There is a lot of talk these days over what should happen to Harwich Center. Indeed, according to published reports, there are so many groups examining the question that one has decided to take a hiatus to await the results of the others. This is not new. Ever since the demolition of the Exchange Building in 1964, the nature of Main Street between Bank Street and the intersection of Routes 39 and 124 has been unc...

Ban Will Counter Harm Of Plastic Editor: I am writing with enthusiastic support for the municipal plastic bottle ban in Chatham. My support arises from my deep concern about the significant deterioration in the quality of the natural environment. This has become apparent in recent years due to the large and steadily increasing volume of litter, particularly plastic bottles, year after year, on Chatham’s bea...

Once, boarding houses and dormitories that provided reasonably priced places for seasonal workers to live were fairly common. Large employers like Chatham Bars Inn had their own dorms, and buildings in places that were in locations that weren't yet desirable, like the former Epicure in downtown Chatham, rented rooms to students and others who waited tables, cleaned rooms and landscaped. Together with the family's...

“Somewhere beyond the sea Somewhere waiting for me It’s far beyond the stars It’s near beyond the moon I know without a doubt My heart will be leading me there soon.”   “Beyond the Sea” was a big hit for Bobby Darin in 1959. The lyrics were by Jack Lawrence and the music was from a 1945 French song “La Mer” written by Charles Trenet. Fishing, boat building and intercoastal commerce weighed he...

The proposal that prompted the controversial letter from Beverly Nelson last December – town-funded childcare vouchers for Chatham families with young children – has taken a back seat to an alternate plan to add $30,000 to the town's existing childcare voucher program, which will go before voters at the May annual town meeting. Undoubtedly this will help a number of local families, but it doesn't go far enough. ...

What Is A 'Protected Class?' Editor: I have a question that I feel the need to ask your readers for them to ponder over, and hopefully come to their own respective conclusions about.  Relative to anti-discrimination statutes, since a “protected class” is a group of people qualified for special protection by law, do you believe persons with such a “protected status” in essence are unfairly given more righ...

Every day I post a photo or video from here to social media. Practically every day. It’s often a doughnut from Chatham Bakery or a slice of pie or muffin from Chatham Village Market, set against the landscape of Lighthouse Beach or the Oyster Pond or the lifeguard stand at the end of Bank Street. Growing up here, you get used to having friends from away whom you might see only in the summer. Maybe just for ...

Chatham Needs The Monomoy Theatre Editor: We were all waiting to see who the buyer of the Monomoy Theatre was. Now we know! I hope you will do some investigative reporting on Alexandra Properties. When I Googled them, this is what I got: alexandraconstruction.com.  Not exactly Chatham!  Where are the historic projects Gregory Clark referred to at the selectmen's meeting?  He mentioned allowing the ...

I was getting ready for bed when I reached up and realized I was one earring short of the two I had suspended on my ears 12 hours before. It was a sparkly snowflake, its disappearance indicating it was as fleeting as the ice crystals descending from the winter sky just outside my window. Was it hiding in the kitchen, having leaped off my lobe while I was making tacos for dinner? Had it escaped into the audio boo...

Seals, Not Dogs, Are The Problem   Editor: While I found the author’s point well presented and the issue of dog waste on the beaches is one worthy of conversation, I think that Chatham has a much larger problem on its hands. The letter cites that "one gram of dog waste can contain 23 million coliform bacteria,” which can cause adverse side effects in humans. Most of the unwanted results of the pres...

On this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, some friends of my younger son came from Assonet to Cape Cod. In the course of our conversation, we naturally ended up discussing politics, riveting on the present incumbent in the White House. “Do you know anyone who voted for him?” I inquired. “Actually I do,” responded the male member of the duo. “I recently met an old acquaintance who had voted for him, bu...