Schools Step Up During Crisis Editor: I want to express my congratulations to the administration and teachers of the Monomoy School District! They are amazing educators and they are dedicated to seeing that all students of the district are being educated. Being a retired teacher and wife of a retired school administrator, we are in awe of the time and effort that has been put into keeping students educat...

Last month, in what now appears to be an odd prescience of advice, I wrote a column on boredom, suggesting, among other things, that we crafty folk sew safety masks. What a difference a few weeks make! When I wrote that, we were nowhere near any social distancing or sheltering in place. As we are all too familiar with the downsides of COVID-19, let’s examine the creative ways in which people are coping, and the...

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” The words of Fred Rogers are still bringing us comfort, as they did when we were little. Each day’s headlines are difficult to read—they’re certainly difficult for us to write—and we’re bracing as a community for what is predicted to be the deadliest ph...

Next month's annual town meetings in local towns will be postponed. Exactly when they will be rescheduled must await developments in the coming days and weeks. Moderators now have the authority to postpone or continue annual sessions; newly filed state legislation likely to be approved soon will allow selectmen to reschedule meetings as late as June 30 or even later. Last week, Chatham selectmen voted to postpone...

The Importance Of Scooping Editor: Dear dog walkers, Of the things focusing our attention on personal, community and national health right now, a key one should be the health of the Cape Cod fresh water supply source. The Harwich watershed includes Thompson’s Field where human and canine family members exercise. Thompson’s Field is a woodland and field conservation area used year round. The Harwich Co...

Quite a few people flipped out when they saw a lot of out-of-state license plates on Lower Cape roads over the past two weeks. Yes, a lot of second homeowners fled here once the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Is that a reason to panic? No, so long as those from areas where the virus is more endemic keep to themselves for the 14 days recommended by state and local authorities. While there's anecdotal evidence that's no...

“When you’re down and out When you’re on the street When evening falls so hard I will comfort you I’ll take your part Oh when darkness comes And pain is all around”   Paul Simon wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in 1969 and he and his partner, Art Garfunkel, released the song in January 1970. The song was a huge hit and stayed at number one on the pop charts for six weeks. It was also a s...

Virus Keeps Candidate Off Ballot Editor: Under ordinary circumstances, I would have been able to get the signatures, by Thursday's (March 26) deadline, necessary to qualify as a candidate for the board of selectmen this spring, as I had back in 2008 and 2009. However, due to COVID-19, we all have been advised to practice "social distancing" which, for any of us, makes it risky to handle, or even sign, a pa...

After last summer's tornado, there was an outpouring of assistance for those unlucky enough to be caught in its path. Neighbors helped neighbors, food donations flooded emergency service providers, and there was a sense of pulling together in the face of a disaster. We've seen that before, after hurricanes and winter storms. Cape Codders look after each other. The coronavirus pandemic is a disaster on an entir...

Theater fans will recognize the headline above as a line from the song “Yorktown” from the musical “Hamilton.” The coronavirus crisis may not be on the same level historically as the Revolutionary War, but during the past week, it sure feels as if our world has turned upside down. After Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency for Massachusetts March 10, things seemed to come off the rails. The sto...

Support Plastic Bottle Ban Editor: Single use PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are the third most common item found in ocean debris, almost 15 percent of total marine waste. Caps and lids from PET bottles are the fourth most common item. Plastic has been found in more than 60 percent of all seabirds and in 100 percent of sea turtle species. Sustainable Practices is working to ban commercial single...

It’s raining today, a light spring shower that was creeping into the air all morning with the spongy ground and the milk-gray sky. They’re still working on the road, putting the sewer line down and leaving cracks in the pavement where the heavy equipment sat like a ponderous dinosaur over the gash it made. It is the sort of morning one would get something warm to drink to get going. I went to Cumbies for coffe...