During the 2008 campaign trail, Schiavoni won the endorsements of the Working Families Party, the Independence Party and the Conservative Party. Republican Incumbent Tomas Demayo later challenged her to a primary election where he was able to win back his Conservative Party endorsement, which in the end, did not help him to maintain his seat.
On Friday, Schiavoni thanked her friends, family and colleagues alongside her husband and campaign manager, Tom Schiavoni and two children and said she will take all the “blessings she has been given with her to the bench.”
“We appreciate her gift of service to our judicial system and the people of Southampton Town,” Supervisor Kabot said.
“We also thank Sally Pope for her desire to make a difference on the local political landscape and contribute to the town’s governance,” Kabot said as she acknowledged Pope for her civic interests and executive experience with not for profit organizations.
Pope worked as a corporate attorney on Wall Street and in the publishing business. Later, Pope started her own private practice as an attorney and mediator. Pope mediated controversies for a wide variety of people, including school board members and teachers, governmental employees, workplace teams, business owners, families with estate problems, parents and children, divorcing couples and arguing neighbors.
“She’s also a mother and a grandmother - and wow - look at all the woman in public service these days,” Kabot said. With the addition of Pope there is now four women on the five seat town board.
After acknowledging Pope for her successes in her career, Kabot asked Schiavoni to perform her first duty as a town justice and swear-in the new town councilwoman. After taking her oath, Pope thanked friends, family and colleagues and said to her audience, “By simply electing me, my job is not done, I have a job to do and I hope you can help me do it.”
Pope also announced that she will be looking at producing round table meetings among members of the community.“We will publicize open doors and round tables and that’s the start we are looking forward to.”
Kabot welcomed Pope and joked that the town could use “lots of mediation and conflict resolution.”
Pope narrowly defeated republican incumbent Dan Russo by 832 votes in the 2008 election. Russo was appointed to the seat left vacant by Kabot when she was appointed town supervisor.
“As we look to Andrea Schiavoni and Sally Pope today,” said Supervisor Kabot, “we acknowledge their own commitment to the public’s welfare and the betterment of our community.”

Last week, teachers in the Sag Harbor UFSD met outside both the elementary and high schools before school brandishing signs to protest the school board’s move to make public information pertaining to teacher contracts.
“Don’t Dismantle a Decade’s Progress in One Year,” “Keep the Excellence Going” and “Invest in Your Child’s Future,” read some of the signs held by teachers as they greeted parents and honking horns before school Friday morning.
The Teachers Association of Sag Harbor (TASH) and the board of education have been negotiating teachers’ contracts for nearly 10 months. At the end of June, the two sides went to impasse — a stage that requires a mediator. After one meeting, it was decided by both sides that the mediator was not going to help them reach an agreement. The teachers and the district met again in hopes of bargaining at the table earlier this month, but the two sides could not agree.
They did, however, jointly decide to go to fact-finding, a stage of negotiation that involves bringing in an individual from the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to look at both sides and make a non-binding decision. By January, a fact-finder should be in place and school superintendent Dr. John Gratto said that this is not the first time he has been involved in the process.
“I’ve been through fact finding before and it is a fair process,” he said on Monday, “The fact-finder renders his answer to questions on both sides then both parties need to re-assess based on the recommendations.”
But last Thursday, the teachers were noticeably absent from a special board meeting called by the school board to share with members of the community negotiation information on teachers’ contracts. At that meeting, the district’s attorney, Tom Volz, gave a presentation outlining what the district is asking for and what the teachers want and where the relative discrepancies lay.
TASH president Eileen Kochanasz said sharing information about negotiations with members of the public is “unfavorable.” In recent months, Kochanasz, a Pierson High School guidance counselor, had criticized the board for stating at board meetings that they would not negotiate with the teachers in public, yet, she added, by calling the special meeting “You [the board] just did.”
On Thursday, Volz outlined for the public the salaries of teachers within the district, and how much of an increase they would get this year if given the raises the teachers are requesting.
According to Volz, TASH is proposing a 3.9 percent increase for teachers. That means a teacher with a bachelor’s degree in their second year of teaching would earn $50,115 for the 2008-2009 school year, an increase of $4,178 over last year. For teachers with a master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree plus 45 credits, the salary would be $54,575 with the raise as proposed by TASH, giving these teachers a $4,551 or 9.1 percent raise (which includes a built in step increase) over last year.
According to Volz, at the highest step level, a teacher with 27 years in the school district, a master’s degree and an additional 30 credits, earns $113,579 (without the raise proposed by TASH) — the second highest salary for teachers at that level in the area.
Kochanasz said that not long ago, however, the teachers in Sag Harbor received salaries noticeably lower than those of teachers in nearby districts.
“In 2004, we were finally able to reduce the gap for teachers,” Kochanasz said, “Now we could lose what we gained.”
Kochanasz expressed her frustrations with the district, and said superintendent Dr. John Gratto and school board members have been unable to negotiate in a “give and take” fashion. She added that the district has been meeting TASH with proposals already prepared and have not been willing to budge beyond what was on the table.
Some of the other major sticking points in the teachers’ contracts include health insurance in retirement, academic support responsibilities, and coursework approval for teachers looking to enhance their teaching skills. Teachers are also asking to keep advanced payment for vacations, something the district wants to change. The district also would like to change the requirements for personal leave, so that teachers are not permitted to take off a day prior to or directly following a school holiday.
Volz also outlined in his presentation that the district would like teachers to electronically post their homework assignments, grading policies, field trips and major test dates on the school’s website.
The 30 or so attendees of Thursday’s meeting also learned that, according to Volz, teachers are asking to receive 50 percent of their unused sick leave and personal leave in cash upon retirement.
“We have a fabulous school and fabulous test scores to prove it. I don’t know why they [the district] want to create this atmosphere,” said Kochanasz who felt that Thursday’s presentation by the board was in “blatant disregard” and “disrespect” to those who work within the school. She also said the custodians and secretarial contracts have yet to be agreed upon.
Walter Tice has sat on both sides of this argument, first as a teacher in Yonkers for more than 30 years and then as member of Sag Harbor’s school board for seven years. For four of those years, Tice served as school board president and he was involved in the last contract negotiation with TASH.
“It’s unfortunate that they chose to negotiate in public,” said Tice. “The general wisdom is that once you start to bargain in public, your ability is restricted.”
Tice also said that the information presented on Thursday was a “PR story from the board.”
He added that there are some very complicated issues that would be difficult for the community to grasp from just one presentation.
“It simplifies issues from both sides,” he said. “They both have long contract issues and this tends to politicize these issues.”
“And it’s not good for the morale,” Tice added. “These people are actually teaching in your classroom, you don’t want them mad at you. You can solve your differences rationally, not by hanging them out to the public.”
“I think we accurately portrayed the issues of all sides,” said Gratto of last Thursday’s meeting, “I think all that [meeting] has done is informed people.”
“Reasonable people can reach reasonable results,” he added.

