If utility companies are not going to go through the effort of placing wires underground, despite popular support for such a plan, then they need to ensure that the above-ground infrastructure is safe and, more importantly, sound. Verizon owns most of the utility poles in our area and is responsible for their maintenance. The company reportedly inspects poles throughout a community on a periodic basis. And whi...

A Good Post Office Story Editor: West Harwich has many treasures. One is the beautiful Herring River. Another is a person. Her name is Marge Cummings. Marge is the mail carrier for the West Harwich Post Office. Every day Marge loads the postal truck twice. Once with all of the Amazon deliveries and once with the first-class mail. During COVID a senior resident was reluctant to pick up her mail from her pos...

Two-year old Aiden McCarthy went to last week’s Fourth of July Parade in Highland Park, Illinois. After shots rang out in the middle of the event, he was all alone. Aiden’s parents, Irina and Kevin McCarthy, were among the seven people killed in the shooting, leaving him in the custody of his grandparents. You have to ask yourself why. What did this young boy do to deserve such loss? What was his crime? The...

Problems Discerning Facts Editor: Our country is having a problem discerning fact from fiction. The biggest example is "the big lie.” We know it's a lie because the courts have said so. I like the word "discernment" because this is the word St. Paul uses in the Bible to discourage dissenters from making false claims. There is only one objective truth. The people who testify under oath are more likely to be ...

Residents should be outraged that anti-Semitic flyers were dropped along residential roads in Chatham earlier this week. Historically, Chatham has always been a very tolerant community, welcoming a diversity of religious denominations and people. To find something like this in our midst, and to know that someone with such abhorrent views was on our streets, sends a chill up the spine. About 20 of the flyers we...

Local downtowns are experiencing a renaissance of sorts. We're fortunate here that our downtowns have remained vibrant over the decades while many small towns have seen their traditional business districts wither as businesses relocate to malls and shopping centers. On the Cape, the summer tourist season is vital to our downtowns, but they've also been able to survive year-round thanks to local residents' devotio...

Disheartened By Letter Editor: I was so disappointed and disheartened by the recent letter from Jared Fulcher. A great example of the divide in our country. His point that it’s not guns, it’s mental illness, what about McVeigh, what about this guy is the exact reason more children will be slaughtered soon again. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, we are Americans first and our children are being sla...

Chief Pawlina Offers Thanks Editor: For the past 16.5 years, I have had the honor and privilege of serving the Chatham community as your chief of police. I will be retiring from police service after 38 years in the business. I have enjoyed working with so many wonderful people in town, as well as the outstanding men and women of the Chatham Police Department. There have been many changes made along the way ...

At The Cape Cod Chronicle, change is glacial. Sometimes that means we’re behind the times a bit when it comes to technology and the latest trends in digital communication. In the great Zoom meeting of life, we’re the one who usually forgets to un-mute. It’s partly a product of being a family-owned small business. But occasionally, our inertia works to our advantage. Lately, our greatest successes have come fro...

If anyone deserves to be named Cape Cod's Woman of the Year, it's Harwich's Angela Chilaka. A highly respected member of the Cape Cod and Harwich communities, Chilaka received the Mercy Otis Warren Cape Cod Woman of the Year last week by the Barnstable County Commission in recognition of the leadership role she has taken in the community, both as a long-time educator, volunteer and promoter of the Cape Verde c...

Questions Coast Guard Choice Editor: I was stationed at Station Chatham from February 1984 until October 1987 as a BM3 and BM2. I was a qualified heavy weather coxswain. During that time we responded to many search and rescue calls. In that time I only remember going to little Pleasant Bay one time for a rescue. We were able to go where we needed to using a 21-foot Outrage with twin outboards. The new 27-fo...

It's History Weekend in Chatham, but this year marks more than just a celebration of the museums and institutions that keep our past alive. Many are experiencing anniversaries of their own, demonstrating the commitment and passion of those who are dedicated to ensuring a better future by remembering the past. It was 125 years ago Sunday that descendants of William and Anne Nickerson gathered for the first of w...