Elementary School's Fate A Factor CHATHAM – When selectmen meet Dec. 29 to prioritize upcoming capital projects, two major issues will color the discussion: how to proceed with a proposed new senior center and the future of the town's elementary school. When selectmen postponed and then pared back the agenda for the annual town meeting in the spring, they deferred a vote to choose one of two proposed senior...

CHATHAM – When he was hired in 2015 as assistant director of the Chatham Historical Society, Kevin Wright didn't have much experience in the museum field. But his expertise as a designer, working mostly in newspapers, ended up serving him well. “I quickly fit in because of my graphic background,” he said. While he concentrated on designing museum exhibits, he learned a lot on the job, including applying for gr...

CHATHAM — Treading lightly over what they admit is a complicated issue, selectmen Tuesday opened a dialogue about the proliferation of single-serve “nip” bottles of alcohol. The 15-milliliter bottles litter area roadways, and the problem has led other towns – including Harwich – to consider banning their sale. Nip bans are already in place on the Upper Cape, Selectman Jeffrey Dykens noted. When he walks Route ...

Chatham Records Another Death CHATHAM — The pandemic’s toll on Chatham is growing. In the span of a week, new cases caused three restaurant closures and prompted a new round of testing at Liberty Commons. And public health officials confirm that the town has now recorded its third fatality from COVID-19. “There was a death of a Chatham resident over the weekend who had tested positive for COVID-19,” Health ...

When a 63-year-old woman was killed by a great white shark off Bailey Island in Maine in July, state officials needed help. This was the first ever fatal shark attack in Maine waters, and local authorities had little experience dealing with the apex predator. Greg Skomal, shark biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and several other experts were called in to positively identify the ani...

CHATHAM – The historic home at 68 Shell Dr. is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the Massachusetts Historical Commission has determined. Whether it will be listed or not remains to be seen. Later this month the zoning board of appeals will be asked to approve its relocation on the waterfront property to make way for a new, larger home. The full Cape is thought to have been built...

CHATHAM – Does a Christmas tree have to be a tree? Not if it's festive enough. The Chatham Merchants Association and Chamber of Commerce is assembling a “buoy tree” to bring the holiday spirit back to the Sears Park triangle. For many years the small downtown park hosted the town Christmas tree, a large evergreen donated by a resident annually and festively decorated by the park department. It was the fo...

On Monday, one day after alerting parents to a positive COVID-19 case at Monomoy Middle School, Superintendent of Schools Scott Carpenter sent a second email announcing another case at Harwich Elementary. “Based on what has been shared with the school from both the family and public health officials, the student was not in the building while infectious, and we do not need to quarantine any classrooms,” Carpent...

CHATHAM – Who has the ultimate authority over Chatham Municipal Airport? The airport commission? The board of selectmen? The Federal Aviation Administration? All three, to one degree or another. For three hours Tuesday evening, officials hashed out the various levels of airport oversight, delving into state statutes, obscure town bylaws and term definitions. They didn't quite get down to the level of defini...

CHATHAM – For years, the town has taken every available opportunity to add sand to Nantucket Sound beaches, especially in the Cockle Cove area. Erosion nonetheless remains a major problem along the south shore, and addressing it in a comprehensive way will take more than just beach nourishment. “While that's very valuable, it's not sufficient to really maintain the beaches as we'd like,” said Coastal Resources...

CHATHAM — Each year, selectmen and the town manager begin the process of creating a budget by setting their goals and objectives, meeting in a special Saturday session. This year’s session yielded a list of priorities shaped in part by the pandemic. “Seeing that COVID-19 was impacting a lot of our ability to move forward with our work that we had been thinking about doing, we did review our established mission...

CHATHAM – The historic business district commission's denial of a request to demolish five buildings on the former Monomoy Theatre property was discriminatory and overstepped its authority, the owners of the property claim. Chatham Productions LLC is asking the board of selectmen to overturn the commission's Nov. 18 decision. In an appeal sent to selectmen Nov. 25, owner Greg Clark wrote that during the hearin...