Christian Wölffer, one of the pioneers of viticulture on the South Fork, and proprietor of the vineyard and horse farm that bears his name, died in a boating accident on New Years Eve while swimming in Brazil. Wölffer, who was vacationing when he was struck by a boat, was 70. According to the Associated Press, Mr. Wölffer was struck by the propeller of the boat, opening a deep cut. He was off the beach at Paraty, a colonial town about 100 miles west of Rio de Janeiro. According to reports, he had been visiting a friend’s home and had decided to go for a swim in an area where boats are restricted within 650-feet of shore. After being struck, reports indicate Mr. Wölffer waved for help and was pulled from the water by, among others, Brazilian soap opera star Rodrigo Hilbert. The Associated Press reports police have interviewed the driver of the boat, and are considering charges.

Mr. Wölffer’s rambling 170 acres along Montauk Highway in Sagaponack is a popular landmark, with rolling fields of wine grapes. He first purchased the property in 1978 as a 14-acre parcel with a farmhouse surrounded by potato fields. By 1997, he had amassed the rest of the acreage and built a state-of-the-art winery at a cost of more than $15 million. On the property are 55 acres of vineyard and the 100-acre Wölffer Estate Stables, including an 80-stall facility with the largest indoor riding field on the East Coast.

“He was one of the few guys who came and took a big financial risk with building a winery here,” said Ted Conklin, proprietor of the American Hotel. “He hired wisely 20 years ago and continued to stand by the business model, continually investing in the winery and staff.

“Had other operators been so dedicated to their business model, the future of the wine industry on Long Island would be more highly elevated. The problem is, there are very few Christian Wölffers,” said Conklin.

Mr. Wölffer, whose careers have included investment banking, venture capital, real estate, agriculture and entertainment parks, was born in Hamburg, Germany, where, as a teenager, he began as a trainee in a bank. He later worked for an import/export company, and later with the German chemical company BASF, as a manager of their sales force in Mexico. He spent more time in Mexico, Central and South America with a firm that sold printing and packaging equipment to commercial printers and publishers worldwide.

His interest in South America apparently continued to the time of his death.

According to a blog from the Wine Spectator, Mr. Wölffer was investing in vineyards in Argentina. In an interview with the Wine Spectator’s James Molesworthy, Mr. Wölffer noted, “‘You can’t make money here doing quality,’ he said bluntly. ‘You can only make money here if you do volumes.’”

Among his investments in that country are a minor share in a winery known for sparkling wines targeted at Argentina’s domestic market and 2000 acres he was developing in Mendoza, with 740 acres already planted, and plans for a hotel.

Molesworthy’s blog also says Mr. Wölffer was planning on purchasing another Argentinian winery, and a property outside Buenos Aires for a residential, spa, golf and equestrian complex.

“Christian’s vision for what Long Island winemaking could accomplish and his passion for horses that led to the building of an elite equestrian center represents an enduring legacy which the Wölffer family is committed to uphold,” the family said in a statement released Monday.  ”We have all been blessed by Christian’s strength, his charisma, his charm, and his untiring passion to live each day to the fullest.”

by Richard Gambino

“The Child is father of the Man,” wrote Wordsworth. So it is I see so many ghosts from my earliest Christmases. Little ghosts. All about me.  In Sag Harbor, so far from the Brooklyn of my earliest years, the Red Hook long gone, itself a ghost of an Italian immigrant neighborhood where longshoremen walked the streets to and from work with bailing hooks twisted into their belts. Where each December, my father and I would go to Court Street and select the largest evergreen tree for sale on the sidewalk outside a grocery store. We lived in the “parlor floor” of a brownstone built in the 1880s for a rich family, and  before I was born converted to four cold-water, three-room apartments, one on each floor, to rent to immigrant families like mine.

