A $75 million federal lawsuit has been filed by a former Westhampton Beach cop. Residents continue to seek an elected library board.

The New York Post devoted most of a page Jan. 15 to a story whose headline blasted the “see no evil” WHB police force.

NY Post article on Westhampton Beach cop

Suspended cop Joseph Pesapane charges that the village and police department “have a long history rife with public corruption where crimes and serious misconduct are condoned.”

The suit says a sergeant who beat his wife was given his gun back and another cop was not disciplined after failing to respond to an emergency where the person died.

Mayor Maria Moore said she had yet to receive the complaint but if it is like previous charges of Pesapane, WHB “will vigorously defend itself against these baseless claims.”

Eruv Battle Put WHB in NYP’s Sights

WHB has been in the sights of NYP for several years, partly because of its opposition to an eruv Jewish boundary sought by Orthodox Jews. After a seven-year battle against the boundary, a federal appeals court in 2015 ruled it is “a valid accommodation to religious practice.”

Editorialized NYP:

“And let’s be honest. In Westhampton and other places where eruvs have been challenged, what’s really driving opposition is not constitutional concerns but the fear by some residents that an eruv opens the door to an influx of Orthodox Jews. The right word for that is bigotry. And as the court has just ruled, the Constitution offers no protection for these prejudices.”

Persapane says he was falsely arrested in 2013 on charges of stalking a former fiancée, resulting in his suspension from the force. The charges were dropped last July but he was not reinstated.

NYP says “tony” WHB has “virtually no crime” but paid former police chief Ray Dean $226,236 a year to supervise less than 10 cops. Dean retired in 2014 with a payout of $403,714 for 15 years of unused sick, vacation and personal time.

Residents Seek Elected Library Board

Former WH library employee Sabina Trager has a lengthy letter in the Jan. 12 Southampton Press reiterating claims of the www.wflelectedboard.org website that the library should switch from an appointed to an elected board. It should not be “a private club,” she writes.

Her attempts to gain a seat on the board were recently rebuffed.

Her letter notes that 17 of the 24 “association” libraries on Long Island have elected boards when they could have appointed boards. She says there is no need for the WH Library to budget $1 million for a parking lot when the current lot isn’t needed ten months of the year.

The library has $4 million+ in cash over and above the $3 million operating budget and only gave increases last May to administration and management employees, she says. Nearly $3M is being budgeted to alterations on a building that is only seven years old, she also notes.

Thomas Moore, husband of Mayor Moore, is president of the library board.