The end of the year is a time to both look ahead and reflect on the past 12 months. Remembering those we lost is a way to affirm our connection to friends, family and community members in a positive way. The local business community lost several members. Walter Meier founded Chatham Jewelers 70 years ago and made his mark on the town over those seven decades (including as one of the founders of the precursor t...

Time To Tax Alcoholic Beverages Editor: For the last 20 years, I have been very involved in the field of mental health. I know there to be serious gaps in providing services to those in need. I recently learned there is no sales tax on alcoholic beverages in the state of Massachusetts. I know for a fact that there is a sales tax in Florida. It seems like a “no-brainer,” as a way to raise money for muc...

It was a difficult decision not to travel to Connecticut for Christmas with my family. But these are difficult days, made even more frustrating by the tantalizing tastes of normalcy that we experienced in bits and pieces during the past year. This entire year has been like that. Baby steps out of the dark, dim glimpses of a light in the distance followed by a retreat and fear filled warnings. Get vaccinated an...

We all hoped this holiday season would be a return to normal, or at least close to it. Unfortunately, it looks like that won't be the case. With the new Omicron variant looming like a Grinch and COVID surging again – is this the fourth surge? – holiday celebrations are being scaled back or eliminated. Positive cases are higher than this time last year, even though there's a widely available vaccine. Some are c...

A recent airing of the planning board’s draft zoning proposal for Route 28 in West Chatham focuses on improving the streetscape. It’s about controlling the size and location of buildings, making the area more attractive to pedestrians, and creating opportunities for affordable housing. It’s not about the airport. Encouraging aircraft safety is a town-wide concern, and it’s one being addressed by the newly u...

An Existential Threat To Chatham Editor: OK, I understand why Chatham changed the name of the town’s governing body from the sexist “board of selectmen” to the “select board.” After all, the gender of the members of the board is totally irrelevant to their jobs. But why on earth was the name changed to the “select board?” That sounds awfully “elitist” to me. “Well, ‘we are among the select,’ and you are ...

Two decades ago, after the selectmen decided the former Main Street School would be repurposed as a community center, the idea of incorporating a senior center into the project was debated and, ultimately, rejected. Among those opposed were members of the council on aging board, who wanted seniors to have their own, separate facility. During the past several years, the idea of incorporating a senior center int...

Pleased With Positive Letters Editor: Since discovering Chatham on our first trip to the cape 1980, our family has spent two to three weeks there every year. I'm a longtime subscriber and look forward to receiving The Chronicle each week. It is everything a newspaper should be and more! I am writing to remark on the wonderful letters on the letters page in the Dec. 2 edition. Every letter is so well writ...

Reconsider Eldredge Property Uses Editor: Chatham spent $2.8 million on the Eldredge Garage property several years ago and is now proposing to spend another $1.5 million to create a parking lot and rehab a 600-square-foot gas station building to make it into bathrooms and a history room. The uses proposed do not qualify for consideration in my opinion. There is no need for public parking at that site as ...

One of the factors often cited for the dearth of young families choosing to make the region their home is the lack of jobs that pay enough to match the high cost of living, especially housing. There are a lot of job openings around these parts right now, but most of those we see are in the food or retail business. There are many other businesses, however, that need help and are willing to pay closer to a living w...

Forget the sugar plums. All year long, we’ve had visions of holiday gatherings dancing in our heads. Coming together in stores, restaurants and living rooms, without masks or other pandemic-related worries. At the risk of sounding Grinch-y, we’re not quite there yet. At just about the time many of us were tucking in for Thanksgiving dinner, news broke about the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Travel restrictio...

Much is made about process in town government. Process offers a way of keeping order and ensuring that targeted goals and objectives are met, and it provides a way for stakeholders to easily buy into those objectives. Every once in a while, however, we see examples of what can happen when that process errs. In Orleans, a concept to possibly site a new fire station on Nauset Regional Middle School land was brou...