THE STAR - NYS Historic Newspapers

It was clear here last Thursday
evening, with a quarter-moon in the
western sky, and enough light to
w alk by. There was a >Community
Action meeting at Brad’s Springs
Road Inn; a parents’ meeting at the
Hampton Day School; a Lions Club
m eeting; and nothing much else.
Courtland W eber Schenck, 52, had
a drink at the bar with friends
before leaving Chez Labbat after
the Lions’ meeting. He walked out
to his car, a 1963 white Chevrolet
station wagon, shortly before 10
p.m. Jim, his pointer, was not in
his usual place in the back o f the
car.
A few minutes later, the station
wagon was parked on Roberts Lane,
about a mile north o f Chez Labbat.
Roberts Lane is narrow, and runs
east from Long Lane to Cedar Street,
through the fields.
About 100 yards south o f the inter­
section of Roberts and Long Lane,
lost Thursday Eveaing...
on the east side o f L ong Lane, is
a single-story shingled cottage, the
home o f Mrs. Judith Nancy Kuntz,
34, her two daughters, and her son.
Mrs. Kuntz is divorced, and her
husband, William H. Kuntz, has re­
married and is living in Florida.
Shotgun
She was having dinner with Ed­
ward C. Simons, 52, a widower.
There are only a few houses on
Long Lane, where the wind roars
on winter nights, and there was a
double-barrelled 20-gauge shotgun in
the house. The police say that it
had been given Mrs. Kuntz some
time back by Mr. Schenck, for pro­
tection.
At 9:55 p.m., the radio dispatcher
on duty at East Hampton Town
THE
VOLUME LXXXIII
P olice headquarters, James Hallock,
received a call from a woman, w ho
did not identify herself. She said
there was some “ trouble” on Long
Lane. Eight minutes later, at 10:03,
the telephone rang again, and a
woman, apparently the same one,
said an intruder had been shot.
From w here the Chevrolet was
parked, it is about 475 feet southsouthwest across the fields to the
back yard o f the Kuntz house. A c ­
cording to the Suffolk County Dis­
trict Attorney’s office, Mr. Schenck
was standing there, 40 or 50 feet
away from the house, near the
small garage, when the shotgun was
raised and one barrel was fired at
him.
Assistant District Attorney Edward
W. Conners said Monday that Mrs.
Kuntz had loaded the gun. and that
Mr. Simons had fired it. The shells
contained number six shot, a duck
or pheasant load.
The police say that Mr. Schenck
was hit in the low er back and legs,
and made it almost back to his car
before falling to the ground. He
went back toward the station wagon,
behind W. Adair Orr’s electrical
shop, which was once Sid Fields’
lawnm ower repair business.
The potato field he crossed was
Mr. Fields’ private airport, 20 years
or so ago. Behind Mr. Orr’s shop is
a big steam shovel, an antique col­
lected by his son, Lieutenant Francis
Orr, USN.
A t about the time the police ar-
EAST HAMPTON, N. Y„ THURSDAY. MARCH 14. 1968
NUMBER 26
Continued On Page 4
Water Tower
Is Felled Here
A 125,000 gallon water storage
tank on the Suffolk County Water
Authority property on Route 27 just
west o f East Hampton V illage was
felled on Tuesday m orning by a
three-man
team.
The
standpipe
which stood alongside for many years
was taken dow n several years ago.
The toppled tower, which had
been replaced by the futuristic 250,000 gallon storage tank on Pantigo
Hill, “ is corroded and broken through
in several places, mainly from the
salt air," according to Richard
Gurney of the local Water Authority
office.
“ We have been using it," Mr.
G urney said, “ but frankly w e're not
sure if it w ill stand up in a hurri­
cane."
"Six Feet M ore"
The crew started to w ork under­
mining the 100-foot tall steel struc­
ture with an acetylene torch early
in the morning, and by 10 a.m. it
was ready to g o after cables had
been attached to it to assure a co r­
rect landing.
