As many in the biking community are well aware, BikeHampton, Sag Harbor’s only bike shop, is no more.

And some know this better than others.

When the shop’s owner, Dave Krum, moved to Florida and the store closed its doors in December 2011, it also effectively closed off access to dozens of bicycles, leaving many bike owners who had brought their bikes to the shop to be sold or repaired in limbo. The two-wheelers sat unclaimed off-site for months until finally being recovered by Sag Harbor Village Police Detective Jeff Proctor.

Since news of the hidden bike cache broke in March, Proctor said four former BikeHampton patrons have come to him, hoping to be reunited their bikes. Though Proctor said one of the bikes has yet to be located, the other three were successfully recovered and promptly returned to their owners.

However, that barely makes a dent in the stash.

As of this week, there are approximately 40 bicycles still unclaimed. All of the bikes were taken to BikeHampton either for repairs or for consignment, Proctor said.

“Krum had an eBay business,” he explained. Bike owners would bring their racers, commuters or beach cruisers down to the shop, Krum would put them online with a price tag, and — once sold — he’d give the bike owner a portion of the profits.

Though Proctor said he was reluctant to mention the exact location of the unclaimed bicycles, he said they’re currently being stored by someone who had previously been affiliated with the business.

“When he found out that [Krum] was closing the doors, he pulled the bikes,” Proctor explained.

The detective added he has a full list of the makes and models of all the bikes being stored. So, anyone who describes a missing two-wheel ride that accurately matches up with what Proctor’s got on his list will be able to collect his or her bike.

“They need to be descriptive,” Proctor said of bike owners, adding that he wants to make sure the bikes go to their proper owners. But, he assured, “the bikes aren’t going away.”

Anyone still missing a bike from BikeHampton is encouraged to call Det. Procotr at 725-0247.

When Bob Michaelson and his wife took their bicycles to BikeHampton for repairs last fall, they thought nothing of it. As city residents who have had a second home in Sag Harbor for about 30 years, they have a long history with the shop. They purchased their bikes from the previous owners back when BikeHampton was located on Bay Street.

Last November, when Michaelson went back to retrieve the bikes, he was told two things: one, his bike — a $2,000 hybrid — needed a part that had to be ordered; and two, the shop would be closing.

“They told me it would reopen, and that in the meantime the bikes would be taken to the owner’s home and the phone would remain active,” he recalled. After some time passed, however, “I hadn’t hear from them,” Michaelson continued.  “And the phone had been disconnected.”

According to Sag Harbor Village Detective Jeff Proctor, there have been several different people who have come to the police with similar stories.

“I’ve had a few phone calls from people who have left their bikes there to get repaired or sold,” in which case BikeHampton and the bike owner would share the profits, he said.

And now — with BikeHampton’s closure in December  —  he said these people have found themselves utterly bike-less.

Employees of the Flying Point Surf Shop, which has since expanded its women’s department into the former BikeHampton space, said they, too, have received visits from frustrated customers who have recently come looking for sprockets and chains only to find Uggs and bikinis. One employee said he’s seen at least five such visitors.

Attempts to contact both BikeHampton’s former owner, Dave Krum, were met with disconnected phone lines.  Krum — who Proctor said is currently in Florida — did not return messages left on his cell phone.

“I had gone in the store periodically to buy a bike or get some repairs done,” Michaelson continued. “The people were friendly and got things done.  It was a good part of the business community.”

When asked if there were any red flags that could have possibly led to this sudden turn of events, Michaelson said, no, “not from my point of view.”

In an interview last week, however, he said the situation seemed rather grim: “I honestly don’t expect to ever see that bicycle again.”

But, that was then.

This past Tuesday, Detective Proctor said he may have found the missing metal stash.  Based on information he received from sources who wished to remain anonymous, he said several bikes are currently being stored at a home near Sag Harbor.

“We don’t know if that’s going to be all the bikes,” Proctor added.  However, he urges anyone who had left a bike at BikeHampton prior to its closure to contact the police department.

