HARWICH — The town's legal counsel has declared the community preservation committee did not violate the state's Open Meeting Law as asserted by resident Donald Howell in a complaint filed with the committee in early February. Howell questioned the legality of the actions taken by the committee in its Jan. 26 meeting in which it made several recommendations to include articles in the annual town meeting warran...

HYANNIS ─ The Hyannis Youth and Community Center was hopping on Sunday, with fans packing the stands of the gym for one more chance to see their favorite high school hoop stars in action in the 30 th Cape and Islands High School Basketball All-Star Games. Players representing each of the schools on the Cape and Islands took part in the annual event, with Christine Friedel stepping up for the Monomoy girls a...

HARWICH ─ Monomoy students came through in a big way for the local Dollars for Scholars program on Friday, netting nearly $2,000 by shooting some hoops as part of a special Hoop-A-Thon. The event drew a healthy representation of Monomoy Regional High School students to the gym after school on Friday, where participants had five minutes to sink as many free throws as possible. Successful shots earned money in...

This is a message for specific people. For the kid who helps out each year with a particular team, secretly longing to join the competition, but just...can't. For the one who dreams of getting in the game or racing down the track to beat the clock, but who instead listens to the voices of others saying “nope” and remains sidelined. I was there. I get you. Now hear me: your time is now. When I was a kid, my sib...

Chatham Elementary School Brad Morgan and Jacob Keeler from Ms. Chieffo's class interviewed Miss Maloney for the class newspaper, The Chieffo Chronicle. Getting to Know Our School Nurse, Miss Maloney by Brad Morgan and Jacob Keeler Brad: Why did you decide to become a nurse? Miss Maloney: I always thought I’d like to become a nurse, but I thought I couldn’t go to school. I decided I could go to s...

Once again, there will be no skydiving in Chatham this summer. Some residents will no doubt greet that news with cheers. Others will see it as giving in to “not in my backyard” pressure. Most will see little or no impact to their own lives and will move on with a shrug. Yet there is a lesson here that residents, and especially the town's business community, should heed. It's been more than three years since...

Cloth Is The Way To Go Editor: In light of the recent letters to the editor concerning shopping bags, this subscriber's suggestion is to use neither paper nor plastic.  Personally, when I do the grocery shopping, I use cloth bags with handles.  Some are even given away as advertising incentives.  These may be purchased at most (if not all ) grocery stores and easily re-used time and time again.  Perhaps The...

Away out here they have a name For rain and wind and fire The rain is Tess The fire’s Joe And they call the wind Maria   Outdoors, the wind is blowing a gale. On my walk today, I had to lean into the wind to keep moving. Of course, my way was made easier by the knowledge that, on the way back, I would be blown home. As I walked along, I started humming, and then singing, an old song. ...

Under normal circumstances, local businesses struggle to find enough employees to stay fully staffed through a busy summer season. And with foreign workers serving as a political lightning rod in Washington, this summer promises to be anything but normal. Problems with the H-2B and J-1 visa programs could trim around 1,000 foreign workers from the Cape's summer workforce, officials say. “It's grim,” Cape Co...

ORLEANS — Roderick MacDonald, a Presbyterian minister, has been thinking a good deal about a story that speaks to the need to support the rights of immigrants. Nearing retirement, he visited a member of his off-Cape congregation and learned that the woman's sister had been picked up by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and detained in the Suffolk County House of Correction. Sixteen years...

ORLEANS — He who pays the piper should call the tune – even if it's the sewer piper. But some feel the piper – the regulators and consultants – are making the town dance instead. Things aren't that simple, however. In recent years, Orleans has explored alternatives to widespread sewering to meet nitrogen reduction goals for its waters. Among the alternatives outside of downtown have been low-tech and less...

CHATHAM – Effective March 31, Deputy Fire Chief Peter Connick will be the town's new fire chief. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith announced Connick's appointment to the board of selectmen Wednesday. Under the town's charter, the appointment is provisional, and becomes effective 15 days after the notification, unless a majority of the board votes to reject it within that time. Connick will success Fire Chief Michael...

CHATHAM — After more than a century watching over the east end of downtown Chatham, the landmark Eldredge Garage building has been razed. On Monday, a small crew using an excavator tore down the large barn piece by piece, pulling aside scrap metal and salvageable timbers for recycling. By the end of the day Monday, about two-thirds of the structure had been demolished, and work was suspended Tuesday because ...

 Strong Winds, High Seas Batter Lower Cape      CHATHAM — Though barely a flake of snow fell, Tuesday's strong storm downed scores of limbs and trees and tore up east-facing portions of the shoreline with high surf.  The afternoon high tide inundated low-lying coastal areas, flooded portions of Old Wharf Road in North Chatham and splashed over Route 28 in East Harwich and South Orleans. Winds...

During World War II, Leo Vernon Eldredge sent periodic letters to local men serving overseas. One of the men he corresponded with was his friend Edwin W. Taylor, father of Selectman Seth Taylor. Edwin Taylor saved the letters sent to him by “LV” and brought them home with him after serving in the South Pacific. Seth Taylor recently shared one of those letters, printed here, which he said “discusses or adds some ...

CHATHAM – The iconic windmill on Briggs Way overlooking Chatham Harbor took a little trip the other day. Crews from Sylvester Building Movers wrested the 77-year-old windmill from its stone foundation and ever-so-carefully and slowly transported it a short distance away to a corner of the property. The windmill – never a working mill but built as a summer home by Herbert Briggs in about 1930 – is under a de...