CHATHAM – In the coming weeks, selectmen will face a number of policy decisions that will impact the shape of next year's annual budget. As presented by Town Manager Jill Goldsmith and Finance Director Alix Heilala at last Tuesday's annual budget summit, important policy decisions include capital spending levels; service expansion or reduction; revenue expansion; use of funds from the sewer intermunicipal agre...

CHATHAM — As conflicts between people of color and police dominate the news, Chatham Chief of Police Mark Pawlina stated that he wants “to get out in front of” the issues. “Let’s look at ourselves as police and as a community. How are we doing? What can we do better?” Pawlina said at a community policing and race relations forum hosted by Reverend Brian McGurk and St. Christopher’s Church Oct. 18. He assured t...

CHATHAM – About a century ago, Chatham’s town historian William Smith wrote, “No more graceful act could be performed by the grateful descendants of the Pilgrims than to erect… at Chatham a simple monument to this unhonored, but most deserving, friend and protector of their forefathers.” Smith was referring to Squanto (also known as Tisquantum), perhaps the most famous Native American to greet the Pilgrims. Sq...

CHATHAM – Selectmen Tuesday named seven residents to the committee charged with examining possible uses for the Eldredge Garage property, recently purchased by the town for $2.5 million. Named to the Eldredge Garage property planning committee were Sandy Wycoff, owners of the Chatham Clothing Bar; Scott Hamilton of Chatham Jewelers; former Independence Day parade committee chairman Brad Schiff; resident John K...

CHATHAM – At a public information meeting Monday evening on the Crowell Road Intersection Improvement Project, local residents critiqued the plan that selectman blessed in August for improving the intersection of Crowell Road and Route 28. While residents generally agree that the intersection is antiquated and dangerous, several of the roughly 40 people at the meeting at the town hall annex said they favored a...

CHATHAM – Hoping to impress upon federal officials the need for a permanent solution to the dispute over the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge's western boundary, town officials traveled to Washington, D.C. Monday and met U.S. Department of the Interior officials. Selectman Shareen Davis, Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson and Town Manager Jill Goldsmith also met with staff from the House Natural Resou...

CHATHAM – Amid a crowd of Pumpkin People in the Park, the town will celebrate Oktoberfest Saturday at Kate Gould Park. The festival runs from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and features food, live music and games for the whole family. Sponsored by the Chatham Merchants Association, the event includes a costume parade at noon; kids and adults are encouraged to show off their Halloween outfits. Other Oktoberfest hig...

CHATHAM – Distilling four separate waterways-related regulations into a single document isn't an easy task, and even the process of reviewing the consolidated rules has become fraught with controversy. A lack of public input into the process thus far and the possibility of an independent review of the consolidated regulations took center stage at last week's board of selectmen's meeting, although the not-so-su...

Steep Enrollment Decline Likely To Lead To Changes CHATHAM – Chatham Elementary School could end up as one of the smallest elementary schools on the Cape if recent enrollment trends continue. A 12 percent drop in enrollment this fall resulted in the school's usual three classes at the kindergarten level dropping to two, requiring the transfer of one teacher to Harwich Elementary School to keep class size ...

CHATHAM — When it comes to boosting numbers of commercially important fish species – and helping the small-boat fishery that relies on them – the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance is proposing a “no-fish zone” on the backside of the Cape designed to keep herring trawlers out. If it's implemented, the conservation measure could also benefit whales, seabirds and other species that feed on Atlantic herring....

CHATHAM – In their continuing effort to lobby the federal government to drop its claim over the waters and flats west of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, town officials Monday scored their most influential meeting yet. Late in the afternoon they were scheduled to meet with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. Selectman Shareen Davis, Health and Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson and Town Manager...

By chance, Don St. Pierre of Chatham and his long-time friend Pete Norgeot of Orleans discovered that they were both involved with what has been seen as a footnote to history. Their story revolves around the rescue boat CG36383, a twin to the famous CG36500 that played a heroic role in the rescue of 32 men from the stern of the ill-fated ship Pendleton. The Pendleton broke in half off Chatham during a bitter n...