CHATHAM – On a recent sunny morning, Harwich summer resident Deborah Cline was walking the loop in Chatham with her husband when she spotted a structure that resembles, from certain angles, a big bird house on a white post on the corner of Main and Water Streets. Intrigued, Cline paused to examine Enlow Free Library, two shelves of free books that tantalize from behind a glass door. Intrigued, Cline pulled out...

CHATHAM – Monomoy Regional School Committee member Amy Middleton is stepping down from the regional education panel. In announcing her resignation this week, Middleton said restrictions placed on school committee members limited her effectiveness as a representative of the community and, perhaps more importantly, as a parent. “It pains me to do it because I really felt like I could make a difference,” she s...

CHATHAM – The shark sculptures on the lawn of the Eldredge Public Library have once again proven too tempting; two were stolen earlier this week, but unlike one taken a few weeks ago, both were recovered. Sharks sponsored by Cape Cod Five and Ducks in the Window were taken down sometime during the night on Sunday or early Monday morning, according to Janice Rogers, who oversees the Sharks in the Park project f...

CHATHAM – The sighting of an injured and bleeding seal, apparently a recent victim of a shark attack, prompted the closure of Lighthouse Beach to swimming on Sunday. The beach was closed for about two hours while harbor patrol and park department staff searched the waters immediately adjacent to the popular beach. Harbormaster Stuart Smith said the seal was later seen along the shore, apparently alive but with...

Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, Hurricane Bob sped across Southeast Massachusetts, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and shattering a peaceful Cape Cod summer. Winds gusted to 98 mph in Harwich and 115 mph at Stage Harbor from the Category 3 storm, trashing the boats in area harbors, downing countless trees and leaving more than 300,000 Cape and Islands residents without power. Still, owing ...

CHATHAM — Any recent wet weather aside, the town's water system is being taxed to its limits by this summer's drought. But even more importantly, it's feeling the pressure of increased demand year after year. Last week, selectmen had an update from Water and Sewer Advisory Committee Chairman Larry Sampson, and heard again that the amount of water being pumped from the aquifer is increasing year to year. Board ...

CHATHAM — At the request of downtown merchants, selectmen reconsidered their earlier vote not to purchase the Eldredge Garage property for use as a municipal parking lot. In a new vote last Wednesday – they again rejected the proposal, seeing it as potentially too pricey for taxpayers. Announcing the board's decision Tuesday, Chairman Jeffrey Dykens said that, in passing on the offer, the majority of members...

CHATHAM – During the summer of 1937, when Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in her twin engine monoplane, nine-year-old Alice Brandeis Gilbert of Chatham, today known as Alice Popkin, wrote an homage to Earhart. Popkin’s article was published in the Chatham Chatter. And soon after, on Aug. 8, 1937, Popkin was quoted in the New York Times in an article about the Chatter under the headline “Brand...

CHATHAM — Some matters coming before the board of selectmen are muddy, but not the proposal to rename Muddy Creek as “Monomoy River.” Board members summarily dismissed the idea Tuesday. The proposal came from Chatham resident George Olmsted, who argued that the name “Muddy Creek” is a poor description for the estuary, which has better water quality and clarity since the installation of the Route 28 bridge. C...

CHATHAM — For 17-year-old Caroline Verrilli, a Chatham lifeguard who sometimes works at the Oyster Pond, it's fun to gaze out on people waterskiing or tubing far beyond the swim area. “But when they fall off, I worry,” she said. And Verrilli, whose family summers on Cape Cod each year, has good reason to worry. Not only could she be pressed into service for such an emergency, but she knows what it feels l...

CHATHAM — In the past year, several town committee meetings have spawned heated debate; one prompted the chairman to call police, and in another, a shouting match devolved into a brief fistfight. In response, it might be time for board and committee chairmen to come together for training on how to encourage proper decorum in meetings. That was the perspective of selectmen, who discussed meeting decorum Tuesd...

CHATHAM – Again, one of the Sharks in the Park – now the Sharks on the Lawn of the Eldredge Public Library – has been stolen, just two weeks before an online auction of the artwork is slated to end. The Chatham Real Estate's shark was painted by artist Heather Labbe. Another shark painted by Labbee, sponsored by Minglewood Homes, was taken from Kate Gould Park in June but found in a nearby parking lot. The ...