The torch man was heard to say,
after the tower crashed down.
"Should have been six feet m ore to
the right." It came fairly close to,
but did not hit the Water Authority
Icncc which rongi the property.
Continued On Page 5
STAR
Single C op y
JQ p
Published Thursday
Hog Creek Again:
Trustees Wonder
What's In a Word
The Town Trustees and James
Reutershan o f Amagansett, the vice
president o f the East Hampton Town
Baymen’s Association, locked horns
at the Trustees’ meeting Tuesday
night concerning a definition o f the
transitive verb “ assume.”
Mr. Reutershan took the Trustees
to task fo r "allow ing” Walter C.
Hewitt, developer o f the Clearwater
Beach and L ion’s Head subdivisions
at Hog Creek, to “ indiscriminately
dredge and bulkhead" there "fo r the
last ten years.”
“ I f you assume, that is claim, ow n­
ership, then do something,” Mr.
Reutershan said. “ I w ouldn’t be sur­
prised if he’s dredging and building
docks etcetera there right now ,” he
added.
Trustee, Gordon Bennett, asked
Mr. Reutershan: “ When you got the
perm it for a mooring there, wasn't
that a test case to see if w e owned
it or not?
“ I would assume you do own it,”
replied Mr. Reutershan.
Charles Mansir, the chairman of
the Trustees, said that a Bridgeham p­
ton attorney, Benjamin Michne, was
in the process o f determining the
ownership o f the Hog Cre6k bottom.
“ He has not reported back to the
Trustees yet," Mr. Mansir said.
Four or F ive Years
Lighting up a pipe, Mr. Mansir
said to Mr. Reutershan, “ I’ve said
w e assume ownership. Now it’s about
to be proven. You and I have been
talking about this for the last four
or five years, Jim ."
"Still, this word, ‘assume,’ seems
to be in quotes,” Mr. Reutershan
said. "W hen I put the mooring in,
I wrote a letter to Hewitt and said
if he had proof o f ownership, I ’d
take the mooring out o f there, but
he never replied.”
Stanley Jacobs said, “ I’m a novice,
but have you any evidence that the
Trustees own the Hog Creek bot­
tom? I’ve heard you insinuating we
own it. . . D o you have any ev i­
den ce?”
"The Trustees’ statement that they
irived, only a few minutes later,
Mr. Schenck died in the ragged
hedgerow o f scrub oak and wild
cherry alongside Roberts Lane. He
was ten or 15 yards away from his
car; the police said they heard
moans before they found him.
He was wearing a buttoned white
raincoat, a maroon sports jacket,
grey gabardine trousers, brown loaf­
ers, and a white oxford shirt with
an open collar. A reddish-brown
high-crowned, narrow-brim m ed hat
was on the ground nearby.
Cause of Death
His body was taken to the County
Medical Examiner's office in Hauppauge. The cause of death was later
given, tentatively, as “a heart attack,
brought on by the wounds.”
Mrs. Kuntz and Mr. Simons were
taken to police headquarters. They
were arrested at around 11 a.m. Fri­
day, and early that afternoon were
1 Y ea r $S; 6 M onths $ i
Tel. 32U-0U77, S2U-0002
Voters Approve
Extra Bus Service
In Bridgehampton
By a seven-vote margin, the voters
of the Bridgehampton School District
approved a proposition on Tuesday
night that will provide bus trans­
portation for an estimated additional
149 pupils to the Bridgehampton
School, about 75 o f them residents
o f the Sag Harbor Turnpike area,
which has a large Negro population.
The vote was 138 in favor o f the
proposition and 131 against, with
two ballots void.
On the Rocks at Montauk
Jack Graves Photo
Fog Causes Collision, Wreck
Within a period o f about 12 foggy
hours on Sunday and Monday a
Montauk partyboat ran on the rocks
about one and one-half miles south­
w est o f Montauk Point and two
Rhode Island trawlers collided in
the ocean about 20 miles southeast
o f the Point.
