CHATHAM — Selectmen have reluctantly called a special town meeting for Oct. 3 at 1 p.m. at Veterans Field, despite their concerns about holding a large public gathering during the pandemic. Required by law because it was forced by petition, the meeting will ask voters to consider creating a Main Street Theater Overlay District that will allow the redevelopment and restoration of the historic Monomoy Theatre. ...

CHATHAM – The town recreation department and Monomoy Community Services are teaming up to help working families by sponsoring after-school programs for kids in kindergarten through grade seven. Having reliable daycare is critical for parents who work, a realization that led the two agencies to work together to adapt their usual after-school programs to suit the pandemic. Previously Monomoy Community Service...

WEST CHATHAM — When the Rocking Unicorn Nursery School opens its doors to students on Sept. 14, as it’s done for the last 40 years, there will still be loads of storybooks, art supplies and colorful toys. But there will also be masks, hand sanitizing stations and all sorts of special provisions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Each morning, youngsters will line up on the socially-distanced footprin...

CHATHAM — As part of a $1.2 billion federal airport safety and infrastructure grant program, the Federal Aviation Administration is sending a $347,000 check to the Chatham Municipal Airport. The funds will be used to conduct an airport-related environmental study. The environmental assessment is designed to find environmental impacts that might result from the implementation of parts of the airport master pl...

Property Owners Likely To Appeal CHATHAM – More than a year after 62 trees were illegally cut down on a coastal bank overlooking the Mill Creek marsh, the conservation commission last week issued a final enforcement order requiring restoration of the area. It seems likely, however, that the property owners, Bryan and Maria Donohue, will appeal the order, following a contentious meeting last week during whic...

HARWICH — Revenues are tight, and selectmen will be using the town’s stabilization fund to balance the FY2021 budget. Board members have made it clear that they are not pleased with the Monomoy Regional School District's decision not to tap its own rainy day fund to help with the balancing act. The board voted 5-0 to place the school budget on the annual town meeting warrant but did give a recommendation on th...

HARWICH — Residents are once again trickling into the community center as the doors closed by the COVID-19 pandemic in March are beginning to open for limited group activities. Community Center Director Carolyn Carey said small groups of no more than 10 people are being allowed to use the activity rooms, and groups of up to 25 are using the multi-purpose room. The center's hours are limited to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m....

If Labor Day weekend was any indicator, the late summer on Cape Cod will have some of the best weather of the year. Regional tourism officials are hoping that an extended visitor season will buoy the local economy in advance of what’s expected to be a long, hard financial winter. Working with the Cape Cod Reopening Task force, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce has launched a “Second Summer” campaign to keep tou...

HARWICH — Voters will gather in two weeks at the Monomoy High School turf field for the FY2021 annual town meeting. The session is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26 at 10 a.m., with a rain date of Sunday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. Attendees will face a warrant containing 46 articles, reduced from the 56 articles slated to be addressed last May, when the meeting was postponed due to the pandemic. Given the pandemic ...

Monomoy Regional High School’s new principal Jen Police and her staff are ready for the school hallways to once again be filled with the sounds of students engaged in learning come Sept. 14, though this year it won’t be quite as many, nor learning in quite the same way as they did in the days before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived on Cape Cod. Only about half to two-thirds of the school’s 687 students will be in...

HARWICH — The fire department has received notice through FEMA that it will be awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Program grant for $409,296 to replace self-contained breathing apparatus, compressors used to refill the apparatus and rapid intervention packs. Without the grant, the town would have to fund the equipment through the capital budget, said Fire Chief David LeBlanc. The department has to replace 4...

HARWICH – Pleasant Bay Community Boating wants to help folks of all ages and abilities get on the water, but with the pandemic it was uncertain how the summer would play out. Thanks to a carefully phased-in opening in June and strict adherence to safety-first protocol, however, PBCB is celebrating a successful summer season. “We phased in opening and took baby steps, opening the last week of June,” said Presid...

ORLEANS — After over a half century at the helm of the Lobster Claw restaurant in Orleans, what will Don Berig miss after the business’s final meals are served on Sunday, Sept. 13? “The people, I’m a people person,” he says without missing a beat. “I think that was my calling, to meet with people.” Berig, 81, reminisced about his 51 years running the award-winning Lobster Claw with his wife Marylou during a...

World War II in Chatham was reimagined last Thursday night in photos, videos, memories and songs as Dick Kraycir, director emeritus and past president of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center (CMMC), hosted the last in the Center's virtual Summer Speaker Series. The program, which was Zoomed online to more than 100 participants, began with an evening flag ceremony in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the en...

When local schools open their doors next week for the first time since March, students won't be stepping back into classrooms as if nothing has changed. Everything has changed. And not just physically, though that will be the most obvious difference. With fewer desks to accommodate social distancing, classrooms look sparse. Signs everywhere remind students (and staff) to wear masks, wash hands and use sanitize...

Do Something For The Environment Editor: If you had the opportunity to do something for the environment, wildlife and your future that only took a bit of forward thinking and a small amount of effort, would you? If you don’t want to be swimming in, consuming, surrounded by, and overrun by ever mounting plastic trash, now is the time to support a Cape-wide ban on single-use plastic bottles. Otherwise, som...