President Trump announced Tuesday that he'll visit the hurricane devastated island of Puerto Rico next week. It's about time he pays serious attention to the looming humanitarian crisis in the U.S. territory instead of tweeting about football players exercising their Constitutional rights. According to news reports, almost all of the island's infrastructure was knocked out by Hurricane Marie; power, water, cel...

How many times has a raindrop been recycled? By the time of publication, we should be feeling some effects of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Jose. Changeable as these tracks always are, it would be a fool’s errand to predict what could be happening. If a hundred years of tracking these isn’t enough, the simple past few weeks of the Disaster Movie of the Week (whose programming seems to be stuck entirely on storms) i...

Faced with the possibility of retail marijuana sales, selectmen in both Chatham and Harwich have opted to take similar approaches. Last week both voted to direct staff to develop zoning and general bylaws to ban marijuana shops, an expected and not altogether unreasonable approach, since voters in both communities rejected the November referendum question legalizing pot sales. In July the state legislature voted ...

Mini-roundabout Option Needed Editor: At a meeting in 2015, Massachusetts Department of Transportation official Tom Currier promised Chatham Selectman Seth Taylor that there would be two options presented to the town for the Crowell Road intersection and one would include a roundabout. Instead of which a roundabout has been summarily dismissed, despite the view of Keri Pyke, the consultant’s senior engineer...

It was an ordinary August night, my husband and I engaging in our usual somnambulistic and sleep depriving battle of the snores. Duke, the Boston terrier, arose at 3 a.m. for his decade-old ritual of middle of the night leg lifting in the backyard (why is it we continue to share our lives with these mutts?). Groggy spouse staggered to the back door, flipped the light and released the hound. All of this was custo...

What To Do About Trash Editor: I came from France in 1973 with my three children after the death of my wife. In 1974 I started Au Bon Pain with some partners. Because of the success there are now over 200 locations. I was then hired away with Chicago investors and opened 11 bakery cafés there. In 1992 I was again hired by a major wholesale bakery and distribute their products over 30 states. Bottom line: I ...

Labor Day is come and gone and summer is over. Most tourists, vacationers, and summer visitors have packed up, crossed back over the bridges, and returned to their homes, colleges, jobs, and lives. The end of summer marks the de facto start of a new year, as schools reopen, work schedules resume, fall sports initiate their seasons, and, before too long, we begin plans for the holiday season. That makes this a ...

Electric car charging stations, proposed as part of a makeover of the parking lot at the Chatham Town Offices, would be an appropriate, far-sighted addition to the downtown infrastructure. Chatham has been proactive in taking advantage of renewable energy opportunities, with solar arrays at the former landfill, police and annex buildings, and having facilities for electric vehicles – more and more of which will b...

When we received Barnstable County Commissioner Ronald Beaty's press release last week announcing “Targeted, localized shark hazard mitigation strategy proposal,” we gave it a quick read and set it aside. We were on deadline and didn't see the announcement as big news, and having dealt with Beaty in the past, we did not take his idea of culling sharks by hooking and shooting them seriously. Alas, others did. ...

Tech School Project Moves Ahead Editor: On behalf of the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, I would like to extend my appreciation to the boards of selectmen from the towns of Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Orleans, Truro and Wellfleet for their unanimous approval of our school's building project. In the coming days and weeks, we hope to garner similar endorsements from the remaining five towns. ...

Restore Labyrinth Space Editor: Having heard so much about the Chatham Labyrinth, I was excited to be in its presence and experience the serenity it offers. When I arrived my attention was immediately drawn to a Trump sign on a garage facing the labyrinth. The owners of which have every right to do so on their property. But I ask why would you want your only audience to be those that seek solitude, healing...