CHATHAM – The town's annual Christmas celebration officially gets underway this Sunday when Santa Claus arrives at the Chatham Fish Pier. Santa will arrive in style, on the historic CG36500 motor lifeboat, featured in the book and film “The Finest Hours,” at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 3. He'll be escorted by members of the Chatham Coast Guard Station and greet children at the pier. After making his way through the crow...

CHATHAM — Selectmen agree that it’s probably time to consider hiking water rates to better maintain and expand the town’s water system. But they don't want to do so in a way that soaks low-income residents or small businesses. Meeting as water and sewer commissioners Tuesday, the board held a hearing on a complex proposal that would increase the amount customers pay for water, both to raise revenue for capital...

For the Family Pantry of Cape Cod, children hold a special place. From food and clothing distribution to Toy Day, Dec. 17, the Family Pantry isn’t ignoring the young ones who make up one-third of the pantry’s over 9,100 clients in Barnstable County. Already 1,200 children ages birth through 15 have signed up for Toy Day. (The final day for signups for children of current Family Pantry clients is Dec. 2.) ...

HARWICH — Former selectman Linda Cebula has filed two state Open Meeting Law complaints against the board of selectmen and its interview/nomination subcommittee. One relates to “specificity” of the agenda and the other challenges steps taken when revising an error in the date of a meeting. In her complaint Cebula cites the Nov. 13 meeting of the board of selectmen as providing “no indication that votes woul...

HARWICH — Danette Gonsalves said she was 13 years old when she started to hear the names of water commissioners and employees in the water department around her kitchen table. The intricacies of the department's operations became more familiar as she grew up. The flow of water department knowledge came early in her life because her father, Richard Hathaway, served for 21 years as a water commissioner. “At 1...

HARWICH — Harwich's loss will be Chatham's gain as two employees in the town's community development department have informed Town Administrator Christopher Clark they have taken jobs in Chatham. Clark announced this past week that town planner Aly Sabatino and building inspector Jay W. Briggs are leaving to take positions in Chatham. Briggs has already left; he started work on Monday as Chatham's building com...

KINGSTON ─ Scoring in a football game is about being in the right place at the right time, and the Monomoy football team capitalized on that in a chilly Thanksgiving thriller that saw the Sharks triumph against the Sacred Heart Saints 32-7 on the road. Connor Santoni got the scoring started for the visitors, putting himself in perfect position for a nice pass from quarterback Isaac Hart before racing 40 yard...

CHATHAM ─ Two alumni of the Chatham Anglers' baseball program were inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame on Nov. 18 in a traditional ceremony held at the Chatham Bars Inn. Joining the Hall in 2017 were 1984 infielder Joey Cora and 1985 heavy hitter Timothy McIntosh. Quick on base paths and a keen eye at the plate, Cora, an infielder from Vanderbilt, played a stellar season, primarily at ...

It's never easy being “that school.” You know, the one with the sports teams boasting records that elicit either pity or mockery. Until recently, Monomoy was that school. But thanks to the dedication of numerous student athletes, things are changing, and it's time to give yourselves a pat on the back. While this is certainly a shout out to each of the athletes that competed for and on Monomoy teams, I want to ...

If you've attended a screening in the Chatham Orpheum Theater's Art and Music Film Series, you've see the work of Brandon DeTraglia. The “Featured Artists Series,” commissioned by the Orpheum, links Cape artists to the wider artistic world with an under-10-minute personal profile that plays before each of the feature documentaries, which focus on classic artist, art galleries or musical performances. DeTraglia...

The “cabin in the woods” scenario is now a well-worn horror movie trope. An incredibly clueless group, usually college age or 20-somethings, decamps to an isolated, dilapidated cottage despite warnings of hauntings, deranged neighbors or ancient curses. Mayhem ensues. Plunking a new Chatham senior center in the middle of the woods probably won't have the same results – as far as we know, there are no ancient b...

The recent holiday found us in northern Ohio visiting relatives. We took the opportunity to make the short trip into Cleveland and cross the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame off our list of interesting places we'd like to visit. Opened in 1995 on the shore of Lake Erie, the museum presents a striking appearance. Designed by architect I.M. Pei, it rises pyramid-shaped from a courtyard featuring the words “Long Live R...

Mini-roundabout Best For Intersection Editor: Nobody likes the size of the Howard Stein Hudson (HSH) proposal 3 with traffic-lights and turning lanes at the Crowell Road intersection. The selectmen voted optimistically to reduce the area by “scaling” it. Although HSH say they can look into some hypothetical tweaks, it seems impractical to reduce the size enough to satisfy both the critics and the Federal ...

William G. McGagh             William G. McGagh, of Westwood and Chatham and formerly of Birmingham, Mich. and Los Angeles, Calif., a devoted husband, father and grandfather and former corporate finance executive, died peacefully in his sleep on November 20, 2017 at the age of 88.              Bill is survived by his daughter Sallie (McGagh) Delaney of Newton, his son-in-l...

Richard Joseph Cunningham                           Richard Joseph Cunningham, 86, of Rancho Mirage. Calif. and Chatham died November 16, 2017 after a brief illness.               Born on May 8, 1931, in Evanston Ill., Dick was the son of the late William Cunningham and his wife Guila (French), formerly of Bronxville N.Y.               He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Emily (Dexter) Cu...