As of press time, it still wasn’t clear whether or not Michaelson’s bike had been located, but at least Michaelson said he now has hopes of seeing his hybrid once more.

“I had already gone out and bought a new bicycle under the assumption that that one was gone,” he admitted.  “But, that’s ok. I wanted a new bike anyway.”

He said he hopes everyone else with a missing bicycle finds him or herself just as fortunate.

By Claire Walla

In the span of about a month, two Audi’s were stolen in the greater Sag Harbor area, Southampton Town Police say.

One white 2011 A8 was reported missing from a residence in Noyac last week, and a blue 2006 A4 went missing in Bridgehampton sometime between late January and the middle of February, police say.

Police Chief Bill Wilson said he can’t speak as to whether or not the two incidents are related, as both cases are still under investigation.

The most recent incident was relayed to police last Wednesday, February 22, when a woman reported that her white 2011 Audi A8 was missing from her residence on Stony Hill Road in Noyac. She said she had parked her car in the driveway and left the keys in the ignition while the car was still running, police say. She then went into her residence to use the bathroom and when she came back outside, she reported that the car wasn’t there.

The timing of the other incident isn’t as precise. According to police reports, the blue 2006 Audi A4 convertible reportedly went missing from a parking lot on School Street in Bridgehampton sometime between Thursday, January 19 and Sunday, February 12.

Police say the car’s owner drove the vehicle to the long-term parking lot in Bridgehampton, before boarding a bus to the city. Her husband allegedly went to the lot on February 12 to collect the car and noticed the vehicle was missing.

Southampton Town Detectives are investigating both cases.

But instead of attending Family Court and going through a routine probationary process, they went to Youth Court, where their cases will be heard not only by a jury of their peers, but by a bench of legal council and even a judge who’s still a teen.

Sag Harbor Village Detective Jeff Proctor said he wasn’t aware Youth Court was an option until an attorney for one of the youths involved in the graffiti incident recommended it.

“This is actually good for us,” he said.  “For many years, there have been crimes committed by 13-, 14- and 15-years olds that aren’t severe enough for Family Court [because they are only violations], but they shouldn’t go unnoticed.  This gives kids some type of consequence for their actions.”

According to Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Tom Fabiano, this is the first time that a case that’s originated in the village has gone to Youth Court.

He said the police department has tried to make use of the youth court in the past, but the partnership has not always panned out. For one thing, all misdemeanors are first sent to Family Court before they are considered for Youth Court.  And as for violations, for which the department itself can send a child to Youth Court, parental consent is required.

“That’s the part I’ve ben trying to work with the police department on,” said Karen Hurst of the Southampton Town Youth Bureau who runs the Youth Court. She said arrests are quite tricky when it comes to children under the age of 16. In fact, minors cannot technically be charged with violations.

“But, if we get the parents’ consent, then [the kids] can come through the Youth Court,” she continued. “For example, if they have marijuana”—possession of marijuana is a violation—“an officer can say: We have this program available. That way, the kids are still being held accountable.”

Previously, Fabiano said juveniles arrested in Sag Harbor, ended up being sent to probation through Family Court Intake in Riverhead.  But, the department is making more of a concerted effort to utilize the teen court system.

“I hear a lot of good things about your court, because kids are judging other kids,” Fabiano said. “And they’re learning how the judicial system works.”

The Youth Court combines a range of participants stretching from Westhampton

“Youth Court is not mock trial,” Hurst explained. “The kids are looking at actual court cases.”

The way it works is there are kids who are involved in learning how the court system functions, and then there are youths who have committed a crime—either a violation or a minor misdemeanor (like making graffiti)—whose cases can be brought to Youth Court.

The kids who are participating in the Youth Court educational program take a 12-week training course with attorney Kevin Gilvary, through which they learn about the judicial system by reviewing actual court cases, and ultimately participating in Youth Court trials. Three students each will play the roles of prosecution and defense attorneys, and one student will even act as the judge presiding over the court proceedings.

To prepare for trial, Hust said the kids study different cases, practice their own depositions and even learn how to present opening and closing arguments. They even study different ways of administering consequences for certain actions.

