A short walk from my home is the newest dormitory being constructed in Harwich. It is not actually housing for college students, but it could be. Its two multi-story connected buildings fill up most of a lot at the end of a cul-de-sac, offering enough housing for 20 or more. What may become the largest private residence in Harwich sits in a congested area with no water-view or other amenities. A bit farther fr...

The great composer Jerry Herman closed his wonderful musical “La Cage Aux Folles” with the song “The Best of Times is Now.” The concept in the title of that song actually expresses the feelings of lots of Chatham residents. For many retirees and many summer residents, life in the summer in Chatham is about as good as it can get. The weather is wonderful, the beaches are beautiful and the water has warmed up, t...

  Commission Needs Mindset Change Editor: In reading my recent Airplane Owners and Pilots Association magazine, I note how frequently its writers speak against FAA recommendations and regulations. It's as if they think there's a constitutional amendment to protect whatever pilots want to do. The attitude pervades columns in my new issue. Excerpts from two suggest this mindset: “...regulations shouldn’...

Chatham's summer parking shortage is a problem that may never be solved. But that doesn't mean the search for relief from what is the most common complaint of the season should be abandoned. Two weeks ago the board of selectmen, on a split vote, rejected consideration of acquisition of the Eldredge Garage property, chiefly to expand downtown parking. The board had previously rejected even considering the prope...

Twenty five years and a day ago, at around 4 p.m., a Category 3 hurricane barreled over Cape Cod, leaving a swath of destruction that's been unmatched in the quarter century that followed. Everyone has their Hurricane Bob stories. We remember the piles of splintered boats in Allen Harbor and the countless trees and limbs left on the ground. Then there was the smell: a distinctive odor from the downed trees, mi...

The brown-orange bottle still has about a dozen more pills left in it. Small, oblong and medium brown, I haven’t taken one in a couple days. TAKE DAILY, the label says. Refillable three more times. I’ve been on them since late February. Then, diagnosed with situational depression, I had already switched health plans so I could begin seeing a therapist nearby. My MD is a good guy, knows me, treated me for a dec...

School Com Member Resigns Editor: After much discernment and with a heavy heart, I made the difficult decision on Aug. 12 to step down from the Monomoy Regional School Committee.  There are restrictions and limitations inherent to serving on the board for which I struggle.  I feel it inhibits my role to effectively advocate on behalf of the community.  I value the vital function of the school committee.  Ho...

It has been a difficult time for Brooks Free Library, the municipal library in Harwich Center, with technical problems that have nearly crippled the institution over the past couple of weeks. With failed lighting circuits, the library has had to shut off access to the building at a time of year when that library is the center of this community, serving more patrons that other libraries of similar size on the Cape...

Democracy Means Working Together Editor: Nestled in the Kansas prairie sits a small land grant college older than the state itself, a Methodist institution named Baker University. In its ivy-covered buildings, I learned that democracy required me to study, research and interact with others. At Baker, John Dewey’s Democracy and Education followed the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in importance. "Democrac...

Years ago, Chatham's town fathers and then-Town Manager Bill Hinchey envisioned a program of capital projects, replacing aging, outdated town buildings one after the other, utilizing debt drop-off to fund each project without significantly boosting the tax rate. With support from voters at many town meetings, the building projects came to completion one by one, like falling dominoes. Now, in a span of less tha...

In the middle of winter – when the driveways of snowbirds and weekend residents may be blocked by unplowed snow – the population of the town of Harwich is around 12,000, while in the middle of summer, with the arrival of our Florida residents, second home owners, vacationers and tourists, that number increases to over 30,000, based on 2010 figures. The contrasts between the two dates are profound in terms of the ...

Once And Always Muddy Creek Editor: Names are important. Our own names are important to us. They tell everyone who we are. Place names are important, too. They reflect the history of our town and what has gone on before us. Since the early days of European settlement, our dividing line between Chatham and Harwich has been called Muddy Creek or Muddy Cove or Muddy River. In “The History of Chatham,” W....