Larry Marsland, executive director of the Lower Cape Outreach Council, speaking recently at the Federated Church of Orleans, made two comments that caught my attention. Many Council clients work in jobs that pay $8 to $12 an hour, inadequate to meet the cost of living on Cape Cod. Furthermore, even after they attain greater earning power thanks to programs the LCOC offers, they may not find housing that is afford...

The Housing Assistance Corporation's report released this week, “Housing on Cape Cod: The High Cost of Doing Nothing,” makes a solid case for the need to increase the stock of year-round housing on the Cape for middle to higher income local residents. While many local communities have concentrated on eking out a small but steady stream of affordable housing units – certainly not enough, as Chatham's recent housin...

Many Help Make House Tour Successful Editor: On behalf of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, we want to thank all who participated and supported our House Tour held on Oct. 6.    It truly was a community event, with local businesses showcasing flyers or signs, the Chatham Orpheum advertising in their pre-show, St. Christopher’s Gift and Consignment  Shop and Puritan selling tickets, The Chronicle publicizi...

This week The Chronicle lost a member of its extended family. Sheila Smith was a longtime advertising manager who helped grow the newspaper during the 1980s and '90s, a time when the publication was finding its niche and establishing itself as an indispensable part of the local community. Sheila helped the paper do that because she was an indispensable part of the community. She spent most of her youth in Orleans...

“We’re having a heat wave A tropical heat wave The temperature’s rising It isn’t surprising”   “Having a Heat Wave” was written by Irving Berlin in 1933 for the Broadway musical “As Thousands Cheer.” It was introduced by Ethel Waters and has been recorded many times since then. Our Earth is, in fact, having a heat wave. The impact is being felt all over the globe. The subjects of climate change ...

The Monday after Labor Day, when I found my father’s truck missing from his driveway, I had been planning on spending the day editing video mostly. The car that was parked in front of his house when I arrived was unfamiliar. Late model import sedan – an import – dark blue. Not the white Ford Ranger used in the family landscaping business that sits right outside his kitchen table window in West Chatham. The Mea...

Roar Out To Supporters Editor: On behalf of the Chatham-Nauset Lions, I extend a hearty roar of thanks to the following places of business that supported our seventh annual Pancake Breakfast: Chatham Village Market, Friends’ Marketplace in Orleans, Stop & Shop in Orleans, Star Markets in Harwich, Harwich Port and Orleans. Their generosity enabled us to substantially increase our club’s scholarship fund....

Cash figures in two stories in this week's paper. First, the town of Chatham has backed away from a plan to accept only credit and debit cards and checks for payments at the transfer station. There was an undercurrent of unhappiness about the idea that cash wouldn't be accepted to pay for disposal of items like mattresses and electronics. We understand the town's position – the transfer station handles more th...

Imagine 10 McMansions overlooking the Forest Beach marsh and perhaps as many as two dozen luxury homes on Ryder's Cove and the inland property just across Route 28. Nearly 90 acres of land inaccessible to the public, kept for private use by people who might spend a few months out of the year in their castles near the shore. That might have been the case at the 73-acre former Marconi transmission site in South ...

Sidewalks Yes, Crosswalks No Editor: Thank you for your article in the Sept 27 issue of The Cape Cod Chronicle outlining the case for pedestrian safety upgrades for the intersection of Route 28, Old Harbor Road and Shore Road. My family donated the lot on the corner of Old Harbor Shore roads, and I have over 40 years' experience walking, cycling and driving through this intersection at all times of the day ...

Halloween is again on the horizon, and new scariness appears each day as we suffer bogeymen in the guise of politics, dread the inevitability of months of darkness and bone-chilling cold, and threats of three-foot tall vampires and witches extorting us for chocolate. But I am here to speak of the most horrifying of specters – corn. What? Corn, the 10,000-year-old staple found in 65 percent of our food, which b...

It's understandable. It's a scary, primal situation. A 26-year-old man killed by a shark off a beach in Wellfleet. Step into the water, step into the unknown. It's left a lot of people searching for answers. Unfortunately, a lot of that searching is being done in the dark. Last week's public meeting in Wellfleet resulted in no real answers or practical solutions beyond what's already been discussed, chiefly ra...