Border skirmishes between the East End ’s two venerable weeklies, the Southampton Press and the East Hampton Star, have given way to outright confrontation. The broadsheets had observed a détente for more than a century, splitting the Hamptons mostly along town lines. But as the Southampton paper prepares to launch an East Hampton edition this summer, territorial niceties have dissolved—as has the relationship between the papers. “It’s no secret that they want to put us out of business,” fumes Star editor David Rattray, who calls the Press a “decent” publication. “But if they think we’re going to disappear, it’s not going to happen.” Joseph Louchheim, the Press’s publisher, advises his former grade-school chum to relax. “The Star is an institution,” he says. “To think that we are coming in there with that intention is ridiculous.” Louchheim says he just wants an advertising foothold in East Hampton: “And maybe East Hampton residents could use a fresh perspective.” Rattray says, “East Hampton residents are very proud. I don’t know how they’ll react to an outsider, someone from Southampton, coming in here.”
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