ORLEANS — Dogs love the beach, and no dog ever loved Nauset Beach more than Riptide Windjammer. The golden retriever, who lived with the Fancy family, passed away almost 40 years ago. But his legend lives on in “Riptide,” a book by Orleans author Frances Ward Weller. First out in 1990, it's back in a new edition courtesy of publisher David R. Godine. Fran and Frank Weller were seasonal visitors in Orleans...

CHATHAM — Selectmen Tuesday moved ahead with plans to draft new bylaws which, if approved by voters, would snuff out any chance of recreational marijuana shops opening in town. Leading the charge was selectman Dean Nicastro, who noted that 57.6 percent of Chatham voters rejected last year's petition to legalize recreational marijuana, though a majority of voters across the state approved it. The new law allo...

ORLEANS -- Barbara “Bobbie” Carnright Tyng passed away at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Thursday, August 31, 2017 due to complications from severe pneumonia. She was 68 years old. Born in Kingston, N.Y., Bobbie and her two siblings were raised in Saugerties, N.Y. by her parents Robert and Ginny Carnright. She attended high school at the Walnut Hill School in Natick and eventually matriculated at ...

SOUTH CHATHAM – Nancy Jane Eldridge, 89, of South Chatham passed away at home after a brief illness on Saturday evening, August 26, 2017. She was the wife of the late Oren Leon Eldridge for over 60 years, who died in 2012. She was also the mother of Heidi Lee Eldridge, who died in 2001. She was born in Hartford, CT on February 23, 1928 to the late Lt. Ashley and Dorothy (Andrews) Calder. She traveled the East ...

Francis (Frank) J. Stifter Sr., formerly of Natick and Chatham, Mass., passed on August 29. He was 87. His wife of 52 years, Alice (Lemoine) of Woonsocket, R.I., preceded him in death in 2011. Natick residents for more than 40 years, Frank and Alice were blessed with five children: Alice (Sean) Bartram, Ann (Adam) Van Brimmer, Kirstin (John) Ahearn, Francis Jr. (Cheryl) Stifter and Paula (Tony) Rivera; and...

CHATHAM – It's certainly true that they're not making any more land. And the land that exists is getting more and more valuable; the town's total value has now topped $6.7 billion. That's borne out by the latest data from the town's assessing department, which shows that property values have increased by 5.1 percent over last year. Although Chatham has seen numerous high-end, multi-million dollar sales, the in...

CHATHAM – Few people can say that cancer hasn't touched their lives, either through their own family or people they know. For Ashley Stearns, that connection was unexpected, and uncomfortably, close. Stearns was living in Orlando, Fla., when she learned that her father, Blake, had bladder cancer. She came back home, where her parents own and operate Marion's Pie Shop, for her father's surgery and to drive him ...

CHATHAM – Back in the 1980s, the local bay scallop fishery was booming. For several months of the year, it was a viable commercial enterprise, with many locals jumping in to take advantage of the bounty found in Pleasant Bay and other near-shore locations. But sometime in the late '80s or early '90s, bay scallops became scarce. For nearly two decades now, there's been barely a commercial harvest in Chatham; la...

CHATHAM – The planning board will see new drainage plans for the controversial Hunter's Rise subdivision off Barn Hill Road on Sept. 12. Developer Eastward Companies is proposing a 14-lot subdivision for the seven-acre property, formerly the site of the Hunter's Pine Acres cottage colony. Ocean Port Lane neighbors to the south, which is down hill from the planned development, had expressed concern about erosio...

CHATHAM — Even as Florida residents brace for a potentially catastrophic strike from Hurricane Irma, local residents are doing what they can to ease human suffering in Texas from Hurricane Harvey. A number of small-scale efforts are underway in various local churches, and a private citizen from Texas, who was visiting the Cape at the time of the storm, returned home with boxes of masks, gloves and other supp...

CHATHAM — It's a proposal that is raising a number of questions and a few eyebrows, but a Florida-based firm is proposing a 40-mile-long network of 15 balloon-mounted cameras to watch for sharks near bathing beaches between Provincetown and Chatham.  The concept floated by officials at Altametry involves deploying balloons on beach days at Harding's Beach in Chatham, two at Lighthouse Beach, one at the north...

 HARWICH — The Harwich Conservation Trust has named Neil and Anna Rasmussen as their 2017 Conservationists of the Year in recognition of their leadership and land-saving philanthropy. The Rasmussens are Concord residents with a home in East Harwich who over the past 13-years have provided inspiration, leadership and financial support for the efforts to protect multiple tracts totaling more than 108 acres of na...

HARWICH — The Harwich Hometown Parade will roll through Harwich Port on Sunday, filling Route 28 with floats, bands and performers to celebrate community spirit. This year's parade will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Freeman Street and run through the village, ending at Doane Road. Over the past couple of years the parade route was longer, running all the way to Harwich Center. It was shortened this year to keep peopl...

HARWICH — The state Department of Environmental Protection has issued a notice of noncompliance under the existing Chapter 91 license issued for the fish house on the Herring River. The notification cites excessive work conducted under the Wetland Protection Act Emergency Certification to shore up the building. After receiving a complaint of potential violations to the emergency certification issued by the con...

HARWICH — There has been a lot of discussion about farms in residential areas and their impacts on neighborhoods over the past year. The operation of a piggery in such a location now has the board of health weighing if such an facility is a “noisome trade” and whether there should be restrictions or even prohibitions on piggeries in town. The board has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday evening to solicit comm...