CHATHAM — Spanning more than the banks of the Mitchell River, the town's new drawbridge – opened with a ceremonial snip of a ribbon Monday – bridged the more daunting gulf between highway engineers and preservationists. The new Mitchell River bridge won't be complete until the fall, but was scheduled to open to auto traffic this Wednesday. Its hybrid design features a modern steel and concrete substructure ...

CHATHAM – A male great white shark named "Scratchy," tagged by researchers last year, was detected earlier this month by a receiver buoy off Monomoy, becoming the first of its species confirmed in these waters this season. And on Monday a team from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy not only saw their first great white shark this summer, but witnessed it pre...

CHATHAM PORT – The passenger of a helicopter that crashed at the end of Crow's Pond last Friday remained in critical condition early this week. Pilot John Ryan, 48, of Scituate, and his passenger, Tyra Pacheco, 48, of Acushnet, were extricated from the wreckage at the edge of the tidal pond by rescue personnel shortly after the crash, which occurred around 12:45 p.m. Both were taken by ambulance to Hyannis, wh...

CHATHAM – There are those who like sharks, and those who really like sharks. And can't keep their hands off them. Once again, the Sharks in the Park have proven just too tempting. Video surveillance cameras recently captured someone attempting to steal one of the sharks from Kate Gould Park. Luckily, the five-foot painted fish, mounted on a long metal rod, was either too big or too unwieldy – or both – for ...

CHATHAM – The fight over the Monomoy Wildlife Refuge's western boundary is headed to Congress. Rep. William Keating told town officials last week that he would file a bill to limit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's authority to Monomoy's low water line. If approved, the legislation would end a two-year-long dispute over jurisdiction over some 3,000 acres of Nantucket Sound open water and sea bottom west of ...

CHATHAM – Former selectman and long-time service station operator Ben Goodspeed has been named as the marshal of this year's Independence Day parade. Goodspeed will lead off the parade riding in a 1954 Willys Jeep, according to Independence Day Parade Committee Chairman Brad Schiff. “Well over 90” parade entries have been received for the event, which attracts thousands of people to Main Street every year, ...

During WWI, the only known attack by the Germans on American soil took place on Nauset Beach in Orleans. July 21, 1918 dawned a “hot and hazy day,” author Jake Klim told a standing-room-only audience at the Atwood House Museum last Sunday. Klim now lives in North Bethesda, Md., where he works in television production. Growing up on Cape Cod, references to the events of that day in Orleans intrigued him. In 201...

After a hiatus, the James Baran Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by The Cape Cod Chronicle for Monomoy Dollars for Scholars in memory of longtime Chronicle columnist Jim Baran, is once again helping a student to reach her dreams. The student who has been awarded the $500 scholarship is Monomoy Regional High School graduate Hannah Thacher of Harwich, who will attend Husson University in Maine in the fall. Thac...

CHATHAM ─ On the table in front of James Hereford and Ruth Drake stands the state of Maine's highest peak, Mt. Katahdin. Nearby, on another table, stands the Empire State Building, and not too far from that, Seattle's renowned Space Needle. Glance around and the keen observer might also spot a Hawaiian volcano, a Floridian manatee, and the Colorado state flag. In fact, the entire cafeteria at Chatham Elementary...

CHATHAM PORT – Two people were seriously injured Friday afternoon when a helicopter crashed into shallow water at the edge of Crow's Pond. The pilot, John Ryan, 48, of Scituate, and a passenger, Tyra Pacheco, 48, of Acushnet, were extricated from the wreckage at the edge of the tidal pond and taken by ambulance to Hyannis.  Ryan was in serious condition at Cape Cod Hospital, while Pacheco was flown to Massachu...

CHATHAM -- There's no doubt now: the sharks are here. A male great white shark named "Scratchy" that was tagged last year was detected Thursday off Monomoy. Shark researchers detected Scratchy Thursday in Shark Cove, off South Monomoy Island. Named for the scratches on its body probably inflicted by seals, Scratchy was tagged by Dr. Greg Skomal and his team last August as part of a five-year population stud...

CHATHAM -- Congressman William Keating told town officials Wednesday that he would file legislation to change the western boundary of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge to mean low water. Selectman Seth Taylor said he and Town Manager Jill Goldsmith met with Keating in his Washington, D.C. office and asked him to file the legislation to roll back what many feel is an overreach by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife S...