But being on the parlor floor had a great distinction. It had been the floor for entertaining when the building was a grand townhouse, so our beautifully ornamented nineteenth-century ceilings were eighteen feet high, allowing us to have the tallest Christmas tree we could buy, the tallest Christmas trees by far that I’ve ever had. And under the tree, a hand-carved wood manger with a baby, his parents and some gentle-looking farm animals. In the Italian tradition, such crèche scenes go back many centuries. A story has it that Francis of Assisi shocked church officials by bringing  real live farm animals into a church to enliven a life-size manger scene. But can you imagine how much the kids must have loved it!

In my youngest years, I was, of course, too young to understand theological doctrines, so what I saw before me was just a child and his family, much like mine. A child’s Christmas, as it was. And still is, for every child I see on Sag Harbor’s Main Street, eyes large and alive to the multi-colored lights brightening a winter’s long night, the serene manger at one end of Main Street, and tall Christmas tree and the lighted, sacred Menorah at the other. (A heart-felt thank you to all the good people who each December make the town into such a wondrous delight.) Later on, as a young man studying for a PhD in philosophy, I read the theological arguments for the existence of God, and, from time to time since then, have taught about them. The best of them are, in my opinion, only arguments that belief in God is not irrational. But beyond them, the truest argument I know for a loving God is each small child, every one of them.

In the faces of very young children, open faces, I find the core of all hope. They haven’t yet put on masks of persona, of what we want the world to see and not see about us. There is so much wonder in the eyes of  young children, nourishing a drive to explore and learn, and such a great natural feeling of the joy of living (at least in those who have not been neglected or abused). So, in each child’s face I read  hope for the future, hope that for him or her the lucid eyes and open heart will be well cultivated and brought to bear in making a good life for each of them, and all of them. I feel this hope because I’ve become again one of them, the bright wonder of  life outshining  the darker areas of  my adult knowledge. So I refuse to join in any cynicism such as I heard recently that childhood takes so long because it takes a long time to make kids who are bright of mind and bright of spirit into many adults who are dull of mind and spirit, or worse.

The kids’ infectious and inspiring expressions and responses also remind me of John Adams’ truth that, “There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth, those with the commitment [here, responsible adults] and those who require the commitment of others [here, children].” Seeing the infant in his humble, make-shift crib on Main Street reminds me of our responsibility to the very young, who so depend on our love and wisdom. Here’s a rub: the possibilities of the kids becoming adults who are compassionate, loving, generous of spirit, and intelligent, depend on our  being compassionate, loving, generous of spirit and intelligent toward them. 

A couple of centuries ago, David Hume stated what I think people with common sense had long observed. All decent behavior by a person relies on his  having as part of his most inner being what Hume called “moral sentiment,” meaning a real, living sense of empathy and sympathy for other people, and for their joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains, aspirations and set-backs. So far as I know, this truth has been confirmed by every psychologist who has studied children. Oh, the language has changed. Hume talked about “character,” and modern developmental psychologists instead use the word “personality.” But the truth is confirmed. In contrast, throughout most of history, children over the age of seven (the “age of reasoning”), and even younger were commonly treated as miniature adults. Worse, moral and religious ideas were drummed into them by intimidating  lecturing, often enforced by fear of punishment.  Religion by terrorism. And by a certain age, the kids got the message by listening to the real lesson in the experience, “the music behind the words,” as it were. The lesson that power and fear rule the world. That real sympathy and empathy for others, and the lesson that “God is love,” are just abstractions, like “God is infinite,” and “God is eternal.”  Fit maybe for people like Francis of Assisi, but, nod-nod, wink-wink, we had better be self-centered and calloused toward others behind the masks of “goodness” we, as children, learned all too well to wear. Moral sentiment? Social rites and rituals, okay. Even some religious ones, maybe. But don’t push me more than that.

Yet, each December I look into the innocent, intelligent, joyful  eyes of little children on Main Street and  become again the young child enthralled by the infant and his family under a huge Christmas tree improbably set in a Brooklyn tenement. That little boy is still father to the man I am now. And I thank God for that. 

RICHARD GAMBINO wishes everyone a good Christmas, Hanukkah and 2009.

Lucille Bistrian

Lucille Bistrian, a resident of Spring Close Highway in East Hampton for 40 years, died at her home on Thursday, December 18, 2008. She was 93 years old.

Mrs. Bistrian was born in Sag Harbor on April 10, 1915 to Frank and Julia (Just) Krupinski. Mrs. Bistrian, a homemaker, was a graduate of Pierson High School and the wife of the late John Bistrian.

Mrs. Bistrian leaves five children, John Bistrian, Jr. of Pasadena, Maryland, Francis Bistrian of East Hampton, Lucille Baldwin of St. James, N.Y., Michael Bistrian of East Hampton and Karen Sexton of Indianapolis, Ind. She is also survived by nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

A funeral Mass was held for Mrs. Bistrian on December 23, 2008 at Most Holy Trinity Church in East Hampton. Interment followed at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery. Memorial donations for Mrs. Bistrian may be made to East End Hospice.

