Don't Hide New Senior Center Editor: The “Triangle” land proposed in the letters column (July 25) was a poor choice. Instead of hiding the council on aging senior center out of sight in Chatham’s backwoods, place it in a prominent downtown location where our elders can enjoy beautiful views, either by acquiring a home along Chatham’s extended waterfront or dedicating a parcel of land from the town-owned gol...

When Cape Codders or their visitors hear the expression “thar she blows,” they are usually then directed to glance over the right or left bow of the whale watching vessel they are motoring on to see a whale spouting water from its blowhole. But on July 23 the words took on a different connotation. In an eerie case of life imitating art, “Sharknado” was actually upon us, with sharks to the right of us and tornados...

Both the town and the Citizens for a Safe Chatham Airport have spent thousands of dollars in a court battle over allowing skydiving at the town's airfield. Last week, a Barnstable County judge allowed the town's motion for summary judgment in the suit brought by the citizens' group, essentially dismissing their claim that skydiving constituted a nuisance under the state Tort Claims Act. Because the town was compe...

Katherine Victoria Braz, Katie, of Holly Ridge, N.C. formerly of Brockton died suddenly Monday, July 29 th , 2019.  She was 42.                 Katie is survived by her loving wife Claire Beshears formerly of Framingham, her parents Raymond and Judith Braz of Chatham, her brother Edward Braz, her sister-in-law Mandi Speakman and her nieces Bobbi and Maggie of Harwich as well as many aunts, uncles, cousins and ...

January 11, 1930 – July 21, 2019       Joan Simonson Howe was born on January 11, 1930 in Montclair, New Jersey to Walter and Carol Simonson. She died on July 21, 2019 at Liberty Commons in Chatham.              Joan received her Bachelor of Science Degree with Highest Honors from Douglas College of Rutgers University where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. During the Korean War she worked for ...

In retirement, Chatham's Huntley Harrison brings a strong background in computers and education to three major town activities—Pleasant Bay Community Boating, the cable advisory committee and the airport commission. Anyone who was a teenager in the '60s may remember their first transistor radio as the height of new technology. For Harrison, a significant memory from that time was taking his first computer cour...

ORLEANS — For years, the technology has been as elusive as, well, great white sharks. Now, a system that can detect and report white sharks in real time is being tested at three Cape beaches, including Nauset. On Tuesday, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app reported a white shark off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, the site of last year’s fatal shark attack. The shark wasn’t spotted by ...

ORLEANS — They're calling it “one of the costliest purchases in the organization's nearly 50-year history,” but the Orleans Conservation Trust is making the case for buying 4.65 acres over three lots on Portaminicut Road in South Orleans. The property “could forge a vital link between existing conservation lands both south and north of the road,” OCT stated in a press release. Donors are being sought to help...

ORLEANS — Every member of the board of selectmen came to honor Barbara P. White in her home at Jack Knife Point Aug. 1. Presiding from a comfortable chair, the 104-year-old welcomed them with grace as she accepted the Boston Post Cane, traditionally given to the town's oldest resident. “We didn't want to live in Summit, N.J., so we came up here,” White said of a relationship with Orleans that became stronger...

ORLEANS — Dr. Kim Mead-Walters had a bit of a shock when she arrived at Truro Central School to pick up her sixth grader. “Jeremy was caught in the act,” someone told her, but it turned out that was a good thing. When the school spotted a student being kind to someone, his or her name was recorded in a book. That wasn't the first or the last act of kindness of Jeremy Walters's life. “He was the kindest kid, ...

CHATHAM – A lawsuit filed by a group of residents hoping to prevent skydiving from returning to Chatham Municipal Airport has been dismissed. A Barnstable Superior Court judge issued an order Thursday allowing the town's motion for summary judgment in the case, essentially terminating the legal action. Citizens for a Safe Chatham Airport, Inc., filed the suit in 2015 claiming that allowing skydiving at the ai...

A high-voltage transmission line in Harwich Center caught fire and burned through late Thursday afternoon, sparking a brush fire and causing brownouts and blackouts in Harwich and Chatham. High demand from the hot weather may have played a factor in the equipment failure, which was not related to last week's tornado, officials said.   Video shot by Harwich Fire Chief Norman Clarke, Jr., shows the power...

CHATHAM – The historical commission imposed an 18-month demolition delay on the iconic Champlain Road home known as Starboard Light, but agreed on a shorter delay—six months—for several ancillary buildings and additions. The commission asked owner Robert Mahoney to advertise the availability of the additions, which date from the early 1900s, so that they could be moved and preserved or salvaged. But because sa...

CHATHAM – Chatham Bars Inn and the town have reached a settlement in a lawsuit the inn filed over the town's 2014 taking of inn property adjacent to the municipal fish pier. In an agreement finalized in Barnstable Superior Court last week, the town will pay the inn $400,000 for a permanent easement over 10,566 square feet of land used for parking by commercial fishermen as well as access to the pier's south jo...

CHATHAM – Chase Park neighbors are concerned about what they see as its escalating use, including regular events held at the labyrinth at the rear of the property. In a sometimes contentious meeting July 16, park and recreation commission members countered that the park, located off Cross Street, is not heavily used and is open to all members of the public. “It is a park and it is for the entire community,”...

Each year, more and more people take advantage of the free nutritious food provided by the Family Pantry of Cape Cod. That's partly because the need is growing, and partly because the Pantry has found effective ways to reach out to new clients, people who might otherwise never have considered asking for help. In 2016, a study identified significant pockets of residents on the Lower Cape who suffer from “food i...