It's important to remember that the Memorandum of Understanding between Chatham and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not solve the core dispute between the two: the western boundary of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. It also does not provide the town and state with authority over shell and fin fish resources in the area beyond the 2031 expiration date of the refuge's comprehensive conservation plan. ...

Don't Punish Homebuyers With Surtax Editor: Concerning the proposed surtax on properties assessed at $2 million plus: Why do five persons out of a population of approximately 6,000 assume they have the right to punish persons for being successful? Is this what we have come to in Chatham? Money, lots of money, is the override factor in our behavior and practices? How sad! Success – at any level – is ...

Opponents of the Nauset Regional High School building project aren’t entirely wrong, but that doesn’t make them right. If the four district towns were case studies at the Harvard Business School, grad students could develop abstract scenarios focused on an enterprise reaching beyond its grasp by building infrastructure that exceeds the apparent needs of its local consumer base. But education isn’t a matter of ...

Embers Manager Explains Editor: My name is Scott McMahon. I'm the manager at Ember coal Fire Pizza and Wings. I was working Memorial Day weekend 2020. Hence I know for a fact that the inside bar was closed and the outside bar was strictly used for customers to order takeout. We had arrows that showed customers where to step up to safely do so. The food was rung in and then the customers would wait safely on t...

On March 10 of last year, Donald Trump told us COVID-19 “will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” Two days later, he repeated those words, presaging his failure to take seriously the most deadly pandemic in a century. How much his administration's reluctance, or inability, to address the situation contributed to the deaths of more than half a million Americans will be judged by history. Today, we look b...

The so-called “mansion tax” proposed in Chatham is an innovative way to fund affordable and attainable housing, but it needs much more discussion and refinement before it goes before voters at the annual town meeting set for June 12. A one-half of one percent surcharge on real estate sales of more than $2 million, the fee would provide a steady stream of revenue to complement other sources, including property ...

Proud Of The Port/Ember Team Editor: In response to your article on The Port and Ember (“Selectmen To Conduct Hearings On Port And Ember Liquor Licenses,” Feb. 18), I would like to give a first hand account of how we responded to COVID rules and regulations this year. I have worked at The Port/Ember for the past 10 years, and both restaurants operate as a family. We care about one another and work hard y...

“Little darling, I feel the ice is finally melting Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear Here comes the sun Here comes the sun, and I say It’s all right”  During the 10-plus years I hosted an oldies rock and roll radio program on WOMR-FM, I never played a Beatles song. My friends know that somehow the great music of John Lennon and Paul McCartney never excited me. It sounds incongruous that...

New Answers On Monomoy Theatre Editor: The Monomoy Theatre saga continues. The buyers, summer residents, told the community that they were involved with restoring historical theaters and returning them to use. They proposed year-round activity for the arts.  What it looks like is just another real estate developer trying to maximize his profit. I think it would have been appropriate for them to have star...

A new puppy entered the household last fall and with her came a new term: “the zoomies.” That's when the dog gets so excited and energized that it runs back and forth in a frenzy. It's a bit startling at first, but you get used to it after a while and accept it as a necessary way to discharge excess energy. In a sense, we've all had the zoomies for much of the past year, though technically we should call it th...

Save Cranberry Farming Editor: The recent announcement that the Harwich Conservation Trust is seeking to purchase the Jenkins property that includes 20 acres of cranberry bogs is of interest. Preserving additional open space for public use is honorable and important for the environment and the community. But cranberry production is a vital part of the history and economy of Harwich (my great grandfather was...

With the federal and state government still struggling to coordinate the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s no time to give up on the precautions that are containing the spread of the disease. That means that we need to keep wearing masks, staying socially distant and washing our hands frequently. But with an end to the crisis now on the horizon, it’s time to look to the future. If you have grown weary of ...