No one was injured in the wreck
of the partyboat, which occurred at
about 2:45 p.m. Sunday, but two
fishermen w ere presumed drowned
as a result o f the collision of the
tw o trawlers, which occurred at
about 3:25 a.m. Monday.
The missing men from the threem em ber crew o f the Sea Ranger, an
80-foot vessel out o f Newport, R. I.,
w ere John Hawser, the captain, of
Tiverton, R. I., and Richard R etkow ski, a crewman from Newport.
The third crew member, Justin
M cGee o f Newport was rescued soon
after the collision by the other boat
involved, the Bob and Barry, a 50foot trawler out o f Port Judith, R. I.
“ The Sea Ranger sank in about ten
seconds,” a spokesman for the Coast
Guard's Star Island Station said.
The Bob and Barry, however, suf­
fered no serious damage from the
collision and sailed back into Port
Judith after picking up Mr McGee.
Search Given Up
Coast Guard helicopters from the
Brooklyn Air Station and the Coast
Guard cutter Point Wells, from Star
Island, gave up the search at sunset
Monday
“ until further develop­
ments."
The Montauk partyboat. the 65foot Viking Star, captained b y Carl
G. Forsberg. was making its wavback to port when it struck the rocks
at "Tea House" near "Casw ell’s”
w here the George A ppold w as w reck­
ed in 1889. One hundred-foot cliffs
tow er above the spot.
A bout
40 weekend
fishermen
w aded the some 30 yards to shore
as the boat was pinioned by the
rocks parallel to the beach, with
a hole smashed in its hull on the
port side.
Carl W eder o f Lebanon, Pa., one
o f the passengers, said most of them
were in the cabin when they heard
the boat hit the rocks. “ We didn't
realize that w e were on shore. We
Miss Kazickas
Is Wounded
Miss Jurate Kazickas, 24, the
daughter o f Dr. and Mrs. Joseph
Kazickas o f 140 Egypt Lane, East
Hampton, and New Rochelle, was
wounded last Friday at the Marine
Corps position in Khesanh, Vietnam.
The extent o f her wounds is not
known by her family.
Miss Kazickas is a freelance cor­
respondent, and is on her third trip
to Vietnam. She was in New Y ork
four weeks ago.
Her injuries were sustained during
a 300-shell bombardment of the
Khesanh base. Also wounded at the
same time were Bill Branigan and
James Deckard o f the American
Broadcasting Company.
She was on assignment for the
North Am erican Newspaper Alliance.
Miss Kazickas. a graduate of Trinity
College in Washington. D C.. has
studied in England and taught in
Kenya. She first went to Vietnam
several years ago, on her way home
from Kenya.
thought w e were still far out,” he
said.
“ One old boy took the anchor
rope and walked to shore, about
eight yards in the w ater shallow
enough to wade but icy, rough and
with an undertow,” Mr. Weder said.
"B ig Adventure"
“ The man fastened the rope to a
rock and the rest o f the passengers
put a raft over the side. Most of
them ended up swimming, holding
the rope or the raft,” he said.
An 11-year-old b oy "thought it
was a big adventure," Mr. Weder
said. "His dad seemed to think the
boy will expect this on future trips.”
The men made fires with drift
w ood and w ere warming up with
everyone ashore when crews from
the Star Island Coast Guard Station
arrived in the cutter Point Wells
and in a 44-foot motor life boat.
Members o f the East Hampton Town
P olice department and o f the M on­
tauk Fire Department also arrived
on the scene.
The firemen took the wet fisher­
men to the fire house, wrapped them
in blankets, put all their clothes in
driers and served them hot soup
before they w ere taken to their cars
in the Viking parking area.
Captain Forsberg, his son, Paul,
the skipper o f the Viking Starlite,
and other Montauk boatmen spent
Sunday night rem oving equipment
from the hull o f the w recked boat,
and on Monday unsuccessful efforts
w ere made to float her so she could
be tow ed into port, as a Coast Guard
boat stood by.