“They have a lot of freedom with it,” she explained. Previous “sentences” have involved volunteer work, writing and art projects that benefit the community.

“They take it very, very seriously because they know it’s one of their peers sitting there,” Hurst commented.  “These are real cases, we’re working with real kids’ lives,” she continued. “I stress that to the kids all the time: If you were the one sitting in the respondents’ chair, how would you want your attorney to be acting?”

By Claire Walla

Sag Harbor Village Police Detective Jeff Proctor made his way to the Pierson Middle/High School campus last Thursday, January 2 where he proceeded to Mrs. Duff’s second-floor classroom and stood face-to-face with 16 middle school students.

He wasn’t there to make an arrest, or investigate a case; he was there to educate the students on the consequences of their actions. From graffiti and trespassing to possession of marijuana, Det. Proctor discussed the legal ramifications for such crimes. And he explained how the justice system works.

Misdemeanors (like making graffiti) are punishable by up to one year in jail, he said, while felonies (like dealing drugs) are punishable by more than one year in prison.

“And there is a difference between jail and prison,” Det. Proctor cautioned, pointing out that the Riverhead Jail holds less extreme offenders than New York State prisons do.

The students commented sporadically on Det. Proctor’s presentation, offering up definitions for key phrases, like “peer” and “consequence” when asked to do so. And, after estimating that roughly 15 percent of their class probably smokes pot, they discussed the downsides to marijuana use. (Such suggested drawbacks included: “it affects how you act,” “you can get suspended,” “it makes you feel depressed,” “memory loss,” and “it’s expensive.”)

Finally, a student in the front row pepped up and questioned the detective about the examples he had been using throughout his presentation to illustrate his points, like the circumstance he described involving kids trespassing and spray-painting an abandoned building in the village.

“Where are you getting all these examples from?” the student asked.

“Where do you think?” Det. Proctor answered right back. “It happened!”

At  approximately 6:47 pm, a resident from Head of Pond Road reported seeing a red glow to the north of her residence from what appeared to be a fire. Police officers as well as the Southampton Village and North Sea Fire Departments were dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival of responding officers and fire chiefs it was ascertained that a large residential home at 18 Jordan Drive  was fully involved with fire which was endangering neighboring residences. Southampton Fire Chiefs imediately requested assistance from North Sea, Hampton Bays, Riverhead, Sagharbor, Bridgehampton, Easthampton and Flanders Fire Departments. In addition Southampton Volunteer Ambulance was requested to the scene to stand by and rehab firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. Southampton Volunteer Ambulance Chiefs requested assistance from Southampton Village, Hampton Bays, Flanders, Bridgehampton and East Hampton Village Ambulances.

There were no injuries reported at the time of this release and the Southampton Town Fire Marshalls responded to the scene to investigate the cause of the blaze. One neigboring residence did receive some damage from the initial fire.

More information will be reported as it becomes available as to the cause of the house fire.

By Claire Walla

On Monday, November 21, the East Hampton Emergency Services (ES) team faced a dangerous situation: a man identified as being unemployed, despondent, intoxicated, suicidal and armed with a handgun had barricaded himself inside a waterfront home on Redwood Road, just outside Sag Harbor Village.

Nearly 20 ES officers — weighed down by heavy protective gear, wearing gas masks, and armed with shields, guns, pull cameras, brake-and-rake tools and a battering ram—were on the scene to try to stop him from causing any harm to others, or to himself.

After a series of calculated maneuvers, police finally apprehended the suspect and, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and black protective facemask, he was handcuffed and led to a truck where a member of the ES team was waiting.

“How you feeling?” the officer asked.

The suspect took off his helmet before responding: “Pretty snotty,” he said with straight face, and his handcuffs were promptly removed.

That’s right, it had all been just a drill.

According to Sag Harbor Village Police Sergeant Paul Fabiano, who organized Monday’s practice drill, the ES crew came here for the mock routine because, as luck would have it, this single-story house at the southern end of Redwood Road is scheduled to be demolished sometime in the near future. So the fact that officers blew-out windows, filled the residence with gas — “inert today,” Fabiano noted — and battered down the door is almost a non-issue.

