Anna Throne-HolstSouthampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, announced in the last few seconds of the Aug. 25 town meeting, that SH would no longer fight an eruv in the town, saying a settlement absolved it of further legal costs and penalties.

Throne-Holst told 27east.com that the town board felt it was time to “bring to an end what has been a very long and costly piece of litigation that was solely geared to the interpretation of our sign laws.”

Her announcement came as a "walk-on" resolution that was the 38th and last action of the meeting. It was not on the agenda for the meeting. There was no discussion after a unanimous voice vote and the meeting was adjourned. The meeting was videotaped and a link to it is provided. The eruv resolution is at the 49th minute of the MediaTraq webcast.

She said that the town will drop its suit in U.S. District Court arguing that an eruv would violate the First Amendment’s ban against church/state involvement. SH will no longer have to pay restitution to the East End Eruv Assn. for lawyer and court fees, a threat that had been made by the EEEA. Fees totaling "millions" had been threatened at one point by Marvin Enzer, president of EEEA.

SH has noted that its legal costs were not covered by insurance.

SH has spent more than $700,000 on the litigation and has also complained about the extensive hours needed to compile evidence sought by the East End Eruv Assn.

Robert Sugarman, lead counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which has been working since 2011 on a pro bono basis for EEEA, told 27east.com that as of yesterday he had not seen the SH resolution. He said he would wait until he sees the signed agreement before making any comment.

Sugarman had told 27east.com Feb. 2, 2015 that legal costs, fees and penalties against the three towns would be "considerable."

Quogue has been fighting an imposition of an eruv, citing its sign laws. Westhampton Beach has taken the position that it has never opposed an eruv in WHB. The Hampton Synagogue has been saying on its website that the "Eruv Is Up" but neither residents nor the Southampton Press have been able to find any physical evidence of it on local utility poles. The Synagogue website displays a map of the eruv.

Jewish People for the Betterment of WHB, representing more than 400 local residents, has been seeking a public meeting on the matter. Its website challenges the Constitutionality of eruvim throughout the U.S. Highhatsize, a regular, anonymous contributor to 27east.com, who has been opposed to eruvim, posted his comment today:

This is hardly a surprise. The real surprise is that the Town Board held out for so long in the face of the ever-increasing extortion by court procedural costs imposed by the Orthodox Jews' legal action.

Now the only holdout is Quogue, which, I am lead to believe, is proceeding entirely on the basis of the entirely peripheral issue of signage laws. It may win because IT'S ordinances forbid ALL private postings on village property. Entirely ignored will be the constitutional question.

The
By highhatsize (2462), East Quogue on Aug 27, 15 9:47 AM