporting Bridget Fleming) had to be taken down. More...
...Southampton Town category, goes to the Pell-Garvey shot across Docker's bow.
Or in this case, Larry Hoffman's dock. More...
...and where does she come from? What do we really know about her?
She burst onto the Southampton Town political scene two years ago, almost out of nowhere, and got elected to the Town Board as an independent running on the Democratic ticket. More...
...re-set your clocks; daylight time is over!
In July OtBB referred to perennial other-than-Republican candidate for any Southampton Town elected office Alex Gregor as the "Y2K edition of J. Russell Patterson," for just that reason.
Gregor cares little what position it is, only that it's on the public teat with health benefits and a pension. More...
Films are not a regular feature of OtBB, but the new one at the Hampton Arts is so extraordinary that it demands to be mentioned.
Entitled "The Hurt Locker," it's far and away the best movie I've seen all year! More...
Following a six-month long investigation into unspecified activities within the Westhampton Beach Police Department, the Suffolk County Internal Affairs report was received by Chief Ray Dean, who initiated the action, and turned over to Mayor Conrad Teller on October 22nd.
By week's end, two members of the force had been suspended, with pay, and the questions now start with, what next? More...
...when I saw the photo of Town employee Marie Deuel on the front page of the current Southampton Press Western Edition.
The humorous part was the large CSEA sign she was holding... it read: More...
...bestowed in last Thursday's edition, simply don't withstand scrutiny.
If they had been rendered by a municipal board... Zoning, Planning, etc.... they would have been sent to Supreme Court in Riverhead as part of the Article 78 appellate process, and overturned for not being supported by "substantial evidence." More...
One minor, the other so major that the ripple effect will redound adversely upon the entire Village.
Chef Todd Jacobs of Tierra Mar/Atlantica is pulling out of the Bath & Tennis Club and heading West. More...
...sang Jimmy Jones in his 1960 pop chart number one, "you need timin'."
And was that ever apparent with the arrival in Friday afternoon's mail of the latest campaign piece from the Southampton Town Democratic Committee: More...
Updated 10/24/2009 – 06:21 pm
Having spend five of my formative years in the Detroit area at a time where there were but three, count'em 3!, television channels available to the family's 11-inch Philco set, there wasn't much to watch
There was no viewing strategy... one watched what was on, and for a pre-teen that meant '30s westerns and "Farmer Brown" cartoons after school, and "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" in the evening. More...
The Dodgers... my Dodgers... took it in the shorts last night, losing to the powerhouse Philadelphia Phillies in five games for the second straight year in the National League Championship series.
What was it we used to say in the ol' Brooklyn days? O, yeah... wait'll next year!
Updated 10/22/2009 – 01:32 pm
There was a weirdness at Village Hall tonight, the kind of weirdness that comes with a full moon or a red wind1.
Most of it was as a result of Trustee James Kametler acting like he'd overdosed on a cocktail of sildenafil citrate and goof balls throughout. More...
The big surprise involving Mayor George Motz's criminal justice problems this past week was his "naked" guilty plea, essentially throwing himself on the mercy of Judge Arthur Spatt a week before his trial was to begin in United States Eastern District of New York.
Motz, who 14 months ago had pleaded "Not Guilty" to separate felony counts of securities fraud and document alteration, had made the usual noises about being fully exonerated when all the facts were known... More...
One of the pleasures of the long hours put in at the local polling place on behalf of the Board of Elections, is seeing the faces of those we might not have seen in awhile.
I mean, everyone who's still upright shows up to vote! More...
...that OtBB notes the dissolution of the professional relationship between Chef Brian Finegan and Micole's Restaurant.
It's especially sad because my wife and I love Brian's food, #1, and, #2, it was I who put Brian and restaurateur Mark Jones together when it was learned that Mark's original plan to use Jimmy Thomas, chef at their JT's location in Hampton Bays, wasn't viable.
G'luck to both in their new directions.
