CHATHAM — Like an unwelcome visitor who wouldn't take the hint, José spun bands of rain and wind on the Lower Cape for the better part of last week, leaving a soggy parting gift of downed leaves and twigs, but caused no significant damage. José was at peak strength when it crossed the Atlantic. Approaching the Leeward Islands with a maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, the hurricane mostly dodged populated is...

CHATHAM — Gary Anderson, perhaps best known as the longtime chairman of the Chatham Parks and Recreation Commission, died unexpectedly last week at the age of 63. A native of Chatham, Mr. Anderson will be remembered by many for his contribution to parks, playgrounds and facilities that continue to serve the town's young people. “He was a member of the community,” friend and former selectman David Whitcomb s...

CHATHAM – With the goal of enhancing bicycle infrastructure, the bikeways committee is working with the Cape Cod Commission to develop a town-wide bike plan. The plan will be introduced at a “community listening session” on Thursday, Oct. 5, an opportunity for the public to have input into and comment on the draft document. Planners from the Cape Cod Commission held a site visit on Aug. 7, and working with ...

CHATHAM – With as many as 3,000 people per day visiting the fish pier in the summer, there's no doubt that it has become one of the town's most popular tourist attractions. It may also be one of the most dangerous. Unlike other attractions in town, like the Lighthouse Overlook or downtown shopping, the fish pier is a working industrial facility, with constant truck traffic crossing pedestrian walkways and t...

CHATHAM — Despite the environmental harm they cause, helium balloons will remain a colorful part of downtown band concerts, at least for one more summer. Selectmen Tuesday approved their sale at next year's concerts at Kate Gould Park, but several board members said they might be open to considering a town-wide balloon ban in the future. Downtown property owner Suzanna Nickerson said that helium balloons,...

CHATHAM – If you want to leave your sailboat, kayak or canoe on a town beach, you'll have to get a sticker for it. Much like stickers are required for boats kept at town landings, boats kept along the shore at town beaches will now require a town-issued sticker. The move is designed to try to get a handle on the boats kept at beaches and to clear away unused or derelict vessels. “We just want to know whose ...

Thanks to an almost total communications outage in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the full extent of the damage caused by back-to-back hurricanes Irma and Maria remains unknown. For scores of Lower Cape residents waiting to hear from friends and loved ones there, that means more heartache and helplessness.   Mortell Organizes Relief Drive Ignacio Mortell of Chatham, who grew up in San Juan, is gra...

 Having weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, José brought gusty winds and scattered power outages to the region Saturday before being blown out to sea Sunday, leaving homeowners to clean up leaves and twigs but no serious damage. As of Friday morning, a weather station in West Harwich reported having received 1.17 inches of rain during the storm, with many locales receiving less.  The peak wind gust reco...

CHATHAM — The town's effort to reclaim more than 3,000 acres of shellfish flats and submerged lands appropriated by the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge has just received some important political support. On Friday, Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker sent a letter to the House Committee on Natural Resources expressing support for a bill filed by Congressman William Keating, a Democrat, which would r...

CHATHAM – The developer of a proposed 14-lot subdivision off Barn Hill Road is willing to talk with neighbors about their concerns with the project, but said some things are not negotiable, such as a 40-foot buffer along the southern property line. “That's a nonstarter,” William Marsh of Eastward Companies said during last week's planning board meeting. The Hunter's Rise subdivision, proposed for the seven-...

About 80 Nickersons flocked to Chatham recently to celebrate three milestone anniversaries during the 120 th annual reunion of the Nickerson Family Association, Inc. At the same time, the Nickerson clan sent an archaeologist and crew into the tangled honeysuckle and grapevine behind the association's North Chatham property to continue searching for the location of the c. 1664 homestead of ancestors William an...

CHATHAM – It wasn't unusual for Monomoy Regional School Committee member Karen Ryder to find herself in the minority in discussions and votes. At times she was even criticized for asking questions and not accepting the recommendations of the administration. To Ryder, one of four Chatham representatives on the committee, that's what a school committee member should do. A rubber stamp was not to be found in her ...