CHATHAM – South Chatham residents will be happy to learn that they'll soon no longer have to worry about stains from high iron levels in water pumped from a town well in their neighborhood. In September, water from well number seven will begin flowing through the town's new water treatment plant, a $10 million facility designed to remove high levels of iron and manganese from drinking water. Currently, the pla...

Nearly four years ago, some friends out walking their dogs on Lighthouse Beach came across an outhouse that had been tossed up into the dunes during a storm. They righted it, propped a section of picket fence they found nearby against it, took some photos and went on their way. Over time they started to add more beach debris, eventually hauling some tools to the beach to make it more sturdy. “It started to ...

CHATHAM — The effort to modernize the town-owned trap dock on Stage Harbor received a $150,000 boost from the state Seaport Economic Council last Tuesday. Officials are finishing development of the conceptual plan for the facility, purchased by the town several years ago for $1.5 million. It is flanked on the east by town-owned land at the former Old Mill Boat Yard, where the harbormaster’s office is located...

CHATHAM — A thunderstorm moving through the area last Wednesday came with a new twist: an apparent funnel cloud. Jonathan Palino of Cape Kayaking was leading a group of paddlers in a tour of Nauset Marsh in Eastham, when, on his return trip, they spotted the cloud formation. Palino said he placed the funnel cloud quite far away, probably in a position in the Atlantic southeast of Chatham. “It formed and...

HARWICH — Selectmen Monday became the ninth town abutting Nantucket Sound to cast support for federal legislation seeking to establish Nantucket Sound as a National Historic Landmark. The legislation is being sought by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the non-profit organization that fought and succeeded in pulling the plug on the Cape Wind project, which sought to build 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound...

HARWICH — Selectmen on Monday night approved a charge for an ad hoc parking committee that will examine municipal parking problems in town which are impacting public ways. The absence of public parking in the Harwich Port village was the impetus behind forming the committee, but it will look at issues town wide. “It's not an egregious problem all year long,” said Selectman Donald Howell, who drafted the cha...

HARWICH — Council on Aging Director Judi Wilson will have been on the job for just over a year when she leaves in mid-September to return to her former position as COA Director in the Orleans. Wilson tendered her letter of resignation to Town Administrator Christopher Clark on Aug. 10. Wilson took the position in Harwich last Sept. 5, replacing Barbara Anne Foley, who served as director for 18 years. “After...

HARWICH — Historic district and historical commission members expressed disappointment over the demolition of an 1860-era structure on Forest Street, which commissioners said went well beyond the scope of work originally identified in the notice of intent application. “I was very disappointed when I saw the house was completely demolished,” HDHC Chair Mary Maslowski said last week during a follow up hearing be...

CHATHAM – On a balmy summer afternoon, Paul Galop sat on the front porch of his home doing a little Sudoku in his favorite rocker, another Cape League summer in the books, Galop's last as commissioner. Though his retirement from the League approaches, don't expect Galop to take up a more permanent place in that rocker. He's got bigger plans, although baseball will always be a part of his life. Galop first beca...

The ball fields are largely silent and the crowds have all gone home, but the 2018 season of the Cape Cod Baseball League still echoes on with the release of this year's All League Team. The full list was announced last week, with a number of familiar players making the annual roster. Chris Thoms, the official statistician for the Cape League, worked with interns Bobby Greeley and James Palazesi to pore over t...

It's a warm summer evening at the Martin Vanderhof New York home. Martin is the patriarch of a warm and welcoming extended family whose dinners begin with a prayer of Thanksgiving: "We all have our health and leave the rest to you!" "You Can't Take It With You," George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's three-act comedy, makes for a sizzling conclusion to the Monomoy Theatre's 83rd summer season. Guest Director Mic...

CHATHAM — Local author Elizabeth Rudnick Hessler has novelized countless films for Disney, one of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerates, including recent live-action remakes such as 2015’s “Cinderella” and 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Hessler’s latest Disney adaptation is of “Christopher Robin,” a film released in early August featuring classic characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. “I f...

Andrew Singer of Yarmouth has just released his compelling new memoir “China Sings to Me: A Journey into the Middle Kingdom and Myself” (Station Square Media, 2018). Singer, 52, who practices law in Dennis, spent the 1986-1987 college year in China. In 1986 both China and Singer were very different, and one of the great pleasures of this well-written coming-of-age story lies in observing how Singer changes and...

ORLEANS — Thirty-five years ago, Chatham Town Counsel Frank Shealey rose in Barnstable Superior Court to declare that the town “since time immemorial has been a seacoast town. Other than for tourism, fishing is our largest industry. The fishermen have a pier and a mooring...that's all. The restraints were addressed in the bylaw which allows lobster pots to be stored under home occupation with issuance of a spec...

ORLEANS — The old highway department complex on Bay Ridge Lane looks like an estate sale waiting to happen. More than a patina – call it an encrustation – of age has settled in many of the buildings. In one garage, there's a hulking generator that appears to date back to the Model T assembly line. “When they run it in the winter, they have to keep the garage doors open 18 inches,” said Tom Daley, the town's ...

ORLEANS — In its search for the perfect blend of free market encouragement and community character protection, the planning board is rolling out two revised draft zoning bylaw amendments to regulate marijuana establishments. The first addresses all uses, while the second would amend the first to allow cultivation in residential areas. At the board's Aug. 14 public hearing, members agreed by consensus on what...