SOUTH CHATHAM — The caution tape is down and the playground at the tiny South Chatham Park is open for business. It’s a welcome sight for neighbors, who’ve been lobbying for improvements since 2015. “The next phase is underway,” Parks and Recreation Director Dan Tobin said this week. In the next few days, contractor T.W. Nickerson will be installing fine, compact gravel to complete a handicap-accessible w...

CHATHAM – It is arguably the most contentious issue facing Massachusetts voters this November. Ballot question 1 – “Nurse-Patient Assignment Limits Initiative” – is creating a response in the public that is contradictory and confusing. Competing ads claiming to represent the same people yet holding different positions appear regularly in the media, trust-worthy information on the proposal and its effect is scarce...

CHATHAM – When the town's skateboard park had to relocated from the airport property, a number of locations were considered; one of the criteria was visibility. The old park was along busy George Ryder Road and right across the street from the police department. When Volunteer Park, off Sam Ryder Road, was chosen as the new skate park location, there were concerns about whether it met that visibility criteria....

Costs, Benefits Of Owning Equipment Locally Examined During the past few weeks, officials in both Chatham and Orleans have raised the prospect of their respective towns purchasing a dredge. But with Barnstable County now owning and operating two dredges, does it make sense, economically or otherwise, for individual towns to buy what is an expensive and high-maintenance piece of equipment? “It does not,” sai...

In North Carolina, far a way from the shoreline, Hurricane Florence has left mile after mile of destruction – and as of early this week, some of the rivers hadn’t yet crested. It’s a sight not soon to be forgotten by a handful of local firefighters who’ve just returned from a 10-day tour of duty in the disaster area. “In the towns that we did end up searching, just to see the devastation and the destruction,” ...

WELLFLEET — With emotion still raw after a fatal shark attack on Newcomb Hollow Beach less than two weeks earlier, there was a spirited discussion in Wellfleet Thursday evening about how to keep beachgoers safe. There were renewed calls for reducing the number of seals off the outer beach as a means of deterring sharks. Most such measures would be prohibited by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, and r...

CHATHAM – From the front parlor of the Carriage House Inn, co-owner Brian O'Connor has a clear view of the intersection of Route 28, Old Harbor Road and Shore Road. He's watched over and over again as pedestrians try to cross the intersection, which lacks crosswalks or a pedestrian crossing signal. “We've got a great view of people not being able to cross,” he said as cars zip through the intersection, often t...

CHATHAM — The dredging of a key Chatham Harbor access channel faced a number of obstacles, like obtaining emergency permits, addressing opposition from a neighbor, and tackling malfunctioning equipment. But in the end, the project was done in by early-season easterlies. Persistent winds from the east have caused ocean swells to come through the North Inlet, exposing the county dredge to dangerous conditions,...

CHATHAM — Saying the time for rhetoric has passed, the board of selectmen this week resolved to find concrete steps to help attract and retain young families in town. They voted to create a task force to investigate the town’s demographic and economic imbalances, ultimately leading to actions designed to ease the burdens on young working families. Census data confirms what most people already know: the popul...

CHATHAM – After numerous delays, town officials have decided to scrap planned emergency dredging of shoals near the North Inlet in Chatham Harbor. In an email to selectmen Thursday, Town Manager Jill Goldsmith said part of the reason for the decision was the safety of the crew of the Barnstable County dredge. Authorized in August, the project was plagued by mechanical and computer delays with both the origi...

CHATHAM – It started as a sore throat that just wouldn't go away. The diagnosis of stage three cancer, with a 50-50 chance of survival, came in early August. The treatment West Chatham resident Mike Keeler is now receiving has left him requiring nearly round-the-clock care, said his wife, Wendy Sequin. A 52-year-old fishermen and landscaper who more recently helped out in the family business, Sequin Cleaning, ...

From Sharks in the Park to numerous shark-based businesses, Chatham and other communities embraced the arrival of the apex predators in Cape waters. But for years, people have wondered: What will happen when a fatal shark attack occurs? That happened last Saturday, when a 26-year-old Revere man was killed while boogie boarding off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet. Shark merchandise, however, wasn't immediatel...