Salvador Vacca

Salvador Vacca, a resident of Meadowlark Lane in Sag Harbor for 55 years, died at his home on Wednesday, December 10, 2008. He was 92 years old.

The son of Anthony Vacca, Mr. Vacca was born in Schenectady, N.Y. on November 29, 1916. He attended Pierson and Bridgehampton high schools and was the husband of Alice (Juliano) Vacca, who predeceased him.

Mr. Vacca worked as an insurance agent for Met Life and also served in the Army during W.W.II. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Sag Harbor Fire Department.

Mr. Vacca is survived by a son, Robert Vacca of Sag Harbor, and a daughter, Rosemary Ward of Hilton Head, S.C. He also leaves behind a sister, Norma Esposito of East Haven, Conn., two grandchildren, Amanda Ward and Alisa Whittaker, two great grandchildren, Brandon and Tiffany Whittaker and two nieces and a nephew, Toni Rutherford, Barbara Holmes and Michael Vacca.

Funeral services for Mr. Vacca were held on December 12, 2008 at St. Andrew’s R.C. Church in Sag Harbor. Interment followed at St. Andrew’s Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made in Mr. Vacca’s name to St. Andrew’s Building Fund, East End Hospice or the Sag Harbor Fire Department.

Ligonee’s Importance

Dear Bryan,

Bill Brauniger, in his letter to the Sag Harbor Express, December 18, writes, “[Ligonee] brook is not a natural feature and may well add to the flow of contaminants, commonly found in storm water run-off, to Sag Harbor Cove,” and so he suggests, “Given this, perhaps the most environmentally positive thing to do with the ‘brook’ would be to return it to its natural state by filling it in.”

Filling in Ligonee was tried. In 1969, some Sag Harbor citizens took it upon themselves to stop the flow of Ligonee Brook and bulldozed an earthen dam to close the north end of Long Pond. They did this thinking the extra water depth would increase water percolation into the aquifer below the pond. But what happened was almost instantly neighbors complained of flooding and a naturalist pointing out that vegetation important for wildfowl was drowned. It’s a long story, which was resolved in 1973 when spring rains increased the water pressure; the earthen dam caved in, and Ligonee flowed again.

“Ligonee Brook, or the Alewive Drain, connecting Long Pond with the Cove, was a fish run so long ago no one can say whether it was a natural brook, or in part artificial” is a portion of what historian, Harry D. Sleight, wrote in Sag Harbor in Earlier Days on the subject of natural versus man-made. We know William Wallace Tooker wrote, “The brook is not natural but dug by the fisherman.” The closest evidence I can find of such an early act is in the Southampton Town Records. In 1793, the town trustees gave John Jermain permission “to dig across the Road that leads from Sagg to Sag Harbour And across the road in order to let the waters of Crooked Pond and Little Long Pond into said [Otter] Pond….” Following this permission there is no mention that letting of the waters into Otter Pond ever happened.

Just ten years later, in 1803, the New York State legislature defined the border of Sag Harbor as following the course of “old Legonee creek or brook” as we know it today. “Beginning at a road leading from Sag-Harbor aforesaid, to North-Sea, upon the old Legonee creek or brook; thence running with the said creek or brook to middle line and old boundary between the great south and north division; from thence [east] on the said middle line until it strikes the line between the towns of East and Southampton…”

Though Ligonee has been enhanced over history, for me the most interesting and convincing evidence that Ligonee Brook is natural is the remains of an oxbow carved by Ligonee’s water flowing to Sag Harbor cove. No man or slave would have dug this “S” shaped oxbow no matter how much rum he’d partaken in. Nature took centuries to make it. When the LIRR laid out the railroad bed in 1869, they cut off the oxbow so that the tracks passed over Ligonee just once rather than three times. The severed oxbow loop can be seen on the west side of the tracks somewhat north of Middle Line trail.

There are enough stories and records about Ligonee Brook, Sag Harbor’s western border, to fill a book, and so I hope that Sag Harbor takes pride in Ligonee’s history and respects its function of draining excess surface water from the ponds.

Sincerely yours,

Jean Held

Sag Harbor

For Sal Vacca

Dear Editor:

My sister Rosemary Ward and I would like to thank everyone connected with our father’s peaceful passing. We are first of all deeply appreciating the manner in which Sal Vacca lived his full life of 92 years. His defining moment arrived when he met our mother, Alice Juliano Vacca. We don’t know if it was love at first sight, but it shined on brightly from that moment to this. There is a special bond between a father and his children, but when the father is deeply in love with the mother of the children, the bond that is created as a result is nothing short of eternal. We could not have chosen more perfect parents.

There is no way to adequately express in words the character and the class that Sal Vacca exemplified in the way he lived his life. For those who knew him, no explanation is necessary. For those who did not, none is possible. He lived by the Golden Rule and treated others with the same respect that he appreciated in return. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He was a dedicated husband, father, friend, and public servant. He also practiced a deep devotion to the Creator of all life. I personally acknowledge and revere such a Creator because no man could be as truly blessed as I am on his own merit.

Rosemary and I would like to thank Dad’s doctor, Richard Panebianco for recognizing that to treat our father’s cancer at his advanced age would have undoubtedly created a host of complications, making the high quality of his remaining days unlikely, if not impossible. There is no way for us to express the depth of our appreciation to East End Hospice for the manner in which each individual lovingly cared for Dad’s needs, enhanced his quality of life, and respected his dignity without fail. East End Hospice is truly an organization of angels.