“We’re practicing techniques to take control of the house from the exterior,” he continued.

The noxious gas is used to manipulate the situation inside, ideally working to sway the suspect to an easily identifiable area within the structure. In this case, Fabiano said the suspect — just a volunteer, and none of the descriptors used above — was told not to come out of the building after the gas was used.

“They had to force entry,” Fabiano added.

Neighbor Richard Kudlak was standing at the edge of his property by the tail end of the ordeal, taking pictures as the scene unfolded. Unlike those who unknowingly happened upon the cluster of cop cars or heard a police voice blaring from the ES bullhorn, Kudlak had been informed of the drill.

As to whether or not it put him ill at east to see so many cops in riot gear, he seemed unfazed. But, had this had been a real-life scenario, he added: “the degree of tension would be amplified by 10.”

When they set out in their kayaks in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 29, the weather wasn’t exactly perfect. But, it certainly wasn’t as bad as it eventually became.

October 29 marked the day of that freak fall snowstorm, which blanketed much of New York and Connecticut with snow. While the East End was relatively spared from snow, the storm did bring lots of rain and managed to stir up some dicey conditions.

It was around 7 a.m. when Sag Harbor residents Mike and Joe Tremblay and their friend John Larmor of Hampton Bays found themselves in choppy waters off Haven’s Beach in Sag Harbor Bay.

“When a Nor’easter blows in, you can check your iPhone all day [for weather conditions], but it can be unpredictable,” Larmor said in an interview.

High winds had blown thick cloud cover over the water, making it difficult to navigate. According to Larmor, the boaters were somewhere in the middle of the bay when conditions really turned and the double kayak shared by Larmor’s friends was suddenly inundated by water and beginning to sink.

That’s when they called police.

Sag Harbor Village Police officers, along with Harbor Master Bob Bori, got into a rescue craft and headed out to the kayakers.

“They got there pretty quickly,” Larmor said. “At first they couldn’t really see us [because of the fog],” he continued, but after trying to steer police in the right direction via cell phone, Larmor said everyone was located and brought back to the Long Wharf transient dock within roughly 15 minutes.

Though ambulance crews greeted the trio on shore, Larmor said it was just procedural: no one had sustained any serious injury.

“Anyone in a small craft in cold water has to be careful,” Larmor added. “It can be very unpredictable out there. In the course of just a few hours conditions can totally shift, and you can be totally unprepared for [what the weather might bring].”

Southampton Town Police Chief Bill Wilson admitted last Friday, November 4 that his department has, in fact, spent $225,000 more than its allotted overtime funds due primarily to changes in the department that he implemented when he took office last May.

However, he said, those costs don’t represent the full story.

Though the overtime budget is currently in the red, Chief Wilson said he has a vision for the department that will not only solve the overtime dilemma, but will bring more financial stability for the police department for the years to come.

“I think we can agree that the Southampton Town Police Department, operationally, has been on an austerity budget for quite some time,” Wilson began. “In looking at the long-term health and longevity of the police department over the next 20 years, I was tasked with finding significant savings [when appointed as police chief ].”

For fiscal year 2012, that total is $1.5 million, which is currently built into the supervisor’s Preliminary Budget. That cost savings is laid-out in a plan to trim the police department by eight members, using a stipulation in all officers’ contracts with the town that allows town officials to force officers who have reached 20 years of service into retirement. (Under Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst’s plan, officers who have 25 years of service or more will be affected.)

While Southampton Town Comptroller Tamara Wright recently said this formula has been complicated by the fact that fire service has now been thrown into the mix of what constitutes an officers’ employment with the town — the number of officers now eligible for retirement has risen to 12 — the chief maintains that trimming his staff in this way is the most effective for the department.

“There has been some concern with the department’s ability to operate with a certain amount of ‘brain drain,’” he said, referring to the fact that those forced into retirement would be the town’s senior officers with the most experience.