“ It's salvage now. and out o f our
hands." a Coast Guard spokesman
said on Tuesday.
Mrs. Minnie Thompson, the secre­
tary of the Sag Harbor Turnpike
parents* committee, which has fought
for the reduction o f the no-schoolbus radius from three and tw o miles
to one mile, said yesterday the re­
sults o f the voting w ere “ wonderful!
I am very glad for the children, and
I ’m glad w e w orked so hard to reach
this goal for them.”
The Sag Harbor Turnpike has no
sidewalks nor street lights. The par­
ents’ com m ittee has cited hazardous
conditions for students walking to
the school from the Turnpike area.
There have been pedestrian deaths
and injuries along the roads there.
Lions' Suggestion
The Bridgehampton Lions Club
has requested the Southampton Town
Board to build a concrete or brick
sidewalk along the Turnpike from
the Montauk Highway north to the
railroad crossing.
F ollow ing the vote, the Bridge­
hampton School principal, Robert
LaFountain, said the additional stu­
dents w ould be bused “ beginning
very soon.”
The estimated cost for the added
transportation this school year is
$1,950; the estimate for the added
transportation for a w hole school
year is $4,790. The 1967-1968 trans­
portation budget includes $3,650 for
transportation.
Mrs. Lettie Hines, a spokesman for
the parents’ com m ittee, said yester­
day. "I feel as though w e had a lot
o f white support,” in gaining the
approval o f the bus radius reduction.
Helicopter Forced
Down On Beach
A crew o f fou r Naval reservists
on maneuvers in a Sikorsky H-34
helicopter out o f Quonset Point
Naval A ir Station in Rhode Island
was forced to make an emergency
landing here last Wednesday after­
noon on the beach at Georgica Pond
Gut. No one aboard the sonarequipped helicopter’s crew was in­
jured.
The co-pilot. Lieutenant Com ­
m ander Roger M oberg of St. Paul,
Minn., said he and the pilot. Lieu­
tenant
Com m ander
James
Von
Lorenz o f Lake Minnetonka, Minn.,
had noted a sudden loss in engine
pow er “ about 15 to 20 miles o ff­
shore" w hile their helicopter and
four others from the Naval A ir Sta­
tion w ere looking for sonar targets.
“ We w ere sure w e w ere going to
get w et," Lt. Cmdr. Moberg said.
Lt. Cmdr. Moberg, w ho was guard­
ing the helicopter on the cold, w ind­
swept beach late Wednesday after­
noon just west of property owned
by Juan Trippe, president o f Pan
Am erican Airways, said, ‘T h e care­
taker probably thought it was Mr.
Trippe coming hom e.”
"In cid en t/' Noi Accident
The group o f five helicopters had
left the A ir Station at 2 p.m. to
begin anti-submarine tactics. “ We
didn't even find one commercial
freighter to play with,” Lt. Cmdr.
Continued on Page 6
Edward C. Simons Under Arrest
Jack Graves Photo
Simons, Mrs. Knntz
Out On $10,000 Bail
M rs. Judith N ancy Kuntz, 34, and Edwin C. Sim ons, 52, o f
E ast Ham pton, accused o f the m urder o f Courtland W . Schenck,
52, have been released on $10,000 bail. The bail was set M onday
by County Judge Thom as M. Stark after a hearing, at which
Assistant D istrict A ttorney Edw ard W . Connors said his o ffic e
w as basing the case against the tw o “ on the wanton recklessness
m urder theory.” M rs. Kuntz, w ho is the m other o f three children
and is divorced, was released M onday evening after her bail was
raised, reportedly by relatives.
Sim ons’ bail was posted Tuesday
evening. A t M onday’s hearing,
M rs. Kuntz was represented by
H ow ard M. Finkelstein, a R iverhead attorney.