Our father touched so many people in a positive way that we can’t begin to mention by name everyone who went out of their way to make his passing peaceful. However, we do want to express our gratitude to the Sag Harbor Fire Department for giving our father, Sal Vacca, the most phenomenal bon voyage imaginable. Only Rosemary and I know to what lengths the Fire Department went to honor our father, and we can say without exaggeration that these extraordinary Volunteers treated our father as if he were Royalty.

In conclusion, as much as we appreciate the human touch, we appreciate just as much whatever opened up the sky at the cemetery and let the sun shine through for the service there. As dreary as the weather and the occasion seemed, there would be no raining on Dad’s parade. It was as though our father, Sal Vacca, could find no better way to say “thank you” from his broader perspective. Personally, I have no doubt that this is true.

Sincerely,

Bobby Vacca

Rosemary Ward

Assessment Doesn’t Make Sense

Dear Bryan,

The Village Board of Sag Harbor works very hard and does some great work on behalf of the village but the idea that we should abolish the practice of keeping our own separate tax rolls completely baffles me. Just a few years back the board had a complete reassessment done of Sag Harbor. Not only that but since then multiple reassessments have been done for multiple properties. At that time, the board stated as today: “It’s not going to affect them as much as they think.” Well, it did affect many property owners adversely and the greatest share was the “blue collar people”. These are people who have lived in Sag Harbor all their lives and have owned homes here for many years. They have paid their dues and made this village the great place it is. Right or wrong, their properties had lower assessments than others that have newly moved here and the assessment hit the “blue collar people” very hard who can least afford it. It was an informal homesteaders discount — which states like Florida have and we don’t, officially — that was completely eliminated by the new assessment. Additionally, just the cost of that reassessment increased our taxes.

 Now the board wants to eliminate that recent assessment and adopt East Hampton’s assessments. They want East Hampton to reassess because they feel their assessments are inferior. Obviously, this begs the question why would anyone want to throw away the newest, greatest for something they believe is inferior? That question aside, this will once again hit the “blue collar people” the most and not by lowering the taxes I can assure you. This is also the same East Hampton that just increased our taxes by about 30 percent, which can hardly be classified as no small amount. This reassessment will also cost money and that will be passed along by an increase in our taxes. So basically, the board wants to throw away all the money, time and effort that was spent on our reassessment a few years back, consolidate with the East Hampton assessment, convince East Hampton to reassess us again, completely eliminate any informal homesteaders discount, create another round of grievances, petitions and supreme court appeals, increase our taxes at the very least since we will have to pay for this while the economy is being likened to the Great Depression, home values are plummeting, wages are not increasing and what you can buy with a dollar is getting less and less.

The only people I see clamoring about all of this is the board. We have a complete reassessment of Sag Harbor in place that is up to date and good. The public is not demanding the elimination of redundancy. Anyone who wishes to grieve can. I am completely baffled by all this and can’t help but feel there is lack of transparency here because none of this makes sense.

Bruce Fletcher

Sag Harbor

The Great Depression, World War II, the turbulence of the 1960s — as painful as they are, why is it that particularly difficult times in history are also often remembered by those who endured them as being particularly precious and special?

Perhaps you could call it a dual edged sword of irony — the fact that happy memories are never quite so sweet as when they blossom from the soil of strife. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. For it’s in troubled times that we are truly most in need of happy visions — like the sight of someone feared lost forever walking through the front door on Christmas Eve. It’s a universal truth and the reason why 60-year-old movies continue to make us well up year after year.

Yes, there’s something about extreme difficulties that lend themselves nicely to improvement of the human condition. Bad times do (obviously) drive some people to dastardly deeds, but they also inspire masses of others to think poetically and act emotionally. Think of all those holiday stories from bygone eras when children who wake up on Christmas morning are thrilled to find nothing more in their stocking than a single orange and a handmade scarf.

So if you’re struggling financially and looking for a bright spot in this bleak economic and social time in our history, consider this. For the children in your life, maybe not getting everything they want come Christmas morning will in fact be a priceless gift — a valuable lesson on the importance of priorities that will last far longer than the i-Pod you didn’t buy this year.

Think back on your own favorite Christmas memories. While you may hit on a note of nostalgia while recalling the Big Wheel or the Barbie Dream House, remember, it was not the toy itself, but the family who surrounded you the minute you opened it, that created the memory. Those parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles who now are nothing more than a handful of overexposed frames on an 8 millimeter home movie.

It’s the ultimate Christmas gift and one that you’re not likely to find at the mall at any price.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. 

J.J. Nolis’ wood shingled home on Denison Street can best be described as traditional, but with a contemporary twist. Elegantly furnished and boasting a master bathroom that is the envy of all who lay eyes on it, the home is full of light and good cheer — especially good cheer.

Every other year, the Sag Harbor LVIS hosts a house tour between Christmas and New Year’s. This year, there are five homes on the tour, but without a doubt, Nolis’ house will be the holiday centerpiece of the event. Visitors need take only one step inside Nolis’ front door before they will realize that in addition to being an architect, and a designer — Nolis is, in fact, a child who has never grown up.