“We have talented people in those positions,” he continued, “But we have talented people waiting to fill those positions. So, at no time would public safety be jeopardized.”

He went on to explain that part of his reorganization would be removing superior officers from positions that he said could easily be “civilianized.” Wilson said that the lieutenant currently responsible for the office of emergency management — “an expert in the field” — has agreed to come back to the department after his retirement next August on a part-time or consultant basis in order to train a “civilian” to do the job.

Similarly, the chief said that a current sergeant interested in taking the town’s retirement incentive has agreed to come back to the department to work in an administrative, civilian position.

“In doing so, that would allow me to be able to flatten out the current command structure,” Wilson commented.

His goal, as he has explained it, is to get more uniformed officers out of the office and onto the streets.

In speaking to the longevity of the department, Wilson also told town board members that he hopes to make better use of technology to streamline procedures within the department that, as of now, are “archaic.” After adding that he has been asked to trim current staffing levels down to 90 (he said there were 96 when he first took command), operations will have to be streamlined.

That cannot be done “without the automization of a substantial amount of the services we perform — filling out paperwork, records management, processing evidence,” he added.

In one sense, Wilson continued, overtime numbers increase “because of the amount of uncommitted officer time — there is a report generated for every single thing that we do.”

But cutting back on those reports is not an option.

“One of the primary purposes of law enforcement is documentation,” Wilson said. “It’s just the way that the documentation is done that takes up time.”

The board went into executive session to discuss the finer details of Wilson’s plan regarding which specific staff members he proposes moving to higher positions to fill the spots of those expected to take retirement or be forced into retirement. However, though the board discussed Wilson’s plan for reorganizing his staff, Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst noted that she would be continuing discussion with the department’s two main unions: the Superior Officers’ Association (SOA) and the Police (PBA).

Should an agreement be reached or should the board decide not to force officers into retirement, Wilson noted that it would affect his carefully mapped out plan for a reorganization that would result in $1.5 million in savings.

Pointing to the fact that the new measurement for retirement eligibility at 25 years now includes 12 officers instead of eight, Councilman Jim Malone said that decreasing the department by 12 officers “is not sustainable,” adding that that would mark a drop-off of nearly 50 percent.

As discussions continue about the future of the town’s police department, Malone said he wanted to see more options than the what’s currently laid-out in the Preliminary Budget (retiring those who have accumulated 25 years of service).

“While it’s a viable choice, the choice of one is not really a choice in my mind,” he said. “There’s got to be a contingency plan.”

A New Jersey man visiting a family member’s Sag Harbor summer home with his fiancée last weekend, tumbled off the end of Long Wharf Saturday night and drowned.

Suffolk County Homicide Detectives identified the man as Christopher Valentine, 56, of Parsippany, N.J. There was no evidence of criminality, a spokesperson for the county homicide department said, and it appears as if Valentine, who was at the end of the wharf with his fiancée, fell into the water accidentally. The spokesperson said Valentine had been drinking and was likely intoxicated at the time.

Sag Harbor Village Police confirmed Valentine’s death on Monday morning, and due to the nature of the incident, referred the case to Suffolk County Homicide. The local department regularly refers such cases to the county for investigation.

Valentine and his fiancée — whom police are not identifying —  had walked together to the end of the wharf shortly before 9 p.m. and sat for a while on the bench in the northwest corner of the wharf, police reported. A short time later he fell into the water, estimated to be about 60 degrees, but it is unclear how that occurred. It is also unclear how long Valentine was in the water.

According to Sag Harbor Police Detective Paul Fabiano, a passing motorist notified police about the incident. Sources also indicate the woman was apparently injured in a fall on the wharf, although she never wound up in the water.

The man was pulled from the water by Sag Harbor Police with the aid of the Sag Harbor Harbor Master, and taken by the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps — who performed CPR in an attempt to revive him — to Southampton Hospital for medical treatment. He was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m.

The case is still under investigation with the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office and the homicide squad. Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact Detective Jeffrey Proctor of the Sag Harbor Police Department, 725-0623. All calls will remain confidential.

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