Losing Sight Of Simplicity Editor: When I read about the scarcity of submissions for the Chatham Preservation Awards this year, I wasn't surprised but was dismayed because award eligible candidates are disappearing. My wife and I will soon be celebrating our 30th year in our home on Shore Road, and have a locational vantage point which provides a view of what's going on in the neighborhood. As is obvious...

“Like an express train going through a tunnel.” That’s how my grandfather, Reuben Hopkins, described the sound of the German shell that screamed by his lookout post 100 years ago during World War I. The action he was seeing was not in the fields of France, but atop the Life Saving Station in Orleans. The artillery was from a U-Boat that had attacked a tug and its barges three miles off Nauset Beach. It was a p...

Mary I. Kolodzik                         INDIALANTIC, Fla. - Mary I. Kolodzik, formerly of Chatham passed away on June 13, 2018 at the age of 98. Mary was born in Boston on April 19,1920 to Lawrence D. and Mary (Mack) Harrington. She graduated from the Boston School of Business Education in 1941 and joined the U.S. Navy to work for the War Department in Washington, D.C. from 1942 until 1945. In 1944 she bec...

James (Jimmy) Edmund Rooney                   James (Jimmy) Edmund Rooney, 84, of Chatham passed away on Wednesday, June 13, 2018. He was the husband of Margaret J. (Mackie) Rooney.                 Jim was born in Windsor, Conn. to the late Joseph P. and Ruth (Sargent) Rooney. He was a graduate of Windsor High School (’51) and the University of Connecticut (’55) wit...

At a time when only half of all new businesses survive beyond the five-year anniversary, three local businesses are marking significant milestones. Snow & Thomson Insurance at 514 Main St., Harwich Port, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. “We’re one of the few on Cape Cod that has made it,” says owner and president Alexander Thomson. “It’s kind of fun.” Ralph H. Snow founded the business...

“ And the policy office in Washington is shocked that I'm a superintendent that wants a commission to stay. Most commissions in most national parks have not been this productive, collegial, or effective.”   --  Former Seashore Superintendent George Price, speaking to the Seashore Advisory Commission March 13, 2017, at its last meeting before his retirement.   WELLFLEET — A new superintendent, four nor...

ORLEANS – Perhaps Finn won't have died in vain. Last week, selectmen ordered the 22-month-old boxer owned by Oneida and Michael Lillis “humanely euthanized” after testimony about the dog biting a man at Kent's Point and a contractor at the couple's home. It was an uncomfortable evening for everyone, made more difficult by confusion over what the town, which does not have a leash law, requires. Dogs must be ...

Roland Sturgeon Davis  1933-2018             Roland S. Davis of Chatham passed away on May 22, 2018 at the age of 84. He was born in Springville, Maine on June 10 1933.              He was a veteran of the United States Coast Guard. He had a long career in construction. He enjoyed gardening and building furniture. He believed everything could be cured by Bag Balm and growing potatoes was a Maine thing.  ...

Nola P. Flanagan               NAPLES, Fla . - Nola P. Flanagan, 89, of Naples, Fla. passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at Bentley Village Health Care Center surrounded by her husband and Ward, one of her sons.  Nola was born August 4, 1928 a daughter of the late Ernest and Margaret (Dolby) Priestley in Attleboro. She was preceded in death by her parents and sister, Ivy Elaine George.  Formerl...

                                                                                                      Philip Albert Forsman     RANGELEY, Maine – A glorious and gregarious light went out of this world on the morning of June 3, 2018; Philip Albert Forsman is now born unto heaven and into the arms of waiting family. Philip was a long-time resident of East Harwich, later relocating to Rangeley, Maine.     He was b...

When Cary Marshall registered her daughter for kindergarten in the Monomoy School District, there was a box to check on the form for intra-district placement. Although she lives in East Harwich, her home is right on the town line, “practically in Chatham,” where she has close ties, attends church and where her daughter went to pre-school. “We're very much a part of that community,” she said, and she wanted her...

CHATHAM — The power’s back on, the downed trees are all removed, but boaters are still feeling the effects of the series of storms that savaged the shoreline this winter. Fueled by severe erosion on the outer beach, shoaling has threatened a number of key waterways, including the Morris Island Cut, which last year provided easy passage from Nantucket Sound to Chatham Harbor and the Atlantic. For now, that me...

CHATHAM — With summer underway and the downtown parking spaces already becoming more scarce, town officials are recruiting a private contractor to operate the town-owned Eldredge Garage lot this summer. The plan was recommended as a short-term approach until selectmen decide on the permanent use of the property. The board had previously decided to use the lot for a trial of paid municipal parking, with resid...

CHATHAM – Frustrated that the town's demolition delay bylaw hasn't discouraged more property owners from tearing down historic homes, preservationists are investigating a new tool to help save old houses, one that's more carrot than stick. State law provides local communities with the option of giving owners of old homes a one-time tax credit on the rehabilitation of historic homes. The local option, which mus...

CHATHAM – The popular Lighthouse Overlook looks a bit different these days, and the change also makes it a bit safer, according to officials. Along the fence on the west side of the road, in front of the Coast Guard Station, there's a brand new sidewalk. There's also a new sidewalk along the southern end of the overlook, in front of the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club. Both conform with Americans With Disabiliti...

CHATHAM — Access to health care isn’t just a fundamental human right. It’s essential for vibrant communities and a strong local economy. That’s the perspective of David and Gail Oppenheim, who recently donated $250,000 to Cape Cod Healthcare, and it’s why they’re challenging their neighbors to contribute as well. “It’s something we think benefits the Cape in so many ways,” Mr. Oppenheim said. The Oppen...