There, nestled in the foyer of his entryway is the true centerpiece of the home — a 19 foot high, tin foil covered Christmas display that Nolis (who doesn’t mind being known as the “Willy Wonka of Christmas”) calls “Candy Cane Mountain.”

To get a sense of Candy Cane Mountain, think of a favorite childhood memory and add a vision of a very tall Macy’s window during the holidays, but without the crass commercialism of product placement.

Nolis’ Candy Cane Mountain is a riot of color and light with layers upon layers of tinsel, and beads and faces and figures surrounding a virtual fantasy land of miniature joy. Through the post W.W.II miracle of animatronics (batteries and extension cords not included) tiny skiers go up plastic hills only to turn around and come zipping back down, over and over again. Meanwhile, the Tornado, a mini roller coaster, rushes full speed down hills and around curves while little amusement park planes suspended by strings from a revolving carousel soar round and round.

But the main attraction of candy cane mountain is the music. It sits overhead, at about the 10 foot level and is a miniature bell choir made up of seven soldiers and one Santa. With little mallets in hand, each figure turns to ring the bells at their sides. The little choir rings out 36 separate songs before starting all over. It’s not just Jingle Bells either — the repertoire even includes Carol of the Bells, a tough song for such a tiny bell choir.

“The origins of the bell choir were my Aunt Marion and Uncle Al Sakavich,” explains Nolis. “They live in Woodbury, Conn. and three years ago when I moved in they said, ‘You’re the person we want to have this.’ They were older and always knew I was the one person who would care for this and use it.”

Nolis has been creating his elaborate Christmas display for 20 years now. But this is only his third Christmas in his new house. Prior to that, he had only the limited space in his apartment with which to work, and most of the 80 boxes of decorations stayed in the attic or basement.

A lot of friends come and see the display and say I put them in the Christmas spirit every year.”

It’s easy to see why. In addition to Candy Cane Mountain, Nolis also has some 150 nutcrackers, bunches of Santas and countless other memorable Christmas objects. In the living room is a Lithuanian Christmas tree, a nod to Nolis’ heritage, with hand made ornaments created by his grandmother.

This year, it took 100 hours and 32 rolls of aluminum foil to assemble Candy Cane Mountain, and Nolis called on his godson, Dana Harvey, a Pierson High School student, to help.

“There are also 180 electric candles in the windows,” says Nolis, who points to his mother as being the inspiration behind his love of Christmas.

“Tillie Nolis, my mom, was over the top with anything that could make people laugh. My mom passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease two years ago. Christmas was always so much fun,” he says. “I definitely have my mom’s Christmas spirit. I didn’t realize how much I had it until she passed away. I built the house and I wanted to bring her here, but she was so ill, she never saw it.”

“Everything in my house as a story behind it. It’s authentic and for a reason. That’s what Christmas is for me,” he adds. “It’s my meaningful connection.”

Nolis is also a session singer who travels regularly to Nashville to record. He and his friend Mike Dodson have written a Christmas song entitled, what else, “Candy Cane Mountain.” Nolis recently recorded the song, backed up by some of his favorite Nashville singers, and come next Christmas, will officially release it.

 “It’s just a fun Christmas song. It reminds you of those old specials like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.”

Also on the tour this year is the historic Sag Harbor home of Joy Lewis — a circa 1830 Greek Revival on Hampton Street built for shipbuilder Charles T. Dering. Like Nolis, Lewis loves decorating for the holidays. But her displays reflect a slightly different focus.

“It touches me…the things people bring when they come to this country,” says Joy Lewis as she looks wistfully at the small, elegant Christmas tree on a table in the front hall of her home.

It’s obvious even to a casual viewer that Lewis has love for all things historic. Busts of George Washington and Voltaire share space with vintage board games and paintings of local notable figures.

“When I came to the East Coast, I can’t forget the first night I slept in an 18^th century house,” says Lewis. “I loved it — that feeling of being in a house someone spent so much time in, the feel of the people that lived there before.”

“It inspires you to think of those who were here before,” says Lewis who is fascinated not only by people with names like Dering or James Fennimore Cooper who was Dering’s business partner and very likely visited him at the home or William Wallace Tooker the well known ethnologist who also once lived there — but by the smaller and often undocumented lives. The lives represented, for instance, on the Christmas tree in Lewis’ foyer.

The tree itself is from the German area of Transylvania in Romania. It’s all white — made of turkey feathers wrapped around wire. Hanging from the boughs are intricate little silvery ornaments that, at first glance, look as if they are made of tin. But closer examination reveals they are much more fragile in nature and are actually constructed of thick paper.

 “They are called Dresdens and were made in Germany from 1880 until W.W.I when they melted down the molds for munitions,” says Lewis. “I think the center of the craft was in Dresden.”

“They had a male and female mold, and they would punch them as engravers do,” adds Lewis. “There were three dimensional ones and also flat ones.”

Lewis notes that while the Germans were also known for making fine blown glass ornaments, those were primarily for export. The paper Dresdens didn’t tend to travel far from home — unless they were packed in the luggage of immigrants.

“The paper ones were for themselves,” she says.

