CHATHAM — When there's a vacancy on the department, Police Chief Mark Pawlina hires people, not robots. And because police officers are human beings, there's a risk of racial bias. The key, Pawlina said, is to be aware of that risk, to train officers to use their authority sensitively and judiciously, and to make sure the general public understands how law enforcement works. Speaking with a small group of...

CHATHAM — An unsigned pamphlet that was bulk mailed to Chatham residents this week blasts Harbormaster Stuart Smith for allowing his brother's boat mooring in Ryder's Cove to be used by Selectman Seth Taylor. In the style of a parody, the mailing advertises the “Selectmen's Choice Access Mooring Plan,” or SCAM, and encourages people to call the harbormaster to “see if you qualify to jump the line and get a m...

CHATHAM — In 2014, voters purchased land near the Mitchell River drawbridge for a wide range of potential uses, from a commercial fishing vessel offloading pier to a handicap-accessible platform for recreational anglers, a new home for the town's shellfish upweller, or a new dock for Coast Guard boats. Now, with the property already in regular use by the public, town officials are asking stakeholders to help th...

Last Friday researchers tagged the 19 th great white shark of the season, a 15-foot animal located off Nauset Beach in Orleans. According to the Chatham Shark Center, that brings the total number of sharks tagged in Cape waters since 2009 to 97. Since 2014, the state Division of Marine Fisheries, working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), has identified 200 individual sharks, 20 of them so f...

CHATHAM – A bill clarifying the town and state's right to manage the resources in the submerged lands west of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge was expected to be filed Tuesday by Congressman William Keating. The bill that was filed differs from previous draft bills, which sought to specifically set the western boundary of the refuge at mean low water to make it clear that the town and state are responsible...

CHATHAM — Thanks to quick work by a charter boat operator, the Coast Guard and the Center for Coastal Studies, a young humpback whale was freed from fishing gear off Chatham Friday afternoon. Captain Darren Saletta of Monomoy Sportfishing and a fishing party were about two-and-a-half miles east of Chatham when they came upon the juvenile whale tangled in lobster gear. The whale was “extremely fatigued, strug...

CHATHAM – What really happened on Feb. 18, 1952? While the book and movie of the Pendleton rescue, “The Finest Hours,” tells the story of how a four-man Coast Guard crew from Chatham saved 32 men from a sinking tanker off the town's coast, like any historical event, there's always a lot more to tell. At the Chatham Historical Society's Atwood House Museum Sunday, those other stories of the CG36500 and the P...

Local Photographers Exhibit Photos Of The City Of Light by Debra Lawless Two well-known Chatham photographers will be featured in a dual show, “Images of Paris,” opening on Sept. 24 at Chatham’s Gallery Antonia. “It’s going to be fun,” says gallery owner Domonic Boreffi. The gorgeous photographs of Paris by Kim Roderiques and Jennifer Eldredge Stello will offer something a little different to Cape au...

CHATHAM – Paul Harrington plans to run “a very unconventional campaign” for the Ninth Congressional District seat. Harrington, a West Chatham resident who is running as an independent, acknowledged that he is entering the race late in the game, with less than two months before election day, but said he will knock on doors and do whatever else it takes to get his message out to the residents of the district. ...

BARNSTABLE — Opponents of skydiving at Chatham Municipal Airport will have the chance to continue their legal battle against the town, after a Barnstable Superior Court judge Tuesday declined to throw out the case. Judge Robert Rufo denied the town's request to dismiss the suit under the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, which will now become the focus of the litigation. Rufo decided that the plaintiffs, a grou...

CHATHAM – While the windmill at 66 Briggs Way can't be seen from street, for those passing by on Chatham Harbor, it's a familiar landmark. “When you sail out of the cut, it's iconic,” historical commission chairman Frank Messina said of the waterfront building, which sits above a high stone revetment at the crest of a wide, green lawn. The windmill now serves as the center of a long, rambling home, most of ...

CHATHAM – In an example of how the town's historic heritage is being whittled away, only one of three homes subjected to demolition delay will be saved in its entirety. Some historic elements of the other two homes will be salvaged, but they'll likely become floors or mantles in other houses, possibly not even in Chatham. The historical commission invoked the town's demolition delay bylaw on several homes i...