It’s that time of year again, when hunters are in the woods, fields, marshes and on our beaches. Each town has slightly different dates for different kinds of hunting, but most are governed by the state. You can usually find out what season or seasons we’re in by looking at various state sites. All hunting is forbidden on Sundays in Massachusetts, except by indigenous peoples, who can hunt pretty much any day of ...

Gallacher, Virginia May (nee Verdesca) 87, 1932-2019             CHATHAM -It is with great sadness that the family of Virginia Gallacher announces her passing on October 8, 2019 at Pleasant Bay Nursing home in Brewster.            Virginia, known to friends as Ginny, will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered by her children Steven Gallacher and his wife Sandi of Mountain Top, Pa., Richard Tucker and ...

James Harold Goddard Jr., 93 of Chatham and Vero Beach, Fla. passed away on the morning of October 1, 2019.             A Memorial Service in Jim's honor will be held at the United Methodist Church, 569 Main Street, Chatham Saturday, November, 16, 2019 at 12:30 PM.             In lieu of flowers, donations to either CapeAbilities or First Baptist Church of Leominster, 23 West Street, Leominster, MA 01453. F...

CHATHAM – Critics peppered members of the airport commission with questions and comments about three sections of the Chatham Airport Master Plan Update during a three-plus-hour meeting last week, likely a dress rehearsal for a community forum on the entire plan scheduled for Tuesday. The commission is bringing in former Yarmouth town administrator Robert Lawton to serve as moderator for the Nov. 12 forum and h...

CHATHAM – The conservation commission has referred the removal of 62 trees from a coastal bank without a permit to the state department of environmental protection for enforcement. The trees, some of which were 24 inches in diameter, were removed on June 2 from the coastal bank at 107 Taylor's Pond Rd., overlooking Mill Creek. The property is owned by 107 Taylor's Pond Road Real Estate Trust, which lists Byran...

CHATHAM – Selectmen Monday authorized the expenditure of $2.6 million to rebuild the Eldredge trap dock on Stage Harbor. In a move that likely reflects ongoing problems with the fish pier observation deck construction, officials rejected the low bidder on the project, instead opting to go with the second lowest bidder. The town purchased the trap dock from the Eldredge family in 2016 for $1.3 million to pre...

CHATHAM – Even as the Castle in the Clouds playground at Harwich Elementary School was being demolished, work was ramping up on a new playground at Chatham Elementary School. The new community playground is the culmination of a years-long process to improve the play areas on the east side of the Depot Road school and included upgrading drainage and installing irrigation. Work began a few weeks ago on the main ...

CHATHAM – In the late 1960s and early '70s, the sand pit off Middle Road was the scene of dune buggy races every Sunday. Crowds came to cheer as local drivers races around the dirt track in custom-built vehicles that made up in power what they lacked in beauty. The sand pit may be generating a different kind of power if a plan to develop solar photovoltaic array on the property wins approval. NextGrid, a na...

CHATHAM – Rejecting the town-owned Marconi property, selectmen Monday night voted unanimously to pursue the purchase of a private parcel on Main Street in West Chatham as the location for a new senior center. Selectmen favored the parcel at 1610 Main St., owned by Eastward Companies, to take the place of the current senior center on Stony Hill Road, which council on aging officials say is too small for its exi...

EAST HARWICH — After about 10 months as executive director of Pleasant Bay Community Boating, P.J. Richardson is taking a different tack. PBCB board President Ted Baylis made the announcement in an email to the group’s supporters last week. “On Monday, Oct. 28, P.J. Richardson and the PBCB board jointly concluded that a change in leadership was in both his and the organization’s best interests,” Baylis wrote. ...

HARWICH — Thanks to the generosity of two unrelated private donors, the town of Harwich now holds the keys for a new police motorcycle and a council on aging van. Selectmen voted last week to accept both gifts and to extend the town’s thanks. The senior center van was provided by Jay Kavanaugh of Cape Destinations. Council on Aging Director Emily Mitchell said her department leases two vans from the Cape Cod R...

EAST HARWICH — Standing in sharp contrast to the aging building it will replace, the new fire substation in East Harwich is bright, spacious and modern, and it should be ready to open in time for a Nov. 30 dedication ceremony. The apparatus bay has room for two ambulances, two engines and two other vehicles. ...

HARWICH — Following a closed-door session with selectmen Monday, Town Administrator Christopher Clark announced that he will not seek reappointment to the post he has held since 2014. With emotion in his voice, Clark said he intends to pursue other employment opportunities “and be more available to my family in the short term. I have enjoyed my time in Harwich and think the world of the staff and board members...

HARWICH — The Castle in the Clouds is no more, but organizers have put forth a plan to replace it with a new playground that is fun, safe and accessible to all students. The demolition of the Castle in the Clouds started Friday morning and proceeded quickly.  The new playground is estimated cost just over $68...

The intermittent rain that plagued most of the Cape Tech boys varsity soccer team’s Nov. 5 MIAA Div. 4 South tournament game stopped long enough for Paulo Loureiro to size up his free kick, the one he’d told his coach he wanted when Ivan Popov put him in during the final minutes of the second overtime. This was his team’s make-it-or-break-it moment and he didn’t want to let them down. As the official whistled,...

HOLLISTON – After a stellar 2019 season, the Monomoy girls field hockey team's ride has come to an end with a 3-2 loss to Holliston in the MIAA Div. 2 South first round on Nov. 1. “They really wanted to win today and it was disappointing,” said head coach Jennifer Estes. “The score does not reflect their effort.” Indeed, Monomoy kicked off the game with an early possession in what became a battle for contro...