Lewis and her late husband, Bob, became avid collectors of Dresdens after finding their first — a delicate little armchair — in an antique shop in the city. Many more were found at shops locally

“Our imagination was as if these are the ornaments that might have been brought by the Germans who worked at the watch case factory,” says Lewis.

Among the paper Dresdens on Lewis’ tree is a zeppelin, a fish, a miniature house and a sailboat. The tree is also decorated with die-cut lithographs from the period of angelic faces and outdoor scenes, as well as cornucopias and fragile, lacy looking ornaments most likely handmade by women in the Thüringen Mountains from material like cotton, wool and paper.

“They are so delicate. It’s amazing they survived,” says Lewis. “I love the cornucopia and the little presents in them.”

Considering the violent history of Germany — particularly Dresden which was heavily bombed during W.W.II — and the fact that the paper ornaments were mainly produced for the local market, it’s amazing that any of them have survived at all. In fact, notes Lewis, they are not all that common.

“In big traumas, things get lost,” she notes.

As a child born in Kansas during the Depression, Lewis knows all about big traumas, the fragile nature of family treasures and the appreciation of simple gifts.

“People born in the dust bowl in Kansas appreciate everything so much,” she says. “When you’ve had enough time to realize what you’ve been doing, though you don’t know while you’re doing it, you get an interesting perspective.”

“One thing I’ve realized is that one of the things Bob and I shared was a rescue fantasy,” says Lewis who bought and fixed up a number of old houses with her husband during their life together. “The first time we were in Sag Harbor, it looked like it was going into the ground. We just felt we had to save it.”

“My father was a small town preacher,” says Lewis. “That’s probably where I got my interest in saving things — but I turned to different stuff.”

When she was in third grade, Lewis and her family escaped the dust bowl by moving to Sheridan, Wyoming where her father had found a church to preach in. For Lewis and her little sister, it was Shangri-la.

“Everything I had seen until then was brown,” she says. “It was the Christmas season when we were there. People at the social hall were singing Christmas songs and they sang this Victorian one — ‘Up on the housetop.’”

“My sister told me later she was amazed that our mother knew the words,” says Lewis. “How did our mother learn the words? We had never heard her sing that song. That’s when I realized at another depth what the Depression meant. They could’ve sung them but didn’t. The songs are free, but they were too sad to sing them.”

The Sag Harbor LVIS Holiday House Tour is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 27. Five homes and the Sag Harbor Historical Society will be on view. Refreshments will be served at Bay Street Theatre, Long Wharf. Tickets are $35 in advance at the Wharf Shop or $40 on tour day at the Historical Society, 174 Main Street. Call 725-7984 for details.

Though not observed in this country, Boxing Day, which is celebrated in the U.K and Canada on the day after Christmas, dates back to a time when it was customary for the wealthy to give gifts to employees or people in a lower social class.

Boxing Day is also traditionally when working people are given a little time off to gather with their own friends and families around the holidays. Given how hard most year rounders work to survive on the East End, especially in this economy, it somehow seems appropriate that Kathryn Szoka and Maryann Calendrille, proprietors of Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor, have arranged for a Boxing Day concert at their shop featuring musicians Cynthia Post and Roy Lechich.

“I think of Boxing Day as an opportunity to play after all the work and frenzy and preparations for the big Christmas holiday are done,” notes Calendrille, an old friend of Cynthia and Roy’s. “That’s when the servants, staff — and yes, us shop girls — get to relax a bit and party.”

Cynthia and Roy live in Branford, Conn. and are partners both in music and in life. On stage, they are known collectively as The Elsewhere Band. Cynthia, a pianist, is also a singer and songwriter. As a musician, Roy is adept at a number of instruments, including guitar and fiddle.

The duo perform at Canio’s on Boxing Day, this Friday, December 26 at 6 p.m. It would seem that Cynthia and Roy’s music fits the bill, given that, as a venue, Canio’s is all about friends getting together to share a few tunes and good times. In fact, that was how Cynthia and Roy first met more than two decades ago when they were students at Southampton College.

“I was always involved in music,” explains Roy. “I started violin at age five and studied until I was 13 or 14, then I did the teenage thing and switched to guitar — folk guitar and rock stuff. When I got to Southampton in my suite there were a bunch of musicians to play with. It was a community of students who played. There were always people sitting around and playing.”

While Cynthia was well versed in folk music by the time she arrived at Southampton College, having traveled to many folk festivals, at Southampton, she was exposed to new musical influences like jazz and blues, and even madrigals, a centuries-old style of music, which will be part of the Canio’s Boxing Day program on Friday.

“Before Bach and scales, there was church music in the late middle ages,” says Roy. “There was official music, then there was all this secular music. Madrigals, even though they are related to religion, were songs you could dance to in a field on a sunny day. These were written by composers, including Henry VIII, and written in four part harmonies. The idea was that people get together and if there were 12 of them, they could split up the parts between them.”

“We’re going to sing a couple lively ones we’ve chosen,” adds Cynthia. “They are fun to do and seem to work well with two singers. I might even print up the words for King Henry VIII for the audience. Apparently all these noble people were trained in hunting, dancing, singing and composition so they could pass time with good company.”

Good music with good company seems to be a philosophy for Cynthia and Roy, who will also be performing some Italian folk tunes at Canio’s in a musical nod to Roy’s heritage.

