Thanks to your generosity and a last-minute surge in donations, the Chronicle's Helping Neighbors campaign has raised more than $39,755 for the Family Pantry of Cape Cod this year. We're proud and thankful for our readers who have contributed to the campaign, which helps the Pantry put food on the table for Cape Codders in need. But we won't gloss over the fact that, having set a $60,000 goal for this year's e...

Christmas At The Marconi Editor: We at Chatham Marconi Maritime Center delayed our usual seasonal hibernation to participate in Chatham’s Christmas Stroll weekend by decorating our “Hotel Nautilus” as it might have appeared at Christmas in the early 1900s.  We wish to thank the volunteers and supporters who generously gave their time and resources to make it possible.  Many visitors came to enjoy their hand...

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year With the kids jingle belling And everyone telling you be of good cheer It’s the most wonderful time of the year”  Andy Williams was right, Christmas and New Year’s in Chatham is the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas in Chatham, with families celebrating together, is terrific. And Chatham’s First Night is as good as it gets, anywhere. And since...

Questions Legality Of 'Training' Session Editor: Unbelievable that a member(s) of our board of selectmen, as well as the airport commission, participated Monday in yet another closed meeting not even listed on the town website! Unbelievable that the FAA would call this so-called “training” meeting at the firehouse (!) to secretly discuss airport “grant assurances,” the underlying issue to do with the sky...

Waves barely made the slightest lap on the shore. It was a day without gulls. Ducks cruised the surface instead. The wind out of the northwest was barely a breath. Good for it, too, as the temperature had registered only 19 degrees Fahrenheit when I checked my phone this morning. Barely half an hour had crept by from my house to getting coffee to parking at the lighthouse and walking over to the stairs to the ...

When The Cape Cod Chronicle needed a new circulation system, we looked at what was available on the market, compared it to our needs and decided to hire some young coding wizards to build our own system. That not only got us exactly what we wanted – an interactive web-based system that allowed readers to control their own subscriptions – but at considerably less cost than existing subscription software packages. ...

Something we learned this week that surprised us: holiday season is not the most common time for people to take their own lives. Spring is the time of year most suicides occur; experts say it's because the hope that the season evokes can accentuate feelings of despair, and many prone to such feelings may be depleted coming out of the dark winter months. Certainly, however, the holidays are a difficult time for...

Gun Comment Was No Joke Editor: I was surprised to hear a member of the Chatham Conservation Commission state at a recent meeting that the commissioners needed guns (“glocks,” he said, which are semi-automatic weapons) in order to fulfill their role in dealing with property owners. When an associate questioned his comment, he stated, “It was a joke.” At the school where I teach – and I think this is true of...

To retire or not retire – that is the question, to which I speedily and emphatically replied, “No brainer – retire!” After 23 years at the Harwich Police Department, and years before working as a waitress, dog groomer, corrections officer, nurse’s aide, Teddy bear maker and child care provider and in newspaper editorial, it was time. Some congratulated me on my decision, some comments were cautionary – wh...

Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday. Frankly, we're confused about what we're supposed to be doing and when we're supposed to be doing it. Used to be “the silly season” referred to the craziness of summer. Not anymore. With this holiday season well underway, we're not only being bombarded by advertisements everywhere we turn – even at the gas pumps – we're also urged to take advantage of incredible d...

Last Thursday was the quasi-official start of the holiday season, though some stores began displaying Christmas items in October. By now, you may have started your holiday shopping, addressed your greeting cards, decorated your house with colored lights and set up your tree, and are planning the special meals or social events that will occur now through New Year’s Day. I call this annual period the “holiday se...

Let Them Eat Cake Editor: Donald Trump being elected president has me thinking the 61 million who voted for him just love a reality show. Well then, those voters should be in a state of frenzied euphoria over the next four years with the Trumpdashians, oops – I mean the Trumps, calling the White House "home." Given their opulent lifestyle I imagine the Palace of Versailles would be more to their liking, bu...