Volunteer Dockmaster: Leave Weesuck Creek Slips Alone

The dockmaster at the Head of Lots Road boat slips in East Quogue is standing up to the East Quogue Civic Association’s push to of Weesuck Creek.

Jim Gohery, who voluntarily maintains the Head of Lots docks, says he wants to see the set-up stay the way it is after Southampton Town takes ownership of the adjoining 29 acres of land.

The town board authorized the $5.4 million land purchase in early December, and soon after the civic made the recommendation that no motorboats be allowed in the creek, a move they say would protect the aquifer from pollution and noise.

There are no gas tanks at the slips, and boat owners are respectful of the environment, Gohery said. Twelve of the 14 docks at the slips are owned by East Quogue residents, with the remainder owned by people from Hampton Bays and Quogue.

“These are not Johnny-come-lately yahoo’s,” Gohery said. “There are very upstanding people here.”

All of the boat owners have poured their own money into maintaining the docks, Gohery said. He assumed the dockmaster role in the late 1990s by helping repair the facility.

Kevin McAllister, who keeps his boat at the slips, also supports leaving the docks alone. Gohery said he and McAllister told all the boat owners at the slips to gas up while they’re out on the water at neighboring marinas to prevent pollutants from entering Weesuck Creek.

Only owners of small outboard motorboats would gas up on-location at Weesuck Creek, Gohery said. In that instance, the only gas spilled is usually in the back of the boat owner’s car in transit from the Hampton Bays Hess to the slips.

The town board is expected to decide on how to handle the slips early this year with community input. Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said at the December Town Board meeting that she could not see expanding the operations at the docks  meeting.

“In all honesty, I've lived here 41 years, and I don’t want to see anything degraded,” Gohery said. “No one there is of that mind.”