“When I grew up my parents would have friends come over, and at some point after dinner they’d have wine and all sit back and start singing these songs,” says Roy. “After dinner there were all these harmonies going on. A lot of these songs are really old.”

“It’s a similar thing to people getting together today and enjoying singing and playing,” he says.

While they love the old songs, Roy and Cynthia also write and record their own original music and, after years of working together, have found that their talents compliment each other nicely. Cynthia excels as a singer and songwriter while Roy fills out the sound musically, playing with arrangements and adding depth to the songs. The couple’s most recent recording is a CD of original work entitled “Cave Drawings” and when asked how she describes their music, Cynthia pauses and considers the question.

“Back in college I would’ve said it was folk or folk rock,” she says. “All the flavors of it are what I grew up knowing —songs by people like Stevie Nicks or Celtic ballads, so I’ve often found it difficult to say what it is I do. There’s also country and some blues in it.”

“If I had my way, I’d just call it folk rock,” she adds. “It still sounds like the best ways to describe it. It’s melodic and female vocal oriented.”

It also is apparently timeless, and while musical trends have come and gone, Cynthia and Roy have found that, throughout the years, they have always managed to find audiences for their music.

“We always feel there’s a vein of people who enjoy it,” says Cynthia. “We will go through dry spells — clubs change and we lose places. Then we go to a party and play and it’s so nice to feel that people really do love what we’re doing.”

“We’ve played our share of bars where we were competing with sports on TV,” admits Roy.

Lately, however, Cynthia and Roy have found a new venue for making music — one which is reminiscent of their days at Southampton College or the intimate setting of a place like Canio’s.

“The latest and greatest thing for us is the house concert scene,” says Cynthia. “People open up their house or backyard for a night of music and might even have a sound system.”

Though the idea is relatively new in this part of the world, getting together at homes to make music is a tradition that goes back literally centuries. In Nova Scotia, people often gather for Cielidhs (pronounced kaylees) impromptu home concerts to which everyone is invited. A similar music scene has long existed in rural Ireland and other places around the globe.

“I think it’s a spreading idea,” says Roy. “We’ve heard about it for several years. It’s a comfortable idea. You play in a house where you can fit 15 to 20 people, or in a back yard where you can have a few more. In a way, it’s like having a party, but it’s clear that the music is the central thing.”

House concert hosts don’t typically charge an entrance fee, but they will request donations for the musicians and often, the take is split with the house.

“I’m excited about the house concerts,” says Cynthia. “Sometimes you feel like you’re not meeting people. But there’s a real sense of community with them.”

“I think it’s coming around,” says Roy. “The idea is it’s nice to watch a small group perform simple music in a simple way. Just the idea of a handful of people sitting around playing instruments.”

“It’s a better way for honing your skills than playing a bar,” adds Cynthia. “In that intimate situation you want to play your instrument well, sing well and get in touch with your muse.”

“You’re also aware that people are listening for a change,” she says.

Cynthia Post and Roy Lechich’s Boxing Day concert begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 26 at Canio’s Books (290 Main Street, Sag Harbor). Admission is free. Call 725-4926 for more information.

By Benito Vila

Nothing’s perfect but Pierson boys’ varsity basketball is doing its best to stay that way. The team is now 2-0 in League VIII play after last night’s 36-20 win over Shelter Island at home, keeping the Whalers atop the standings along with Stony Brook and pre-season favorite Greenport.

The scoring started slowly, Pierson putting points up first after three minutes plus had gone by, team captain Joe Dowling banking a shot in off the glass under the basket. Nearly another two minutes went by before the Indians tied the game at two.

The decidedly Pierson crowd called out a football-like “DEE-FENSE” just under three minutes left in the second quarter, picking up on what had become the mainstay of the game, Shelter Island up at that point 5-3.

Both coaches struggled to jumpstart their offenses, substituting in freely to find a group that could connect from the floor. The Whalers went ahead 6-5 with 1:45 left in the half on a baseline drive by Casey Crowley that gave them the lead for good.

The Bright Side

The Pierson boys managed to keep up their pressure and pull away on the scoreboard somewhat, a steal and lay-up by Nick DePetris with 5:18 left in the fourth pushing the lead to 27-14. A Luke Kirrane lay-up with 1:09 left prompted the “start the ferry” call from the bleacher creatures, the score 32-16.

Kirrane scored all eight of his points in the last period to give the Whalers what they needed to win. Crowley led the team with 10 and Dowling finished with nine.

Whaler varsity coach Fred Marienfeld said afterwards, “It wasn’t pretty, but I gotta look at the bright side: I’d rather have an ugly win than an ugly loss. Our defense was the bright spot; we didn’t give up any double-digit quarters. On offense, we have work to do; they made us work in the half court and that’s a tough way to go.”

What’s Next

Last weekend’s snow curtailed the boys’ trip to a tournament in Rochester and left the team home to practice. Coach Marienfeld has rescheduled that trip next weekend, just after New Year’s. Looking ahead to what’s in store after the holidays, Coach Marienfeld said, “We need the practice; we need to do a lot to keep getting better. And we also need to play games; getting everyone away and doing something as a team will be good for us.”

The Whalers will be back in the gym later this week and early next getting ready for the games upstate and a January 6 match-up at Mercy. The team is home again Thursday, January 8, hosting Ross at 5:45 p.m.