Week in Review: Cop Suspended; Court Tosses Defamation Suit

Take a look bad on the past week's top news and some headlines you may have missed:

State Supreme Court Justice John J.J. Jones Jr.  dismissed a $45 million defamation lawsuit against the heads of the Little Fresh Pond Association — calling the litigation "patently frivolous" — and ordered the plaintiff, day camp operator Jay Jacobs, to pay their attorney's fees and court costs. The lawsuit arose over an anonymous flier that circulated North Sea criticizing Jacobs' plan to run a day camp off Majors Path that would abut Little Fresh Pond.

The Southampton Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday to suspend without pay a police officer widely reported to have compromised narcotics investigations because of his own drug addiction. Officer Eric Sickles became addicted to drugs while working in the ’s now-defunct Street Crimes Unit, according to a confidential source and corroborated by many published reports. Tuesday's suspension is indefinite, “pending the disposition of disciplinary charges.”

When Billy Davis decided to propose to his girlfriend of nearly three years, he didn’t just want the proposal to be special — he wanted it to be extraordinary. He also wanted it to evoke the chance encounter that brought them together in the first place, on a  headed from the Hamptons to New York City.

For years, those working in the local agricultural industry have been faced with the delicate balancing act of making sure crops have enough nutrients to grow while protecting ground and surface water from being overloaded with nitrogen — a phenomenon scientists have blamed for harmful algae blooms.

Machado and Silvetti Associates will design the restoration of Southampton Village landmark building once the Parrish Art Museum moves out at the end of the year.

Homes used for teen party weekends and underage drinking, according to a Newsday report.

Detectives are searching for a hit-and-run driver who fled after fatally striking a nun on Monday night. The victim has been identified as Sister Jacqueline Walsh, a pastoral associate at  in Syosset, who was attending a retreat in the Water Mill area with fellow members of the Sisters of Mercy, according to .

Syosset's St. Edward's the Confessor Church overflowed with those whose lives were touched by the late nun killed in a hit-and-run in Water Mill.

Syosset community remembers nun killed in Water Mill Friday.

Kyle Soukup — a 27-year-old from Nassau County who served time for assault and manslaughter after killing an engaged couple in 2002 during a drag racing accident in Muttontown — pleaded not guilty Friday to an array of charges that stemmed from a drunk driving arrest in Southampton Village on July 6. At Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverside, Justice William Condon set bail at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond and Soukup was jailed at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.

Also among the week's arrests, five people are charged with driving while intoxicated.

Also among the week's police reports, golf clubs and fishing gear targeted by thieves.

Multiple DWI charges.

Boating Enforcement

A recent Long Island Press article examined water enforcement in an age of budget belt-tightening.

Despite recent tragedy, officials cannot penalize boaters who pack their vessels.

Friday at the Nova's Ark fields, ArtHamptons held a birthday party for Arts Patron of the Year Cheech Marin, artist Kristian Verono splashed models with paint in a public display, and performance artists put on shows among the sculpture displays.

The fifth annual three-day international art fair holds preview party.

ABC reports that the actor owns the world's largest collection of Chicano art — and ArtHamptons will name him "Arts Patron of the Year."

"We Love a Piano," a musical benefit party for the Pianofest scholarship fund, took place at the Southampton Historical Museum grounds Saurday, featuring Broadway star vocalist Melissa Errico, accompanied by her father, pianist Michael Errico.

Annual shopping event benefits the Southampton Historical Museum.

The Southampton Historical Museum celebrated American Independence Saturday at the Halsey House Gala on the grounds of the 1680 Thomas Halsey Homestead.  Proceeds benefit the museum's education programs.

Paws for Love-Pooch Social was held at Little Lucy's Canine Couture Boutique on Jobs Lane in Southampton Village on Saturday, July. The event featured RSVP (Responsible Solutions for Valued Pets), a group whose mission is to find pets in distress and find them better homes. This event will be hosted at Little Lucy's, featuring a different animal advocacy groups, all summer, every Saturday, with pets for home placement, and offering refreshments and of course everything a pampered pet might ever need.

Walter Wilcoxen says there has been little trust or consensus building on the Sag Harbor School District Board of Education for the last year and a half.

Following the resignation of Walter Wilcoxen, the Sag Harbor School District is in need of a new member. Superintendent John Gratto, who announced he was leaving the district on the same night Wilcoxen stepped down, said the board will appoint someone to fill Wilcoxen's seat.

After seven years as a member of the Bridgehampton School Board, Elizabeth Kotz has resigned, The Sag Harbor Express reports. Kotz stepped down at the end of June, saying she wants to spend more time at home, according to The Express. Kotz won a re-election bid for a third three-year term in May 2011, in an unopposed race.