CHATHAM – Cory Metters has taken out nomination papers for a third term on the select board. “I still very much enjoy being involved,” Metters said about serving on the board. With several major projects pending and recovery from the pandemic likely to be a major concern in the coming year, “I don't think this is the time for me to step away,” he said. The three-year terms of Metters and Dean Nicastro are u...

Morris Island Bluff Also Takes A Beating CHATHAM – The Feb. 2 Groundhog Day storm significantly widened a major washover on North Beach Island and continued to eat away at the bluff at the Morris Island headquarters of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Pavement around the National Weather Service building on Morris Island was removed just prior to the storm to prevent it from tumbling down the bluff. Th...

HARWICH — Health Director Meggan Eldredge will be making a transition to assistant town administrator, but she will remain as the interim health director until the town fills that position. Town Administrator Joseph Powers Monday announced the appointment of Eldredge as assistant town administrator. “I’ve been eagerly awaiting this moment,” Powers told selectmen. Selectmen confirmed the appointment on a 4-0...

HARWICH — Town Administrator Joseph Powers presented selectmen with a balanced FY 22 budget Monday night. The $71,165,144 budget is up 3.3 percent, with funding sources covering the proposed increase. The draft budget has had some paring down since a few weeks ago when Powers unveiled a preliminary version, which had a more than a $1 million deficit between revenue sources and funding requests. The capital pla...

HARWICH — If the smiles behind the COVID-19 masks of the employees at Star Market and Shaw’s on Cape Cod are even more difficult to discern these days, it may be because they have just taken a hit in their weekly pay check. Comments about the pay reductions could be overheard in the aisles and at the cash registers of the Star Market in Harwich Port over the past couple of weeks. The move struck some patrons a...

HARWICH — The town received good news from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s project review committee meeting last week: approval of the proposed sidewalk project from Saquatucket Harbor to Harwich Port. Cape Cod Commission transportation program manager Steven Tupper informed town officials of the approval of the project, which will require waivers from MassDOT’s Complete Streets Program. Th...

HARWICH — Selectmen are weighing the use of the former fire station property on Bank Street for a four-bedroom home for disabled individuals. Jeff Locantore, who has cerebral palsy and two different types of seizure disorders, made a presentation to the board last week on the reuse of the property. Locantore, 35, said he and Jonathon O’Callaghan, 36, who has cognitive and physical disabilities, are working to ...

HARWICH — Even this year, when COVID-19 protocols have forced capacity restrictions, Senior Night remains a special game that motivates players to leave a little more on the court. The Monomoy Regional High School girls basketball team proved it was energized by the occasion when it celebrated its two seniors, Leah Nash and Maggie Dever, before its Cape and Islands League matchup against Lighthouse Division ri...

SOUTH DENNIS — It was only a matter of time before the Nauset Regional High School boys hockey team received a little puck luck. It finally came last week. After playing in five games without a win, the Warriors finally got in the win column on Feb. 3 when they celebrated Senior Night with a 4-3 victory over Barnstable at Charles Moore Arena.  Three days later, Nauset notched its first winning streak of the...

The Chatham Orpheum Theater and an enthusiastic group of local leaders in all areas of the arts have come together virtually to create a new advisory group. The Orpheum Cultural Council will guide the theater's programming and foster an even more comprehensive approach to cultural events and issues in the community, including the expansion of event offerings throughout the entire year and a more focused outrea...

 It seems like it has been quite a while since we have read a new mystery set in Chatham, and that is what we have with “Roger Sherman III and the Seal Murder Mystery” (2020), a debut novel by Chatham summer resident John Beneville. Beneville, a 2016 graduate of Dartmouth College who grew up in Cos Cob, Conn., has been coming to Chatham with his parents and grandparents since he was very young. “My parents ...

Harwich officials learned this week that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation project review committee gave the green light to a sidewalk along Route 28 between Saquatucket Harbor and Bank Street. It's about time. Walking along the heavily traveled roadway is dangerous, as is biking. There's little space on either side of the pavement to scoot off the road. A pedestrian path between the harbor and Ha...

A year has passed since COVID-19 reared its spiky corona head, and we have become well versed in altering our traditions in response. Like it or not, Valentine’s Day is on the way. Many of us have unlimited time to devote to anything and everything, so even if you are a Never-Valentiner, consider embracing it this time around. Oh, Valentine’s Day, why do we love thee, minus the hearts and love appeal? It bo...

Committee Supports Boathouse Return Edi tor: The South Coastal Harbor Plan committee had a full discussion of the issues of the history and conditions of the USCG Chatham boathouse at our meeting on Monday, Jan. 25. Committee members reviewed the December 2020 “Due Diligence Report” by GEI consultants, among other documents. We regret decisions wrongly made by former boards of selectmen not to accept prior...

CHATHAM — John and Barbara Emison of Chatham met 78 years ago when they were both students at DePauw University. The world was torn apart by World War II when the 17-year-old freshman and the 20-year-old junior went on a blind date. “John’s good friend and my roommate wanted us to meet,” Barbara Emison, 95, recalled during a telephone interview last week. His friend and her roommate came up with a ruse beca...

Sidelined under the Trump administration, the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission seems poised for a comeback. Last Thursday, Congressman Bill Keating, D–9th District, reintroduced legislation to reauthorize the commission, which has been disbanded since its previous authorization ended in 2018. The bill is the same one Keating introduced in the last Congress, which passed in the House in November 2...