Young Man Hit
By Two Cars
The Southampton Town Police
reported that Robert Joseph Ford,
21, o f Division Street, Sag Harbor,
was hit last Friday night by two
cars while walking on Montauk
Highway near W icke’s Inne, Bridge­
hampton.
Mr. Ford, w ho had been observ­
ing his 21st birthday, was taken to
the Southampton Hospital where he
was reported in satisfactory condi­
tion later in the week.
According to the Southampton
P olice, Mr. Ford was first hit at
about 11:08 p.m. by a car driven by
Edward L. Pinney Jr., 43, w ho gave
his address as Box 1381, East Hamp­
ton. The operator, whose vehicle
was heading east, said the pedestrian
had run from the north side of the
road into the side o f his car.
A second car, operated by Marvin
Glass, 41, o f 3973 46th Street, Long
Island City, which was also in the
east-bound lane, swerved to avoid
Mr. Ford w ho had fallen towards
the south shoulder, but could not
avoid hitting the young man.
Injuries
Police said that Mr. Ford, w ho is
with the Navy at Newport, R. I ,
suffered a broken shoulder, facial
cuts and shock from the accident.
He was taken to the Southampton
Hospital
by
the Bridgehampton
ambulance.
The Sag Harbor Village Police
reported a 1963 Pontiac sedan, oper­
ated by Dennis A. Smith, 25, o f 138
W oodbine Drive, East Hampton,
overturned on Route 114 about 100
feet west o f W alker Avenue last
Friday at about 11:45 p.m.
Mr. Smith was heading in a south­
erly direction when he lost control
o f his car, the police reported. He
was not injured, but the car was a
total loss, police said. Sag Harbor
Village
Police
Sergeant
Robert
Aldrich investigated.
The East Hampton Village Police
reported a collision with the Mam
Beach guard rail at 4:25 p.m. on
Tuesday. Driving the red 1955
Chevrolet sedan was G eorge W.
Merritt, 20, o f Fresh Pond Road,
Amagansett.
Summons
T w o passengers, Thomas W. Lester,
17. o f Huntting Road. East Hampton,
and Jerold M. Barber. 21, of 40
Cooper Lane. East Hampton received
m inor injuries and w ere taken to
the East Hampton Medical Group
Continued on Page 6
Sim ons was represented by
Thom as E. Behringer Jr. o f
W ater Mill. The tw o had been
jailed w ithout bail last Friday
by E ast Ham pton Tow n Justice
Ivan C. T oppin g, w ho scheduled
an exam ination on the charge
at 10 a.m. M onday at Tow n Hall.
Involvement
Before setting bail, Judge Stark
asked Mr. Connors to detail the
alleged involvem ent o f the two in
the death o f Mr. Schenck. The As­
sistant District Attorney said Simons
and Mrs. Kuntz w ere together last
Thursday night in Mrs. Kuntz’ house
on Long Lane when Mr. Schenck
walked from his car toward the
rear o f the building, across the
fields.
He charged that Mrs. Kuntz pick­
ed up a 20-gauge double-barrelled
shotgun, loaded it, and gave it to
Simons. Simons, outside the house,
fired at Mr. Schenck, Mr. Connors
said, from a distance o f over 50
feet, and Mr. Schenck tried to flee.
The victim died near his car, park­
ed on Roberts Lane. Mr. Connorg
said the charges against the two
might eventually be reduced, and
that he would recommend reduced
bail in that event.
Giant Band V/ill
Play Tomorrow
Student players in bands from six
East End high schools will unite to
form a 100-piece ensemble Friday at
8 p.m. at the Pierson High School
auditorium in Sag Harbor. Fred
Hines will be the chairman o f the
event, in its seventh year, and will
be one o f the directors.
The other directors will be John
Lamendola,
of
Hampton
Bays;
Charles Mockler, o f Bridgr-hampton;
Earl Richel, of Southampton; Thomai
Nappi and Kenneth Stowell, o f East
Hampton; and Herbert Volberg of
Shelter Island.
Mr Stowell
guest conductoi
Continued on Page 8