When Cape Codders or their visitors hear the expression “thar she blows,” they are usually then directed to glance over the right or left bow of the whale watching vessel they are motoring on to see a whale spouting water from its blowhole. But on July 23 the words took on a different connotation. In an eerie case of life imitating art, “Sharknado” was actually upon us, with sharks to the right of us and tornados...

Both the town and the Citizens for a Safe Chatham Airport have spent thousands of dollars in a court battle over allowing skydiving at the town's airfield. Last week, a Barnstable County judge allowed the town's motion for summary judgment in the suit brought by the citizens' group, essentially dismissing their claim that skydiving constituted a nuisance under the state Tort Claims Act. Because the town was compe...

Last week’s tornado was violent, frightening and destructive, and now that most of the trees are cleared away and the power’s been restored, a proper damage assessment is taking place. The cost to municipalities, businesses and private homeowners will almost certainly be in the millions of dollars. But make no mistake: when it comes to disasters, this wasn’t the big one. The tornado that crossed Harwich had...

Can't Control The Weather Editor: This past Tuesday, the Chatham Police Department reported that it had come to their attention that some utility work crews had been "accosted, harassed  and screamed at by citizens demanding that power to their home be turned on." Who are you self-centered, obnoxious jerks? If you are  Chatham residents, I am so  ashamed and embarrassed you are my neighbors. If you are v...

Leave Politics Out Of It   Editor: Best parade I ever attended—except for the Democratic contingent. Politics should have been left out.  Thomas Collins South Grafton   Churches Share Abolitionist Past Editor: Thank you for your two thoughtful articles in your respective newspapers about the current exhibit about slavery at Pilgrim Church Harwich Port. I celebrate Pilgrim Church’s research a...

A tornado. In Harwich? Unbelievable as it seems, that's what National Weather Service officials say happened – in Harwich and in Yarmouth – Tuesday. Viewing the devastation in Harwich Center, it was easy to believe. Many mature trees were knocked to the ground, branches fell on vehicles and buildings, and the front lawn of Brooks Academy looked, well, as if a tornado had struck. Front end loaders had to be use...

Out on Sears Point yesterday I could hear the instructors of the Stage Harbor Yacht club announcing directions to the fleet of white Optis sailed by their students. A center console skiff cruised slowly out of the Oyster River as a breeze pulled in from the southwest, across Harding's Beach from Nantucket Sound, pushing out the last of the fog from earlier in the day. Out of the near-milky sky, as if on cue, a se...

Perhaps the most interesting finding of the recently released draft coastal resiliency and management assessment of Chatham's east-facing shoreline is how closely changes since the 1987 break in North Beach are following the historical barrier beach cycle described by Dr. Graham Giese and others back in 1978. “Historical inlets to Pleasant Bay have migrated in a generally cyclical pattern that can be reasonably p...

Living Is Good, But... Editor: Last week’s Letter “And The Living Is Good” brought on a sly chuckle, because five of the first six items listed (“temperatures rising” being the exception) are purely money focused and materialistic.  This leads me to believe that Mr. Fields profits from those activities, either as a business owner or absentee landlord who rents; i.e., to him “good” equals dollars.  I, on the...

Who was it that said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself?” Ah, yes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Easy for him to say; they didn’t even have MRIs back then. Fears and phobias are funny creatures—some seem random and silly, but for the afflicted, life can be difficult. Recently, my husband, beset by the typical over 50 aches and pains, made his way to the ortho doc. We all know the drill; appointment…x-ray...

What is it about food trucks that frightens some downtown Chatham landlords and business owners? It's not like they are an unknown entity; food trucks have been present at First Night and other events for years. Never before has anyone complained. Until the Chatham Merchants Association thought it would be a good thing to have a food truck downtown during this summer's Mondays on Main music strolls. Suddenly, foo...

Keep The Connection Going Editor: Each week we anxiously await the arrival of The Cape Cod Chronicle, ready to devour what's happening in Chatham, Harwich and Orleans. And we are never disappointed, despite our living in New Jersey, 270-plus miles away. As returning vacation renters for the past 15 years throughout Chatham, we look forward each week to what transgresses, whether it be local politics, sch...