There's a lot that bothers me about the debate over the Affordable Care Act and its myriad potential replacements. Most of all, though, everyone should stop referring to it as a health care debate. It's not. A more accurate description would be a health insurance debate. You can argue that Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the replacements proposed by Republicans are about health care, because they impact ho...

  The first time we took Tilikum down there, testing out the Mako’s range and speed, we ended up just inside the lee of the island. The ocean was just around the corner. Open and wild and powerful and indifferent. A cool, salt breeze played at different angle, first our face, then our knees and jumping at times to the hair on our arms. It was there and gone again, at unpredictable intervals. Standing at the...

Does Harwich Need A Pet Cemetery​? Editor: I have recently had occasion to drive down the industrial area on Queen Anne Road in Harwich. I just learned that the large swath of land being cleared was for a town-funded pet cemetery. Harwich has very few industrial areas left to build on. These three or four lots could have created 15 bays for the working class to start or expand a business. Those businesse...

How important is the cohesiveness of Chatham's downtown business district? Historically, the town's main business district – what folks refer to as “downtown” – has tended to shift. At one point, many businesses congregated around the neighborhood we know today as the Old Village. Businesses were interspersed with residences, and more often than not they were one and the same, with shop owners living on the sa...

Hatred Comes To Harwich Editor: It’s taken me a week to write this letter because I wanted to be very clear about the facts.  My husband and I live year-round in Harwich and delight in having our children and grandchildren come to visit, as so many of us do.  I want to tell you about an ugly incident that happened to us at the lakeside beach on Cahoon Road off Route 137 on June 26.  To set the scene let me ...

In a recent letter to the Chatham Board of Selectmen, a resident raised the prospect of tinkering with tradition. It's well past time, George Olmsted wrote, to put to rest the title of “selectman,” and instead refer to the town's executives as the select board. “Two women and three men [on the current board] encourages the change,” he reasoned. This is not a new argument. Ever since Josephine Ives became th...

I saw, I bought, I planted. Then I watered and waited, and waited and watered for days, then, in horror, watched the original healthy looking deep green leaves of the nursery tomato plant I’d purchased devolve to a pale yellow, then crumbling brown, illustrating only too well the biblical scripture “from dust ye came and to dust ye shall return.” I watch skeptically as my nasturtium leaves proliferate, ab...

Newspaper Connects Students, Environment Editor: This year, fifth grade students at Monomoy Regional Middle School immersed themselves in the newly created grade five Earth and Human Activity Project. Throughout the school year, students studied the impact of humans on the Earth and identified related problems and possible solutions to them. Students engaged in educational field experiences, hands-on, in-sc...

In recent months, Chatham has seen a number of developments which seem to maximize building on relatively small parcels of land. The most visible is the subdivision at 78 Crowell Rd., a 1.35 acre lot previously the home of the Chatham Medical Associates offices, which squeezes three large homes on parcels of less than 20,000 square feet, well below the usual minimum lot size. Nonetheless, this was allowable under...

The Cape Cod Baseball League, founded in 1885, is the best-known summer sports organization on the Cape, drawing college-age men from across the nation for what can be a steppingstone to the minor and major leagues. CCBL teams are based in Brewster, Bourne, Yarmouth-Dennis, Falmouth, Hyannis, Chatham, Orleans, Cotuit, and Wareham, with the Harwich Mariners playing its games at Whitehouse Field near Monomoy Region...

It has been said that fear is a powerful motivator. I agree, which is why I titled this blog “Mostly Fearless.” But while that's the simple version of my title inspiration, there is definitely more to it. See, fear has long played a role in my life, often times too big a role. This blog is part of my continued attempts to address that. Remembering a time in my life when fear wasn't a factor is difficult. Back ...

Whether you're a Chatham resident, a summer visitor, or a resident of any other Cape Cod town, we've got one last errand for you to do before the big holiday weekend begins. Before the end of the day Friday, we'd like you to consider adding your signature to the town's petition that seeks to reverse the land claim by the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Specifically, the petition asks Gov. Charlie Baker ...