Elayne Perlstein, 90, is the sole librarian at the South Chatham Public Library, keeping the non-profit library open two afternoons a week year-round. On a sunny Friday afternoon in late August, Perlstein, who describes herself as “a people person,” greets a visitor warmly, but too many patrons are waiting to check out books to chat now. A few days later, at the West Chatham Dunkin’ Donuts, she has the leisure...

Larry Dapsis, the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension entomologist for Barnstable County, is on the lookout for Cape Cod's first longhorn tick. A year ago, none were known to be in the United States. Native to Asia, the longhorn tick was first found in November 2017 in Hunterdon County, N.J. This tick has now been seen in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Arkansas. "Once I heard it was outside New York City, I k...

BREWSTER – The failure to follow the rules of “regular order” are at the root of Congress' inability to address the pressing issues of the day, Representative William Keating said Tuesday. Health care, immigration, affordable housing and many other matters could be tackled if legislation could just come to the floor for a vote, Keating said, but the current leadership won't allow that to happen, either because...

Schools Begins Tuesday Classes start on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Classes at Monomoy Regional High School and Monomoy Regional Middle School begin at 8:45 a.m.; Chatham and Harwich Elementary Schools begins at 7:45 a.m. Kindergarten classes start Sept. 6, and pre-school begins Sept. 10. For a complete bus schedule, see elsewhere in this issue of The Chronicle or visit monomoy.edu.   Monomoy Regional School Di...

CHATHAM –The Chatham Fish Pier was packed, the upper deck was filled with people giggling at seals floating on their backs or watching fishermen coming in with boats full of dogfish that swished down the metal chute to be packed in ice and sent on their way. “It’s usually crowded. Sometimes it will stay empty for five minutes and then it gets bombed again,” said Pier Host Rick Miszkin on a recent sunny Friday....

Brigadier General Jimmy Gordon Dishner, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), of Orleans goes by “Jimmy” much like another famous Jimmy, President Jimmy Carter. The plaques and commendations on what he jokingly dubs his “I love me” wall in his home all say “Jimmy,” as do his Virginia birth certificate and his Massachusetts driver’s license. Yet when he goes for his morning take-out coffee at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow near...

Good news: The fresh and salt waters of Harwich, Chatham and Orleans have remained clean and safe for swimmers all summer, according to health agents in the three towns. “So far there have been no exceedances or failures of our beaches,” says Harwich Health Director Meggan Eldredge. “There are no complaints. Honestly, I don’t know of any last year, either.” One minor issue in 2017 was that Red River Beach had ...

When JoAnne Clancy of Harwich retired from her work as assistant town accountant for the town of Harwich in 2009, she thought she’d have loads of time to work on her craft of decorative painting on slates, mailboxes, plates, wineglasses and barrel staves. Not so. “I’m too busy,” she says. Clancy became a volunteer for the Harwich Cranberry Festival, managing the craft fairs as well as keeping the festival’s...

The days are long now and if the tide is right, shellfishermen can head out to the flats of Monomoy, spend hours harvesting and return to shore with their limit as the sun sets and turns the horizon pink and purple. But then they would lose $500 and all their hard work, because the wholesale companies they sell to close hours before the sun goes down, and shellfishermen can’t keep their product overnight – not...

CHATHAM - Chatham resident Ryann McIntire used to be sure she understood all there was to know about Lyme disease. "I thought you got a bite from a tick, you got a rash then took meds and it was over." That was until her own personal battle with Lyme began and she started to realize the elusive nature of this pernicious disease. Her first step was trying to pin down what was wrong with her. McIntire grew up in...

Despite a few dire predictions, 2018 probably won't see any great surge in the numbers of disease-carrying ticks on Cape Cod. But experts say it’s as important as ever to prevent tick bites, especially in these first days of summer. Deer ticks, which can transmit Lyme and other dangerous diseases, are at a particularly dangerous stage of their life cycles in late spring and early summer. Adult ticks, which wer...

At a time when only half of all new businesses survive beyond the five-year anniversary, three local businesses are marking significant milestones. Snow & Thomson Insurance at 514 Main St., Harwich Port, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. “We’re one of the few on Cape Cod that has made it,” says owner and president Alexander Thomson. “It’s kind of fun.” Ralph H. Snow founded the business...